Snapchat can be an effective way for small businesses to reach a specific target audience. However, unlike Facebook and Instagram where followers can access your website directly, Snapchat doesn’t provide a direct way to convert followers to customers. So, once you build an audience on Snapchat, how do you turn casual followers in paying customers? In this post we’ll introduce 3 ways to engage and convert your Snapchat followers into new customers for your small business.
1. Discounts for New Followers
One way to get new customers and build your audience on Snapchat is to offer a discount to new followers. This discount is an incentive that can work to tip the scales from someone being a potential customer into a paying customer.
This tactic works particularly well for brick and mortar stores or studios where you can put a sign up with your Snapchat name to get people to follow you. Another tactic is to cross-promote your business’s Snapchat account on other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
When you get new followers on Snapchat, send them a one-time use code to screenshot and show at your business, or use as a promo code for your online store. Alternatively, you can encourage customers who made a purchase to come back to your business by telling them about your Snapchat follower discount. Include a small print out with your Snapcode or Snapchat username in bags at checkout with a note about the discount, or let your customers know that when they add your business on Snapchat, they’ll receive a discount off their next purchase.
2. Promotional Teasers
Once you build an audience on Snapchat, use the platform to turn your Snapchat followers into customers. An effective way to do this is by posting promotional teasers related to your business. Coming out with a new product or service? Hosting an upcoming event? Give your Snapchat followers the inside scoop by posting teasers on your Snapchat story.
Use these teasers to get even more followers on Snapchat by mentioning to your other social media audiences that Snapchat followers get a behind the scenes look of your business. You can write about these teasers (without actually posting what they are) on your other social media accounts and encourage your audience to add your business on Snapchat to see what your business has to offer.
If your target audience is active on Snapchat, this can be a great way to cultivate an engaged following that looks forward to product and event announcements on your account. In this photo, H&M provides a great example of cross-promoting their Snapchat to Twitter. This post entices followers to add the company on Snapchat by explaining a direct benefit of sneak previews.
This strategy can work well for restaurants, clubs, event planning or promotion businesses, DJs, venues, spas, salons, tour businesses, and other businesses that have consistently new products, services, and events. These teasers can include photos and videos such as upcoming sales or sneak peeks of new products or new displays in your brick and mortar stores.
3. Exclusive Snapchat Promotions
Like the teasers, use Snapchat to offer exclusive promotions. These exclusive promotions are special deals that can only be found on Snapchat. The logic behind Snapchat-only deals is that it provides a sense of exclusivity and insider access to your Snapchat friends. If you offer certain promotions that are exclusive to Snapchat, your audience has an incentive to follow your business on Snapchat, which brings us back to our first suggestion—a new follower discount!
Offering an exclusive Snapchat promotion is easy. Simply gear your followers up by telling them you’ll be posting a promotion on your Snap story over the next day and to keep watching your story to get ready to screenshot an upcoming deal. In the next shot, post the actual deal on your story for your followers to screenshot. In a final post for your story, tell your customers to present the picture at the register, or apply a code at checkout if you sell online.
Examples of Snapchat promotions are: 
- 20% off next purchase
- Gift with purchase
- Bring a friend and get one free
- 15% off order of $10 or more (see photo)
If your target audience is on Snapchat, you should be using the app to your advantage when marketing your small business. By offering discounts, teasers, and exclusive Snapchat-only promotions, you can turn potential customers into paying customers with just a few snaps. Have you tried using Snapchat to hold a promotion for your small business? Let us know how it worked below!
