If you’ve been paying attention so far in 2016- you’ve probably heard that Snapchat is the new social media to utilize as a business owner. (Who would have EVER thought?!) I admit I was really hesitant at first. I thought to myself, there is no way that I can handle another social channel, and honestly, not having a clue how to use it kept me from jumping in for a long time. I kept thinking, THIS is how my parents must have felt when they joined Facebook. (You’re supposed to do what? You add friends? What’s a status? I don’t get it.)

And I certainly didn’t feel like putting crazy animal faces on my selfies was in anyway a brilliant marketing method to reach my ideal clients. Am I right? 

Then I got a perspective shift. I love learning from other entrepreneurs, and various creative business podcasts are my favorite to listen to throughout the work day- especially on days where I just don’t feel like being very productive- it totally helps me get my head back in the game! I’ve been listening to Gary Vaynerchuck for a couple years now (disclaimer: listen at your own risk! Not always the cleanest language- but I’ve learned SO much from him so I just filter the good from his content- and let me tell you- it really is often very good!)

I recently listened to a video interview where he was talking about the value of consumer attention. He used the brilliant example of TV commercials. He asked the audience- if for some rare moment you are actually watching TV in real life time, which hardly no one does anymore, and even then it’s often because you probably dropped your remote and can’t find it to fast forward, (my LIFE) and an actual commercial comes on- what’s the first thing you usually do?

You grab your phone and start scrolling. Huge industries and companies are still spending billions of dollars on TV commercials and no one is watching them because marketing for today is just not the same as marketing even 5 years ago. Consumer attention is more valuable than ever. Business owners need to start thinking outside the box.

And I understood it more. It’s not about the crazy filters. (You will get addicted just the same, trust me) But it’s about people wanting to see something that is real. They want to connect to what is authentic. As consumers we want more behind the scenes. We want to see the process. We want to get to know the person behind the brand. I got thinking about the business owners I had begun to follow on Snapchat, and hands down knew that what they were doing, just simply sharing real life with me, was working because I definitely felt way more connected to them as a business and a person than I did just scrolling by their pretty, curated image on Instagram. It took me a level deeper in how I felt about them because I was seeing glimpses of their LIFE.

So I started trying a bit more on Snapchat. Slowly. Showing a mix of editing sneak peaks and office behind the scenes, to the unedited “real life” that never makes the Instagram cut. I still need to be thinking of ways to be more creative with it, and learning it better, but I just came across this feature that was part of a Spring update that I am totally loving and wish I had found it sooner, so I wanted to share about it with you!

One of the fun things about Snapchat, and why it is growing increasingly popular by the day, is the opportunity for genuine interaction. (You know, that whole SOCIAL part of social media) There have been many times where I want to comment on someone’s snap- or respond. There have been times where I wanted to ask for feedback- but the only way I saw you could do this was by sending a full direct snap or text chatting in the direct messaging.

BUT. If you open your direct private messaging, on your type tool bar to the right you will see a video icon. Now if you just press that once, it “calls” the other person for a Facetime feature of sorts. But if you hold the video icon down, you will see a circle pop up, it gives you the ability to send a quick, small circle video response in your private chat thread. The video is cropped to a small circle, and it’s not a full snap, so there’s less pressure! And it’s so fun!

This feature creates an incredible opportunity to not only better build relationships with your Snapchat friends, but you can answer questions directly, efficiently, and with the signature of Snapchat- a fast, personal, real time feel. And it’s much quicker than typing your response!

Hope this was a helpful tip! Looking for other ways to creatively use Snapchat as a business owner? The Rising Tide Society blogged about how to create custom geofilters on Snapchat this week- check it out HERE!

I’ll see you over on Snapchat, Happy Friday!