What Helped SnapChat to Bounce Back

The stats are out and SnapChat has managed to beat everyone’s expectations when it comes to business marketing.

In the second quarter results released by SnapChat, the number of DAUs, Daily Active Users grew to 210 million, up from 203 million in the previous quarter.

SnapChat also outdid themselves on revenue, reporting a $446 million revenue, which is a 48 percent increase from last year.

And for a company that was predicted to be on its deathbed, just what has SnapChat done to reinvent itself and turn around its fortunes?

Launch of AR lenses.

Snap CFO, Derek Andersen attributes the 9 million users they acquired to an improvement in user engagement after launching their new augmented reality lenses.

He said that the next generation of AR lenses, which leveraged their wide experience with mobile camera drew millions to their rebuilt android application where they experienced a new and vastly improved SnapChat.

More brands launching campaigns.

Many brands have been trooping to SnapChat as an advertisement medium after discovering its return on investment.

The disappearing or ephemeral content and augmented reality features are some of the eye-catching features that are helping brands make an impression with the younger demographics of their target market.

More Publishers on the Discover section.

SnapChat has announced an increase of almost 40% in h total time that users spent in the Discover section.

The Discover section is a section at the right of the camera screen meant for brands and corporates to display their stories.

The publishers that have maintained an active presence on the Discover section are now seeing an increased return on investment, among them being ESPN and Cosmopolitan who are seeing an increased engagement and growth in their number of subscribers on their Discover section in the past year.

With SnapChat having over 450 premium channels to choose from, advertisers and publishers who want to stand out are seeing it as a lucrative broadcast medium.

Improved advertising features.

SnapChat has committed to enhance the advertising experience for marketers with the following unique features:

• New Third-party app integrations.

SnapKit allows users on apps like Tinder and Netfilx to create customized partner stories from SnapChat. This partner apps can display SnapChat stories on their platforms. This has enabled marketers to make money from their content with full-screen mobile adds.

• Snap Originals and Snap Games.

Snap original expanded its mobile show feature with comedies, docuseries and dramas targeting different users. Each episode is approximately 5 minutes and has a six-second non-skippable ad that is available for purchase. This has augured well with marketers who can make their ads for view by users.

• Dynamic Scanning and Enhanced AR.

This feature comes with improved movement tracking, object scanning, landmark manipulation and a Lens Studio interactive template. These features have enabled brands to deliver targeted content which has been effective in producing deeper engagement with their target audiences.

The result of these features has been increased traffic from marketer, eager to take advantage of the customized features to reach their target audiences.

READ MORE: Why Snapchat is Important for Business