Snapchat rarely gets the strategic attention it deserves. Marketers pour hours into Instagram and TikTok playbooks, then treat Snapchat as an afterthought account run by whoever has five minutes to spare. That's a mistake, because the platform still pulls in a massive, highly engaged audience that behaves nothing like the audience on other apps.
According to Social Media Today, Snapchat remains a key connective platform for younger users, with almost a billion people logging in every month. Growth has cooled compared to its early years, but engagement and attention levels still outpace plenty of larger competitors. The catch is that Snapchat's privacy-first design, built around disappearing content and close friend groups, makes it a harder platform for brands to crack than the more public, algorithm-driven feeds most marketers are used to.
Key Update
Snapchat is actively investing in tools to make it easier for brands to build a real presence rather than just running one-off ad campaigns. The company recently rolled out AI-powered capabilities that touch nearly every part of the marketing process: campaign setup and optimization, creative development, shopping integrations, creator partnerships, and even conversational ad-building experiences.
The most notable development is the upcoming Snap Creator Network, an AI-powered system built to simplify creator discovery and campaign activation. Instead of manually scouting creators and cold-messaging them, marketers will be able to describe what they're looking for, including audience, tone, category, and campaign goals, and let the system surface creators that match. It's set to launch later this year and represents Snapchat's clearest attempt yet to compete with the creator marketplaces already established on Instagram and TikTok.
Why It Matters
A solid Snapchat marketing strategy matters because the platform's audience doesn't respond to the same messaging that works elsewhere. Content that feels like a traditional ad tends to land flat and disrupt the more personal, casual feel of the Snapchat stream. Brands that don't adjust their tone and format for this environment end up wasting budget on creative that simply doesn't resonate.
At the same time, Snapchat doesn't offer the kind of public trends libraries or comprehensive analytics dashboards that make research easy on other platforms. That forces marketers to do more manual digging, which many teams skip entirely, leaving a real opportunity on the table for brands willing to put in the work. As Snap continues to build out AI-assisted tools for creative, targeting, and creator matchmaking, the platform is lowering the barrier for brands that previously found it too resource-intensive to bother with.
Important Takeaways
- Snapchat still commands roughly a billion monthly users, with engagement levels that hold up well against larger platforms, even as user growth has slowed.
- The platform's privacy-focused, close-friends design means traditional ad messaging often falls flat, so a Snapchat marketing strategy needs its own tone and creative approach.
- Snapchat lacks a built-in public trends tool, which means competitive research has to be done manually through in-app search and the Snap Map.
- New AI-powered ad tools now cover campaign setup, creative development, shopping, and conversational ad building.
- The upcoming Snap Creator Network will let brands describe their ideal creator partner and get AI-matched suggestions, streamlining a process that used to be entirely manual.
- A public brand profile functions as a permanent storefront on the platform and is a baseline requirement for any serious Snapchat business tools strategy.
Expert Analysis
If you're used to running social strategy off a dashboard full of trend data and competitor benchmarks, Snapchat is going to feel uncomfortable at first. There's no equivalent to Instagram's benchmarking tools or a built-in ad library you can browse for hours. You have to actually get in the app, search for your category and your competitors by name, and pay attention to what's showing up organically. It's slower, but it also means fewer brands are doing it properly, which is an advantage if you're willing to put in the time.
The bigger shift worth watching is how much Snapchat is leaning into AI to close the gap with platforms that already have mature creator and ad ecosystems. A tool that lets you describe your ideal creator in plain language instead of manually vetting profiles one by one is a genuine time-saver, assuming the matching quality holds up once it's live. I'd treat the Snap Creator Network the way you'd treat any new platform tool in its first few months: test it in parallel with your existing creator relationships rather than replacing them outright, and see how the recommendations compare to partnerships you've sourced yourself.
The conversational ad-building assistant is worth a look too, particularly for smaller teams without a dedicated paid social specialist. It won't replace strategic thinking, but it can shorten the setup process for campaigns that would otherwise eat up an afternoon.
Practical Tips
- Search Snapchat directly for your product category, competitor names, and relevant creators before you build anything. Pay attention to which content styles and Lenses are getting traction.
- Check the Snap Map for location-based context if you have physical stores or run local promotions.
- Use Snapchat's business resources, including its case studies and the Snap Focus education platform, to see documented examples of what's worked for other brands.
- Set up a public profile as your baseline. Treat it as your storefront and keep it aligned with what your research shows your audience expects.
- Test the new AI-powered creative and campaign tools on a smaller budget campaign first, so you can judge output quality before committing bigger spend.
- Plan seasonal campaigns, especially around the holidays, well in advance. Snap has specifically recommended early planning for brands looking to capture seasonal attention.
- Once the Snap Creator Network launches, run it alongside your existing creator sourcing process rather than switching over completely, at least until you've seen how the matches perform.
- Review the audience insights available in your public profile settings regularly, and use them to cut what isn't working rather than sticking with a format out of habit.
Final Thoughts
Snapchat isn't going to replace Instagram or TikTok as the centerpiece of most brands' social strategy, and it doesn't need to. What it offers is a large, attentive audience that most competitors are still under-serving because the platform demands more manual research and a different creative tone. With Snap now investing heavily in AI tools to smooth out campaign setup, creative production, and creator discovery, the effort-to-reward ratio for building a real Snapchat marketing strategy is shifting in marketers' favor. Brands that take the time to understand the platform on its own terms, rather than porting over an Instagram playbook, are the ones most likely to see it pay off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a public profile to run ads on Snapchat?
A public profile isn't strictly required to buy ads, but Snapchat treats it as a brand's permanent storefront, and it gives organic content and creator partnerships a home. Most brands running any kind of sustained Snapchat marketing strategy should set one up before investing in paid campaigns.
How is Snapchat different from Instagram or TikTok for brand marketing?
Snapchat is built around private, close-friend sharing, so overtly promotional content tends to feel out of place compared to the more public, discovery-driven feeds on Instagram and TikTok. Brands generally need a more personal, casual tone and have to rely on manual, in-app research rather than public trends tools.
What is the Snap Creator Network?
It's an AI-powered system Snapchat is launching later this year to help brands find creator partners. Marketers describe the audience, tone, category, and goals they're looking for, and the system suggests matching creators, cutting down on manual scouting and outreach.
What AI tools does Snapchat currently offer marketers?
Snapchat's AI-powered capabilities now span campaign setup and optimization, creative development, shopping integrations, creator partnership matching, and a conversational assistant for building ad campaigns within the ad platform.
How often should brands review their Snapchat performance?
Snapchat recommends using the audience insights available within public profile settings on an ongoing basis, and planning seasonal campaigns, such as holiday promotions, well ahead of time rather than reacting last minute.