Snapchat’s “Discover” Feature: A Social Media Goldmine for Companies

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​Snapchat, an application (app) used for quick and simple photo/video messaging, unveiled its largest update to users a couple of days ago with the addition of “Discover”.

On January 27, Snapchat’s blog (http://blog.snapchat.com/post/109302961090/introducing-discover) was updated to showcase the perks of “Discover”. This new feature allows companies to advertise in a fun, innovative way to Snapchat’s primary public… high school and college students. CNN, Comedy Central, Cosmopolitan, Daily Mail, ESPN, Food Network, National Geographic, People, Vice, Yahoo! News and Warner Music Group are all current advertisers.

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 Not only is this a goldmine for the companies involved, but also for the free app. Discover is one of the few sources of income for Snapchat and a profitable one at that.

Discover is much more than boring news articles that viewer’s eyes skim over daily. The feature offers a seamless and beautiful effect of picture, video, sound and text in an engaging fashion.

Snapchat on Discover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOMqA2AOIk

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As a college student, I have found myself enjoying Discover much more than I had expected to. The brands involved produce both news and entertainment in a way that captures the viewer’s attention. Snapchat has also found a way to tuck this content in a designated tab for users to intentionally pull up, which gives control over the feature. Many free apps turn users away with their annoying pop up advertisements, like the popular app, Trivia Crack, which flashes ads after each game played.

Snapchat was in dire need of an exciting update after the negative press that seemed to plague the app for years. From changes in policy, to hacks endangering security and privacy, Snapchat has seen its days of bad PR. I hope (and I’m sure Snapchat is crossing its fingers too) that these new features will allow the app to thrive. After being named “most unreliable” and only receiving one star for customer privacy policies by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it is imperative for Snapchat to do some serious image repair for its brand.

(https://www.eff.org/mention/snapchat-weak-protecting-user-privacy-advocacy-groups-report-says)

However, as PR professionals (and pre-professionals) we must consider if this update is relevant to the app. Snapchat was created primarily for sending private “snaps” and posting “stories”. Was this media deal too unrelated to the app’s purpose or does it fit nicely with its forward thinking?

Sarah Cain, Spring 2015 Account Manager

Sarah Cain is a senior, graduating this May – something that she is both proud and excited about. Sarah currently holds the leadership position of Vice President for the UNC Charlotte PRSSA chapter. She hopes to land a job in agency or corporate PR in the wonderful city of Charlotte. Sarah’s interests lie in social media, some graphic design and writing in general. Connect with her @sarahhhcain on Twitter or Instagram.

Perks of Being a PR Professional

Working as a public relations professional is not an easy task. To get in the field is much like any other profession; it takes time, education and of course networking. Once in the field, it becomes increasingly harder to stay climb the ladder and advance further into this challenging field. With all these factors weighing against an individual, what would make someone crazy enough to jump into this field?

• The key to public relations is talking: If conversing comes easy to you then you will enjoy being a public relations professional. From the little experience I have so far in this field I have learned that in order to be successful in this field you have to talk to everyone, shake their hands and most importantly get comfortable having a conversation with them, because chances are they can help you in one way or another.

• Networking: Adding on to the first perk, networking is a bonus of working in the public relations field. Meeting and talking to clients becomes second nature to any public relations practitioner, so in the process of talking to clients a practitioner is also networking with them. That is crucial because like stated in the first perk, you never know how that individual could help you in the future.

Image Courtesy of Boston College.

• Free Stuff: This may not take place at every PR job, but a good deal of them do offer free stuff to the PR practitioners that are working on their accounts. For example if you work at a PR agency, chances are whichever account you work on will either give you their product to try for free or give you a major discount on purchasing it. The clients want their account executives to know and be familiar with their product, which means they will make it easy for you to obtain it.

• Lots of hands-on work: If sitting behind a desk all day bores you then chances are you will have more fun being a PR practitioner. Again using an agency as an example, most companies will fly their account executives out to a product showcase or some type of event where their client is being offered to customers. During that time, the account executives will get a hands-on feel for how their client wants to reach potentially new customers, which will remove them from behind the cramped desk. A PR practitioner could travel all over the world as they help their clients reach new audiences. Also, this perk will contain perk #3 as well. At these events the company you work for will pay for your hotel, an allowance on food, as well as more free merchandise from the client.

• Lastly, being a PR practitioner doesn’t get boring: Obviously this can be viewed as a biased opinion but from my experience I can tell any rising PR practitioner that this job will keep you guessing. Every day is a new challenge, and there seems to never be the same job day after day. On any given day a PR practitioner can be flying out to a product showcase, on the phone talking to new clients, building statistic sheets for client presentations, writing press releases, constructing new graphics for their client, or even just shaking hands and talking to people. Every day I come to work I feel that there will be something new and different awaiting me on my desk. There has never been a time where I wished I was doing something different.

These five perks keep me driven in the public relations field and should be factored into any potential new PR practitioners decision upon entering the field. Being a PR practitioner is what I love to do, and I would not change my job for any in the world.

Image courtesy of Cision.

 

Written by Jordan Morris, PR Specialist.
Jordan Morris is a senior at UNC Charlotte with hopes of venturing into sports public relations upon graduation in December of 2014.

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Image courtesy of:  http://www.cision.com/us/2012/01/pr-experts-answer-how-would-you-define-public-relations/

Image courtesy of: http://www.bc.edu/schools/csom/undergraduate/careerservices/networking.html