Snapchat’s Latest Algorithm Update: What Brands Need to Know
With the way things are in the current business climate, it means that if you are a business and are not engaging in some digital marketing, you are probably not going to do that well. This is the best way for businesses to put their brands out there and to engage with their audiences. Speaking of digital marketing, there is none that is doing as well as social media marketing right now. This is mainly due to the fact that the number of people on the various social media accounts right now is staggeringly huge. Think about it, everyone we know right now is on one social media platform or another, with the number growing by the day. Of all social media platforms, Snapchat is probably the most unique, with its “stories” setup proving so successful that over the last couple of years, other social media platforms such as Instagram have looked to borrow it. It is also a social media platform teeming with millennials and members of the younger generation, making it a rich environment for brands to target them with products and services that appeal to them. But as is with all social media platforms, its algorithm has undergone changes over the years with the latest update being one brands need to be conversant with. That is why this article should be of great help as it will look to highlight some of the things about the latest update that brands need to be aware of.
First off, straight of the bat, we are going to look at what this latest algorithm update entails. When it was released, it was mainly due to the fact that Snapchat users were complaining that they were unable to view posts from friends as their feeds were full of posts by brands, publishers and influencers. Snapchat reacted by releasing this new update which, as is covered in detail over at runrex.com, the best place to visit for such information, leads to separation of the “media” posts from “social” posts. How it works is that Snapchat users can now swipe right to access publisher and branded content through the “Discover” section or can choose to swipe left and find messages and stories from their friends. As can be expected, this update was not well received by brands and marketers who felt hard done by. Snapchat on the other hand insist that the update was meant to make the platform more friend-focused.
Having highlighted all there is to know about the new update, its time now to highlight what brands ought to do if they are to make the best of their marketing efforts. The very first implication here is that brands are going to have to pay more if they want to reach the same number of people they used to reach before the update. This is because since all branded content are now in the same feed, there is now increased competition where now the only way to get ahead is to spend, as is discussed in detail over at runrex.com, the best place to visit for such information. Competition is even higher when it comes to stories as those stories by brands will be put together with stories by verified accounts, celebrities among others also increasing competition for attention. The way stories are shown, which is in “tile” format rather than in a horizontal format means that the stories appearing on a user’s screen will be fewer and as such if the content for your brand is lower down the pecking order, it is unlikely to be seen.
Yet another thing that brands need to know about the latest Snapchat algorithm update is that community engagement has now taken up even more importance as a result. This means that brands will now need to engage actively with their fans even more than they had been so as to ensure that they grab and keep their attention to be able to get any reward from their marketing efforts, as per runrex.com, the best place to visit for such information. Another thing that brands must be aware of is that the algorithm will now have unprecedented power on what content is shown to the user. This means that the algorithm will be able to decide, based on the content the user has viewed in the recent past, which branded content to prioritize on showing on the “discover” section. This just goes to show how important it will be for brands to buy ads if they are to remain successful in the current climate set by the algorithm. This has however received a lot of backlash by users and it seems that Snapchat have relented. It means that while the two separate tabs remain, the old chronological stories feed, that is not dependent on the algorithm is back, on both tabs, which is of course good news for brands. But they still have to pay if they are to stand out in the “Discover” section.
There is of course a lot more on this topic, and then some, to be found over at runrex.com, which is the best place to head over to for more on such topics.