UNIVERSITEIT GENT
FACULTEIT ECONOMIE EN BEDRIJFSKUNDE
ACADEMIEJAAR 2015 – 2016
INTEGRATING SNAPCHAT IN
COMPANIES’ MARKETING STRATEGY
Masterproef voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van
Master of Science in de Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen
Paul De Grave
onder leiding van
Prof. Dr. Dirk Van den Poel
Matthias Bogaert
UNIVERSITEIT GENT
FACULTEIT ECONOMIE EN BEDRIJFSKUNDE
ACADEMIEJAAR 2015 – 2016
INTEGRATING SNAPCHAT IN
COMPANIES’ MARKETING STRATEGY
Masterproef voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van
Master of Science in de Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen
Paul De Grave
onder leiding van
Prof. Dr. Dirk Van den Poel
Matthias Bogaert
PERMISSION
Ondergetekende verklaart dat de inhoud van deze masterproef mag geraadpleegd
en/of gereproduceerd worden, mits bronvermelding.
Naam student: Paul De Grave
Samenvatting
Sociale media zijn de voorbije jaren een steeds grotere rol gaan spelen in ons dagelijkse leven
en zijn bijgevolg ook een steeds belangrijker element geworden van de marketingstrategie van
bedrijven. Terwijl de focus zowel bij bedrijven als in de literatuur vaak op Facebook en Twitter
valt, blijven andere populaire sociale media zoals Snapchat op de achtergrond. Met deze
masterproef trachten wij een verkennend beeld te schetsen van het potentieel en de praktische
toepassingen van Snapchat als een marketinginstrument.
We starten onze literatuurbespreking met de veranderende kenmerken van de consumenten en
enkele verkennende cijfers in verband met Snapchat. Vervolgens bespreken we
achtereenvolgens de bestaande literatuur in verband met social media marketing, het gebruik
van sociale media bij het onderhouden van klantrelaties en we bespreken hoe men de return on
investment van social media marketing campagnes kan berekenen. De literatuurbespreking
focust op het doortrekken van bestaande inzichten richting Snapchat marketing. Vervolgens
worden succesvolle voorbeelden van het gebruik van Snapchat als marketinginstrument per
gebruikte methode (Tabel 3) opgelijst (Tabel 1) en besproken.
Na het beschrijven van de methodologie die gebruikt werd bij het verzamelen en analyseren
van de consumentenpercepties bespreken we de resultaten.
We vonden in ons onderzoek dat Snapchat nog steeds hoofdzakelijk door jongeren (<26j)
gebruikt wordt, wat hen meteen tot de ideale doelgroep voor marketingacties maakt. Minder dan
de helft van de respondenten stond initieel open voor communicatie met bedrijven via
Snapchat. Bijna drie op de vier zonder interesse veranderden echter van mening wanneer er
financiële voordelen aan te pas zouden komen. Resultaten van ons onderzoek wezen ook uit
dat het delen van exclusieve beelden via Snapchat de populairste van de onderzochte
marketing methodes was. Reclame daarentegen wordt helemaal niet positief aanzien.
Respondenten vonden het geen geschikte marketing methode om op Snapchat te gebruiken.
Wat de industrieën (Tabel 3) betreft, blijken sportploegen en ‘TV en media’ de best geschikte
industrieën voor Snapchat marketing, terwijl ‘voeding en drank’ niet geschikt bevonden werd.
Significante verschillen werden ook vastgesteld wanneer de specifieke combinaties van
industrieën en methodes onderzocht werden. Dit wijst er op dat bedrijven steeds goed moeten
onderzoeken of een Snapchat marketing methode wel bij hun bedrijf en activiteiten past.
Afgesloten werd er met enkele praktische tips voor marketing managers op basis van deze
studie en het bespreken van de beperkingen van dit onderzoek en de mogelijkheden tot verder
onderzoek.
Preface
I would like to take this opportunity to thank several people for making this dissertation possible
and for facilitating this valuable learning experience.
First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Dirk Van den Poel for supporting my choice to research
Snapchat marketing. I would also like to thank Matthias Bogaert for his valuable feedback
through the writing of this dissertation.
I would like to express my gratitude to my dad for his extensive feedback on both the content
and the shape of this dissertation and to my mom for providing me the ideal environment to
work on this research.
Finally, I would like to thank my friends for their continued support and all participants in the
survey for taking the time to answer the extensive questionnaire thoroughly.
I Table of Contents
Preface ......................................................................................................................................... I
List of abbreviations and Latin terms used ............................................................................ IV
List of figures.............................................................................................................................. V
List of tables .............................................................................................................................. VI
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2
1. Literature review..................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Consumer characteristics ............................................................................................... 3
1.1.1 General ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.1.2 Snapchat ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Social media marketing ................................................................................................... 5
1.2.1 E-marketing ................................................................................................................. 5
1.2.2 Social media ................................................................................................................ 5
1.2.3 Interacting with consumers .......................................................................................... 6
1.3 Social customer relationship management ................................................................... 8
1.4 Return on investment .................................................................................................... 10
1.5 Snapchat marketing methods ....................................................................................... 11
1.5.1 Snapchat features ..................................................................................................... 11
1.5.2 Marketing methods .................................................................................................... 11
1.5.2.1 Viral marketing:................................................................................................... 13
1.5.2.2 Celebrity endorsement ....................................................................................... 14
1.5.2.3 Contests ............................................................................................................. 16
1.5.2.4 Advertising .......................................................................................................... 17
1.5.2.5 Coupons ............................................................................................................. 19
1.5.2.6 Exclusive footage ............................................................................................... 20
1.6 Signs of Snapchat’s rising image ................................................................................. 21
1.7 Research questions ....................................................................................................... 23
2. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 24
2.1 Data .................................................................................................................................. 24
2.2 Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 24
2.3 Variables ......................................................................................................................... 26
2.4 Analytical techniques .................................................................................................... 28
II 3. Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................... 30
3.1 Target audience .............................................................................................................. 30
3.2 Motivation for brand relationship ................................................................................. 31
3.3 Ad tolerance .................................................................................................................... 32
3.4 Marketing methods ........................................................................................................ 32
3.5 Industries ........................................................................................................................ 34
3.6 Marketing method – Industry combinations ................................................................ 36
3.6.1 Viral marketing .......................................................................................................... 36
3.6.2 Celebrity endorsement .............................................................................................. 36
3.6.3 Contests .................................................................................................................... 37
3.6.4 Coupons .................................................................................................................... 38
3.6.5 Advertising ................................................................................................................. 39
3.6.6 Exclusive footage ...................................................................................................... 39
3.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 41
4 Managerial implications........................................................................................................ 42
5 Limitations and future research........................................................................................... 44
References ................................................................................................................................ 46
Popular media references ................................................................................................... 50
Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... i
Appendix 1: Questionnaire ..................................................................................................... i
III List of abbreviations and Latin terms used
Abbreviation et al. infra supra e.g. snap TV ad bn USA etc. CRM ROI Meaning And others Discussed further on in the dissertation Already discussed earlier in the dissertation Example given An image or video sent by one Snapchat user to one or more Television Advertisement Billion United States of America Et cetera / and other things Customer relationship management Return on investment IV List of figures
Figure 1: Snapchat U.S. user demographic (Snapchat, 2016) .................................................... 4
Figure 2: Teen Snapchat involvement in multiple countries (eMarketer, 2015) ........................... 4
Figure 3: Web 2.0 applications as marketing tools (Constantinides, 2014) ................................. 6
Figure 4: Eight success criteria for Facebook page marketing (Owyang, Tran, & Webber, 2010)
............................................................................................................................................. 7
Figure 5: Snapchat monthly active users (Business Insider, 2014) ........................................... 22
Figure 6: Wall Street Journal Snapcode as their Twitter profile picture ..................................... 22
Figure 7: Snapchat account by age (respondents) .................................................................... 30
Figure 8: Willingness to interact with companies on Snapchat by frequency of use .................. 31
V List of tables
Table 1: Overview of marketing methods and cases ................................................................. 12
Table 2: Contest objectives ........................................................................................................ 16
Table 3: Marketing methods and Industries ............................................................................... 25
Table 4: Likert scale meanings and symbols ............................................................................. 26
Table 5: Overview of variables ................................................................................................... 26
Table 6: Consideration of quitting Snapchat if 1 ad per X snaps is introduced .......................... 32
Table 7: Perceived Snapchat suitability of marketing methods .................................................. 33
Table 8: Key values for Snapchat marketing methods ............................................................... 34
Table 9: Perceived Snapchat suitability of industries ................................................................. 34
Table 10: Key values for Snapchat industries ............................................................................ 35
Table 11: Viral marketing - Industry fit........................................................................................ 36
Table 12: Celebrity endorsement - Industry fit ........................................................................... 37
Table 13: Contests - Industry fit ................................................................................................. 38
Table 14: Coupons - Industry fit ................................................................................................. 38
Table 15: Advertising - Industry fit .............................................................................................. 39
Table 16: Exclusive footage - Industry fit ................................................................................... 40
VI Abstract
This study aims to explore the potential of Snapchat as a marketing channel and provide
companies and researchers with preliminary findings on how to exploit Snapchat successfully.
A survey was conducted among 319 Belgians to determine the ideal target group and
consumers’ perceptions about several Snapchat-marketing related subjects. Perceptions about
six possible Snapchat marketing methods, five diverse industries and their respective fit with
one another were investigated using a 7-point Likert scale, a ‘best fit’ indication and further
analyzed using descriptive statistics and χ2-tests. Results suggest that companies should
primarily target people under 26 years of age on Snapchat and should incentivize them to build
a substantial following. Findings also suggest that exclusive footage is the marketing method
perceived as the best fit for Snapchat marketing, while respondents clearly dislike advertising.
Sports teams and ‘TV and media’ brands show the most Snapchat marketing potential of the
selected industries, while ‘food and beverage’ brands are perceived not to be suitable for
Snapchat. This study builds on academic research concerning social media marketing and to
the best of our knowledge is the first research on how to integrate Snapchat marketing in
companies’ broader social media marketing mix.
1 Introduction
Everyday life has changed significantly during the past 10 to 15 years. The rise of the Internet,
mobile phones, mobile data and social media has changed the way we interact (Campbell &
Park, 2008). It hasn’t just changed the way we interact with each other, it has drastically
changed the way we interact with companies and the way we expect companies to interact with
us (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). During the last decade social media has become an important
part of most companies’ marketing mix as a cost-effective way of reaching an audience (Kirtis &
Karahan, 2011). Both research on social media marketing and most companies’ marketing
efforts so far have focused on two platforms though; Facebook and Twitter (Geho & Dangelo,
2012; Ballings, Van den Poel, & Bogaert, 2016). Although their popularity justifies the research
focus, other social media like Snapchat, with its mainly young user base and more than 100
million daily active users (Snapchat, 2016) could have major potential as a marketing tool.
Snapchat marketing’s potential to be very profitable for brands when used creatively has been
demonstrated on multiple occasions (Table 1).
So far however, academic research into Snapchat’s marketing potential is virtually non-existent.
The same can be said of Belgian companies’ attempts at Snapchat marketing.
Despite the success stories of Snapchat in the USA there is a lack of interest to use Snapchat
as a marketing channel in the Belgian marketplace. This is surprising considering the popularity
of Snapchat among young Belgians (Figure 2).
Building on both literature and successful case examples this study is an attempt to start filling
that gap with a survey targeted at the Belgian population. We investigate whether the lack of
Snapchat marketing initiatives in Belgium is due to a lack of public interest and, if not, which
methods and companies users would look more favorable at in terms of Snapchat marketing.
We also research which type of age range companies should target on Snapchat and whether
Snapchat users would stop using the application if ads interrupting their private snaps were
introduced.
This dissertation is structured as follows. First, we elaborate on the existing literature in the field
of social media and discuss Snapchat marketing cases. Second, we describe the methodology
used in conducting the research. Third, we discuss the results of the study in detail. Fourth, we
provide some practical guidelines concerning Snapchat marketing for marketing managers
based on the results of this study. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our research and provide
researchers a basis for further investigation into Snapchat marketing.
2 1. Literature review
1.1 Consumer characteristics
1.1.1 General
A lot has changed since the introduction of the Internet and the wide variety of applications it
supports. By the end of 2015, 3.2 billion of the 7.2 billion people worldwide were using the
Internet, while there were 7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions (International
Telecommunication Union, 2015). Those mobile phones are increasingly used as more than just
phones, especially in the USA and Europe (International Telecommunication Union, 2015).
The increase in smartphone and tablet ownership and usage has made social networking sites
an integral part of our everyday life. The Deloitte 2015 Global Mobile Consumer Survey
revealed that consumers are increasingly connected and the use of mobile devices isn’t limited
to specific times of the day or specific activities, especially for the youngest age group
considered (18-24)(Deloitte, 2015).
The change in consumer behavior demands a response in marketing considerations. People
should be reached where they are and where they’re actually paying attention. With the clear
tendency of increased Internet and smartphone usage, smartphones and more importantly their
online applications present an important new challenge but also new marketing opportunities.
1.1.2 Snapchat
In January 2016, Snapchat had approximately 100 million daily users who watched 7 billion
videos a day. The user demographic in the USA (Figure 1) clearly shows that at this time
Snapchat users are overwhelmingly teens and young adults in the USA (Snapchat, 2016).
3 Figure 1: Snapchat U.S. user demographic (Snapchat, 2016)
A GlobalWebIndex study on the other hand revealed that 46% of surveyed Belgian teens in the
16-19 age range were active on Snapchat in the month before they were surveyed (eMarketer,
2015). As evidenced by Figure 2, that is joint second most of the countries listed and even more
than in the USA.
Figure 2: Teen Snapchat involvement in multiple countries (eMarketer, 2015)
Snapchat’s young userbase creates the opportunity for brands to use Snapchat as a way to
reach a young population.
4 1.2 Social media marketing
1.2.1 E-marketing
In general, e-marketing represents the use of internet-driven technologies for marketing
purposes (Gilmore, Gallagher, & Henry, 2007). This is usually a two-way communication, as
both the customers and the companies can send and receive information (Brodie, Winklhofer,
Coviello, & Johnston, 2007). Their study also found a strong positive relationship between the
penetration of e-marketing and companies’ performances (Brodie et al, 2007). This encouraged
the idea of implementing new interactive technology-based marketing initiatives.
When comparing e-marketing to traditional marketing, immediacy is an important advantage
(Salehi, Mirzaei, Aghaei, & Abyari, 2012). The disappearance of time between the company
sending out its messages or advertising and the consumer receiving it offers a lot of
opportunities. Companies are able to communicate with their customers in real-time and can
respond immediately to actual events. With that increased flexibility comes of course the
challenge of avoiding mistakes, as time to check the message will often be limited.
According to Molenaar (2013), e-marketing has accentuated the shift in focus from a salesoriented marketing focus to a relationship focus, where sales become a result of superior
relationship management. This is significant as social media’s characteristics offer a lot of
potential for relationship building between a company and its customers.
1.2.2 Social media
Hennig-Thurau, Hofacker and Bloching (2013) interestingly compare the rise of social media in
marketing to the change from bowling to pinball marketing. They argue that the controlled
marketing flow to consumers has shifted to a chaotic pinball-effect where all marketing content
is subject to lots of interactions. With most people being connected through social networks,
they have the ability to take control of marketing content and its intended message (O’Brien,
2011; Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013). This makes social media a hybrid
component of the promotion mix since it includes 2 different roles: company-to-consumer
communication and brand- or product related communication between consumers (Mangold &
Faulds, 2009).
Whereas word-of-mouth has always been very important to companies, social media has
brought its influence to a whole new level. Thanks to social media, a single consumer’s opinion
or experience has the potential to go viral and influence millions of others. The result is that
nowadays companies should not only get their own communications right, but should also try to
5 influence communication between consumers. This is also evidenced by Foux’s study (as cited
in Mangold & Faulds, 2009), which found that consumers consider social media a more reliable
source of information about products and services than one-way communication originating
from the company. Consequently, the way companies shape or influence those discussions is
an integral part of the marketing department’s job (Gensler et al., 2013).
Another study also reveals that these communications have a positive effect on brand equity,
value equity and relationship equity (Kim & Ko, 2012), showing that consumers can be
successfully reached using social media channels.
Social media has become a marketing channel not only because of its reach, but also due to its
cost-effective nature. Following the economic recession of 2008, companies considered social
media a great tool to keep reaching target markets while keeping costs minimal (Kirtis &
Karahan, 2011). Since Snapchat -created in 2011- is an exclusively mobile application, shared
videos and images are usually not of TV broadcast quality, making the cost of entry for brands
very low. The important part then is the way brands use the application to communicate with
consumers and provide them with relevant content.
1.2.3 Interacting with consumers
When done right, social media marketing can positively influence brand loyalty. Two important
characteristics of social media marketing campaigns that enhance brand loyalty are that the
campaign has to be advantageous and that the content should be relevant to the customer
(Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012).
Figure 3: Web 2.0 applications as marketing tools (Constantinides, 2014)
XXX = Very suitable, XX = Moderately suitable, X = Less suitable, Blank = Not suitable
6 Constantinides’ research (2014) focuses on finding successful combinations of types of online
applications and marketing objectives. Snapchat can be seen as both a content community and
a social network, making these two the most important application types in Figure 3. While
Constantinides (2014) regards content communities and social networks as decent channels for
companies to distribute promotional content in a cost-effective way, he doesn’t consider them
suitable to successfully use the new influencers. He only considers blogs and forums a fit for
this particular objective (Constantinides, 2014), even though there are many new influencers
active on social media (infra).
Even though there are some significant differences between Snapchat and Facebook that have
to be addressed, Facebook is the closest social media comparison for marketing purposes. The
8 success criteria for Facebook page marketing listed in Figure 4 (Owyang, Tran, & Webber,
2010) can serve as a starting point for Snapchat marketing practices. Since they don’t take the
uniqueness of the medium into account, some criteria will probably need to be modified to take
full advantage of Snapchat’s potential. Creating a dialog for instance would be more difficult on
Snapchat and peer-to-peer interactions, even if enabled, would be difficult to track or measure.
The authenticity on the other hand would be very important, but should be adapted to
Snapchat’s and its users’ characteristics.
Figure 4: Eight success criteria for Facebook page marketing (Owyang, Tran, & Webber, 2010)
High vividness and medium interactiveness of the messages (contests for example) have also
shown to be significant influences on consumers’ liking of brand posts (de Vries, Gensler, &
Leeflang, 2012) while images in Facebook brand posts are more effective in generating
consumer engagement than video and far more effective than text (Brookes, 2010). While we
7 can expect high vividness to be a success factor on Snapchat, we doubt images would be a
better fit than videos for creating engagement on Snapchat.
An important risk that companies should take into account when managing their social media
profiles is to not exaggerate the number of updates in their content stream. The content sent out
should be relevant and sharing too often might make customers grow tired of the brand’s social
media page and its updates (Gangemi, 2011).
1.3 Social customer relationship management
Customer relationship management (CRM) has been an important part of the companycustomer dynamic for some time as companies realized the relationship with their main
stakeholder should be managed. Whereas traditional CRM usually was a one-way
communication meant to foster relationships with customers in a bid to retain them, social
media has changed this dynamic (Faase, Helms, & Spruit, 2011). Social media has altered the
power structure of the relationship between brands and its customers, with customers now
being the ones in control (Berthon, Pitt, Plangger, & Shapiro, 2012; Woodcock, Green, &
Starkey, 2011; Heller Baird & Parasnis, 2011). This development has seen many argue that
traditional CRM is not up-to-date anymore and that social media and CRM should be combined
in an integrated social customer relationship management concept (Malthouse, Haenlein,
Skiera, Wege, & Zhang, 2013; Woodcock et al., 2011).
The main goal of social CRM is to improve the relationship with customers by leveraging the
two-way communication social media has made possible (Faase et al., 2011) and act more as
partners with mutual value creation in mind (Mosadegh & Behboudi, 2011).
Faase et al. (2011) view social CRM as a four-layered concept; infrastructure, information,
customer management and customer engagement, with each layer building on the previous
one. Customer engagement is the layer where social CRM transcends traditional CRM and twoway communication is established. Malthouse et al. (2013), too, in their ‘social CRM house’, put
information and data at the basis of the social CRM concept. This is where problems may arise
for Snapchat application. In order to use social media effectively in CRM efforts, brands will
need information on their customers. Information they can collect on Facebook and Twitter due
to the abundance of open data and interaction, but information they would lack on the fairly
private and anonymous Snapchat. This begs the question if Snapchat would be a useful part of
a social CRM strategy. Even for more traditional social media efforts, a change in success
8 measurement is needed, since it is difficult to measure causation rather than correlation with
regards to social media actions (Woodcock et al., 2011).
Snapchat’s uniqueness and big and growing user base forces brands to get creative in building
relationships through the medium. While competitors Facebook and Twitter are clearly better
suited for customer service and text-communication in general, Snapchat could have an edge in
one important part: delivering engaging content to consumers. Sharing content, instead of
sharing messages with the sole purpose of selling, has major potential in marketing (Malthouse
et al., 2013) and may be a niche for Snapchat in social CRM. The content can be for
informational, entertainment or educational purposes and when done adequately can build
customer relations with sales and customer advocacy as a result (Woodcock et al., 2011).
Snapchat’s advantage in delivering content lies in its less formal and less professional style of
communication, which would allow them to share content that may not be deemed professional
enough for Twitter or Facebook (lower camera quality for example) but may bring consumers
closer to the brand because of a perceived higher level of authenticity.
Since Snapchat’s potential for two-way communication with followers is hampered by the selfdestructing nature of snaps, its part in the social CRM strategy should be limited to a supporting
role in an integrated social media mix. Between the lack of customer data and the limits of
interaction, Snapchat misses all but the ‘customer management’ layer in Faase et al. (2011)
definition of social CRM (a layer which would not properly function without the underlying ones)
and seems not suited to be an important part of social CRM. It might be useful in creating crossplatform relationship building though (e.g. urging followers to share their opinion or snapscreenshots on Twitter and Facebook). By sharing relevant and unique content, it can create
value for customers. This is the main purpose of the customer-oriented social CRM (Woodcock
et al., 2011). It would also provide brands with more information on their customers (people
carrying out the aforementioned example would show a higher level of brand engagement than
people who just ‘like’ the brand on Facebook).
Even though most researchers and managers focus on the potential of social media as an
improvement on CRM, a study by Heller Baird and Parasnis (2011) suggests that expectations
and reality might not be very similar in terms of social CRM. The study found that companies’
expectation was that consumers wanted to connect with them in their new favorite environment,
while in reality most consumers didn’t really want to engage in communication with brands in
the first place. Even if they did, it was mainly to get a financial advantage (in the form of a
coupon or discount). The main group to target according to Heller Baird and Parasnis’ (2011)
9 study is the small but influential group of ‘engaged authors’ who are the most active on social
media and the most likely to interact with brands. They can spread the brand’s message more
effectively. It’s worth noting that the study took place in 2011 and opinions may have changed,
but it’s important to keep in mind that managers might have an incorrect idea about consumers’
motivations.
In order to establish an informed opinion about social media’s value as a marketing tool, some
measures should be found to calculate its impact.
1.4 Return on investment
Measuring return on investment (ROI) on social media marketing expenses isn’t as clear-cut as
it is for several traditional promotion channels. Hoffman and Fodor (2010) found that ROI on
social media expenses can still be measured, but in a different way. “Instead of calculating the
return on the company’s investment, managers should assess consumer motivations to use
social media and measure the social media investments customers make as they engage with
the marketers’ brands“ (Hoffman & Fodor, 2010, p.41). Measuring customer investment using
different methods - adapted to the respective media- will give companies an idea about the
brand awareness, brand engagement or even word-of-mouth communications they generate.
These can lead to consumer loyalty and long-term payoffs (Hoffman & Fodor, 2010). By
determining the social media influencers relevant to the brand and/or campaign and
engaging/incentivizing them to share positive opinions, word-of-mouth can strongly improve
ROI, revenues and brand awareness (Kumar & Mirchandani, 2012).
For example on Facebook the number of likes and number of comments on Facebook posts are
often considered as metrics of consumer engagement (de Vries et al., 2012). Facebook Page
Insights and comparable statistics collectors for Twitter generate several useful statistics on the
page or message (unique) views, clicks, likes, mentions, etc. which can be used as indicators
for reach, engagement and quality (Geho & Dangelo, 2012).
In Snapchat’s case the number of impressions, the number of followers, the number of
screenshots taken and the number of snaps received are possible measures for consumer
awareness and engagement (for campaigns using company accounts). In terms of advertising
Snapchat recently helped the companies measure their ads’ effectiveness by striking a deal
with Nielsen to generate Nielsen’s digital ad ratings for Snapchat (Ingram, 2016), further
legitimizing Snapchat as a marketing platform worth taking seriously.
10 1.5 Snapchat marketing methods
1.5.1 Snapchat features
In general, Snapchat has four different features companies can use to reach their (potential)
customers:
1) Direct snap: A self-deleting picture or video is sent directly to ‘friends’ of choice.
2) Story: Images and/or videos from the companies’ Snapchat account are displayed in a
chronological order and are available for 24 hours. In contrast to the direct snaps, the
stories can be watched repeatedly in that time frame.
3) Live story: Major events can pay to make a live story, allowing Snapchat users in the
vicinity of the event to send their snaps to be part of the live story. This Story is curated,
so not all snaps will be included in the story visible to all Snapchat users.
4) Discover: Companies –most of the time publishers- make a daily edition of videos,
images, news stories and animations telling their story. Regularly, the full news articles
can be read on Snapchat as well.
The four listed features can be used by companies in multiple, creative ways as part of their
marketing campaign.
1.5.2 Marketing methods
Six different categories are discussed and illustrated with successful cases. As marketing
communications usually work in an integrated manner nowadays, cross-platform campaigns are
certainly possible. Table 1 provides an overview of the different marketing methods and cases
for which Snapchat was successfully used.
11 Table 1: Overview of marketing methods and cases
Marketing method
Cases
ü Audi Snapchat campaign featuring
humorous Superbowl-related snaps
ü UsTrendy using customers and associates
Viral marketing
to enhance brand awareness by going viral
on Snapchat
ü Call Of Duty building anticipation and
guessing on a new game announcement
ü Sour Patch Kids and Vine star Logan Paul
bring candy to life in a 5-day story
ü McDonald’s Bacon Clubhouse Burger gets
promoted by LeBron James.
ü Sphero hires 5 Snapchat influencers to
Celebrity endorsement
promote its new Star Wars toy
ü Snapchat intermediary company Naritiv gets
$3 million investment
ü H&M hides exclusive party tickets and
guides players to them through Snapchat
ü Bicky offers free Bicky Burgers to people
Contests
completing daring challenges
ü Heineken, Southampton Football Club and
others organize treasure hunts with
Snapchat clues
ü 10 second promotional Jim Beam video
ü Shoe brand Sperry advertises on fashion
magazine Cosmopolitan’s Discover channel
ü Lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret advertises
Advertising
its upcoming TV show on the same day on
Snapchat with teaser videos
ü Entertainment brands advertise on Discover
with a 10 second teaser that can lead to fulllength trailer
12 ü 16 Handles offers a variable discount in
exchange for snaps of people with their
frozen yogurt
Coupons
ü The Co-operative Electrical gives a £30-offon-laptops coupon to anyone adding them
on Snapchat
Ø Fashion and cosmetics companies show
previews of new collection
Ø MTV shares behind-the-scenes footage of
TV-shows
Exclusive footage
Ø Lots of sports teams share exclusive player
and game footage
1.5.2.1 Viral marketing:
Viral marketing is characterized by the importance of word-of-mouth in spreading marketing
content through interactive technologies, trying to generate an explosive growth in content
awareness (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). People’s social networks provide a valuable opportunity
for marketers to turn every customer/follower into a marketer for the brand/product (De Bruyn &
Lilien, 2008). The rise of social media has made word-of-mouth even more valuable since
people often share their opinions and feelings with all friends at once and in some cases even
with the whole world.
In contrast to the other marketing methods, which also have to keep track of word-of-mouth
implications, word-of-mouth is the primary focus of a viral marketing campaign.
Cases:
Ø One of the major breakthroughs for Snapchat as a marketing platform took place during
the 2014 Superbowl, arguably the USA’s most popular sporting event. Audi enlisted the
help of the creators behind popular satirical magazine The Onion to send humorous
Superbowl-related pictures and captions to their followers during the game. The
campaign was a big success; apart from a major increase in Snapchat followers, the
snaps created a buzz around Audi that spread to other social media like Twitter and
Facebook. Reportedly, a third of Audi’s online mentions during the Superbowl were
linked to their low-cost Snapchat campaign, an incredible achievement when taking the
13 cost of a Superbowl TV-ad (which Audi also had) into account (Digital Training
Academy, 2015-c). With their campaign, Audi proved that Snapchat has the potential to
be a cost-effective platform to generate publicity and exposure, while also inspiring
positive feelings about the brand in younger potential customers.
Ø UsTrendy, a relatively small fashion e-commerce, used their customers to spread
Snapchat promo codes and pictures to their friends, in a successful attempt to go viral.
The company went through a massive revenue growth (300% year-on-year) and
credited Snapchat and its word-of-mouth potential with an important contribution to the
growth (Angeles, 2014).
Ø Call Of Duty first integrated their Snapcode in the design of the older Black Ops 2 game
to encourage gamers to add them on Snapchat. Later, they sent out a few short, cryptic
videos on their Snapchat account (Johnson, 2015). Integrating their Snapcode in a
game’s design and teasing Snapchat followers with mysterious videos sparked a lot of
guessing in the community in anticipation of a major announcement. The Snapchat
campaign went viral and made sure the hype was already present before the actual
announcement.
1.5.2.2 Celebrity endorsement
The use of celebrities in marketing campaigns has been popular for a long time. With regards to
Snapchat marketing and social media marketing in general, two slightly different categories can
be distinguished: traditional celebrities and social media celebrities. Traditional celebrities have
become famous in all kinds of industries, while social media celebrities are mostly regular
people who’ve built a huge following on different social media channels.
Clark and Hortsman’s research (as cited in Khatri, 2006) found that a product-ad containing a
celebrity will typically generate more sales and be valued higher than a celebrity-free ad of a
competing product. Research by Till, Stanley and Priluck (as cited in Spry, Pappu, & Cornwell,
2011) confirmed this with their findings that celebrity endorsement has a positive effect on
consumer attitudes concerning the brand, which is a major reason for the frequent use of
celebrities in marketing campaigns.
According to the match-up hypothesis however, not all celebrity endorsements are equally
successful. The ‘fit’ between the celebrity and the endorsed brand has a significant influence on
its effectiveness (Till & Busler, 1998). Choi and Rifon’s (2012) research also found that the
congruence between consumer self-image and celebrity image is important, as a similar image
14 leads to greater purchase intentions. As a result, a lot of thought should be put into the search
for a suitable celebrity, who not only represents the product/brand’s values, but also appeals to
the target audience on a personal level.
Social media celebrities on the other hand are also called ‘social media influencers’, as they
often have the ability to shape the attitudes of their significant online following using blogs,
tweets and other social media features (Freberg, K., Graham, McGaughey, & Freberg, L, 2010).
The relevant influencers should be integrated in the companies’ social media strategy to track
the public opinion (Booth & Matic, 2011) or steer the public opinion. When the latter is used,
ethical questions may be asked, so it might be best to disclose any financial incentive given to
the social media influencer(s). Snapchat stars are often paid by companies to either send out
promotional snaps for the brand/product from their own account or ‘take over’ the brand’s
account and post snaps. Since social media stars are often viewed by the public as more equal
to them than celebrities in the traditional sense, their endorsement could have a more positive
effect. Some ethical questions arise with this method though. Not all followers will understand
that the social media star is paid to promote the product or brand, rather than spreading his/her
own opinions. Users making commercial profits on their accounts is forbidden by the Snapchat
user agreement, but to date this rule hasn’t been enforced.
Cases:
Ø Sour Patch Kids, a candy brand, had Logan Paul -a man who’s become famous and
very popular on Vine and other social media platforms- take over their Snapchat account
for 5 days. He helped them create a story revolving around the brand’s candy, using a
life-sized candy bear. Among other things, the campaign generated 120.000 new
followers for the Sour Patch Kids account and over 26.000 screenshots (Digital Training
Academy, 2015-b). It was the perfect medium for Sour Patch Kids to reach its target
audience of teens, while using a social media star to do so minimized any risk.
Ø McDonald’s hired LeBron James and other sport stars to promote its new Bacon
Clubhouse Burger in a Snapchat video (Simpson, 2015). Their Snapchat account also
gave a look behind-the-scenes of the filming of their TV-ads, including major stars.
Ø Sphero, a toy company that developed a new Star Wars toy, launched an indirect
Snapchat marketing campaign using five ‘influencers’. Naritiv, a company specializing in
being the link between companies and suitable influencers for their Snapchat
campaigns, picked five Snapchat endorsers for Sphero. These five had the opportunity
to use the toy before its launch and post the videos of their experience to their followers.
15 The campaign generated 10 million views in the first 24 hours and the toy was sold out
in no time all over the world (Shields, 2015).
Ø The above-mentioned Naritiv recently got a new $3 million investment from venture
capitalists. Naritiv brings popular Snapchat users in contact with companies running a
Snapchat campaign suitable to their following. In most cases, the influencers specify to
their following that they get paid for their part in the campaign, taking away some of the
ethical concerns (Lafferty, 2016).
1.5.2.3 Contests
A consumer contest is a marketing method in which participants have the chance to win a
certain prize if they perform better than their competitors (Liu, Geng, & Whinston, 2007).
Feinman, Blashek, McCabe and Kotler’s study found that contests have the potential to
significantly improve consumer involvement (as cited in Liu et al., 2007).
Contests on Snapchat typically have a triple objective:
Table 2: Contest objectives
Objective
Engaging consumers in the contest
Reason
Can improve consumer involvement (Liu,
et al., 2007)
Contests and prizes attract participants
and watchers, which can increase the
Increasing the number of
followers/friends
companies’ Snapchat following. If the
new followers are retained after the
contest has ended, later marketing
campaigns will profit from a bigger reach
thanks to the contest.
Creative and successful contests often
go viral (supra) and can reach
Media exposure
mainstream media. The resulting ‘free’
media exposure could improve brand
awareness and image in a cost-effective
manner.
16 Cases:
Ø As early as May 2014, H&M used Snapchat to create a prize-hunt in Poland. H&M
partnered with renowned party organizer Boiler Room and hid tickets for 2 sold-out
parties in their stores. Their Snapchat-account sent out snaps containing clues as to
where people could find the tickets. Even though the ‘direct’ exposure was fairly modest
(reportedly a gain of 943 Snapchat followers and 200 participants in the game), the total
(positive) media coverage made it a success with 3.8 million unique people reached
(Digital Training Academy, 2015-a).
Ø Belgian hamburger brand Bicky hired a marketing company to promote its Bicky Burger
on Snapchat. Although it wasn’t a contest in the traditional sense, participants got the
chance to win a free Bicky Burger. 2 people went on a tour of Belgium’s cities and gave
away free Bicky burgers to people completing certain daring challenges or accepting
proposed trades. The encounters were filmed and sent to all the BickyTV followers on
Snapchat. A special ‘Bicky sweater’ was made to help generate buzz (Serrure, 2015).
Ø Other large companies including beer brand Heineken and English football club
Southampton FC also used Snapchat to give clues for a prize-hunt and inspire
consumer engagement in their contest (Moth, 2015).
1.5.2.4 Advertising
Advertising is a broad concept and has several types of application. As Snapchat advertising is
a very specific topic, a general definition of advertising can be used as a starting point.
Advertising is defined by Kotler and Armstrong (2010, p88) as “any paid form of nonpersonal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor’”.
Since Snapchat is still figuring out ways to monetize advertisement without disturbing its users,
only two real advertising options are currently available.
1) ‘Live stories’ is the only feature where users have to deal with typical ads. Companies
buying the ad ‘space’ can make sure the product they’re advertising matches well with
the event the live story is covering.
2) Companies can also advertise on a specific Discover channel if they make a deal with
Snapchat and/or the company owning the channel (O’Brien, 2015).
17 By limiting the ads to the Discover channels and live stories, Snapchat misses out on
advertising revenue from users’ personal communication, but offers its users the possibility of
an ad-free core use.
Since the ad revenue is to be gained from only two features, the ads should be effective to
command a high price. Even though research has shown that the general (US) public doesn’t
like companies storing and using their personal information to provide targeted advertising
(Turow, King, Hoofnagle, Bleakley, & Hennessy, 2009), it is a strong tool for marketers. A study
by Yan et al. (2009) found that behavioral targeting of online ads in a search engine can
increase the click-through-rate by as much as 670%. Personalized advertising on the other
hand can be more effective in generating consumer attention, but can also have negative
results. If the consumer perceives the personal information used in the ad as irrelevant or
intrusive, it results in irritation (Malheiros, Jennett, Patel, Brostoff, & Sasse, 2012).
Since Facebook asks and collects a lot of personal (date of birth, relationship status,
professional status, real name, profile pictures, location, etc.) and behavioral information (likes
and group memberships indicating interests, check-ins indicating places someone goes, etc.),
its potential for targeted and personalized advertising is vast. The behavioral targeting
automatically brings some privacy concerns along though (Malheiros et al., 2012). Facebook
has improved its privacy perception and claims it doesn’t sell personal information to third
parties, but inference from impressions and inference from clicks could be privacy risks as
consumer information could be gathered from the fact that they are targeted by a certain ad
(Korolova, 2010).
In contrast to the glut of information Facebook collects from its users and stores for targeting
use, Snapchat’s business model is based on storing as little user information/content as
possible (as evidenced by the destruction of the snaps). This makes targeted advertising hard
to achieve. Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel stated that he didn’t want his company to be ‘creepy’
anyway (Kulp, 2015), addressing a wide held belief that targeted advertising has a certain
creepiness factor (Malheiros et al, 2012). As a result, only 4 targeting variables are available to
advertisers on Snapchat: gender, location, Discover channel and ‘live story’ program (Snapchat,
2016) effectively pushing advertisers to choose the Discover channel or live story that they
perceive as having the most similar target audience to theirs. To make up for the lower level of
targeting, Snapchat has focused on improving the ads’ effectiveness (with vertical video ads for
example) (Snapchat, 2016).
18 Cases:
Ø Whiskey brand Jim Beam partnered with Snapchat to promote its new flavor, ‘Jim Beam
Apple’. The new product was promoted through various traditional channels as well, but
the Snapchat deal allowed Jim Beam to effectively reach its target group, the Millennials.
During relevant Snapchat live stories, users older than 21 were shown a 10 second
video ad promoting Jim Beam Apple (Jim Beam, 2015).
Ø Shoe brand Sperry partnered with fashion magazine Cosmopolitan to show its video ad
on Cosmopolitan’s Discover channel (O’Brien, 2015). The obvious fit between the shoe
brand and the women-oriented fashion magazine provides an excellent example of the
aforementioned targeting based on a Discover channel’s expected audience
characteristics rather than based on users’ personal information.
Ø When lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret had its Swim Special show airing on CBS, they
used Snapchat to advertise the show through the day using short teaser videos
(O’Brien, 2015). By doing so, they clearly tried to use the immediacy (supra) of the
platform to make Snapchat users aware of and interested in the upcoming show in a
light and fun way.
Ø Several entertainment brands including Activision, Fox and Universal Pictures
advertised their new movie or video game on several Discover channels. Instead of
being limited to solely a 10 second teaser however, the ad included a ‘swipe up’ action
that unlocked the full-length trailer (Johnson, 2016). This new feature allowed users
intrigued by the teaser ad to immediately become more invested in the movie or game
by simply swiping up and watching the full trailer instead of searching for it online
themselves. This is expected to enhance the effectiveness of the ad.
1.5.2.5 Coupons
Traditionally coupons were paper-vouchers, but in light of technological evolution, more and
more digital forms are emerging. Snapchat’s image sharing makes coupon-distribution a real
possibility. Some risks should be taken into account though. Accurately predicting the
redemption rate of coupons has often been a significant problem (De Pelsmacker, Geuens, &
Van Den Bergh, 2013). When companies don’t set a maximum number of participants, the viral
nature of the medium and its users could quickly lead to a high number of coupons being
distributed and used. As a consequence, companies should either limit the coupons’ validity to a
19 certain number of people (e.g. ‘the first X people to react get a discount’) or be fine with an
unpredictable couponing budget.
Several types of couponing are possible:
1) Personal coupon: Sent by the company/brand to a specific ‘friend’ on Snapchat. Is
deleted after 10 seconds and can only be used once.
2) General coupon: A coupon or promo code shared by the brand in a ‘story’. This kind of
promotion can go viral since everyone is typically allowed to take a screenshot of the
snap and share it with friends.
Cases:
Ø 16 Handles, a frozen yogurt chain based in New York, handed out coupons to
consumers who sent them a snap with a picture of their frozen yogurt. The coupons
were sent in a snap and represented a 16%, 50% or even 100% discount (Moth, 2013).
The self-deleting nature of a snap made sure that the coupon couldn’t be shared with
others and that consumers didn’t know the extent of their discount until they opened the
snap at the checkout counter. This was one of the first coupon-diffusing initiatives using
Snapchat in early 2013 and provided an idea for other companies to elaborate on.
Ø The Co-operative Electrical, a British retailer, offered everyone who added them on
Snapchat a £30 discount on laptops. Their action was focused on students (Hunt, 2014),
a group very well represented on Snapchat. This enabled them to reach their target
audience fairly easily.
1.5.2.6 Exclusive footage
The image- and video-sharing capability of Snapchat provides companies with the opportunity
to share footage with their customers. Since consumers readily accept Snapchat’s typical lower
footage quality compared to the high definition footage expected on other channels, other types
of footage become shareable. Behind-the-scenes videos, exclusive previews and live images
are only a few of the possibilities. A basic smartphone is often enough to start running the
account.
20 Cases:
Ø Fashion retailers American Eagle, Whole Hearted Clothing (Moth, 2015), cosmetics
company NARS (Gioglio, 2014) and many others use Snapchat to give their followers a
preview of their new collections and products.
Ø TV channel MTV UK used its Snapchat account to share behind-the-scenes
images/video from their Geordie Shore TV series, a series matching very well with
Snapchat’s user demographic (Moth, 2013).
Ø While most US sports teams have been present on Snapchat with exclusive footage for
a long time, Belgian sports teams haven’t immediately followed that trend. In February
2016, Belgian football team R.S.C. Anderlecht opened a Snapchat account to better
communicate with their younger fans and provide them with a look behind the scenes
(Geypen, 2016). Most other major Belgian teams still haven’t embraced this particular
social network though.
1.6 Signs of Snapchat’s rising image
Since its launch in 2011, Snapchat has gone through a steady but explosive growth in monthly
active users during its first three years (Figure 5) and has reached more than 100 million daily
active users in 2016 (Snapchat, 2016). The explosive growth and popularity didn’t go unnoticed
as competitor Facebook bid $3bn to acquire Snapchat in 2013, a bid that was rejected (Ask,
2013). Since then, Snapchat’s valuation has increased significantly and the latest investments
value the company at $16bn (Solomon, 2016).
Well-respected news distributors including AFP (French Press Agency) and Wall Street Journal
(Figure 6) changed their Twitter profile picture to a snapcode (a unique image that can be used
to add someone on Snapchat) for a lengthy period of time, encouraging cross-platform gains.
Traditional news channel CNN even has its own Discover channel on Snapchat. While this isn’t
proof that Snapchat marketing works or has major potential, it does legitimize it further as a
medium. Since the Wall Street Journal and CNN’s demographic isn’t normally linked to the
Snapchat demographic, their attempts to reach this group show Snapchat’s rising stature. Even
the White House made a Snapchat account to give Americans an exclusive look at their
President’s work (Miller, 2016).
21 Figure 5: Snapchat monthly active users (Business Insider, 2014)
Figure 6: Wall Street Journal Snapcode as their Twitter profile picture
22 1.7 Research questions
In the literature we found that a lot of research has been done into social media marketing and
how to interact with consumers, as well as measuring the ROI for Facebook and Twitter
marketing. We also found that Snapchat’s user base is growing quickly and that even the more
established companies are making sure they have a presence. While the cases show that the
potential for Snapchat marketing exists, virtually no research has been done yet on which
companies have the best chance of success on Snapchat and which marketing methods would
best fit their campaign. Six research questions were formed to investigate and fill those gaps in
the literature.
1. Which kind of people should brands target on Snapchat?
2. Are Snapchat users open to communication with companies on Snapchat and does their
opinion on this topic change when (financial) incentives are involved?
3. How tolerant would Snapchat users be if ads were introduced between their private
snaps?
4. Which Snapchat marketing methods are perceived as the most attractive ones and
which should be avoided?
5. Which industries are best suited for marketing campaigns using Snapchat and which
have low potential?
6. Since marketing methods are often a better fit with certain industries; which
combinations of marketing method and industry show the most promise for Snapchat
marketing?
23 2. Methodology
2.1 Data
The research into how Snapchat could be used successfully for marketing purposes by
companies was conducted using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was spread through social
media including Twitter and Facebook, online message boards and mail. Everyone older than
12 was able to participate in the research. No other restrictions were imposed.
A total of 399 responses were recorded. 80 of those were incomplete and by consequence were
removed and not used in any analysis. 152 participants owned a Snapchat account and were
able to answer the complete questionnaire. The other 167 participants were only able to
complete part of the questionnaire, concerning research question 1.
Of the 319 valid responses, only 112 were female. Although they are under-represented in the
sample compared to the Belgian population, we considered the sample big enough to gain valid
insights, while testing for the possible influence of gender on analysis results. People surveyed
were from different education levels but no equal distribution in age groups was expected.
We know the expected Snapchat age distribution from Figure 1 and previously discussed
several cases in which young people were targeted through Snapchat (supra). Based on these
findings, 18-25 year olds figured to be the most important group to research. Consequently, we
considered it acceptable that this group represents 53.6% of the sample.
No incentives were promised to participants since this could have influenced the characteristics
of the participants and corrupted the results of research question 2.
2.2 Procedure
The questionnaire was pre-tested 3 times by 10 individuals in order to make sure that the
examples listed didn’t influence the results and that participant attention was kept at an
acceptable level through the questionnaire.
The questionnaire began by asking consumers a few demographic questions; gender, age
range, education level and professional occupation.
Next, participants were asked whether they possess a smartphone and a Snapchat account.
Only the participants indicating they were present on Snapchat were able to continue the
questionnaire since we considered this a prerequisite to form a valuable and representative
opinion on Snapchat marketing.
24 Subsequently, their usage frequency and willingness to engage in communication with
companies on Snapchat was tested, as was the influence of potential financial incentives on
consumers indicating they were not willing to engage in communication with companies. Since
competitors like Facebook and Twitter have integrated ads in their users’ timeline and Snapchat
has refrained from doing so due to a fear of losing users, it was also investigated how Snapchat
users would react to advertising between their private snaps. Concretely, they were asked to
indicate at which level of advertising frequency they would consider quitting Snapchat.
The next part of the questionnaire revolved around the consumers’ opinion on marketing
methods’ and industries’ suitability for Snapchat marketing.
Since several of the marketing methods could be unclear to the general public, they were
explained and illustrated with an example of their Snapchat use, while the industries were
explained by listing a few well-known companies or brands that are part of the respective
industries. The industries included in this study were chosen based on the brands and
companies encountered in the discussed cases and on our own discretion. The aim was to
select a mix of industries known for high customer engagement and industries known for lower
customer engagement. On top of that, we also tried to maximize differences in general
perception about the considered industries. By creating a diversified selection of industries, we
hoped to avoid that respondents had the easy choice of simply rating all industries similarly.
Participants were asked to indicate their opinion on the suitability of all listed marketing methods
and industries (Table 3) for Snapchat marketing campaigns on a 7-point Likert scale. They were
also asked to indicate which one was the best fit in general according to them.
Table 3: Marketing methods and Industries
Marketing Methods
Industries
Viral Marketing
Sports teams
Celebrity Endorsement
Clothing
Contests
Food and Beverages
Coupons
TV and Media
Advertising
Toys and Gaming
Exclusive Footage
In order to gain insight in the best combinations of methods and industries, every marketing
method listed in Table 3 was tested separately for their fit with the listed industries. By asking
25 participants to indicate their opinion on the fit between marketing methods and industries on a
7-point Likert scale, we aimed to collect some valuable information concerning the practical
application of these Snapchat marketing methods. Again, participants were also polled
regarding the industry they perceive as most suitable for a certain Snapchat marketing method.
2.3 Variables
All variables collected using the questionnaire were used at some point during the analysis of
the results and are listed in Table 5. The meaning of the values of the 7-point Likert scale used
for most perception-exploring questions is described in Table 4. To simplify reporting of certain
values later on, they will be represented by symbols, which are also listed in Table 4.
Table 4: Likert scale meanings and symbols
Likert scale value
Meaning
Referred to in results as
1
Completely not suitable
---
2
Mostly not suitable
--
3
Rather not suitable
-
4
Neutral
Neutral
5
Rather suitable
+
6
Mostly suitable
++
7
Completely suitable
+++
Table 5: Overview of variables
Category
Demographics
Variable name/type
Gender (dichotomous)
Age (ordinal)
Education (ordinal)
Job (nominal)
Snapchat
SnapchatAccount (dichotomous)
SnapchatFrequency (ordinal)
Brand following
FollowCompanies (dichotomous)
interest
FollowIfIncentive (dichotomous)
Ad tolerance
SnapchatAds (ordinal)
Marketing methods
ViralMarketing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
CelebrityEndorsement (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Contests (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Coupons (7-point Likert, ordinal)
26 Advertising (7-point Likert, ordinal)
ExclusiveFootage (7-point Likert, ordinal)
BestMethod (nominal)
Industries
SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Food_Beverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
TV_Media (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Toys_Gaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
BestIndustry (nominal)
Viral Marketing
Viral_SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Viral_Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Viral_FoodBeverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Viral_TVMedia (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Viral_ToysGaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
ViralBest (nominal)
Celebrity Endorsement
Celeb_SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Celeb_Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Celeb_FoodBeverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Celeb_TVMedia (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Celeb_ToysGaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
CelebrityBest (nominal)
Contests
Contests_SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Contests_Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Contests_FoodBeverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Contests_TVMedia (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Contests_ToysGaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
ContestsBest (nominal)
Coupons
Coupons_SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Coupons_Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Coupons_FoodBeverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Coupons_TVMedia (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Coupons_ToysGaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
CouponsBest (nominal)
Advertising
Advertising_SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Advertising_Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Advertising_FoodBeverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
27 Advertising_TVMedia (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Advertising_ToysGaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
AdvertisingBest (nominal)
Exclusive Footage
Footage_SportsTeams (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Footage_Clothing (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Footage_FoodBeverages (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Footage_TVMedia (7-point Likert, ordinal)
Footage_ToysGaming (7-point Likert, ordinal)
FootageBest (nominal)
2.4 Analytical techniques
Since virtually no academic research on Snapchat marketing and few comparative data are
available, descriptive statistics will be the focal point of the analysis. Percentage distribution will
be the starting point for most of the research questions’ analyses. Since both the demographics
variables and the variables used to measure research question 1-3 are either nominal or
ordinal, Crosstabs will be used with χ2 indicating the possible significance of the relationship
between variables and Cramer’s V indicating the effect size of that association. The χ2 test
measures whether there is a significant difference between the observed frequency distribution
for the combination of two categorical variables and the theoretically expected frequency
distribution. Cramer’s V on the other hand is a necessary complement to the χ2 test as it
measures the strength of the relationship between the two categorical variables without the
sample size influencing the coefficient (which is a flaw of the χ2 coefficient) (U.S. Geological
Survey, 2016).
In the results section we will use Cohen’s interpretation of the effect size (as cited in U.S.
Geological Survey, 2016) measured by Cramer’s V:
-­‐
Small effect (0.1)
-­‐
Medium effect (0.3)
-­‐
Large effect (0.5)
Significance of effects will be interpreted on a 95% confidence level.
All variables used to investigate the last three research questions were directly measured using
a 7-point Likert scale. The Likert scale has caused a lot of discussion in academic circles, most
notably the possibility to use parametric tests on this kind of data (Scales, 2013). We agree with
Boone H. and Boone D. (2012) on this matter and consider Likert items as ordinal variables
28 (while the sum of several Likert items measuring a construct would be considered an interval
variable). By consequence, only non-parametric tests will be used to analyze the variables.
Median and mode will elaborate on the observed frequency/percentage distribution. The median
will give us a first impression of the central tendency of a certain variable. For instance, a
positive (higher than ‘neutral) median would immediately show that more than half of the
participants indicated a positive perception. We consider this a more informative central
tendency measure than the mean when analyzing Likert-type items since it isn’t influenced as
much by the extreme values. The mode will indicate the most popular perception. This might not
always be as important on a 7-point scale since indications of (dis)agreement will be more
divided, but can be striking if the mode turns out to be one of the more extreme values. This
would immediately indicate a strong positive or negative perception. We also considered
calculating and reporting the interquartile range as a measure of variability, but ultimately
decided it didn’t add valuable information and was prone to misleading results when used on a
7-point Likert scale. We considered the percentage distribution to be a more informative
representation of the variability.
A one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test will also be done on the data. The one-sample
Wilcoxon signed-rank test is a non-parametric test that is able to measure whether the median
of our sample significantly differs from a specified value (Boston University School of Public
Health, 2016). By conducting this test we will determine whether the respondents’ –medianperception significantly differs from the ‘neutral’ value. Previously we discussed how the median
could give us a first impression of a positive or negative group perception, this test will help in
determining whether the impression has a significant statistical basis.
29 3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Target audience
In order to reach consumers on Snapchat, it is a prerequisite that they own a Snapchat account.
Overall, 47.6% of people surveyed own a Snapchat account, but further analysis proved that
this is heavily dependent on certain demographics. While gender (χ2 (N = 319) = 3.214, p =
.073) does not have a significant association with respondents having a Snapchat account, age
(χ2 (N = 310) = 92.910, p = .000) clearly has. Our findings (Figure 7) confirm that in terms of age
groups, Belgian Snapchat users surveyed are similar to US Snapchat users (Figure 1) with
respondents aged 18 through 25 far more likely to have a Snapchat account than older ones.
The probability of having a Snapchat account decreases for older age groups. The Cramer’s V
value of 0.547 indicates that age has a large effect on respondents having a Snapchat account.
Since only 9 people aged 13-17 were included in the sample, this age group was not included in
the analysis.
Snapchat account by age 100% 90% 80% 70.18% 70% 60% 50% Yes 40% 29.82% 30% 20% No 12.50% 4.76% 10% 0% 18-­‐25 26-­‐34 35-­‐54 55+ Age Figure 7: Snapchat account by age (respondents)
30 3.2 Motivation for brand relationship
Only 44.08% of surveyed people with a Snapchat account indicated they would be open to
communication with companies on Snapchat. Of the 55.92% of respondents not interested in
that kind of communication, however, 73.81% would change their opinion if there is some kind
of financial incentive involved for following companies on Snapchat. Even though Heller Baird
and Parasnis’ study (2011) on consumer and brand communication on social media took place
when Snapchat didn’t even exist yet, our results are consistent with their findings. The results
indicate that people would not necessarily want to be friends with companies on Snapchat, but
that a lot of them would be interested in connecting when there is something to be gained.
In terms of the willingness to interact with companies on Snapchat without any financial
incentives, no significant difference was found between people younger or older than 25 years
(χ2(N=152) = 1.335, p = .248). The same can be said of gender, which has no significant
relationship at all with the willingness to connect with companies on Snapchat (χ2 (N=152) =
0.137, p = .711).
One variable was found to have a significant influence on the willingness to interact; the
frequency of Snapchat use (χ2 (N=152) = 10.560, p = .014). The effect size of ‘frequency of
Snapchat use’ on the willingness to interact with companies can be considered close to medium
(Cramer’s V = 0.264). The results in Figure 8 show that the more active Snapchat users are
more inclined to build relationships with companies on Snapchat -without being given financial
incentives- than their less active counterparts. Again, these findings are consistent with Hellar
Baird and Parasnis (2011), who considered the ‘engaged authors’ (the most active social media
users) the most important group due to their greater interest in communicating with brands.
Willingness to interact with companies by frequency of use
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
55.38%
44.12%
42.31%
Not interested
Interested
18.52%
Rarely
A few times Once a day Multiple
a week
times a day
Frequency of Snapchat use
Figure 8: Willingness to interact with companies on Snapchat by frequency of use
31 3.3 Ad tolerance
Each business needs to eventually make money to survive and ads have typically been the
most popular way of doing that on social media. Snapchat has limited its advertising to ‘live
stories’ and Discover channels though, leaving private Snapchat activities ad-free (supra). Our
results (Table 6) suggest that this is a good decision on Snapchat’s part. Even though there is
no real consensus on the ad frequency that would make users consider quitting Snapchat, one
in eight surveyed users would quit Snapchat immediately if their private snaps were interrupted
by ads, regardless of the frequency of those ads. Almost half (48.68%) the people surveyed
(and who have a Snapchat account) would have considered quitting Snapchat if they are shown
one ad per every 20 private snaps viewed. Only 3.95% indicated that they would never consider
quitting Snapchat due to advertising.
Table 6: Consideration of quitting Snapchat if 1 ad per X snaps is introduced
X
Immediately
100
50
20
10
5
1
Never
Consider
12.50%
5.26%
9.21%
21.71%
16.45%
23.68%
7.24%
3.95%
12.50%
17.76%
26.97%
48.68%
65.13%
88.81%
96.05%
quitting
Cumulative
3.4 Marketing methods
Belgian Snapchat users taking part in the survey were asked to indicate the perceived suitability
of several marketing methods for Snapchat marketing purposes. The percentage distribution
shown in Table 7 gives an overview of their opinion. The color scale used ranges from dark red,
indicating the lowest value, to dark green, indicating the highest value. The color scale is rowspecific and attempts to indicate trends in the percentage distribution of each marketing
method’s perception. Even though a fairly stable 15-23% of people surveyed went for the
neutral option, it is striking that more than half of the people polled considered viral marketing
(55.29%), celebrity endorsement (55.92%), contests (54.61%) and exclusive footage (61.84%)
a suitable to very suitable marketing method to implement on Snapchat. Advertising on the
other hand proved very unpopular as more than half (53.29%) gave it a negative grade and
more than one in five strongly disliked it; a high percentage considering the central tendency
bias often found in Likert-items (Bertram, 2007).
32 Table 7: Perceived Snapchat suitability of marketing methods
Marketing Methods
---
--
-
Neutral
+
++
+++
Viral Marketing
7.24%
6.58%
11.18%
21.71%
25.00%
19.74%
8.55%
Endorsement
5.92%
9.21%
13.82%
15.13%
24.34%
19.74%
11.84%
Contests
3.95%
7.24%
16.45%
17.76%
25.00%
23.03%
6.58%
Coupons
8.55%
9.87%
15.13%
17.76%
28.29%
12.50%
7.89%
Advertising
21.05%
18.42%
13.82%
22.37%
19.08%
3.95%
1.32%
Exclusive Footage
6.58%
3.95%
7.89%
19.74%
21.05%
23.68%
17.11%
Celebrity
Using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, we compared each marketing method’s responses to the
‘neutral’ benchmark and found that all methods’ median, except for coupons, differed
significantly from the neutral value (Table 8). For viral marketing, celebrity endorsement,
contests and exclusive footage this confirmed that most respondents had a positive perception
of these marketing methods. Advertising was the only marketing method for which the
significant median difference from the neutral value was a negative indication, since it confirmed
the negative perception most Snapchat users surveyed had about this method. Exclusive
footage was considered the most popular possible Snapchat marketing method with both the
mode and the direct preference indicator setting it apart from other positively perceived
methods.
The strong support for exclusive footage as a Snapchat marketing method raises the question
whether Snapchat users regard exclusive footage as enough of an incentive to interact with
brands. Earlier we found that a substantial part of the respondents only considered interacting
with brands when given a financial incentive. The positive perception of exclusive footage might
suggest that getting an exclusive could also be considered an important incentive for Snapchat
users, even if no financial gain is involved.
33 Table 8: Key values for Snapchat marketing methods
Marketing Methods
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon Rank vs Neutral
Preference
Exclusive Footage
+
++
Significant (p=0.000)
31.58%
Endorsement
+
+
Significant (p=0.001)
19.08%
Contests
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
18.42%
Viral Marketing
+
+
Significant (p=0.002)
15.79%
Coupons
Neutral
+
Not significant (p=0.262)
11.84%
Advertising
-
Neutral
Significant (p=0.000)
3.29%
Celebrity
3.5 Industries
Surveyed people clearly see a lot of Snapchat marketing potential in the industries considered
in this study. Except for ‘food and beverages’, companies from all industries were considered
suitable for Snapchat marketing campaigns by most (Table 9). ‘Sports teams’ (69.73%) and ‘TV
and media’ (74.34%) stand out even more with a high level of support and a very low
percentage of people opposed to their Snapchat potential.
Table 9: Perceived Snapchat suitability of industries
Industries
---
--
-
Neutral
+
++
+++
Sports Teams
7.24%
3.95%
9.87%
9.21%
27.63%
26.97%
15.13%
Clothing
5.92%
6.58%
17.76%
11.84%
37.50%
16.44%
3.95%
Beverages
8.55%
12.50%
25.00%
20.39%
22.37%
9.87%
1.32%
TV & Media
4.61%
1.97%
7.89%
11.18%
36.18%
31.58%
6.58%
Toys & Gaming
7.89%
5.92%
17.11%
17.76%
29.61%
17.76%
3.95%
Food &
The Wilcoxon signed-rank test (Table 10) confirmed that all industries evoke a significant and
distinct negative (food and beverages) or positive (sports teams, clothing, TV and media, toys
and gaming) opinion from the general public. The vote on the industry best suited for Snapchat
marketing actions was mostly split between ‘sports teams’ and ‘TV and media’. In combination
34 with their strong overall perception there is enough evidence to consider a Snapchat presence a
must-have for brands from these two industries. The preference –indicating the best fit with
Snapchat marketing- is significantly different for male and female respondents though (χ2
(N=152) = 25.256, p=.000). The relatively strong association between the 2 variables is
evidenced by a Cramer’s V value of 0.408, indicating a medium-to-large effect size. Male
respondents indicated a relative preference for sports teams, while female respondents were –
relatively- more convinced by clothing and ‘TV and media’ as their preferred Snapchat
industries. No significant difference was found when taking age (χ2 (N=152) = 5.253, p=.262) or
the frequency of use (χ2 (N=152) = 8.952, p=.062) into account.
Table 10: Key values for Snapchat industries
Industries
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon Rank vs Neutral
Preference
Sports Teams
5
+
Significant (p=0.000)
38.82%
TV & Media
5
+
Significant (p=0.000)
30.92%
Clothing
5
+
Significant (p=0.005)
15.79%
Toys & Gaming
5
+
Significant (p=0.043)
9.87%
Food & Beverages
4
-
Significant (p=0.019)
4.61%
35 3.6 Marketing method – Industry combinations
3.6.1 Viral marketing
Our findings suggest that viral marketing campaigns on Snapchat would be best suited for
sports teams and ‘TV and media’ brands, while there also is some potential for ‘toys and
gaming’ brands. In contrast to clothing and ‘food and beverages’, most Snapchat users
surveyed considered ‘toys and gaming’ suited for viral marketing, as the Wilcoxon signed-rank
test showed that its median significantly differs from the neutral value (in a positive way).
However, only 9.21% of respondents indicated ‘toys and gaming’ as their best fit for viral
marketing, lowest of all industries (Table 11).
Table 11: Viral marketing - Industry fit
Viral
Not
Marketing
Suited
Neutral
Suited
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon vs Neutral
Best fit
TV & Media
11.84%
21.05%
67.11%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
38.82%
Sports Teams
25.00%
14.47%
60.53%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
32.23%
Food &
Beverages
Not Significant
35.53%
26.97%
37.50%
Neutral
Neutral
(p=0.658)
10.53%
Not Significant
Clothing
31.58%
24.34%
44.08%
Neutral
+
(p=0.154)
9.21%
26.32%
22.37%
51.32%
+
+
Significant (p=0.016)
9.21%
Toys &
Gaming
3.6.2 Celebrity endorsement
Sports teams, clothing brands and TV & media brands could all benefit from using celebrity
endorsement on Snapchat according to our results. For all three, over 60% of respondents
graded their fit with celebrity endorsement positively (Table 12). Opinions on ‘food and
beverage’ brands are more divided, while ‘toys and gaming’ brands are perceived by most not
to be suitable for celebrity endorsement. This is somewhat unexpected since we’ve discussed
how Sphero very successfully used influencers to promote its Star Wars toy. A possible
explanation for this result could be that people still hang on to the traditional meaning of
celebrities and did not consider the social media influencers as celebrities when indicating their
opinion.
36 Table 12: Celebrity endorsement - Industry fit
Celebrity
Not
Endorsement
Suited
Neutral
Suited
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon vs Neutral
Best fit
Sports Teams
18.42%
15.13%
66.45%
+
++
Significant (p=0.000)
34.21%
Clothing
17.76%
17.11%
65.13%
+
++
Significant (p=0.000)
32.24%
TV & Media
17.11%
17.76%
65.13%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
23.03%
Food &
Beverages
Not Significant
34.87%
27.63%
37.50%
Neutral
Neutral
(p=0.891)
7.24%
40.13%
27.63%
32.24%
Neutral
Neutral
Significant (p=0.031)
3.29%
Toys &
Gaming
3.6.3 Contests
All researched industries seem to have some potential for Snapchat contests usage. Food &
beverages brands might need some more creativity though, since the overall opinion isn’t as
positive as it is for other industries considered (Table 13). Even though the opinion on sports
teams in general does not significantly differ from neutral, it is striking that it still generates the
highest ‘best fit’ rate. Since contests’ success is based more on active participants rather than
on passive followers, it is a positive sign that all five industries are preferred by at least 14% of
the respondents.
There are some significant differences based on gender (χ2 (N=152) = 13.121, p=.011) though,
as male respondents prefer the fit between Snapchat contests and sports teams, while female
respondents are less enthusiastic about that prospect, but in comparison would prefer clothing
brands’ and ‘food and beverage’ brands’ contests more than their male counterparts.
With a Cramer’s V value of 0.294, we find that gender has a medium effect on the contestindustry best fit.
37 Table 13: Contests - Industry fit
Not
Contests
Suited
Neutral
Suited
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon vs Neutral
Best fit
Not Significant
Sports Teams
34.21%
13.16%
52.63%
+
+
(p=0.053)
25.00%
Gaming
16.45%
14.47%
69.08%
+
++
Significant (p=0.000)
24.34%
TV & Media
29.61%
19.74%
50.66%
+
+
Significant (p=0.018)
21.05%
Clothing
26.32%
17.76%
55.92%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
15.13%
Toys &
Food &
Beverages
Not Significant
34.87%
19.74%
45.39%
Neutral
+
(p=0.161)
14.47%
3.6.4 Coupons
Results for Snapchat coupons are very clear. Clothing and ‘food and beverage’ brands in
particular are perceived as very suitable for this kind of marketing action (Table 14). Toys &
gaming brands also have some potential to be successful with coupons, but respondents clearly
do not see an opportunity for sports teams or ‘TV and media’ brands to successfully use
Snapchat coupons as part of their marketing strategy. Results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test
confirm that coupons are seen as a polarizing method. Perceptions about all five industries
clearly differ significantly from the neutral value, with only sports teams and ‘TV and media’
evoking a negative general perception.
Table 14: Coupons - Industry fit
Not
Coupons
Suited
Neutral
Suited
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon vs Neutral
Best fit
Beverages
19.74%
9.21%
71.05%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
42.11%
Clothing
13.81%
9.21%
76.97%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
33.55%
Gaming
23.68%
17.76%
58.55%
+
+
Significant (p=0.000)
10.53%
TV & Media
53.95%
21.71%
24.34%
-
-
Significant (p=0.000)
7.89%
Sports Teams
55.92%
18.42%
25.66%
-
-
Significant (p=0.000)
5.92%
Food &
Toys &
38 3.6.5 Advertising
We already found that Snapchat advertising in general was not a popular marketing method and
that finding was confirmed for all the separate industries (Table 15). For sports teams and ‘toys
and gaming’ brands in particular, advertising is a strongly disliked method, evidenced by the
most negative indication possible being the mode for both industries. Considering the possible
effect of the central tendency bias (Bertram, 2007) and the low number of respondents in this
category for other marketing methods, it is obvious that Snapchat advertising should be avoided
by companies in these two industries. The other three industries might have more of a chance,
but due to the general dislike of advertising and the less than enthusiastic response for even the
most suitable industry considered, companies will have to be very creative in their advertising
messages to successfully reach a broad public.
Table 15: Advertising - Industry fit
Not
Advertising
Suited
Neutral
Suited
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon vs Neutral
Best fit
TV & Media
44.74%
14.47%
40.79%
Neutral
+
Significant (0.003)
32.89%
Clothing
39.47%
15.13%
45.39%
Neutral
+
Not Significant (0.062)
26.97%
43.42%
17.76%
38.82%
Neutral
+
Significant (0.003)
19.08%
Gaming
46.71%
18.42%
34.87%
Neutral
---
Significant (0.000)
13.16%
Sports Teams
60.53%
19.74%
19.74%
-
---
Significant (0.000)
7.89%
Food &
Beverages
Toys &
3.6.6 Exclusive footage
Earlier findings showed that exclusive footage is the most suitable Snapchat marketing method
in general, but when taking specific industries into account we find major differences concerning
its perceived suitability. While results for sports teams and ‘TV and media’ companies prove that
a Snapchat presence with exclusive footage is close to indispensable for companies in these
industries, the fit with ‘food and beverage’ brands is perceived significantly negative (Table 16).
With only 8.55% of people surveyed considering ‘TV and media’ brands not suited for Snapchat
marketing campaigns, it is safe to say that introducing a Snapchat account and sharing
previews and exclusive content on it would be a low-risk and popular move. For the two most
suitable industries (and others), gender makes a significant difference (χ2 (N=152) = 26.102,
p=.000) with male respondents clearly preferring sports teams and ‘toys and gaming’ brands
relative to their female counterparts. The female respondents on the other hand prefer ‘TV and
39 media’ (52.5% of them) as the best fit. The effect from gender on the exclusive footage –
industry best fit can be described as medium-to-strong (Cramer’s V = 0.414).
A surprising finding is the lack of support for clothing brands’ potential for using exclusive
footage on Snapchat. Several international fashion retailers have used Snapchat already to
share previews of their new products (supra) with their followers. Our results suggest a largely
indifferent opinion on those from surveyed Belgian Snapchat users though. This could either
mean that they don’t consider Snapchat to be a good channel to share this exclusive or that
most surveyed people care little about new clothing products/exclusives in general.
‘Toys and gaming’ brands are also perceived by most as being suitable for exclusive footage
sharing on Snapchat.
Table 16: Exclusive footage - Industry fit
Exclusive
Not
Footage
Suited
Neutral
Suited
Median
Mode
Wilcoxon vs Neutral
Best fit
Sports Teams
19.74%
8.55%
71.71%
++
+++
Significant (p=0.000)
40.79%
TV & Media
8.55%
7.89%
83.55%
++
++
Significant (p=0.000)
34.87%
25.66%
17.76%
56.58%
+
++
Significant (p=0.000)
11.84%
Toys &
Gaming
Not Significant
Clothing
36.18%
20.39%
43.42%
Neutral
Neutral
(p=0.395)
7.24%
48.68%
25.00%
26.32%
Neutral
Neutral
Significant (p=0.002)
5.26%
Food &
Beverages
40 3.7 Conclusion
By conducting this research we aimed to provide a better understanding of consumers’ opinions
on several matters related to Snapchat marketing. Research questions discussed ranged from
investigating who could be targeted using Snapchat, to exploring which marketing methods,
industries and combinations of both would be most suitable for Snapchat marketing.
We found strong evidence that Snapchat is still primarily a medium used by young people
(mostly under 26 years of age). They figure to be the target group for most Snapchat marketing
campaigns in the near future. Our research suggested that companies who want to use
Snapchat as a marketing platform will likely have to offer consumers an incentive though. Only
44.08% of respondents would consider following companies without any mention of incentives.
However, almost three out of four respondents not considering it initially would change their
mind if financial incentives are involved.
When looking at consumers’ perceptions about selected Snapchat marketing methods (Table 3)
in general, we found that most had a positive perception about all methods except for
advertising and coupons. Exclusive footage was clearly regarded as the most suitable method
by respondents. The clear lack of support for advertising on Snapchat was also evidenced by
the amount of respondents that would consider quitting Snapchat if their private snaps were to
be interrupted by ads. One in eight would even quit Snapchat immediately, regardless of the
frequency of ads.
We also researched consumers’ perceptions concerning the Snapchat marketing suitability of
five selected industries (Table 3). Results suggest that sports teams and ‘TV and media’
companies are by far the most preferred industries for Snapchat marketing campaigns. ‘Food
and beverages’ on the other hand was the only industry not considered suitable by most
respondents.
Strong differences where found among industries’ suitability for Snapchat marketing when
taking the fit with different marketing methods into account. For instance, results suggest that
the two most preferred industries in general –sports teams and ‘TV and media’- are very
suitable for viral marketing, celebrity endorsement and exclusive footage, but are not suitable at
all for using coupons on Snapchat. A few other strong fits we found are clothing brands and
celebrity endorsement and ‘toys and gaming’ brands using Snapchat contests. Results often
differed significantly based on gender. Not one industry showed a significantly positive fit with
advertising, again proving this is the hardest marketing method to succeed with on Snapchat.
41 4 Managerial implications
Even though marketing managers should take the limitations of this research into account when
making decisions, several general and industry-specific guidelines could be formulated based
on our research.
1. Act age-appropriately on Snapchat
Snapchat’s user demographic should be monitored closely by companies, but currently it is still
mainly a medium for young people (mostly under 26 years of age). This offers brands a unique
chance to target a specific age group directly and tailor their marketing actions to their
expectations, habits and language.
2. Give people a reason to follow your brand on Snapchat
In general, consumers won’t just follow a brand because they want to be friends (Heller Baird &
Parasnis, 2011). When consumers decide to follow a brand on Snapchat, they expect to gain a
certain advantage. Often, an (financial) incentive might be needed to convince them to follow
the brand. Even then, to retain those followers, brands should keep the content relevant and
unique. Simply rehashing content that was put on other social media will probably not be
enough to create a successful Snapchat presence. Most consumers expect exclusive content or
other gains on Snapchat. If your brand is not able to provide this or Snapchat’s typical user
base is not part of your target group, it might be better to refrain from joining rather than
engaging in a half-hearted effort.
3. Be creative
Most examples of successful Snapchat marketing actions we discussed had a strong creative
element to them. They used Snapchat’s characteristics to their advantage to provide consumers
with marketing actions that would not be suitable for other social media. This is also evidenced
by the general perception of marketing methods with a creative method like viral marketing
scoring significantly better than the more traditional advertising. Considering its negative
perception, advertising should be even more creative and perfectly adapted to the target group
to overcome the perception and generate positive results.
4. Know your customers’ expectations and needs
You might have a perfectly creative and well developed Snapchat coupon campaign running,
but if you are a TV company, results show that the chances of success are fairly limited and
consumers would rather have an exclusive preview or behind-the-scenes footage of their
42 favorite show. On the contrary, a food company might share an exclusive video of how a certain
product is made, while customers would much rather receive a coupon to buy that product at a
discount. For companies from the five industries considered in this research, the results
describing the fit with marketing methods can assist them in choosing the right method to use
on Snapchat, or force them to rethink their campaign when it is based on a negatively perceived
method for their industry. In the end though, to retain customers and increase brand loyalty, it is
all about delivering value. In order to do so in a consistent way, companies should try to
understand the expectations and needs of their customers who are active on Snapchat and
tailor their campaigns based on that knowledge.
43 5 Limitations and future research
The first limitation of this research is its scope. Since virtually no academic research into
Snapchat marketing had been done prior to this study, we decided to keep this research
general enough to provide answers for most companies, yet put extra focus on a selective list of
methods and industries. As a consequence, a lot of industries were not considered specifically
in this research. As we found that the general results concerning the possible Snapchat
marketing methods often differ significantly based on the industry, those results should be
interpreted while taking the respective industry characteristics into account to make sure the fit
is right. As for the industries that were considered in this study, future research focused solely
on one industry or type of company/brand would be needed to gain deeper insight in the do’s
and don’ts of Snapchat marketing. Five industries were considered in this research, which
automatically limited the extent to which all industries could be researched. More in-depth future
research is necessary to provide detailed guidelines, as the marketing method categories also
contain different types of actions (e.g. social media influencers and traditional celebrities were
both included in the ‘celebrity endorsement’ category in this research). Our research should
provide others with a basis as to which combinations of marketing methods and industries are
worth investigating more thoroughly and which would have a low chance of generating valuable
insight.
The second limitation of this research is the lack of depth in which the interest in and
motivations for interacting with brands on Snapchat were investigated.
By trying to get a first look at consumers’ opinion on several Snapchat-marketing related
subjects, research depth was sacrificed. We found that incentives are an important condition to
connect with brands on Snapchat, but have no insight on the kind of incentives that would
persuade them or the brands they would consider connecting with. Considering the importance
of persuading people to start following brands (a prerequisite for a brand’s Snapchat account to
have any success, regardless of the type of marketing methods used) further research should
be done on how to engage consumers on Snapchat.
The third limitation of this research concerns the sample on which the results were based. Since
participants were mainly reached through social media and other Internet-related channels,
caution should be used when generalizing results to the Belgian population. Instead of being a
completely random sample, active Internet and social media users had a higher chance of being
reached by the questionnaire than ‘offline’ people. Due to the questionnaire being distributed in
Dutch, French-speaking Belgians had less of a chance to take part in the survey than Flemish-
44 speaking Belgians. The under-representation of 13-17 year olds, an important group of
Snapchat users, also undermines the validity of the results for companies targeting that specific
age group.
The fourth limitation of this research concerns the use of Likert scales to measure perceptions.
Since opinions on marketing methods and industries were measured directly with a 7-point
Likert scale and no constructs were measured, the data were collected as ordinal variables
(Likert-type items). As a result, no parametric tests –from which more conclusions could be
drawn than with the non-parametric tests used- could be done on the data.
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53 Appendix
Appendix 1: Questionnaire
i Participants answering positively on this question got to proceed. For participants without a
Snapchat account, this was the end of the questionnaire.
ii Respondents indicating they would not consider following companies/brands on Snapchat
received an additional question:
The questionnaire then proceeded for all participants with a Snapchat account.
iii iv v vi vii viii