Snapchat beats Facebook for 2016 ad dollars

Research indicates that media buyers are more inclined to advertise on Snapchat, Pinterest, and Instagram than on Facebook.  

Though only a little over four years old, Snapchat already has more than 100 million users worldwide and there are over 700 million snaps that are taken each day. Not bad for a social messaging platform that was once deemed the “nudey” app amongst teens.

That’s right, what used to be the place where prepubescents would send 10-second snaps of their bare bottoms and beyond (we like to think of ourselves as a family friendly site, but you can use your imagination!) to their friends before they disappeared into the oblivion, has turned into a marketing phenomenon.

Snapchat versus Facebook

And ad buyers seem to be taking advantage of that fact. According to research from eMarketer, more senior U.S. ad buyers are planning to advertise on Snapchat for the first time this year over any other social media site.

The proof is in the numbers. While some 22 percent of media buyers will focus their spend on the ephemeral messaging platform in 2016, only four percent will advertise on Facebook. High five, Spiegel – bet Zuck is wishing he offered you a little more for Snapchat now!

“Snapchat is the one to watch out for and there is no doubt that ad buyers are putting money where their mouths are. With the recent claims that the platform is building out its API for ad partners, it looks like Snapchat’s ambition is to really build on its audiences across all verticals and demographics this year. Who wouldn’t want to be there for the start of that?” says Hayley Rosenberg, marketing manager at Amplify.

And tied for second place…

Instagram and Pinterest were also popular, with 12 percent of ad buyers hoping to allocate their budgets to both of these visual platforms this year.

Meanwhile, microblogging site Tumblr saw 10 percent of senior ad buyers planning their spend on the platform in 2016, followed by social dating app, Tinder, with six percent.

Notably, 39 percent of respondents researched did not plan to allocate new spend to any platform.

And you should care about the above information, why?

Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest all have one thing in common – they are social sites with a huge visual component. It seems that consumers want to see a brand’s product and not just read about it. Yes – we have reached a point where an image/ video is literally worth 1,000 words (or millions of likes).

Visuals allow your consumers to see the behind-the-scenes aspects of your brand or product, which helps them feel more connected.

So it’s time to move away from text-heavy content and begin incorporating images or videos into every post. Clearly that’s where the ad dollars are going, so you (and your clients) need to be ready to meet them there.

Hurry up. Get snapping!