14 Ingenious Ways to Get Snapchat Followers That You Need to Try Today

Key Takeaways

• Crafting a clear Snapchat strategy is crucial for successful marketing and gaining followers. It involves defining goals, identifying target audience, understanding competitors, and developing a messaging strategy.
• Mastering the art of using Snapchat, including learning how to engage with others on the platform, is essential for effective promotion and building a following.
• Seeking inspiration from other brands on Snapchat can provide valuable insights into effective strategies for attracting followers and engaging with audiences.

Searching for innovative ways to gain Snapchat followers? You’re not alone. Social media experts know that this is a crucial aspect of any Snapchat business strategy. More followers mean greater reach and a better chance of achieving your goals on the platform.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to attract more Snapchat followers (or Snapchat friends, if you prefer). No fluff or tedious tactics—these tips actually work!

1. Craft a Clear Snapchat Strategy

When approaching a new platform as a marketing vehicle, a clear strategy is essential. Snapchat marketing, including gaining followers, requires a plan for achieving your goals. Skipping this step can lead to wasted time, money, and effort.

To get started with your strategy, ask yourself the right questions. Questions like:

• Who within the company are we educating to use the platform?
• Who will be responsible for keeping our account active and engaging with our Snapchat followers?
• What do we want to achieve at the end of the day? In other words, what does it mean to us to have X number of Snapchat followers, or X number of Story views?
• How many hours, days, months, or years do we estimate it will take to reach our Snapchat goals?
• What does success on Snapchat look like to us?
• Who is our ideal Snapchat follower? How do we reach this person? (By “person,” we mean audience persona.)
• What methods will be used to attract more Snapchat followers? Why, if at all, would they want to watch our Stories?
• What will be our overall messaging to our Snapchat friends and followers? How will we weave this messaging into our various Stories and Snaps?
• What are our competitors doing on Snapchat? How can we assess what’s working for them and what’s not?
• Who else do our ideal Snapchat followers follow? How can we tap into those influencers?

Without knowing the answers to the above questions (and others like them), you can easily get sidetracked on a platform like Snapchat. Remember, it’s not all fun and games. If you’re struggling to manage a Snapchat account, you need to know whether it’s worth your time.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’re ready to develop your strategy. These blog guides will help:

• Snapchat for Business: A Marketer’s Guide
• How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan in 6 Steps

2. Master the Art of Using Snapchat

Yes, you could just jump into promotion. But imagine how much more effective your account would be once you’ve learned how to engage with others on the platform!

Snapchat has a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.

Check out our handy guides on this topic (trust us, it’s not as intuitive as it seems):

• How to Use Snapchat: The Beginner’s Guide
• Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Snapchat (But Were Afraid to Ask)

We’ve also included tips below for using Snapchat to build a following.

3. Seek Inspiration from Other Brands

There’s no harm in checking out what other brands are doing on Snapchat to attract followers and engage with their audience. Here are a few sources to get you started on your research:

• 7 Brands That Are Absolutely Killing It on Snapchat (on Entrepreneur.com)
• See How Others Grew Their Business with Snapchat (on Snapchat’s website)
• The Best Snapchat Marketing Campaigns and Why They Worked (on the Brandwatch blog)

4. Use Snapchat Insights to Reassess and Revise

A good marketer knows that their first strategy is going to be their best guess. As with all marketing initiatives, you’ll want to use Snapchat Analytics periodically. See if your efforts to gain Snapchat followers are working for you. You’ll also want to use any data you can get to answer those earlier “strategy” questions. Then revise your execution as needed.

5. Share Your Snapcode So New Users Can Easily Add You as a Friend

A Snapcode is a nifty scannable code that makes it quick and easy to add new Snapchat followers and unlock content on Snapchat. Your Snapcode is located in the center of your Snapchat Profile screen, which you can find by tapping the ghost at the top of your Camera screen.

New followers can scan your Snapcode using the Snapchat camera. They can also screenshot your Snapcode and use the “Add by Snapcode” function on the “Add Friends” page to easily add your business as a new friend. Once you have your Snapcode, you can start sharing it far and wide.

Here are a few ways to share your Snapcode far and wide to get new Snapchat followers:

• Make your Snapcode your profile picture on other social media accounts.
• Share your Snapcode in other social media posts.

6. Memorize and Share the Browser Link to Your Snapchat Profile

This unique URL is just as easy to promote on other social media and web properties as your Snapcode. Here’s the format of the link:

www.snapchat.com/add/YOUR-USERNAME

7. Share Snapchat Content on Your Other Social Media Channels

In addition to sharing your Snapcode and profile URL, you can also use snippets of your Snapchat content to entice followers on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to follow you.

Taco Bell created a geo-filter (explained in more detail below) that featured a promotion to drive users to their doors. Then, they had users share that Snapchat geo-filter on Twitter. They openly asked their Twitter followers to use the geo-filter, so they could tell their own Snapchat followers about the promotion. In other words, they tried to create a viral campaign to engage with Snapchatters.

Tim Hortons decided to do something similar on Instagram (and, in fact, Twitter, too). They ran a contest to encourage more Snapchat followers. But they didn’t stop there. They also asked for user participation, expecting followers to both Snap them and use their filter.

Snapchat has a page demonstrating just how powerful filters and lenses can be for businesses, when seen by nearby followers.

8. Link to Your Snapchat Profile on Your Website

Don’t forget to let your website visitors know how to find you on Snapchat! Wherever you list your other social media profiles (usually with little icon links), you can also include Snapchat information, such as:

• A hyperlink to your profile URL (perhaps in the form of an image icon link).
• Your username in plain text.
• Your Snapcode image in a prominent, not hidden location (like the footer of your site).

Here are instructions on how to add your Snapcode to your WordPress website.

You can also use a WordPress plugin like this one to list all your social media networks using icon links, including Snapchat.

9. Include Snapchat Information in Your Email Signature and Your Printed Marketing Materials

While this might sound like “old school,” you have to admit, it makes it easy for people to find you on Snapchat! Put your Snapchat username or your Snapcode on your business cards, flyers, advertisements, and elsewhere. And in that handy email signature.

10. Add Snapchat Followers, and They’ll Likely Add You Back

This works for pretty much any social network. If you add people to your social network, there’s a good chance they’ll add you back. So take the initiative, and click those “+Add” links if the app gives them to you. Use Snapchat’s “Quick Add” section, and scan other people’s Snapcodes when you see them!

In our guide to how to use Snapchat for beginners, we’ve included simple step-by-step instructions for adding friends on Snapchat.

Additionally, there are apps that help you find people to connect with (and help them find you!). Here are four:

• AddMe – Kik & Snapchat Friends (on iTunes)
• Get Friends for Snapchat & Kik, Users for Snap (on Google Play)
• Flamingo – More Friends, Views for Snapchat, Kit (on Google Play; here’s the iTunes version)
• GhostCodes—a Discovery App for Snapchat (on iTunes and a website here)

Some suggest using Twitter hashtags and queries (like #addmesnapchat) to find users who want to be added. Check out our post, The Best Snapchat Tools and Apps to Learn More.

11. Tell Great Stories to Make Your Snapchat Account Popular

To keep your Snapchat followers engaged, and get them to share your Snaps with others (and thus attract more followers), you’ll want to make sure you’re telling great stories. “Stories” here could refer to Snapchat Stories (a series of Snaps “strung” together). However, we’re also talking about the interesting things your brand or company is doing on a 24-hour basis. (These are the stories on Snapchat’s timeline of visible Snaps or Stories.)

Before you get started, have a read of our quick guide to creating the perfect Snapchat Story.

Next, here are some ideas for Snapchat Stories to share when you’re trying to gain Snapchat followers:

• The “behind-the-scenes” story.
• The “how-to” story.
• The “funny anecdote” story.
• The “educational news” story.

12. Master All the Features and Tools to Really Make Your Content Stand Out

Keeping your Snapchat followers, and attracting new ones, also means being a Snapchatter. By that we mean: use all the features Snapchat has like you were born to Snapchat. There are so many available. From freehand drawing tools, to sticker cutouts, to filters, to lenses—you can get really creative.

We also recommend you master the lesser-known tricks to really make your Snapchat stand out. See our guide: Snapchat Hacks: 35 Tips and Features You Probably Didn’t Know About.

In addition to Stories described above, here are four more features you can’t miss to brag about when growing your brand’s account on Snapchat:

• Geofilters
• Lenses
• Stickers
• Memories

13. Get Snapchat Influencers and Host Snapchat Takeovers

Like any social media influencer, Snapchat influencers are basically celebrities of the app. These famous Snapchatters get paid when brands pay them to create promotional content, either on their own profile or the company’s.

When the influencer creates content on the buyer’s profile, it’s known as a Snapchat Takeover. The appeal of a Snapchat star on a company’s account is no different than Nike paying Michael Jordan to endorse shoes in their commercials.

Interested? Then, check out our guide to hosting Snapchat Takeovers.

But, as a small business, you might not be able to book Kylie Jenner. But don’t let that stop you from creating Snapchat partnerships to get more followers. Find people in your niche and leverage each other’s accounts. Hopefully, you’ll get more eyes on your content, bringing each other’s followers to your respective accounts.

Do enough Snapchat partnerships and eventually you’ll be a Snapchat influencer in your own right. People will probably ASK you to take over their accounts!

14. Try Snapchat Advertising

Finally, there’s Snapchat Advertising. Now, keep in mind that Snapchat ads are Snaps and Stories that are inserted into other people’s Snaps and Stories. You could be viewing a friend’s Snaps, and all of a sudden, Subway is telling you about their amazing sandwiches, complete with music and all.

Ads also go in other people’s content on Snapchat, like Discover Stories (like the Economist piece mentioned earlier) and Shows (an area of Snapchat that we haven’t even mentioned and don’t have space for in this article).

So when you create a Snapchat Ad to get more followers, your call-to-action (CTA) needs to be clear. Otherwise, it’s just a promotional message (which is fine if that’s your goal).

Snap Ads have the option for a “swipe up” with a “More” indicator. There, brands can insert web links. You could technically have your Snapcode URL there, to encourage your viewers (see above) to follow you. However, with the price of Snap Ads, you might want to use another type of content on the “More” tab.

Continue to our Snapchat Advertising guide and learn more about this topic.

Bonus: Want to manage all your social media in one place? Hootsuite’s dashboard makes it easy. Simply add your networks and start monitoring social activity around your brand, scheduling posts, and more.

Get Started Free Today

“””