There’s a new option at the buffet of social media marketing. Snapchat announced last week that they will be rolling out a new sponsored section for their Stories feature. Snapchat’s Promoted Stories will be shown alongside the organic stories that create a curated feed based upon on the organizations or people a user follows. In addition to this sponsored section, brands can also add links to their ads.
This appears to be a response to the sponsored content shown in Instagram Stories. If you haven’t seen them already, Instagram Stories Ads have been in operation since January of this year and available to all business since March. They operate in a similar fashion to Snapchat’s Promoted Stories. Business place their ads alongside organic content in a user’s feed accompanied by a note that this is sponsored content.
A previous subject on our blog, Instagram and Snapchat seem to be invariably linked. It is worth reminding that Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, attempted to purchase Snapchat for $3 Billion in 2013. In a decision that is still talked about to this day, Facebook were turned down. With this in mind, should your brand pursue Snapchat’s Promoted Stories or sponsored content on Instagram Stories?
Starting with Snapchat, it appears as if a further change is coming. It has been reported that in response to depicted negatives concerning user experience with the social media platform, Snapchat is going to turn the tables on Facebook. Users will experience a product redesign that is algorithm-based, something Facebook users would be used to. This means that if your brand, your followers or both are on Snapchat, now is the perfect time to start using Snapchat’s Promoted Stories.
The shortcomings that created the algorithm running alongside Snapchat’s Promoted Stories are not shared by Instagram. The social media platform, in comparison, is flourishing to the tune of 1 billion projected users. This points to Instagram being a preferred destination of choice when it comes to your sponsored content efforts. Keep in mind, however, that it is likely to cost more than Snapchat as a larger audience brings higher costs along with it.