Assuming you're a social media buff like myself, you've heard of Snapchat On-Demand Geofilters. If you haven't, Snapchat now allows people and brands to create their own filters - graphic overlays that can be placed onto a Snap - which people can use while in a pre-selected area during a particular time period.
Geofilters are a something of a breakthrough in social media marketing. A hybrid of paid and earned media, Geofilters allow advocates to share branded content that grabs hold their audience's attention.
Snapchat announced the release of On-Demand Geofilters the same week as my employer's annual winter party. I manage the social media marketing for the company and thought implementing a Geofiters at the party would help boost awareness about one of our best company perks.
Image Source: Clearlink.com
A little background info on the party: The extravagant masquerade was an event where 1,500 employees got together to celebrate their successes during 2015. With a variety of entertainment options, the party was definitely not lacking in unique, shareworthy experiences, not to mention the average age of attendees was between 18-34 years-olds - and 63% of Snapchat users are between 18-34. Basically, the party and Snapchat Geofilters were a match made in heaven.
If you've yet to try Geofilters out, here's a quick and easy guide outlining the steps I took to create a custom Geofilter for a the event.
1. Get Approved
For my project, I teamed-up with a designer who followed the submission guidelines and created a Geofilter for our annual winter party. If you lack design skills and don't have a designer available, I suggest finding a freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork to create one for you.
After your filter is created, you have to visit the On-Demand Geofilter page and follow a four-step submission process:
1.Upload Assets
2.Choose Dates
3.Choose Area
4.Checkout
For my filter, I selected a six-hour time period and fenced in an area of roughly 200,000 square feet. The final cost was $61.30. It was more than I originally expected after reading a number of articles that said it could cost as little as $5, but the Geofilter ended up being worth it - I'll get to engagement cost later in this post.
The review process was quick - Snapchat sent me an email in less than four hours, saying my Geofilter had been approved - but Snapchat does note that the approval process can take up to 24 hours, so submit your Geofilter a couple days in advance, at the least, to be safe.
2. Promote
Promotion can make or break the success of your On-Demand Geofilter.
First, make sure to cross-promote the availability of the filter on social media - I informed fans about the Geofitler on our Facebook Page and Instagram feed.
Even though you're targeting people who use social media regularly, you probably won't reach all of your advocates through social. To spread the word about our Geofilter even further, we put up posters at the party to let people know about the On-Demand Geofilter. Make sure to consider using both online and offline channels to promote your filter.
3. Evaluate Your Success
After my filter had finished running, I thought I'd receive an email from Snapchat letting me know how I could access my metrics. That never happened.
A couple of days later, I found out you can check your metrics by completing the following steps:
1.Visit the On-Demand Geofilter page.
2.Click the "Create Now" button.
3.Click the drop-down menu in the right-hand corner.
4.Select "Metrics".
Only two metrics are available, but I suggest using two simple equations to get a better understanding of your cost-per-engagement and the power of your advocates.
Cost-per-view: Divide the cost of your On-Demand Geofilter by total views. Example: $60.14/6,514 = $.009 Cost-per-view
My cost per view was less than a penny. I've advertised videos on Facebook before and generated video views for $0.01, but that's comparing apples to oranges. I can safely say that a penny is an inexpensive cost for building brand awareness.
Also, I suggest when choosing your area in the submission process that you draw the fence as tight as possible to cut cost - in hindsight, I could have made my fence tighter and cut cost-per-view down even more.
Views-per-use: Divide views by uses. Example: 6,514/111 = 58.68 Views-Per-Use
It's hard to comprehend the value of your advocates by just staring at uses and views. But when you figure out views-per-use, you get a better understanding of how far your advocates are extending the reach of your brand.
When it comes time to report on your On-Demand Geofilter, you should include Views, Uses, Cost-Per-View, and Views-Per-Use. Those metrics will help you and your team better understand the campaign's impact and ROI.
Conclusion
I'll be using On-Demand Geofilters again. And again. And again. Our company has amazing advocates, and the Geofilter integrated seamlessly into our social media marketing strategy. Plus, Geofilters might be one of the most cost-effective ways to increase awareness. If your brand has a quality base of earned/owned advocates and something worth snapping, I encourage you to give Geofilters a try soon.
If you have any suggestions for my process, please leave them in the comment section below.