Hemant Sashittal, St. John Fisher College – Reaching College Students Through Snapchat

Knowing how to use the latest social media platform can be a boon for your brand.

Hemant Sashittal, professor of marketing at St. John Fisher College, details how certain brands are using Snapchat to get in touch with a younger audience.

Hemant Sashittal currently serves as professor of marketing at the School of Business at St. John Fisher College.  His research interests are social media marketing, product innovation, strategy and implementation, and pedagogy.

Reaching College Students Through Snapchat

Snapchat, initially known for its ephemeral, disappearing posts, is attracting the interest of leading brands such as CNN, SONY, and BMW.  The reasons seem clear.  The average user of Facebook is 40 years old, the average Snapchat user is 18.  A reported 77% of the 21 million America’s college students, with the buying power of an estimated $412 billion, use Snapchat at least once a day. 

Recent focus groups conducted among Snapchat using college students produces two key findings.  First, the Snapchatverse emerges as inclusive, effortless, and relatable.    Strangers became acquaintances; the far away seems near and relatable.  College students recount the liberation and empowerment nascent in the Snapchatverse.  I.e., the liberation from words and articulation of complex thoughts; freedom from traditional artifacts of social relationships such as reciprocity and commitment. The medium appears to hold potential for associating brands with these key concepts.

Second, college students slot the brands they encounter on social media along a continuum of familiarity.  Some brands are regarded as intimates; I can’t live without you (e.g., Nike, Apple, and Starbucks).  Others are regarded as friends; I trust you (e.g., JC Penneys, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut).  A brand is a stranger when the targeted college student segment says; I know you exist, your association with my acquaintances is unclear (e.g., Caribou Coffee, Fiat).  In between friends and strangers are the acquaintance brands; they float in the consequence-free, effortless Snapchatverse (e.g., Samsung, Sony, Sperry, Bathesda, and Asus).  The Snapchatverse is surprisingly fertile for brands intending to transcend from strangers to acquaintances.  When a brand so transcends, the college student says: You were once a stranger, you are now a relatable acquaintance; you will do just fine if my preferred brand (friend) is unavailable.