* New polls show Snapchat’s user base is more valuable than previously thought
* The study evaluated the overlap among popular social media and messaging apps
* Poll surveyed users in United States and United Kingdom
We recently reported that Instagram had reached the 700 million user benchmark, leaving Snapchat firmly in the dust at just 150 million active users globally. While many companies have abandoned social media marketing strategies for Snapchat in favor of more curated and sponsor-friendly platforms like Instagram, a recent poll from App Annie shares new data that suggests that may not be a wise idea just yet.
App Annie looked closely at overlapping social media usage across the top social media and messaging apps — Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and What’s App. The polls collected data from users in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
The research conjured up some surprising results that may be of interest to marketers. The most telling of their findings was that Snapchat possessed “a truly unique and exclusive audience.” In fact, the data showed that 35% of Snapchat users cannot be reached on Facebook, 46% cannot be reached by Instagram, and a whopping 58% cannot be reached on messenger.
This may reflect Snapchat’s notoriously loyal generation-y audience, who seem to prefer the app to Instagram’s millennial and older fan base. According to Snapchat’s stats, 60% of smartphone owners between the ages of 13-34 are active users of the app. Furthermore, according to results found in a study conducted by Survata for AdWeek in late 2016, 63% of generation-z users found Snapchat “cooler,” than Instagram.
The 18-34 audience is highly sought-after by marketers and advertisers who must adapt rapidly with ever-changing trends in social media to maintain their relevance and scope.
It seems Instagram’s efforts to adopt Snapchat-inspired tools to draw Snapchat users into making the switch to Instagram, may not be as convincing to the younger demographic. While many marketers held on to a strategy centered around choosing one or two social media platforms to reach their entire target audience, these findings suggest that app-specific marketing plans may be necessary after all.
