5 top tips when advertising your mobile apps on Snapchat Ads

By Sukey Miller - August 18, 2022

Snapchat launched in 2011 and reported an active daily user base of approximately 347 million at the end of the second quarter of 2022. 

On average, these users spend about 30 minutes on the platform every day, creating well over five billion snaps.

This means that Snapchat sees a lot of activity in a single day and its audience is a vast resource for app user acquisition marketers. Most of this audience is made up of Gen Z and Millennial users, making them more likely to be tech-savvy and app-oriented.

Advertising on Snapchat has the potential to reach millions of people. With the right approach and marketing strategies, app marketers can tap into this potential to realize app conversions and acquire paying customers. This article looks at some top tips for driving performance from your app user acquisition marketing on Snapchat ads.

1. The two-second rule

Make those first two seconds count! Market analysis shows that the first two seconds determine the success or failure of an ad on Snapchat. Put your core message at center stage and feature it within this timeframe.

This will have a far greater impact than a dragged-out narrative attempting to hold the attention of users until the end of the ad.

Viewers want and expect more than a solid frame with a logo or branded product. Impress by blending your brand with creative storytelling that hooks them and entices them to share your brand.

2. Spotlight your CTAs

Along with your core message, brand and values, your call to action must also make an early appearance in your ad. Remember, Snapchat users are young and often impulsive. Use this trait to your advantage to gain quick actions and shares.

3. Keep messages short and simple

Do not over-explain, over-show, or cram information into all your available time. A single message that gets to the point creatively is much more effective than 60 seconds of information and sensory overload.

Snapchat is fast-paced and interactive, featuring full-screen graphics. For ads to make an impact, they should stick to the platform’s general layout and aim to instantly engage and inspire users. The available filters allow you to customize ads and merge your brand with the typical Snapchat tone and style.

4. Bi-weekly ad recycling

Vary ads and presentations to keep your approach fresh and interesting. Experts recommend bi-weekly ad recycling.

Complete ad revamps are also not necessary. An occasional tweak and a slight narrative change can keep your ads on various algorithmic radars and continue to draw the attention of users.

Avoid editing ad set targeting however. Each change you make will need to be assessed by Snapchat which can result in your ad not being served until the change is approved. Snapchat provide guidance on the impact of making changes to bids, budgets and targeting here.

5. Test, learn and optimize

Snapchat Ads offers useful granular audience insights that can be used to identify problem areas and improve ads to connect with a particular user base.

There are numerous adjustments you can make to optimize your campaigns based on analysis of performance and your objectives, examples include varying bids by device, expanding reach with segmented lookalike audiences, and better understanding your target audiences behaviors and preferences.

Use the Snapchat Campaign Lab, a self-serve portal with a ‘Learning Centre’ and ‘Recommendations’ sections where you can get loads of guidance on experimenting with Snapchat to increase campaign performance.

Snapchat advertising is a powerful weapon in your social media advertising arsenal. It offers an opportunity to reach a digitized generation that relies greatly on different apps for different purposes.

Want to get your ads straight to a new audience of paying users?

With these top tips implemented, getting your ads in front of an audience of new paying users is easier than you think.

Target your social ad campaigns straight to new audiences of active payers that you would never find with other datasets, including your own, with Bango Audiences . The Bango Payment Platform processes billions of dollars of in-app payments across the major app stores every year. Our strength in purchase data enables us to build custom audience segments based on detailed app purchase history, including specific titles, categories, spend value and frequency. Digital marketers use these custom audiences to target paying users in similar and high-affinity titles and categories to get higher-performing ads and a lower cost per conversion.

Fully GDPR and CCPA compliant custom audiences shared directly to your social ad accounts for immediate use. No SDK, no integration. Try Bango Audiences in your next c ampaign and find your next paying user.

Top Tips for other social ad platforms:

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