Snapchat now has more daily users than Twitter: Why small businesses need to “give it a crack”

Allowing people to send tongue-in-cheek videos of themselves vomiting rainbows appears to be paying dividends, given Snapchat has reportedly overtaken Twitter when it comes to daily active users.

The messaging app, which is popular among teens and young adults, has around 150 million people logging on every day, according to Bloomberg.

In comparison, Twitter – which has been around since 2006 – has around 140 million daily users.

Thanks to Snapchat’s incredible growth, businesses are starting to sit up and taking notice.

This is especially the case for those wanting to engage with a younger, internet-savvy audience.

It’s important not to “overthink” Snapchat

Lucy Glade-Wright, co-founder of online homewares retailer Hunting for George, is just one Australian business to have recently jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon.

Hunting for George signed up to Snapchat about a month ago, something its marketing director had been pushing for “for years”.

“I absolutely love it,” Glade-Wright says.

“It’s a very different platform to explain to anybody who hasn’t used it. All you can do is have a go. With us, our audience isn’t so much on Twitter – they’re a very visual audience. They’re on Instagram and we also think they’re on Snapchat.”

“It allows people insight into your brand they would never see. It can show much more of your personality as well.”

Glade-Wright says she used Snapchat to show existing and potential customers around the recent Denfair design fair in Melbourne.

The videos gave people short, snappy insights into the latest homewares and design trends, as well as the products that caught the eye of the Hunting for George team.

“You either love it or you hate it,” Glade-Wright says.

“Give it a crack and just have fun with it. That’s the good thing about Snapchat, you don’t have to overthink it because it’s not going to last forever.”

Snapchat’s pros and cons 

Glade-Wright says because Snapchat is so new, it’s hard to gauge how successful the platform is as a marketing tool.

While Twitter and Facebook provide users with detailed analytics, finding out how many people you’ve reached is more difficult on Snapchat.

“At this point, we’re just tracking it, how many people are watching our posts, and how many people are commenting back,” Glade-Wright says.

“We’re getting these customers and random people talk to us saying we love your Snapchat. Which is awesome because we’re just doing everyday stuff and people are responding positively.

“But because we are so new, it is difficult to gauge where it could go.”

However, Glade-Wright thinks Snapchat’s emerging status among social media users is one of the platform’s strengths.

For example, many brands are already well-established on Instagram and Facebook and it can be difficult to compete with that.

In addition, there are the algorithmic timelines businesses have to contend with on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook now.

“We wanted to start building our audience in other spaces,” Glade-Wright says.

“From a marketing point of view, the more touch points we have with our audience the better.”