Snapchat's Most Recent Update And How To Use It To Your Brand's Advantage
Snapchat, perhaps currently the most popular social media platform - or at least the most talked about - has updated itself once again, proving the company and app ever-innovative and increasing our reliance on it.
With the new "Memories" feature, users can upload favorite snaps they've saved from the past to their stories, share memories with fellow Snapchat users, and save photos for later. Which is a major move - as the platform originally only let you see content from the last 24 hours - or up to 2x for a single snap. In this blog, Hollywood Branded explains how Snapchat "Memories" works, and how to use it to improve your brand's social media marketing.
Snapchat Rules The World Of Social Media
In a world where social media trends change as quickly as Hollywood marriages, it is hard for platforms to keep up. Both Twitter and Facebook have experienced losses of use and even Instagram has been looking to Snapchat for innovation ideas.
Snapchat leads the pack as far as innovation is concerned and no one can argue that.
Introducing geofilters, interactive and sponsored filters, stories from content creators like MTV and Cosmopolitan, and celebrity accounts have all contributed to Snapchat being a leader in keeping up with changing trends.
So What Is Memories And How Do I Use It?
Snapchat's newest update includes "Memories," a way to save Snaps and share memories. This is good news for your phone memory if you wish to save photos to Snapchat instead of your camera roll. Snapchat. The new "cloud".
This also provides unique opportunities to save Snapchats you take for future uploads and to share Snaps you've saved in the past with your followers - as well as photos you have stored on your device - which is great news for many people.
The Memories feature is found by pressing the small white circle below the big white circle you use to take Snaps (aka the capture button).
Once clicked, it will take you to a screen where you can look at both Snaps you have saved since updating as well as your camera roll where you can upload photos you took with your phone camera. 
Within these photos, you can search by all sorts of things such as location and subject matter to put together a story. You can also move photos to a folder titled "My Eyes Only" which allows photos to be saved privately
While it may be confusing at first for some users, like any Snapchat update it is meant to become natural over time. With a little work your brand can master the Memories feature and use it to your brand's advantage.
Five Ways Your Brand Can Use Snapchat Memories To Improve Social Media Marketing
1. Show Growth And Celebrate Landmarks
In the past year has your brand introduced an exciting new product, hired great new employees, or moved to a new creative space? By sharing before and after photos of your staff, your office, or your products you can share with your followers your successes and how you continue to innovate and grow.
Another great way to share your success with your followers is through anniversaries and birthdays. Celebrate your brand and how it has grown over the years, whether you're marking your first year in business or a decade of doing what you do.
2. Breathe New Life Into Past Activations
Help your followers relive exciting activations by replaying #throwback footage of your brand enjoying Coachella, or working a table at the San Diego Comic Con.
These exciting activations your brand has taken part in can be recycled in creative and innovative ways with the help of creative social media marketers and Snapchat's Memories feature. And they ARE exciting to others. And fun memories for your team...
3. Expand Product Placement Success
Like we always say, product placement doesn't end after the episode airs. In fact, some of the most important marketing you can do is using the assets received through product placement to their full advantage.
A way you could do this of course is capturing it and sharing it with your followers as it airs. However, now you can save that memory and share it again to remind your followers of your involvement.
For example, share the memory again when the TV show or movie you appeared in is relevant again, say when they win an Oscar or Golden Globe (like BlackBerry and Mozart In The Jungle.)
4. Make Your Brand Personal
In the era of social media, consumers want their brands to feel personal. They don't want to see a billboard for your product on your social media. They want to relate and engage.
Memories is a perfect way in which you can do this. Include people, experiences and important personal memories of your brand. Share a memory of friends enjoying your product on the beach in the middle of winter while wishing for warmer days. Remind your followers of that time Jimmy in the office lost a bet and had to wear his rival team's jersey during the Final Four.
5. Create A Portfolio For Your Brand
By choosing the best memories you've shared, for example all of your product placements or all of your brand activations at cool events, you can consolidate your successes over a period of time into an easily digestible and shareable story for your fans to check out - aka a Snapchat portfolio of your brand's entertainment marketing successes.
Remind your followers how awesome you are and all of the cool places your brand has been seen lately!
How Can Your Brand Use Entertainment Marketing?
Before you spend another dollar on traditional advertising, consider the use of product placement/brand integration in your entertainment marketing strategy. Watch our video to learn techniques to conquer common advertising challenges!
