What's All the Chat
Abo ut S n a?ch at?
You may believethat sellingto mi lenniaLs isthefuture
of your lnsurance agency. Butyou aLso knowthat, as a
group, mi ennlals are hard to reach
n fact, where did more IB-Io'24 year olds watch cover-
age of the first 2015 COP presidentia debate?
a. Network te evision
b. Snapchat
lfyou answered "b. Snapchat,"you are correct.
Nearlytwice as many of this demographic got their
information about the debate from this exploding social
media network. An average indivldua TV networl< on y
reaches 6% of the same demographic
Millennials and Smartphones
So if millenniais are not watchingtelevision, where are
they spendi ng their time?
You cou d conductyourown surveyand determrnethat
more than 90 percent of adults age 18 34 own smart-
phones Snapchat is the first socia media platform that
was designed solely for the smartphone.
According to the Nielsen Media lmpact study, on any
g ven day, Snapchat reaches 4l% of all lB to 34year o ds
in the Unlted States. 77% of US co ege students use
the app daily, according to a study by Sumpto. Further,
accordingto B oomberg, Snapchat has nearly 150 million
peop e usingthe servrce daily, morethan the number of
peop e who use Twitter.
What Makes Snapchat Different?
Ratherthan starting bytyping words, asyou would with
f-acebook orTwitter post, with Snapchatyou begin with
ph otogra ph.
"Snapchat a ways starts with a snap," says Snapchat CEO
Even Spiegel. "With Snapchat, in order to start a conver-
sation,you take a picture." Ratherthan using photos or
videos to capture important moments or to save memo-
r es, photos orvideos are used on Snapchat. . fortalking.
(Remember, mi lennia s don't need to buy an expensive
still or movie camera, pay for li m, or even walt for devel
oping. Just grab a smartphone and shootl)
Quick.. . Before lt's Gone!
Snapchat was founded in 2011 as an app for shar ng
photos and videos that disappear as soon as the recipient
has viewed them.
?4 PIA Agency Marketing Cuide
By Ted Janusz
"When someone sends you an image or vrdeo via Snap
chat, they choose how ong you get to vrew the mage r
or vldeo [from one to ten seconds]," says Danah Boyd,
founder of Data & Socrety Research lnstitute. "The under
ly ng message is simple,You've got seven seconds. Pay
attentlon. And when peop e do choose to open a snap,
they actual y stop what they're doing and look . Snap
chat invites focus."
That's My Story!
n 2aL3, the "stories" featu re of Sna pchat was adde d Sto
ries show "a day in the fe," a col ection ofthese photos
or vldeos taken by that person over the ast 24 hours.
Unlike a sing e image (asyou rnay see on that other socia
media sitethat is aisoa brg hrtwith mi ennials - lns-
tagram),you use a series of photos orvideostotellyour
story. Also, un i<e on other socia media sites, the photos
o r videos a re viewed from th e begin n ing of the d ay to the
end,lust asyou would telia story.
Further, unlil<e with other soclal med a p atforms,you will
see no cornrnents and no likes aboutyour story.
So Why ls Snapchat So Popular?
"65%of Snapchat users up oadtheirown photosda y.
They're engaged with the platform," says Sarah Whitney,
Marl<etrng and Communications Manager at Primacy
"Engagement is reaLlythe keyto Snapchat. And a user
with this level of emotiona tie ins promotes and buys far
more than the passive user lust perusing the atest sound
bite or unique fact."
Snapchat also encourages frequent usage wrth a feature
a caI led
"Sna pstrea k," wh ich shows the n u m ber of ti mes
a you and yourfriend have snapped each other within 24
hours for more than one consecutive day.
Promoting Your lnsurance Agency
So how can you use Snapchat to get the word out about
iin r loonrv)
lf you don't already have a Snapchat account,"first have
a mi ennia demonstrate to you the workings of their
Snapchat account. (Many may be surprrsed thatyou even
know what 5napcnat is;then they may be even more
impressed that you askedl)
lf you don't have a millennial amongyour farrrly and
Continued on plge 42
ContinuedJrom page 24
What's Al I the Chat...About Sna pchat?
friends,you can vierrv an exce ent tutoria on YouTube
that has been watched over 2 mi ion times: "Howto Use
Snapchat for Beginners - Snapchat Tricks and Tips."
Next, once you understand how Snapchat works,you
(and the millennia ) may devise creatlve ways to use
Snapchat. For starter ideas, you can access Snapchat's
webpage ( )
By Ted Janusz
Ted Janusz has been honored to contribute articles to all etght
annualP A Agency Marketing Cuides and has conducted
multiy;le webinarsfor PIA on marketing Because Baby Boom
ers learn about and use social medro differentlyfrom other
ge n e rati o n s, Te d co n d u cts h i s wo rks h o ps fo r i n s u ra n ce a g e nts
and insurance companies who want to use soctal medra to
prociuce a bottom line impactfor their agencies and compa
nies. Learn more at