How Can Professionals Use Snapchat?

In Find Your Dream Job, Ep. 5, with Steve Potestio, the Mac’s List team shared the importance of keeping up-to-date on new social media tools. In this special bonus clip, we discuss one of the newest platforms in social media: Snapchat.

Once a domain solely for intrepid youth, Snapchat is now increasingly being adopted by companies and professionals.

Cecilia Bianco shares one example of how a nonprofit, DoSomething.org, uses Snapchat, to connect with a younger audience and build a support base.

Transcript

Ben Forstag:

Hi, Cecilia. Today, we were talking about different social media platforms and the topic of Snapchat came up, and maybe I am outing myself as an old guy who doesn’t get it, but I really don’t understand the value of Snapchat. I understand how it works, that the pictures self delete, but how could a professional or an organization use this to an effective end?

Cecilia Bianco:

Yeah, definitely. A lot of organizations are actually using it effectively, and one non-profit in particular has done some really cool things with it. It’s called DoSomething.org, and it was Valentine’s Day, and they were Snapchatting throughout the day and all of their Snapchats culminated in this live event, and they used Snapchat to get people to come to the event. It’s just another way to engage with your fans and if you grow a large audience base on Snapchat, if your audience is in that age group where everyone’s on Snapchat, it’s a great way to engage with them and you can do really cool things, like have an all-day online event, and then bring it in person. It’s just a new creative way to do something for your fans.

Mac Prichard:

The reason organizations are going to that platform is because that’s where their audience is, essentially.

Cecilia Bianco:

Yeah, I think that’s definitely true. Probably from 13 to 23, everyone’s on it. I’m on it, and I don’t even know why, but I know I follow a lot of organizations and I can see what they’re doing, what campaigns they’re working on, and it’s a very personal approach, I think, to social media.

Ben Forstag:

Hey, Mac? Thirteen to 23, I’m not in that demographic group.

Mac Prichard:

Neither am I, but I think a lot of our listeners want to work with young people and they want to work with organizations that are involved, or help and serve young people, and I think it may be a different platform, but the principle’s the same, whether it’s Facebook or Snapchat. If the employers you want to hire you are in that world, it’s to your advantage to be there.

Cecilia Bianco:

Yeah.

Ben Forstag:

You go where the market is.

Mac Prichard:

Exactly, and you don’t have to be 13 to 23 to want to work with young people. There are lots of people my age or younger or older who want to do that kind of work, and being on Snapchat could help them build relationships.

Cecilia Bianco:

Yeah, it’s probably more like 13 to 30, actually, just to correct myself, because I’m thinking of my sisters and my cousins, and they’re in their 30s. They’d be offended if they heard me say 23, so 13 to 30.

Ben Forstag:

Unfortunately, I still don’t fall in that demographic group! But thanks for clearing that up for me.