Snapchat aims to educate marketers with 'Snap Focus' classes

Brief:

Snap this week introduced a series of online classes to help marketers hone their campaigns on photo-messaging app Snapchat. The "Snap Focus" education portal includes six classes that marketers can take individually or as a complete course to receive a free Snapchat Ads Manager certification, per information shared with Mobile Marketer.
Snap will introduce "Snap Focus" in a 45-minute webinar on June 17 at 1 p.m. ET, with presentations from David Roter, VP of global agency and brand partnerships, and Rose Marie Adamo, agency marketing lead at the company.
The "Snap Focus" classes include an introduction to Snapchat and information about its user base and ad formats. Marketers also can learn about getting started with its ad management dashboard, creative best practices and measuring campaigns, per its website.

Insight:

Snap's online classes and certification program for marketers are part of the company's broader effort to appeal to more advertisers that may not have considered the platform. A study last year found 76% of advertising professionals said they hadn't advertised on Snapchat, giving parent company Snap the chance to significantly expand its customer base. Snapchat has reported steady user growth in the past year and a half, reversing a loss that started when Snap redesigned the photo-messaging app in early 2018, and has the potential to monetize that growing audience.

Snap management has acknowledged the need to educate advertising professionals, who may be dismissing Snapchat as an app focused on teens without any spending power. CEO Evan Spiegel last year said at an investor conference that younger audiences may be an impediment to adoption among older brand executives who make media-buying decisions, The Wall Street Journal reported. Media agency executives who don't use Snapchat are less likely to see the benefit of placing ads on the platform.

The platform's marketer education effort comes a week after its annual Snap Partners Summit that showcased a variety of new features for developers, marketers and creators. Nike and Major League Baseball are using Snap's new Camera Kit that lets developers bring Snapchat's augmented reality features into their apps, while Mattel and Nickelodeon have integrated mobile games with the new Bitmoji for Games that lets Snapchat users play games as their Bitmoji avatars.

Snap in the next few weeks will add support for miniature software programs called Snap Minis that run inside the app and offer services while people chat. Movie-ticketing company Atom Tickets has a Snap Mini program that lets people book showtimes as they chat, while online meditation startup Headspace has a mini program for people who want to share a guided meditation session.