5 Quick Tips To Get Started on Snapchat

At the risk of sounding like the woman who’s desperately trying to be the “cool mom” of her daughter’s friends, I’ll say it: Snapchat is the coolest.

If you’re a business that markets to customers under 35, you should be all over this platform right now.

Yes, it can be intimidating.

First of all, it’s 100% visual, and the majority of people don’t love appearing on camera.

And second of all, it’s not intuitive. For a platform that took off like a rocketship to outer space, it’s definitely not that easy to figure out.

Never fear; I’ve got 5 quick tips to get you up and running on Snapchat by the end of your lunch break.

1. Choose a username you’re going to keep

…Because one you’ve picked it, you can’t change it.

I made this mistake when registering my first account, before the platform got so popular.

I assumed Snapchat would be a passing fad, so in jest, I decided to use my AOL Instant Messenger screenname from the high school days.

Welp, qtpietams is cute for a 15 year old girl, but it’s certainly not the name I want popping up in people’s feeds every single time I send a snap.

I ended up deleting that account and starting all over with a new one. You can find me by my new, uber-professional username: tamibrehse.

2. Find out which of your contacts are on the platform.

Snapchat is different from Facebook, Twitter and the like in that it doesn’t have a standard search function. Meaning unless you know someone’s phone number or their exact username, you won’t be able to look them up.

So, you’ve gotta figure out which of your compadres are already on the platform and add them.

You can do this in one of two ways:

Search using your phone’s phone book from the Add Friends screen

Blast out your username on all of your existing platforms and ask for other people’s usernames. Seriously, you have to do this or you’ll be forever stuck at five followers.

3. Embrace imperfection

Those completely staged, perfectly posed snapshots that fill your Instagram feed? Nope, they’re not the currency here.

The content on Snapchat is, for the most part, unfiltered and imperfect. So if you shoot a snap where the angle’s not quite right or your face looks a little goofy, keep it! It’s part of this platform’s “anything goes” mentality.

4. Don’t overthink it

The beauty of Snapchat is that it allows you to give viewers (AKA potential customers) a glimpse inside your day-to-day life.

While I use an editorial calendar for most social platforms, on Snapchat I go schedule-free, snapping whatever’s interesting at any given time.

While beautiful, color-rich images are the standard for, say, Pinterest, organic, spur-of-the-moment content is what’s native on Snapchat.

5. Have some fun

There are Snapchatters out there that do a great job mixing business and pleasure (GaryVee, anyone?). And that’s cool. Just don’t forget about the pleasure part!

Users on Snapchat want to be entertained. Loosen up a little and show some personality.

Are you on Snapchat? Leave your username in the comments below and I’ll add you!