Viral filters position the social media company as an innovative foil to Facebook
In the past, whenever Snapchat came up with a clever innovation – think Snapchat Stories, vertical videos, or user-generated filters – you could bank on a Facebook property simply copying it and claiming it as its own. But with Facebook reeling from privacy concerns and pivoting to things like cryptocurrency and teleconferencing devices for your home, the time for Snapchat to revive itself may have arrived. Imitators take note.
Snapchat has been steadily rolling out new products that appeal to a youthful demographic and to the advertisers who love to target consumers between the ages of 18-34.
Social Shopping is prevalent across all social networks, and Snapchat is capitalizing on the trend with new Collection ads and Shoppable AR lenses, which allow you to add shoppable CTA buttons to your branded lenses.
Snap Games is a new in-app gaming platform that features free, original games available only on Snapchat, and only through group chats. Snap partnered with game makers to develop six new original and third-party games, including Tiny Royale, a “bite-sized” battle royale game for up to 30 players.
Original video content from Snap includes new premium original shows and mobile-first, episodic programming called Snap Originals. “Dead Girls Detective Agency” reached more than 14 million unique viewers, with more than 40% of viewers watching the entire season.
Snap Audience Network is a new ad platform that helps advertisers extend campaigns beyond Snapchat to reach audiences on third-party apps. Developers can create full-screen vertical video ads, which Snap will sell on their behalf in exchange for a share of the ad revenue. SnapKit providers developer with Snap extensions for their own sites to share experiences from the Snap ecosystem.
Filtering Out the Noise
All of these new initiatives have helped bolster Snap’s bottom line. But let’s face it, the real reason Snapchat is back in the minds of its users is because of all of those cool new filters that let users change their gender and unleash their creative impulses with custom filters and lenses that can be shared with friends and across other social networks. Putting creative, viral tools in the hands of a young user base is generating a buzz from Buzzfeed to Wall Street.
A new gender-altering filter went viral last month, reviving Snapchat downloads
