Link your website to Snapchat to gain organic traffic

Do you want to connect with the millennial (or even centennial) audience? Look no further – Snapchat is your social network.

Although Snapchat has been around since 2011, it is in the last couple of years that it has “taken off” as the favorite network of young people and has begun to attract the interest of marketers. And rightly so, as 71% of Snapchat users are under the age of 34.

To continue winning the hearts of advertisers, Snapchat has incorporated an option that allows you to easily link your website with Snapchat to generate organic traffic. Do you want to know how it works and what else you can do to attract visits to your website with this network? Don’t miss this article!

What’s new on Snapchat?

In July 2017, Snapchat incorporated a new way to link web pages to its application, a functionality that can become very popular among brands, media, and users interested in bringing visitors to their website.

The new functionality is called Papercli, and its operation could not be simpler, as it allows any user to include a link in a Snap before sharing it. To do this, simply click on the Paperclip icon in the Snapchat toolbox.

One of the most interesting aspects of this novelty is that it places Snapchat in a privileged position compared to Instagram, which does not allow you to put links except in the biography. This causes users to have to resort to forced solutions, such as including the phrase “link in my bio” in their posts. The only exception is users with more than 10,000 followers, who can attach links to their Instagram Stories.

Until now, the only way to link your website to Snapchat was to buy ads. With this new feature, advertisers have a very easy time generating organic traffic with Snapchat. It’s also excellent news for media outlets, which finally have a solution to direct users to their websites.

And that’s not all: Snapchat has launched two other tools at the same time as Paperclip, which are now available for both iOS and Android:

• Voice filters: With this feature, users can change the sound of their voice even if they are not using a visual filter.
• Backdrops: A fun tool for adding backgrounds to your snaps.

Recently, it has also incorporated the Multi-Snap options (to record a video continuously that is then divided into 10-second clips) and Tint Brush (to make outlines over the images and modify the color). Undoubtedly, Snapchat is working hard to keep updating itself and gaining the interest of users and advertisers. Well done!

How can I generate organic traffic with Snapchat?

Paperclip gives us an easy and convenient option to promote websites with Snapchat, but on its own, it doesn’t completely solve the problem: the ideal is to combine it with other strategies. So, here are some extra ideas for generating organic traffic through Snapchat:

• Customize your branding. Snapchat is the network for brands that dare to show themselves to the public without Photoshop. Its ephemeral and casual nature makes it ideal for bringing your company closer together and showing itsfunt side. For example, you can use it to share videos and photos like “how it was made” or moments of relaxation from the day that make your followers want to get to know you a little better.
• Contact influencers. One of the main functions of any social network is… to make friends! Snapchat allows you to approach and build relationships with the most influential users in your industry “one-on-one.” In the long run, this investment in contacts will make it more likely that they will talk about your brand on their different channels, achieving the goal of attracting organic traffic.
• Make promotional videos. Do you want to convince users to visit your website? Show them what they’re missing! Snapchat’s 10-second videos are the perfect format to allow your followers to take a look and be left wanting more. Make it very clear to them why they should visit you: access amazing content, participate in promotions…
• Use Snapchat to spread the word about your offers. And speaking of promotions, Snapchat is a great place to get the word out about your deals. As the content of this network is ephemeral and self-destructs, your offers will have a plus for the “sense of urgency”. Encourage your users to visit your website now! to enter a code, leave a comment, or share a post in exchange for a discount or to participate in a giveaway. To strengthen the effectiveness of your promotion and boost your branding, you can make it so that users have to watch an entire Story to participate.
• Create expectation. A resource that never fails: make your users die to know how the story continues. Snapchat is a fantastic place to post teasers of your releases and encourage users to visit your website to learn more. You can also use this network to “livestream” your brand’s events and make users feel part of your community. And finally, a most useful strategy is to publish exclusive content that reinforces this feeling of belonging and helps you strengthen your brand image even more.

Snapchat advertising, a smart bet for your brand

Since the marketer does not live by organic traffic alone, I want to propose another option to continue getting the most out of your presence on this network: advertising on Snapchat.

Snapchat ads have several advantages over other social networks. In addition to being able to tap into a new, younger audience, advertising on Snapchat has much less competition than other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, which will allow your ads to stand out much more. But perhaps its greatest advantage is qualitative: Snapchat is a different application, with a bit of a social network and messaging service, direct and authentic. And thanks to this, it allows you to connect with your audience in a different and innovative way.

When it comes to ad formats, Snapchat has three main options:

• Snap Ads. Snap Ads start with a video of up to ten seconds, vertical and in full screen, that appears in context along with other Snapchats. The user can swipe up to see extra content: extended videos, articles, invitations to download an app, or mobile websites. If you manage to overcome the challenge of attracting users’ attention in less than ten seconds, you’ve done it: the “click-through” rate of Snap Ads is 5 times higher than on other platforms.
• Sponsored Lenses. A fun and interactive option to encourage users to play with your brand. Among the campaigns launched so far, there are options as crazy as turning the user’s face into a taco or watering them with Gatorade. When the game is finished, the user can post a video of the result or send it to a friend.
• Sponsored Geofilters. This type of filter is linked to the user’s location, either in a general way (cities or countries) or by type of place (for example, all cinemas in Madrid). It consists of small drawings that are superimposed on the images of users and allow them to explain where they are, what time it is, and why they have taken that photo or video.