How to win on Snapchat: 3 strategies to scale user acquisition
Originally published November 2018. Snap’s ad products, formats and bid options have changed a good deal since; the original page on Liftoff’s site is gone, so the link below is an archived copy.
The 2018 piece recommends adapting and testing creative for Snapchat instead of assuming an ad that worked elsewhere will transfer. Make very short creative built for Snap, experiment with the bid options Snap offers, and test its predefined audiences instead of defaulting to lookalikes.
I wrote this for Liftoff’s Mobile Heroes series. The original, “3 Key Strategies to Master Snapchat Ads”, is no longer on Liftoff’s site (the old address now redirects to its resources page), so here is the archived copy from November 2019.
Why Snapchat?
The article described an opportunity in a less crowded channel. Its “close to 200 million MAU” figure should not be reused: Snap reported 186 million daily active users in Q3 2018. The original lower-CPM claim was a historical observation, not a current channel benchmark.
What are the three strategies?
- Customise your creative for Snap. A carefully storyboarded video that worked on Facebook, Google and video networks bombed on Snapchat. The article interpreted this as a reason to try shorter content. Testing very short ads, mostly six seconds or less, with very simple messaging lifted results, including for Story Ads and Product Catalog ads.
- Experiment with bid strategies. Story Ads only supported bidding on CPM or cost per story open, not cost per install or downstream events, and Snap did not yet optimise for purchases or in-app events. I found that increasing bids could bring more installs without higher CPIs. My explanation at the time was lower auction competition; the result did not prove that mechanism.
- Choose targeting wisely. The article reported useful results from predefined audiences, including some unexpected fits, and recommended testing different creative against different segments.
What has changed?
The bidding limitations are historical. Current Snap documentation includes app-purchase optimization with eligible bidding strategies. Six seconds was a creative-testing preference, not a maximum ad length. For how that plays out now, see dating app ad formats on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, and for the order in which to add channels, Google Ads vs Apple Search Ads vs Meta for app installs.
Frequently asked questions
How long should Snapchat ads be? The article reported improved results from mostly six-second-or-shorter ads with simple messaging. That was a historical observation, not a universal optimum.
Do Facebook creatives work on Snapchat? One elaborate video in the article failed on Snap after working elsewhere. That example supports testing adaptations, not assuming every reused ad will fail.
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