What Happened
Snapchat has quietly added a way for people to spread the word about the accounts they love. Along with the recent addition of Memories, users can now easily recommend friends follow other accounts by tapping the new “Suggest” button on profile cards. Users will receive suggestions as private messages with an account info card and a button to follow them.
In other Snapchat news, the company is reportedly developing a new ad product powered by image recognition technology. The idea is to use that technology to identify real-life objects that users have snapped, for example a can of diet soda, and surface related ads and coupons in other Snapchat channels such as Discover and Live Stories.
What Brands Need To Do
Snapchat has long been a hard nut for brands to crack because the app does not have a referral-based discovery system, making it difficult for brands to grow their followers. With the Suggest feature, brands gain a useful tool to ask their fans to spread the word and grow their fanbase in an organic and, if they’re lucky, viral way. The new image recognition-powered ad product, if realized, should provide brands a valuable targeting tool to run their Snapchat campaigns. As Snapchat grows more prominent in the social media landscape, brands need to keep up with brand-related developments of the app and learn to leverage them to their benefit.
Sources: TechCrunch & Business Insider
