Snapchat Analytics guide for dummies

As of 2016, Snapchat boasts of 150 million daily active users - Evan Spiegel’s brainchild has evolved from the new kid on the block, to a thriving threat, giving all social media platforms a run for their money. Why should marketers be concerned about this? 35 per cent of Snapchat users are loyal to the platform owing to the disappearing content feature.

Instagram too is headed in the disappearing content direction – giving marketers little choice, but to get acquainted with this form of communication. The glitch however is measuring the performance of content that disappears.

Measuring your Snapchat initiatives can be tricky; what needs to be measured, against which parameters get and when; how to measure Snapchat is a different ball game all together & the metrics aren’t easily accessible.

Social Samosa gets in conversation with MissMalini, to take lessons from their Snapchat game.

The need for a professional tool

Right off the top, MissMalini, one of the most read Indian entertainment, lifestyle & fashion blogs - uses Snapchat to engage loyal fans, drive cross-platform viewership and share exclusive content. From Shah Rukh Khan to Chris Martin, candid one on one interviews, exclusive content from global events such as New York Fashion Week – MissMalini’s Snapchat content has become a go to for entertainment, fashion, and lifestyle followers.

The social media team at MissMalini uses PropheSee to understand and analyse the statistics such as audience interaction - how their viewers consume their content - which Snaps they loved, which they skipped, at what time they interacted with the brand and which Stories were viewed from start to finish.

Data shown above is for representative purposes only and has no relation to the actual numbers for MissMalini

Before using PropheSee, the team at Miss Malini did everything manually; this meant taking daily screenshots, adding them to a spreadsheet and later trying to figure out what worked – a painful, tedious, time consuming and to be honest, brute force approach. To top all this off, everything was based on very little information which was available for a limited amount of time, making the need of a measurement metrics tool inevitable.

“Snapchat is without doubt one of the most exciting platforms for engaging with young millennial audiences. Thanks to Prophesee’s unique tracking tools, we're able to effectively measure the impact of our daily Snap Stories, allowing us to better plan and create the type of content we know our audience will love and keep coming back for,” said Nowshad Rizwanullah, CEO, MissMalini Entertainment.

With the unique nature of the platform, come unique parameters of measurement. Here are the top two ways to find out if your Snapchat initiatives are headed in the right direction.

#Parameter1 - The Drop Rate

Other than the number of views on a story, it’s more important to pay attention to your completion rates - that is, how many people go through all the Snaps vs. those that tap through them. You can see how many viewers were there on first Snap and compare it with the viewers for the last Snap in that story. If you’re doing this manually – you need to ensure you record your data/take screenshots at the precise moment a story is about to end to ensure you get the complete 24-hour picture.

Find out the drop rate; it is also important to figure out on which Snap they dropped off, for how many seconds they tuned in and what kind of content they stuck too.  It will also help you figure out the apt length of Stories that you need to maintain.

#Parameter2 - Screenshots

Snapchat gives you data on screenshots taken of your Stories – a very important parameter to find out what kind of content works, is shareable, and engaging. Keep a tab of these, and repeating the right content once in a while wouldn’t hurt.

Data shown above is for representative purposes only and has no relation to the actual numbers for MissMalini

Using a tool like PropheSee for this data is essential, with the increasing number of Snaps, the chances of human error in such data keeping, increases manifold. PropheSee quickly shows us the most screenshotted content and the top ‘screenshotters’ – that is, whoever is most actively taking screenshots of our Snaps so we know exactly what sticks, and even with whom.

“Snapchat data and insights from PropheSee have helped us with figuring out the ideal length of our Stories (before they become too long & people start skipping Snaps!). This in turn helps us keep our completion rates high & tap throughs to a minimum,” Nowshad added further.

Snapchat is a platform, you can no longer afford to ignore or shy away from. And an efficient tool combined with a precise strategy, can help marketers ace Snapchat.