Photo by: Adam Przezdziek CC BY 2.0
| By Jesse Kirshbaum Founder, Nue Agency |
As 2016 continues to roll, it’s becoming pretty clear that it’s going to be a huge year for Snapchat.
[E]ven though I’ve been a user for a few years, I’ve been starting to have a lot of fun on the platform as my community grows and engages more and more.
I’m noticing a few things I want to share.
 |
| JesseKay aka Jesse Kirshbaum is Founder of Nue Agency |
1. Snapchat is poised to win this year as it appears to be gearing toward a 2016 IPO. At a $10 billion + valuation in four short years, that’s beyond big business. It took Facebook eight years to IPO just to put that into perspective.
2. Snapchat’s engagement is also way up. To give some context back in April 40 million people tuned into the Coachella story. That’s way more than the live stream or any other platform, and Snapchat sees an average of seven billion mobile views per day.
3. The audience is aging up. Meaning, it’s where millennials have been communicating regularly, but now it’s clearly gaining more traction in other demos. “Over the last year in the U.S., Snapchat added 25-to-34-year-old users (103%) and older-than-35 users (84%) faster than 18-to-24-year-old users (56%), according to measurement firm Comscore. Snapchat’s data now peg 12% of its nearly 50 million daily users in the U.S. as 35 to 54.” [LATimes]
4. The stories are useful, but direct messages are the best way to use the medium. It’s really not about how many followers you have; it’s all about how you communicate with your community. I personally try to respond to every direct message I get more so than any other medium. It’s a grind but way more personal to me. So hit me up at @JesseKay3000.
5. With that said Snapcodes are completely under utilized. Just take a picture of my Snapcode on Snapchat and it will allow you to add me as a friend. I’m surprised this isn’t taking off more. Why aren’t stores putting their Snapcodes on the front doors? Why don’t artists have their Snapcodes as their profile pictures? Billboard’s should include Snapcodes along with tv commercials, print ads, all marketing because it’s just that easy to connect with Snapchat.
6. If you want to learn how to put music in your story, check out this video tip. PS. Get your tickets to Social Media Week NY now! Disclaimer – I’m on the advisory board, and it’s going to be the best one yet NYC! Use the code: JesseKay25 for 25% off expires Feb 18
Anyway, I’m having a lot of fun playing with the medium, and I see a lot of you are too. If you are loving Snapchat and crushing it (aka gaining followers, innovating, gaining traction, breaking ground, putting out fresh content), I’d love to chat with you.
Hit me on the Snap or email me directly. It would be fun to get a Snapchat brainstorm maybe next weekend. Like the way we used to do TweetUp’s in the early days of Twitter.
Until then, have a great week and hope business is “Booming” for you too!
For more than a decade, Jesse Kirshbaum has been in the trenches of the music business, specializing in securing talent for concerts, tours, and endorsement deals for his various clients and brand partners internationally.
He founded Nue Agency, a creative music agency recently named to the Inc. 500 as the third fastest-growing media company in America. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @JesseKay
