Snapchat Story Followers - It's Tough, But Worth Building

WHY SNAPCHAT IS A TOUGH SOCIAL SITE TO BUILD A FOLLOWING ON

Out of all the social media networks, building a group of loyal followers on Snapchat is the most difficult. That's because you can build your network, but nothing guarantees your contacts will actually view your daily story.

With Snapchat, you might have 500 people you are connected with, but only 10% watching each and everything you do on a daily basis without fail. It's kind of like Facebook, where you make a post and not everyone hits the "like" button, but worse. Why? 

Because you actually have to OPEN the Snapchat story to see what is going on. When you are scrolling away on Facebook, you will be exposed to ALL posts placed by your friends. Not the case on Snapchat. 

That's why you have to work HARD on your strategy, and on your creative Snapchat story-building ability to entice your contacts to actually open up and view your story.

If you bomb the first time, and have random, totally senseless non-entertaining or completely useless content on your Story, your friends arent going to waste their time and come back the next day to see what you are doing. 

But if you capture their attention the FIRST time with valuable, eye-opening, exciting, shocking or entertaining content, they will come back each and every day because they don't want to miss out on what you are gonna do next. 

The first time someone views your Snapchat Story is the golden opportunity to get them hooked. You cannot mess this up, or you risk not ever gaining that viewer back again. That's why you have to take this seriously if you want to build a massive following of rabid viewers. 

Carefully plan out what you want to do, and what your content will focus on. Look at your own snaps in the eyes of a friend, and ask yourself, "would I waste time watching myself?" 

If you want the best tips and tricks to turn the heads and keep people's attention on Snapchat, reaad my blog posts and listen to the audio podcast. 

Got questions or comments? Please share them below! I'll be glad to help! 

Carlton Flowers
The SnapPro

Snapchat Story Turnoffs - 5 Annoying Things that Kill Your Following

CAN'T BUILD A STRONG FOLLOWING? HERE'S WHERE YOU MISS THE MARK...

If you don't want your new Snapchat friends to be "once-and-done" visitors after they see your story, you better pay attention! I've compiled a list of 5 things that are major Snapchat "turn-offs". If you aspire to be a SnapPro with a huge audience of rabid fans that come back every day to see what you are doing, stay away from these five things:

1. Inside Jokes

When you post snaps to your story that nobody can understand but your best friend, you're not going to attract visitors. This alienates people and makes them feel like an outsider, and not a friend. If your general audience can't understand the meaning of your snap without an explanation, it's not going to make you Snap-famous. Don't do it.

2. Annoying Sounds

When your viewers open your story and screeching sounds violate their eardrums, it doesn't take a half a second to get swiped to the next story. Loud wind noise, rattling paper, shrieks, random machine noise, you name it. If it hurts your viewer's ears, they ain't coming back to endure it again.

3. Random Nonsensical Snaps

First of all, nobody wants to see a shaky, herky-jerky video of your feet or some dark hallway. If there's no purpose to the snap, who wants to be bothered with it? These days, people are so busy that they will resent you for wasting that valuable ten seconds of their life that they'll never get back. And you better believe they won't be motivated to navigate back to your story the next time you pop into the lineup.

4. Unplanned Stories

As the saying goes, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". If you want to be the next Snapchat reality show star, you have to realize that reality TV isn't reality. It's all carefully planned. My advice for building a repeat audience? Plan out what you're going to do a day ahead of time. They call it "My Story", not "Mindless Jabbering". Take the hint. Plan it out and create a story, and give your viewers a reason to follow along.

5. Meaningless Pictures

Every now and then, I come across snap stories that include pictures of random objects that have no message or meaning. Wanna bore your audience to tears and brand yourself as a Snapchat Dud? Post pictures of your shoe, your front door, or the dog sitting on the floor. That will guarantee you a spot on the "who-not-to-watch" hall of fame list. If you're going to post a picture, give it meaning. And make it a meaningful part of your story or theme.

So there you have it. If you see yourself doing some of the things I've mentioned, make yourself a solid plan to improve. Take notes, and write down your plan of action. Stay tuned because I'll have another set of 5 things to avoid that keep you from growing your viewership.

Now that you know what not to do, check out my other posts for ideas on how you can produce and direct an entertaining Snapchat story line like a Hollywood mogul! Now get out there and create some awesome content, and start growing your following!

Carlton Flowers
The SnapPro

The Secret to Steady Snapchat Story Subscribers

HOW TO GET PEOPLE COMING BACK TO YOUR STORY EVERY DAY

If you want to be a SnapPro Snapchat Celebrity, you've got to learn how to get people coming back every day to view your snap story. Your desire is to have a crowd of rabid fans that eat up everything you post.

If you're an average casual Snapchatter, your friends probably view your snaps once in a while. But what’s the trick to getting people to come back day after day? How do you get your audience to view every single snap you post to your story on a daily basis?

The answer is, you have create "sticky" content. That's the kind of stuff that makes people stick with you for good. In other words, the more entertaining, informative, or valuable your snaps are, the more sticky your viewership will be.

There are several things that factor in to building sticky viewers, but one rule reigns supreme…

You have to create a structured, regular schedule for posting to your snap story, and you can't deviate from it. You've got to be committed!

I use a grid that lays out the entire week for all of my social network posting. I fill in the grid where I want to post content from the different social platforms, and I check them off when I get them done. That way, I can clearly see if I’m staying consistent, and if I'm slacking off for a period, it's rather obvious.

If you post to your Snapchat story every morning at 8am and stick to a common theme or message, people are going to start to look for it. They will quickly create a habit of having you as a part of their daily routine. That's what you want. Your goal is to create a desire for your viewers to integrate your snap story into their daily lives.

If you do this right, your viewers won’t feel right if they don’t start their daily routine by watching your story. And when you get really good at this, they'll complain when you don't keep your commitment and provide their content.

And that's just the beginning. Don't stop there. Build an entire daily routine. if there’s something that you do every week that is a part of your normal routine that is interesting, include it in your story. People will come to expect it. Your entire routine will actually become a reality show that people get hooked to, just like a TV show.

A lot of my followers know what I do on Friday mornings at 5:45am because I always include my basketball group on my snap story. They also know that I visit manufacturing plants and show how things are made. They've even become accustomed to my comedic antics in the grocery store, and they know everything about my business enterprises.

I've converted viewership to business deals, because people are aware of the products and services that I provide with my businesses. So it has already to monetary value on my end. And it's all free advertising.

In fact, it's a regular occurrence for my wife to come home and tell me that people stop her in the grocery store or at Walmart to tell her that they know who she is, because they regularly see her in my snap stories.

Get a regular schedule mapped out on paper. Decide what your recurring themes are, and then make the commitment to stick to your plan and you will start building sticky viewers before you know it! I guarantee it.

Now get out there and get it done, future Snapchat celebrity!

Carlton Flowers
SnapPro Celeb Supreme

Becoming a Snapchat Pro for the Regular Joe

SNAPCHAT PRO TRAINING ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET?

I’m astounded that there are relatively no resources in book stores or online courses on how to create celebrity status on Snapchat through high quality content creation. Everything I’ve found out there is geared towards corporations that have the budgets to plop down $80,000 or more a month for professional ads.

But there’s nothing out there for the average hustler who’s trying to come up in the world and use Snapchat for leverage.

I recently read a book on Amazon called “The Snapchat Marketing Blueprint”. Thank goodness, I got to read the book for free since I’m on the Kindle Unlimited program. I would have asked for a refund of the $19.99 advertising price had I been fool enough to pay for it.

I read the book expecting to get some grassroots ideas on using Snapchat for marketing a small business, or your personal brand. Judging from the title, I thought I would see an actual step-by-step blueprint to follow.

It was nothing of the such.

The book was verbose, had a ton of fancy $10 corporate-speak words, and gave ZERO advice for the average Joe who wants to use Snapchat for marketing purposes. The “Blueprint” part was nothing more than telling stories about Fortune 500 companies who have spent half a million dollars or more, and what they got for their investment.

It was an utter disappointment. But it was a motivating moment. After trying a handful of books about Snapchat, and discovering that none of the content is valuable, I’ve decided to start teaching on this topic. I’ll be blogging about some of my best tips right here, and I plan on writing a book in the future.

There is a rather sketchy "guru" out there selling a Snapchat marketing program for $300, and I’m super curious to know how good the content is. But I’m not taking the chance on wasting the money just to be nosy. But my goal will be to provide a superior product at a fraction of the cost.

Until then, I'm going to share some of my best tips and advice for those of you looking to create top quality Snapchat content, or your own Snapchat "Reality TV" show. If you have questions, post them in the comments and I'll be glad to provide my advice!

Carlton Flowers
SnapPro King