The Gothamist is providing advertisers with a social media button that leads readers to their Snapchat page, driving visibility for brands on the popular social media platform.
The online news publication is one of the publishers leveraging a new technology from GlassView that makes brands’ Snapchat channels more accessible to consumers.With Facebook recently downgrading publishers' posts in news feeds and Snapchat continuing to become more popular, media companies are paying close attention to where they place their bets.
“We launched our Snapchat account in May as part of a continued effort to connect with millennial travelers,” said Bill Karz, vice president for digital and social strategy with Discover Los Angeles. “We think the platform is a great way to showcase Los Angeles and we’d be interested in exploring more opportunities with publishers who are leveraging Snapchat.”
Discovering Snapchat
The publication will be drawing in advertisers such as Discover LA with the promise of growing their Snapchat channels by leading users directly to them. For instance, within an advertisement on The Gothamist, viewers will see a small but visible button that features the Snapchat icon.
Mobile users that click on the icon, who already have Snapchat, will be brought to the photo-sharing app to add the brand’s account by simply pressing a button. The brand account, such as Discover LA, will appear and users can select Add Friend or Dismiss, which immediately completes the chosen action.
In the past, for users to find any account, they had to manually type in the username. This kept Snapchat extremely closed off and prevented brands from being organically discovered by fans.
Recently, Facebook announced that it is going to be valuing content from friends and family over publishers’ content on users’ news feeds, which means Snapchat may be in the running to become more of a publishing and brand-centric platform following GlassView’s launch.
Snapchat success
Makeup brand Urban Decay leveraged Snapchat to bring beauty product augmented reality experiences into the mainstream by giving users a preview of its try-on application through a special lens filter that shows what different lipstick shades would look like on someone's face (see more).
Energy drink brand Red Bull also appealed to the masses with sponsored Snapchat filters that celebrated the first official day of summer, prompting users to share photos with their own interpretations of how they are celebrating the season (see more).
"To appeal to younger markets, publishers and advertisers must take Snapchat seriously," said James G. Brooks, founder and CEO of GlassView. "GlassView's Snapchat integration technology significantly streamlines the process, making site content more appealing and engaging to young audiences, which can lead to increased return on investment."