A guide to Snapchat advertising as self-serve tool officially opens

A month after announcing a self-serve tool for any advertiser to buy its standard vertical video ads like they buy books on Amazon, Snapchat officially made the Snapchat Ad Manager ad-buying tool available to all advertisers on Monday.

Brands that can’t afford the types of buys that merit a Snapchat sales rep or that don’t want to pay to buy ads through a third-party software provider that plugs into Snapchat’s advertising API can now purchase Snapchat’s most common ad format without those extra requirements.

While Snapchat Ad Manager makes buying ads on Snapchat similar to purchasing products through Amazon, it’s not as simple as one-click ordering. So here’s a guide to advertising on Snapchat, from formats to targeting to pricing options.

Ad formats

SPONSORED LENS

Augmented-reality graphics that can be fixed to a person’s face or their surroundings with animations that can be triggered when a person opens their mouth, raises their eyebrows, smiles or puckers into a kiss.
Availability: Can only be bought directly from Snapchat’s sales team.
Add-ons: Advertisers can create more of a 360-degree effect by attaching a World Lens to their Sponsored Lens campaigns so that people can augment their surroundings using their phone’s rear-facing camera. Similar to front-facing Sponsored Lenses, World Lens animations can be triggered when a person taps their phone’s screen or points their camera at an augmented object.

SPONSORED GEOFILTER

Illustrated overlays that people can put atop the photos and videos they share privately in messages with friends or publicly as posts added to their Stories.
Availability: Can be bought directly from Snapchat’s sales team or through its advertising API.
Add-ons: Advertisers buying a Sponsored Geofilter campaign directly from Snapchat’s sales team can add a Smart Geofilter so that the ad’s creative can be tailored to specific locations, like individual cities, airports, brick-and-mortar stores or restaurants.

SNAP AD

Vertical videos that can run up to 10 seconds long and appear within Snapchat’s original Shows, curated Our Stories, media companies’ Publisher Stories and between people’s publicly posted Stories.
Availability: Can be bought directly from Snapchat’s sales team, through its advertising API or through Snapchat Ad Manager, though some features are not available for ads bought through the self-serve tool.
Add-ons: Snap Ads can feature one of four types of attachments that people can swipe up to view.

• Article
  • Snap Ads can attach an advertorial that must feature at least one image, video or GIF, but only when the ad appears in a Snapchat Show or Publisher Story.
  • Not available through Snapchat Ad Manager.
• App Install
  • Snap Ads can deep-link to an install page in Apple’s or Google’s app stores.
  • Available through Snapchat Ad Manager.
• Long-form Video
  • Snap Ads can play a longer version of video.
  • Available through Snapchat Ad Manager.
• Web View
  • Snap Ads can open to a mobile web page, like an ecommerce site or a Google AMP page.
  • Available through Snapchat Ad Manager.

Ad targeting

USING SNAPCHAT DATA

Snapchat offers four ad-targeting categories that use its own audience data to aim ads. All are available for ads bought through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.

• Demographics
  • Age groups (13–17, 18–20, 21–24, 25–34 and 35+)
  • Gender
  • Availability: Can be used for Sponsored Lenses and Snap Ads.
• Location
  • Country, state, region or designated market area
  • Availability: Can be used for Sponsored Geofilters and Snap Ads.
• Device
  • Mobile operating system
  • Wireless carrier
  • Connection type (WiFi or cellular)
  • Availability: Can be used for Snap Ads.
• Snap Lifestyle Categories
  • Audience groups — such as “adventure seekers,” “beauty mavens,” “do-it-yourselfers” — that are compiled based on the Discover channels and Stories that people view.
  • Availability: Can be used for Sponsored Lenses and Snap Ads.

USING ADVERTISER DATA

Snapchat offers a few ways for advertisers to apply their own data for ad targeting. These targeting options are only available for Snap Ads.

• Snap Audience Match
  • Advertisers provide Snapchat with a list of email addresses or mobile advertising identifiers that Snapchat matches to users’ accounts.
  • Availability: Available through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.
• Lookalike Audiences
  • Snapchat takes advertisers’ Snap Audience Match lists and targets people who aren’t in those lists but share similar characteristics, like age, location and content interests.
  • Availability: Available through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.
• Snap Engagement Audiences
  • Snapchat retargets the people who previously interacted with a brand’s ad on Snapchat, such as by using a brand’s Sponsored Lens; applying a brand’s Sponsored Geofilter to a photo or video (unless it’s an event-based Sponsored Geofilter); or swiping up on a brand’s Snap Ad to play a longer video, visit a microsite, view an advertorial or install an app.
  • Availability: Retargeting from a Sponsored Lens campaign can be done through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager. Retargeting from a Sponsored Geofilter or Snap Ad campaign can only be done through the ad API and Snapchat Ad Manager.

USING THIRD-PARTY DATA

Snapchat has deals with third-party data providers to augment the information it has on what people do on Snapchat with information about what people do outside of Snapchat. These targeting options are only available for Snap Ads.

• DLX Advanced Demographics
  • Demographic categories — such as household income, education level and language — provided by Oracle’s Datalogix.
  • Availability: Available through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.
• DLX Shopper Categories
  • More than 85 categories based on people’s purchase history provided by Oracle’s Datalogix.
  • Availability: Available through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.
• ComScore’s TV & Film Viewers
  • 33 categories based on movie and TV viewership provided by ComScore.
  • Availability: Available through Snapchat’s sales team, advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.
• PlaceIQ Location Visitors
  • Audience segments by general location type, such as restaurant, retail store and auto dealership, and by branded location, like Macy’s, Starbucks and Hilton provided by PlaceIQ.
  • Availability: Available through Snapchat’s advertising API and Snapchat Ad Manager.

Ad pricing

CPM

Advertisers buying directly from Snapchat’s sales team or using Snapchat’s advertising API or Snapchat Ad Manager can bid on Snapchat’s inventory based on how much they are willing to pay for every thousand times their ad appears on a person’s screen. Sponsored Lens campaigns, including those with World Lenses, can be bought on a guaranteed basis.

GOAL-BASED BIDDING

Advertisers buying Snap Ads using Snapchat’s advertising API or Snapchat Ad Manager can price their ads based on how much they’re willing to pay for someone to swipe up on the ad to view the attachment or install a mobile app. While the advertiser will still be charged based the number of impressions, Snapchat will try to serve the ad to people it thinks are most likely to swipe up on the ad or install the app.

MAX REACH

Snapchat’s version of a home-page takeover is only available for buys placed directly through Snapchat’s sales team. Advertisers can pay to have their Snap Ads shown to everyone in the US who is served a Snap Ad in one of Snapchat’s Our Stories, media companies’ Publisher Stories or between people’s Stories within a single 24-hour period.