By Emily Mata
Last week, we shared the basics on how to create a Snapsterpiece. Once you’ve mastered that, you’re ready to take your engagement to the next level by creating Stories and by interacting with other brands through Discover. Like every social media platform, Snapchat requires authentic content creation and brand engagement. You can use the Stories and Discover features to reach your target audience in a creative way. Marketing on Snapchat isn’t just for well-known brands. Snapchat can strengthen any brand when utilized correctly.
1. Creating Stories
You can add an unlimited number of pictures or video to your Story, which will be available for 24 hours. Each Story can be viewed an unlimited number of times by each user.
To add a Snap to your Story, create the Snap and tap the icon with a plus sign at the bottom left hand side of your screen.
A box will come up asking you if you want to add a Snap to your Story. Hit “add” and go on your merry way. If you’ve tapped the icon on accident, you can hit ‘cancel.’
Unlike normal Snaps, you can delete Snaps from your story by swiping left to navigate to the “Stories” page, then swipe up. You will be able to see who has viewed your Snap Story, as well as delete individual images and videos. To do so, click on the garbage can. A pop-up will appear, asking you if you’d like to delete your Snap.
As a best practice, we recommend that businesses create Stories around a plot or theme for each day. This creates a more engaging, cohesive story that will keep Snapchatters coming back to you for more. (Individual users have more flexibility to present Stories as a mix of random moments throughout the day.) Some of #TeamMoonsail’s favorite Stories are views at the office and our weekend travels–the key is to create Stories that remain true to your brand.
2. Discover
The Discover page is essentially a virtual newsstand. Discover Stories are similar to Snap Stories, but instead of coming from your network, they consist of carefully curated (paid for) content, articles, short videos, and listicles.
With 150 million active daily users who watch 10 billion videos each day, there is great potential for businesses to increase community engagement and brand awareness through innovative marketing campaigns.
If you’re looking to see how brands like Buzzfeed, ESPN, and CNN curate their snaps, check out Discover. You’ll also find Live Stories from events, and more!
Here’s how to navigate Discover:
- From the camera screen, swipe left twice to open Discover.
- Browse through the Discover channels and find one that appeals to you.
(If you’re unsure about what kind of content a channel might contain, press and hold the channel for a quick summary of what it has to offer.).
- Tap the screen to view the channel (the content starts playing right away).
- Like what you see? Swipe up to read further. If you love the channel’s content, you can subscribe by pressing and holding the channel at the home screen or by scrolling down to the bottom of the article.
- Not into the content? Swipe down to exit the channel.
- Swipe right to exit Discover entirely.
3. Memories
Memories is the latest feature to be rolled out by Snapchat. Rather than saving your Snaps and Stories directly to your phone, the feature allows you to back them up directly within the app. You can use your personal collection of Memories to create new Stories and edit and resend saved Snaps.
To open Memories, swipe up from the camera screen or tap the small circle at the bottom of your screen (underneath the capture the button).
If you choose to use Memories, import your saved Snaps from the “Snapchat” folder in your phone.
Once inside Memories, you can scroll through your saved Snaps and Stories. To view a Snap or Story in full-screen mode, simply tap it. Press and hold your desired Snap or Story to edit it or resend it.
#TeamMoonsail loves that Snapchat is an innovative communication tool, and wants to see the creative Snaps and Stories you create with these detailed instructions.
Was this post too basic for you? Learn how to create your own geofilter.
Interested in learning more? Follow us on Snapchat at Moonsail North.
