Snapchat is the biggest story right now. Launching six months ago, the app has now got 500 million monthly active users. A year after its creation, it celebrated reaching 1 billion users. The sheer size of the audience makes it the perfect fit for high profile figures looking to engage with their fans.
That’s exactly what British actor, writer, comedian and photographer Rob Pattinson did. The 32-year-old took to Snapchat to share his photographs and short videos with fans around the world, and he has not looked back since.
Pattinson has over 2.2 million followers on Instagram and over 1.4 million on Twitter. He gained notoriety for playing Ross Pomeroy in the Twilight series between 2009 and 2011, and subsequently gained a following as a result of his unique brand of humor and relatable stories.
Although most people know Pattinson for his acting career, he has found new ways to engage with his audience in recent years. He has spoken at various times about acting, writing and directing, with a love for manga and anime that extends to both his person and his work. He has also stated that he wants to be the ‘Scoop Robinson’ of the 21st century, famous for tracking down celebrities and breaking news stories (he also namedropped Scoop in the second episode of the television show The Knickstagram).
It is this ability to create content that is perfectly suited for Snapchat that has helped him to gain such an engaged audience. People are now looking to him to help them navigate their worlds through storytelling and engaging with his characters.
Pattinson’s use of Snapchat is not without its controversy. The app is known for its lack of traditional content controls, which has made it an attractive platform for people involved in bullying, harassment and sexual exploitation. In October last year, it was revealed that the app had lost its license to be marketed to children and must remain child-friendly. This was due to an increase in reports of sexual content and inappropriate behavior by users.
While this is a negative note to end on, it is worth considering why this content is so popular on the app. As Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel said in a recent interview with the Financial Times: “If you think about traditional porn, it’s very simple. It’s very easy to understand. You look at a naked woman or a man and you’re interested. But with social media, it’s more complex. You have to curate content that is interesting and engaging to you as an individual.”
The audience on Snapchat are not just interested in pictures of celebrities and famous people. They want to see content that relates to them, their friends and the stories they already follow. This is why the platform is so popular among Gen-Z and millennials, the two demographics that Twitter and Instagram as a whole are struggling to engage with.
The best content creators on the app are those who understand this. With the right filters, stickers, lenses and stories, you can create content that will engage with all of your followers.
Here, we will examine how to create engaging content on Snapchat using the above tools.
Use The Right Filters
As discussed, Snapchat is a story-telling app. This means it is all about the content you put in and the content users click on. More importantly, it’s about the content you make people want to share. This means that the right filters are essential if you want to create content that will go viral. In fact, Snapchat lists ‘viral content’ as one of the three primary qualities that will help your content go “viral” on the platform (the other two being ‘humorous’ and ‘high quality’).
The best filters on Snapchat serve a dual purpose. Not only do they enhance your photographs and videos but they also add a humorous or entertaining element. This is what makes them so attractive to users.
To use filters on your Snapchats, go to ‘My Camera’ and select the ‘Instagram-like’ camera. This will open up your camera settings. From here you can click on the box that says ‘Color Filters’ and then on the one that says ‘Vintage.’ These are the filters you will use to add humor or a unique perspective to your content.
Create Meme-Likes
Another way to add entertainment value to your Snapchat is to create meme-likes. These are photos that people will want to share and that will ultimately become popular on the platform. To do this, open up your photo library and pick out a photo of a person, place or thing that you find amusing or interesting. You can even use a meme from another platform and find a way to integrate it with the object of your photograph if you are not sure how to do it yourself.
Once you have found a good photo, take a look at how others are using similar content on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter. You can then take this knowledge and use it to make your meme-like photograph stand out. When picking your subject matter, bear in mind the demographics of Snapchat users. Younger audiences are more likely to be inspired by current events, while older audiences are more likely to be inspired by entertainment.
Use Stickers, Lenses And Themes
Along with filters, Snapchat lets you add stickers, lenses and themes to your content. Stickers are small images that you can overlay on top of your photos and videos. These are generally used for adding additional humor to your content or letting your followers know what your current mood is. For instance, you could use a sarcastic or witty sticker to indicate this is content you want to share while being humorous.
Lenses are filters that you can apply to your content. These change the way your photos and videos look, depending on what effect you want to achieve. Some lenses are fully transparent, while others have a colored border around them. Themes are similar to lenses but cover up the background behind the content. To change the background behind your content, go to your story’s ‘More’ tab and select the ‘Layout’ option. The background behind the content will then update with one of the layouts from the options presented to you.
With your content prepared, it’s time to share it with the world. Hit ‘Send’ on your iPhone and you will be presented with a short preview of your content. As before, make sure you are sharing content that is appropriate for your audience. If you are unsure about what is and isn’t appropriate, ask a friend or family member to weigh in.
Create A ‘Behind The Scenes’ Story
It’s always nice when a celebrity or a famous person does something funny or entertaining for your entertainment. But having them do something for the benefit of your story is even better. This is because it takes more work to make something interesting for the sake of the story than it does to make something funny for the sake of your entertainment.
To show off your hard work and make your content stand out, you can create a ‘behind the scenes’ story that shows your creative process. For example, if you are a photographer and you take a lot of photos for a project, you could produce a video showing you working through the various stages of the project. The more you can do to show off your work, the more you will inspire others to want to work with you.
If you have a blog, you could do the same thing and show off your process of creating content, whether that is a recipe or how-to guide. For more inspiration, check out these creative ‘behind the scenes’ stories from some of the biggest names in entertainment: