Making Your Snapchat More Visible to Others
Follow as many people as possible to get follows in return. Unlike other social media platforms, you won’t be penalized for adding tons of other users. And people are much more likely to follow you back if you follow them first. When you first create your account, you’ll be asked if you want to automatically follow everyone in your contact list on your phone. Your answer? Yes. You can find out if someone has followed you back by clicking on their Snapcode. If you can see their Snapscore (the total number of Snaps they've sent and received), it means they've added you.
Earn points and trophies to unlock new features. Whether you’re using unique filters, sending private Snaps, or uploading creative videos to your story, you receive points every time you’re active on the app. Those points get you trophies which can grant you access to all sorts of cool features. Trophies are displayed as emojis in your trophy box. You can see your trophy box if you tap on your profile picture. Different trophies have different requirements. For example, you can earn the Ogre trophy for sending 1,000 Snaps taken with the front-facing camera. Or you can earn the Sun emoji if you send a Snap when the temperature is over 100 °F (38 °C).
Collaborate with an influencer for a shoutout or a takeover. Asking someone well-known in your sphere to promote your own brand or account puts you in front of all of their followers, who are often similar to your own audience. Send them an instant message, a private Snap, or see if they have a website with their contact information. Let them know what kind of partnership you'd like and what's in it for them. An influencer can simply give you a shoutout or they can do a takeover, which is when you give them complete control of your account for a set period of time (or vice versa if you’re taking over their account). Influencers are in high demand so be prepared to pay for any partnership. If you have a large following already (over 1,000), however, you might be able to trade a shoutout for a shoutout. For instance, you could send a message to a fashion blogger that looks something like: "Hi Karen! I'm a huge fan of your work and I know a lot of my followers are, too. With New York Fashion Week coming up, I would love to have you take over my account and do a Snapchat story while you're there, following all the behind-the-scenes action. It would be great exposure for you to be in front of my 1,200 followers, and I will promote the takeover on my own blog and social media, as well. Let me know if you're interested and I hope we can collaborate. Thanks!"
Get featured in a Snapchat Live Story to have your Snap shared publicly. During big events like the Super Bowl or a presidential election, Snapchat posts a Live Story. This is essentially a compilation of Snaps from people who are attending the event. These are public to everyone on Snapchat, so if yours gets picked up, you’ll see a huge surge of views on your Snap. To enter your Snap to a Live Story, record your Snap, then press the blue arrow as if you were going to post it to your own story. But instead of “My Story”, select “Our Story”. Make sure your Location Services are turned on in your phone’s settings. This is how Snapchat knows you’re at the event. The average audience for a Live Story is 10 to 20 million people.
Creating the Best Content
Snap consistently at least once a day so you're at the top of feeds. A Snapchat feed is arranged chronologically, which means the most recent stories get pushed right to the top. The more often you post, the more likely it is that you’ll appear at the top of your followers’ feeds instead of being buried at the bottom. If you’re posting multiple times a day (which is completely fine and even encouraged!), post a variety of Snaps. No one wants to see 20 puppy dog filter selfies of you, no matter how cute you look. Mix it up and get creative with filters and doodles. A major faux pas is sending Snaps from your story as private snaps to followers, so they're seeing the same thing twice. It's a quick way to lose fans... and views.
Post Snaps that people want to share, like memes or funny videos. Now that Snapchat allows you to share stories, you can easily boost your views by creating content that people want to send to their friends. Some examples of shareable Snaps include: elaborate artwork or designs drawn using the paint tool in Snapchat, funny pranks you pull on your friends or strangers, or Snaps from the point of view of your pet. Relatable memes are also an almost guaranteed share. Always think about what you’re posting and ask yourself, “Is this what my viewers care about?” or “Would this be something I would repost if I were following me?” If the answer is yes, go for it!
Get creative with filters, text, doodles, emojis, and stickers to add interest. A selfie of you and your cat can get a lot more interesting with a face swap filter and oversized emojis. The wackier your Snaps are, the more people want to watch them. Snapchat now lets you add GIFs to your Snaps, too. After you take a Snap, tap the Stickers icon on your screen, then tap the Giphy icon. Choose the GIF of your choice and place it where you'd like on your Snap. You can even use 2 filters at once. Swipe left to add the first filter like normal. Then, hold the screen down with one finger and swipe left again to add the second filter. Make the last Snap in your story the most interesting. This is what shows in the thumbnail on people's feeds so a fun one will increase the chances someone will tap on it.
Keep Snaps to 5 seconds or less to keep viewers interested. People have really short attention spans. They want quick clips and pictures they can tap through. Set your timer on each Snap to a maximum of 5 seconds to prevent yourself from posting something too long.
Promoting Yourself Outside of Snapchat
Share your username and Snapcode on other social media platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Musical.ly… wherever you have a social media presence, post your Snapchat username and/or Snapcode. A Snapcode is like a QR code for Snapchat - you simply scan the image with your phone to automatically follow that person. To create a Snapcode, simply open your Settings from your main profile screen, tap "Create Snapcode", and follow the instructions. You can even use your Snapcode as your profile picture on other accounts. Make your Instagram bio link your Snapchat link. To create your link, simply add your account name to the end of this url: https://www.snapchat.com/add/%E2%81%A6
Create and maintain a profile on the Ghostcodes app to find followers. Ghostcodes is an app that lets you search for Snapchat users based on interests like photography or make-up. When you find someone you want to follow (and who will hopefully follow you in return), you can download their Snapcode to your camera roll and upload it in Snapchat. Your ranking on Ghostcodes is determined by how many “kudos” (purple hearts) you get from other users. To increase your ranking in the directory, give other people kudos or download their Snapcodes. This encourages them to do the same for you.
Ask your friends to follow you by sending them your Snapcode. Nothing beats old-fashioned word of mouth. The next time you’re hanging out with friends, have them take a picture of your Snapcode and add you via the “Add by Snapcode” option in the app. Take it one step further by asking your friends to share your stories. Then all of their friends will be able to view your story, too. Offer to share their story in return. Say something like, "Hey, if you share my story, I'll share yours and we'll both get more followers. We could even go viral!"
Turn your Snaps into permanent posts on other social media and blogs. If you have a Snap you love, don't let it die on Snapchat in 24 hours. It's a great opportunity to get a little publicity for your account by downloading it to your phone's camera roll and posting it elsewhere online. For example, tweet that funny video you took of your cat or upload that selfie of you and your favorite fashion blogger to Instagram. Bonus points for tagging influencers, brands, or places to get more views! Include your Snapcode in the caption so people know how to find your account.
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