A marketer cheatsheet for Snapchat’s latest lens, filter options

Snapchat is making several updates to its branded lenses and geofilters today.

The key updates:

• The global sponsored lenses update lets users play around with not only their faces, but also the world around them. Brands, for example, can add floating 2-D or 3-D objects to their sponsored lenses, be it film characters or products to the outward-facing camera.
• Advertisers in the U.S. can now buy lenses that target specific audience segments for the first time, based on age, gender and Snap Lifestyle Categories — the platform’s own audience segments based on users’ viewing habits in its various channels such as Discover and Our Stories.
• With today’s update, brands can add location or other real-time information to their nationwide and chain geofilters in the U.S., including names of high schools, colleges, airports, states, cities, neighborhoods and zip codes.

The key numbers:

• Daily users spend over 30 minutes on Snapchat each day on average.
• Over 3 billion snaps are created every day.
• Over 60 percent of its daily users create content every day, and daily users open Snapchat more than 18 times per day on average.
• Snapchat makes 90 cents average revenue per user.
• Sponsored lenses have been a huge moneymaker for Snapchat, costing advertisers anywhere between $300,000 and $750,000 for a single day.
• Both lenses and geofilters also offer advertisers a ton of engagement. Per Snapchat, one in three daily users play with lenses every day on average, and snaps with geofilters are viewed over 1 billion times a day on average.
• Snapchat has now run over 100 sponsored lens branded campaigns.

The marketers’ view:
Jill Sherman, head of social media at DigitasLBi: “As an advertiser, the ability to provide a more contextually relevant experience is key. Personalization trumps reach when connecting with younger audiences, and these updates help the platform move in that direction.”