Snapchat is NOT for every organization. The informality and “shooting from the hip” nature of the platform may make some brand managers and CEOs a little nervous. It can; however, be a really great way to engage with your advocates. Here are some quick questions organizations should ask themselves when considering Snapchat:
- Do you have an individual (or group of individuals) who can post multiple times per week?
- Do you have enough fodder for daily content?
- Is your organization willing to let go some branding control?
- Does your organization have a quick approval process (or, even better, they trust you to post without approval) for social content?
- Do you have an audience that is currently on Snapchat or will be in the near future?
If you’ve answered “YES” to these questions, Snapchat may be right for your group.
Now that you’ve determined that the platform may be right for your group, it’s time to check out what others are doing.
Here are three groups that are killing it on Snapchat:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Snapchat username: lacma_museum
Those without a personality and possibly an extensive untouched wine collection may find their use of Snapchat lowbrow, or even offensive. I find it entertaining and have actually LOL’d at their creative content. By being the first ever museum on Snapchat, LAMCA has exposed a new crowd to art that may have never set foot in a museum. I can see potential “Caption This Collection”contest to start bringing more people from online to offline and in person.
NASA
Snapchat username: nasa
I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough weightlessness snaps. This year the NASA team snapped what it was like to live a day in space. This behind the scenes content was epic and truly one of a kind. The team also highlighted some of their more important scientific experiments and possibly even inspired the next generation of STEM enthusiasts.
World Wildlife Fund:
Snapchat username: wwf_dk
Consistently on the forefront of social media, WWF uses their platforms to tell stories and share their mission. The “Last Selfie” campaign, hosted by their Denmark office, played off Snapchat’s content impermanence by highlighting endangered animals.
I suggest checking these organizations out on all of their social platforms. You will notice the tone is slightly different on each one. LACMA is probably the best example of this. Their Facebook is more of a place for storytelling. Twitter is more quick facts. Snapchat is fun and irreverent. Not to worry folks, the difference in tone is completely on purpose. The audience hanging out on Twitter is looking for something different on Facebook than on Instagram and so forth. Even if the same person has four different profiles on four different platforms, they expect a different experience and content on each channel and LACMA does this well.
What group did I miss? Share your suggestions on organizations or companies that are totally rocking Snapchat.
Have questions on how your group can get started? Let’s chat!.
