Why Business Owners Need to Embrace Snapchat and Facebook Live

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What’s too much exposure? Depends on the context. While an incorrect exposure setting on a camera may ruin an image, a different type of exposure can vault you into the international limelight — social media exposure.

The truth is, social media is proving to be an extremely useful and inexpensive marketing tool for small businesses, rapidly making costly marketing and traditional publicity firms more and more obsolete. The trick is to knowing what channels and tools to use — and when and how.

Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of social brand consulting agency VaynerMedia, lives by the idea that “content is king” but “context is God.” According to Gary, understanding the context of each social platform is paramount to successfully using it. What good is having a plethora of valuable content if consumers don’t find it? For photographers and videographers — professional and aspiring — Gary points to the power of Snapchat, Vine and now Facebook Live.

Chase Jarvis talks to Gary Vaynerchuk
“How many more photographers are there today than there were ten years ago? A sh*tload more.”
— Gary Vaynerchuk

Thanks to social sharing apps, every person with a smartphone can be a photographer or videographer. While this may irk professionals, or those who’ve spent years climbing the industry ladder, this direct line to the masses should be viewed as a tool rather than a hindrance. Instead of fighting it, photographers should use social media to their advantage. In fact, Snapchat is a great way to playfully communicate with customers.

Receiving a Snapchat is a unique experience. A Snap (which can be either a photo or a video) arrives just like a personal message to your inbox.  During his talk on chasejarvisLIVE, Gary stated,  “Snapchat is the one place that you can almost guarantee consumption.” As a small business owner, you can send a photo or video to your Snapchat audience, and realistically expect it to be seen. The transient nature of the Snap captures the user’s full attention for 8-10 seconds.

The inevitable disappearance of the Snap makes viewing it that much more special. As the consumer, you may never have another chance. Just like the legendary showman P.T. Barnum famously said to his entertainers “always leave them wanting more,” Snapchat does that for you. It’s up to you to provide them more.

Joel Comm Facebook Live

For people with a knack for longer form video, Facebook Live provides a new dynamic opportunity to reach consumers. The social media juggernaut took cues from the success of social platforms like Snapchat and Vine and has now integrated live video into its platform.

On Facebook, video plays automatically, making it easy for videographers to draw users attention to their content. And Facebook Live adds yet another layer of interest with the raw nature of watching live video. Take Candace Payne, aka Chewbacca Mom for example, a woman who became an overnight sensation with her infectious laugh on Facebook Live. Payne, is only one of a the hundreds of live videos that have gone viral since Facebook implemented it’s Live feature back in April. With over 1.7 billion (yes, billion) users on Facebook, the social network can’t be ignored and this new live video feature is just the latest way to reach more of your potential customers.

Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman is a Seattle-based freelance writer, entrepreneur, and traveller.