As reported by Business Insider, fast food giant McDonald’s plans to hire 250,000 workers in the US this summer by using Snapchat. Many food and beverage brands now use the social platform with the unmistakable ghost logo for promotional purposes. Who can forget Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo lens in 2016, which became the most successful campaign in the app’s history with 224 million views in one day? However, Snapchat remains largely untouched by iGaming and financial trading brands.
This could be changing. At the end of March, major social gaming brand Zynga Poker made their Snapchat debut. We look at how not only social gaming brands but also real-money iGaming and financial trading brands can use this platform to engage potential and existing customers, and increase brand exposure. We also discuss the role affiliates can play.Why Snapchat? According to Verto Analytics, Snapchat is also useful for marketing to players and traders who are increasingly mobile. Consider that mobile users who spend just 90 minutes per day on their phone look at their screen for to the equivalent of 23 days in total each year, according to Mobile Statistics
Given the limited number of gaming operators and financial brokers in the Snapchat space, there is currently less competition compared to other social channels such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s therefore easier for brands to stand out and make their paid and organic campaigns visible to prospective and existing customers.
However, Snapchat does place restrictions on paid ads for gambling, games of skill and lottery products, as well as financial services., Indeed, campaigns are vetted on a case-by-case basis.
Another limitation is that growing results and a community can take time. However, marketers can use other social channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, and their websites to raise their Snapchat profile and speed up this process. By getting followers on existing platforms to add them in advance, they’ll have a larger audience for when they’re ready to build further.Paid and Organic Snapchat MarketingBecause no third-party content is supported and Snapchat is almost exclusively live, messages need to resonate with users instantly. For sportsbooks and poker brands in particular, a unique way of using paid advertising would be to create filters during major events.
Gatorade, for example, did this during the 2016 Super Bowl through Snap Ads. When it went live, users could add the filter to their selfies. It highlighted the power of engaging your audience by receiving 160 million impressions – more than the actual game (which was watched by 115 million people). There are also more cost-effective paid methods for companies with a smaller budget, such as local geofilters.
Snapchat is also ideal for organic, real-time social media marketing, because it provides your audience with direct and exclusive access to live events. As well as big sports matches and live poker tournaments, it can also be used for major announcements and product launches. Followers are able to watch events unfold as they happen, while also feeling involved in the action.What Role Can Affiliates Play?Affiliates play an important role when it comes to using Snapchat as a marketing tool. One of the few gaming brands besides Zynga to leverage the platform, Betfair developed a 2014 campaign that featured “self-destructing odds”. This involved a picture with a custom clickthrough URL offering enhanced odds that would disappear after 10 seconds. This worked in a similar way to McDonalds’ current Snapchat recruitment method, which provides those who send a short video with a URL to then formally apply for the job.
Affiliate campaigns can be developed in a similar way, with affiliate Snapchat accounts sharing brands’ content and URLs with their own communities. Such campaigns would particularly benefit small to mid-tier brands by boosting their exposure in a less competitive environment., After all, customer acquisition is more difficult when the crowded space of organic search is your main marketing focus.Looking Ahead… Snapchat will likely become an important marketing, customer acquisition and retention channel and perhaps even a recruitment tool for forward-thinking iGaming and financial trading brands. Those pioneering operators and brokers who leverage the platform now will gain an advantage on their competitors. Basically, don’t give up the ghost – until you’ve tried it!
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