Snapchat & Tik Tok: How the new kids on the block can be a popular choice for your digital marketing.

Two of the most appealing social media platforms, extremely popular among millennials, is Snapchat and Tik Tok. Both one of the top 12 media platforms used worldwide by consumers, it has the ability to promote your business with flair – if executed correctly.

As of January last year, over 218 million users were active on Snapchat each day. With this in mind – using it to promote your brand, product or business needs innovation and thought, as not all demographics will connect with the dynamics of this social media platform. If your business demographic is aimed towards a younger audience, then this platform is perfect as 82% of all Snapchat users are 34 years or younger and they spend approximately 30 minutes per day viewing snaps. Impulse purchases can really help increase your sales. It connects users with brands and content creators via the ‘Discover' icon on the right-hand of the home screen. The purpose of the app is to convey a playful and fun social media interaction and the focus in on the now, not necessarily the picture-perfect images seen on other platforms like Instagram or Facebook. To promote you brand or business on Snapchat you need to stand out and be more casual, fun and playful with the content and direction of your snaps. If you set up a Snapchat Business account you can do more within the platform. It lets you access more features that will support your marketing strategy through advertising with Ads Manager, create age targeted custom audience viewings of your content, and focus on location-targeting of your specific area -allowing users specific opportunity to interact with your brand or product.

Similarly Tik Tok is a fun and playful social media platform that is also aimed to a younger demographic. With over 1.5 billion downloads on the App Store and Google Play, it is a platform that consists of 15- and 60-second user-recorded videos that allow for in-app editing and integration with the other major social players. It has evolved from a video-creation app solely meant for users to express their creativity, to a marketing and advertising haven! The allure of TikTok for businesses is the sheer number of active users on the platform – that means your business profile can be actively seen by thousands, if not millions of users – if you know how to use this platform correctly.

The key to advertising with Tik Tok is that it allows users to interact with your brand. It all starts with planning great content and following the key practices within this app which is being authentic, and exhibiting the real personality behind your brand or business. Have fun with it, be bold, use humour, use images of children and cute animals, incorporate targeted music and creativity in creating or recreating your Tik Toks.

Whether you choose Snapchat or TikTok or both, by revealing your brand's true personality, users will feel connected to you and relate to you, which builds trust with consumers.