We have had our eye on Snapchat’s Geofilters since their introduction in July ’14. The opportunity to allow our already extremely active community a way to brand their snaps uniquely to our University and campus was highly appealing. So, as soon as Snapchat announced Community Geofilters our team hurried to dream up a few maize & blue options. Snapchat’s Community Geofilters allow anyone to design and submit their own concept and predetermined geographical location for consideration. While in the area users can then simply swipe left to discover what is available to them. In order to make the process truly social, our team decided to also engage our Snapchat community in filter creation. The strategy and subsequent success of our Snapchat Geofilter Campaign actually helped to further establish a connection with Snapchat, Inc. and streamline our results!
In fact, being noticed by Snapchat as an innovative and engaging brand within their community also helped us gain access to another cool feature- Our Campus Stories. So upon arrival back to campus from winter break, students were not only greeted by FOUR custom Snapchat Geofilters, but also the ability to add their snaps to those other peers in a collaborative story that showcased the excitement of being back hoMe!
In total, the campaign garnered ten submissions; we submitted our top four. Each intended to showcase a different element of campus and the city of Ann Arbor. It has been really exciting to see our followers snapping us photos with the new filters and even more exciting to see the Geofilters in action in the Our Campus Stories. With the varied location availability of each filter we have also seen excitement within our community to find the exact location where each is accessible. We are deeming the campaign another clear success for our Snapchat presence and are looking forward to seeing what other features Snapchat rolls out next!
Very special shout-out to Peter (@the_muffin_flan) and Tracey (@the_tyfun) for the lovely Geofilter designs!
This post was written by Alexandra Fotis, Communications & Statistics student- #UMSocial Strategy & Analytics intern. #StaySocial with her: @sisterfotis
