Continuing its “We’re not just for sexting” campaign, Snapchat is rolling out “Snapchat Stories,” which allows users to create and share multimedia content that last for a day.
Snapchat introduced the feature in a vaguely worded blog post last week:
Snapchat Stories add Snaps together to create a narrative. When you add a Snap to your Story it lives for 24 hours before it disappears, making room for the new. Your Story always plays forward, because it makes sense to share moments in the order you experience them.
Your Story never ends and it’s always changing. The end of your Story today is the beginning of your Story tomorrow. And each Snap in your Story includes a list of everyone who views it.
Putting those platitudes aside, what this means is that users can shoot video, add pictures, text, drawings and graffiti to create a multimedia “story.” Unlike the previous Snapchat feature, Snaps, this content will last for 24 hours and can be viewed multiple times by your Snapchat friends, who will see it show up in their feeds.
While this may look like another way for self-absorbed teenagers to overshare details from their lives, the feature actually has some potential for marketers. This is a great way for brands to share high quality content, and by making it last only a day, they can make it creative and timely. Video is a great way to showcase products, throw in pictures and digital graffiti and you’ve got a great user experience.
The trick, of course, will be to get that many people following your brand on Snapchat. Rebecca Minkoff proved to be pretty good at it, taking advantage of the ephemeral, exclusive nature of the content viewing. Other brands can follow, taking advantage of the 24-hour time limit to show new product features, trailers of hotly anticipated films and shopping discount codes. As more and more users get on Snapchat, it’s definitely a place where brands should think about innovating.
Here’s a video explaining “Stories,” featuring the band Goldroom:
