Snapchat Highlights the Opportunities of Sponsored Snaps

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Snapchat says that its risky bet of integrating ads into its inbox is paying off, with many advertisers now seeing good results from Sponsored Snap campaigns.

That’s the key message that Snapchat’s bringing to Advertising Week, as it looks to showcase the opportunities of its inbox ads to more brands.

But I don’t know, it still feels like a risky proposition for the company.

In terms of engagement, Snapchat says that Sponsored Chats have been a winner:

“When Snapchatters fully engage with a Sponsored Snap by opening to the full-screen ad, we see 2.3x more lift in Unaided Brand Awareness, 1.4x more lift in Ad Awareness, and 1.8x more lift in Purchase Intent than other social platforms.”

So Sponsored Snaps, which Snapchat announced last September, are seeing strong engagement, which is a big win for Snap, given the risk it took in adding ads into the most intimate part of the app.

Historically, users have not responded well to ads in DM elements, because it feels intrusive, but Snap says that its audience has been open to these inbox promotions.

“Our research shows that people are not only comfortable connecting with friends in chat, they’re also open to hearing from brands there. In fact, 86% of social media users in the U.S. are open to getting messages from brands on apps like Snapchat, Messenger, and others , which is a signal that chat has become a space for meaningful engagement.” 

That may reflect the changing face of social media more broadly, with more and more conversations now shifting to private chat, and out of the public view. And within that, maybe people are now more comfortable conducting a wider range of engagement within messages, making this feel like less of an intrusion than it once did.

So long as you’re pitching the right offers in this space:

“Utility comes first - with discounts, personalized recommendations, and timely updates topping the list, while fun, feel-good content can turn a simple interaction into a moment people actually remember. In chat, brands have a unique opportunity to be useful, entertaining, and culturally relevant all at once, showing up in a way that feels less like advertising and more like a Snapchatter.”

It seems that many users are open to such offers within DMs. But even so, this approach does come with a level of risk.

For example, according to Snap’s data 71% of its users have “their own unique language with friends on the app.” How does brand messaging fit into that, and if it doesn’t, that could see your promotions easily dismissed. As such, brands need to understand the best approaches to DM messaging, as per Snap’s advice above, and ensure that they’re ads are additive, not disruptive, in this more personal space.

The other major risk I see, however, is that there’s a limit to how many ads Snap can push into people’s inbox before this becomes overwhelming, and starts to take over this experience.

Which is shy pushing this as an offering in this way seems potentially risky, as it’ll lead to more brands running more promotions in people’s Snap DMs, which will either reduce their effectiveness (because people will get used to skimming over such offers) or turn people against them, if there are too many.

But at the same time, Snapchat needs more revenue, and given the response data above, it does seem like inbox ads could be an opportunity.

I don’t know how viable, or valuable they’ll be longer term, but Snap is keen to get more brands on board.