Bola Awoniyi says, “Can Snapchat become more user-centric and provide more opportunities for marketers in its flagship product at the same time? That is certainly the ambition with the photo sharing app’s new product changes. Users that have updated the app recently will find that: The Discover channels have been demoted to the bottom of the feed. Snaps no longer auto advance when watched in the feed (i.e. after watching one person’s Story you are directed back to the feed, rather than automatically being shown Snaps from the next user in your feed). But users can now make story... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Snapchat is rolling back the redesign it made in June to its all-important Stories tab and rolling out new features, like Story Playlists and post-roll ads, that may make Snapchat more like TV than ever, and potentially better. If you already know what’s changed but don’t understand why, you can head straight here. Otherwise, here’s a rundown of what is going on and what it means for Snapchat, as well as for its users and advertisers. What’s happening to the Stories tab? There are two types of changes. Appearance-wise, the Recent Updates feed of people’s individual... [...]

Jami Oetting says, “It used to be easy for marketers to write off Snapchat with its ephemeral social messaging and wacky selfie filters as a silly mobile app. But the tool has quickly become the social media darling of the marketing world, leading advertisers to rethink their decision to overlook the platform — in large part because of its rapid growth. According to Bloomberg, the app has more than 60 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada, and people watch more than 10 billion videos per day. These numbers are appealing to marketers, but Snapchat’s focus... [...]

Sean Donnelly says, “The first banner ad appeared on Hotwired.com, the original website for Wired Magazine all the way back in 1994. Since then, the time and attention that consumers have to see and consider advertising has reduced significantly. This is for a number of reasons. 1. Consumer trust Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, is the issue of trust. Before the advent of the World Wide Web and in particular the universal ability to publish, there was an asymmetrical relationship between sellers and consumers, particularly when it came to selling high value or technical products such... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Snapchat is getting into the hardware game. On Friday, the company unveiled Spectacles, a pair of sunglasses that comes equipped with a video camera that records clips, or Snaps, of up to 10 seconds. These snaps can be uploaded to Memories, Snapchat’s recently-launched feature that allows users to store photos and videos for posterity. The concept behind Spectacles is simple – “Specs make memories, from your perspective” – but the implications could be significant, especially for marketers active on Snapchat, which now has more daily users than... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “Skeptical Millennials (defined as ages 18-34) are a notoriously hard-to-reach demographic for marketers. But a new social media outlet can help – Snapchat. For experienced marketers unfamiliar with Snapchat, it’s like direct mail, in that you can send messages to potential customers with images. But it’s like weird direct mail that disappears after 24 hours. Because it was sent by a magician or something? No one knows for sure. But we do know that means you should send heaps of snaps to your customers when you chat. Send snaps constantly and without pause, so... [...]

Lesya Leu says, “Snapchat keeps stepping on Facebook’s toes by introducing new and powerful ad targeting features. The network took society by storm, especially its younger segments. Like every major social platform, Snapchat built a large following base, then invited advertisers to the feast. It comes as no surprise that now Snapchat is trying to monetize this huge user base. Average users are already moaning and groaning, but native advertising is the reality for most of the popular apps we use every day. The new feature, called Snap Audience Match, allows marketers to target users based... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Snapchat is rolling out new ad targeting options that challenge its anti-creepy advertising stance and could be used to execute the type of retargeting that Snapchat really doesn’t like. Snapchat is beginning to let brands aim their ads at the mobile app’s daily audience of 150 million, based on those people’s email addresses and the unique advertising identifiers attached to their phones, as well as to people who share characteristics with that defined audience. And more old-school advertisers will now be able to target ads based on content-based audience categories,... [...]

Renee Yeager says, “We all have that friend who was wild in their younger days. The one who would show up to the party, do some crazy things, then disappear without a trace — and without the memory of the craziness they had wrought. Amazingly, that friend grew up, matured, started realizing their potential and understanding their purpose. They’re still fun, but in a more attractive way, and suddenly they’re more popular than ever. That friend, of course, is Snapchat. In successful marketing, story is king. And Snapchat is great at telling stories quickly to an engaged audience.... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “In 2013, Facebook unsuccessfully tried to buy Snapchat for roughly $3 billion in cash. At the time Snapchat’s rejection of Facebook’s offer sounded crazy. That now doesn’t seem quite as crazy given eMarketer’s prediction that Snapchat will generate nearly $1 billion in ad revenue next year. Emarketer expects Snapchat ad revenue to hit $935.5 million in 2017 and $1.7 billion in 2018, with a growing share of that revenue from outside the US. The opportunity is expressed in the gap between Snapchat’s nearly 32 percent penetration among social network users (US)... [...]