Connecting with a younger and tech-savvy audience is no easy task. Any business already knows that. To connect with a younger audience means to play a game on a platform that they’re completely familiar with, like Snapchat. Known for its visual and interactive content, Snapchat has plenty of ways you can reach out to a demographic that doesn’t respond to traditional ads. One such marketing tool is called a Geofilter. Geofilters allow businesses to make creative and localized content which can help generate engagement in local areas.

Snapchat Geofilters can help create connections with local audiences, and it does it better than many other marketing strategies. Read on to see more about Snapchat Geofilters. As you reach the end, you’ll know how to make your own Geofilters so you can start reaching out to people in your neighborhood soon enough!

What is a Snapchat Geofilter?

Snapchat Geofilters work by making use of what’s called a Geofence. Understanding what a geofence is, is simple as long as you think of it as any ordinary fence. What you’re essentially doing is creating a “fence” around a chosen area. Once that fence is made, the filter acts as a tool for personal celebrations or business promotions. 

A Snapchat Geofilter is a mix between geography and a Snapchat filter. When people are in this fenced area that you created, they’ll have access to the Snapchat filter you create. It’s a way to get your local audiences to get to know what your business is about. Snapchat Geofilters are a fun way for businesses to subtly promote their services while giving audiences a creative way to edit their pictures/videos.

Types of Geofilters

Depending on your needs, the type of geofilter that you’ll need changes. Here are the three versions:

• Personal Geofilters: Used for private/non commercial purposes. People use personal geofilters for weddings and parties. It is used to make special moments stand out for all attendees.
• Community Geofilters: Freely provided by Snapchat, it is used to celebrate public spaces and landmarks. It is also used for public events. Community Geofilters are not used for advertisements, instead, they focus on a community’s essence.
• On-Demand Geofilters: These are for businesses and used for promotional purposes. Brands pay for On-Demand Geofilters to include logos and taglines to improve brand visibility. This allows brands to connect with more users.

How Do Snapchat Geofilters Work?

As mentioned previously, Snapchat Geofilters make use of geofencing tech. This just means creating a geographic boundary where people can use the filter you make. Apart from that, it also includes user interaction. When people are visiting the area which you’ve marked, your filter will pop up for them to use after they’ve taken the snap. Once they’ve taken the snap and added their (your) filter, they’ll upload it or send it to someone. That is instant visibility for you! 

Every time your Snapchat Geofilter is used, Snapchat makes a note of it. This data is then compiled and shared with you through performance data. It also shows you how many people have seen snaps that include your geofilters. This’ll tell you if geofilters in the place you’ve chosen are working as you’d expect.

Snapchat’s Requirements For Creating a Geofilter

For your brand, you’ll need to make your own Geofilter. In order to get it into use, you’ll need the green light from Snapchat. By following the platform’s requirements, it’ll already set your filter to be high-quality and effective. Let’s see what the platform asks for:

Image Format

The filter that you create must be 1080x1920px. It’s a given number, and can’t be bigger or smaller. The file that you’ll be submitting needs to be in PNG format. Similarly, if you want people to use your filter, you also have to make sure it doesn’t block anything in their snaps. That’s why Snapchat’s requirement is that your PNG picture has a transparent background. The PNG file cannot be bigger than 300KB.

Content Guidelines

Snapchat does not allow the use of photographs, hashtags, or any links. The filter cannot come with any inappropriate content. This includes points like hate speech, explicit ideas or violence. The filter that you upload needs to be your property. Plagiarism will be immediately rejected.

Filter Placements

Anything that’s in your filter cannot block people’s snap. Additionally, it’s better to not place critical text or any filter elements near the edges of the screen.

Legal Rules

For brands that add their logos or trademarks, ensure that it is all original. Brands will also need to follow local laws before they submit the filter for acceptance. You might be following all of Snapchat’s requirements, but the location’s laws might get your filter to be rejected.

Submission

Snapchat requires that you submit your geofilter at least a day before it’s meant to be used. This gives the team enough time to review and approve your filter.

What You’ll Need to Create a Geofilter

Creating your Snapchat Geofilter needs some prep. Here are common things you’ll need:

A Plan

Any marketing strategy needs a plan. You need to consider who you’re targeting and how you’re doing it. This comes under the actual goal behind your Geofilter. Are you promoting products, services, or an event? Getting your plan written down will help identify your Snapchat audience. In turn, you can create a filter that matches what the audience prefers.

Designing Skills

Creating your Geofilter needs some technical skills. Use photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator to make your personal designs. Starting from scratch isn’t necessary. Platforms like Canva can also help. Canva offers templates for Snapchat Geofilters which can be customized and used by brands. 

When customizing your geofilter, add your logo or important brand visuals. Something that’ll give viewers an idea of your brand. The elements you add need to fit in smoothly. They cannot block half the screen or else no one’s going to use it and Snapchat might reject the design.

The Budget Allocation

Creating your Geofilter is a cheaper option than other marketing strategies, but the budget that’s set aside depends on how big your geographical location is. Snapchat decides a price depending on the size of the location that you’ve geofenced.

A Snapchat Account

Can’t submit a geofilter application without having a Snapchat Account! You’ll need this to upload your filter. You’ll also need it so you can track the performance data of the app.

Creating a Good Snapchat Geofilter

Before you can get to making your Snapchat Geofilter, think about what people will want in a Snapchat filter. Be creative and most importantly, make sure everything looks visually appealing. A simple hack for Snapchat filters is to keep things minimalistic. You never want too much going around because it’ll take the viewer's eyes away from the actual snap. 

This sounds like a good plan but people aren’t going to use your filter if it’s overwhelming. It’s also important to be relevant. When making the Geofilter, it needs to be specific to your local audience’s preferences. If you’re trying to target a college, you might want to include the college’s colors or maybe a slogan that’ll get the students’ attention. 

Try to stick to brighter colors. Darker colors tend to blend into the background which won’t grab the viewer’s attention. But that doesn’t mean you stray away from your brand’s colors. You see, if you’re selling products in brand colors, your marketing needs to show that. People don’t want to feel misled by marketing colors that you don’t sell with.

Creating your geofilter means you’ll need an idea of how to design the filter, and sometimes, brand owners aren’t quite comfortable with that. In that case, it’s always better to hire an artist. Making the geofilter will take a lot of money so you want to make sure that it doesn’t go to waste due to poor design structures. 

Lastly, always review what the filter will look like. Test it out on different backgrounds. This will show if you need to make changes so you can ensure the filter always looks good.

Steps to Create a Snapchat Geofilter

Now that you’re ready, let’s see the steps you’ll need to follow to get your Geofilter up and running.

Designing the Filter

• Start off with a blank canvas that’s already 1080x1920px. This will prevent any scaling issues in case you start off with a different size. 
• Make use of platforms like Adobe to start designing. 
• You can also use Canva to see the ideas offered by templates. If designing from scratch isn’t your forte, Canva offers simple editing tools designed just for geofilters. 
• A geofilter can also be designed within Snapchat because it has its own geofilter editing tools. Using these means you won’t have to worry about meeting size requirements.
• Add smooth visuals and eye-catching text to grab the viewer’s attention.
• Keep the background transparent.

Uploading Your Design

• Log in to your Snapchat Account and find the On-Demand Geofilter feature.
• Submit your design and preview what it’ll look like on people’s snaps. This is a good place to review what your geofilter will look like depending on the background.

Deciding on the Geofence

• Once you’ve added the picture, use Snapchat’s map to decide the geographical boundaries.
• Refer back to your target audience preferences. If you’re aiming for a younger audience, you can set a campus/school inside of your geofence.

Decide on Time and Money

• Decide on a start/end time for your geofilter campaign.
• Set aside your geofilter budget depending on the size of your geofence. Longer geofilter durations or larger geofences mean setting aside a bigger budget.

Submit and Pay

• Go over all the details once more. Check the geographical boundaries, the duration, and geofilter design.
• The final fee will be determined once everything is set up. Pay it and let Snapchat review your submission for approval. This will take 24 hours.

Why Your Brand Needs a Snapchat Geofilter

Improves Local Awareness

The whole point of a geofilter is that you’re targeting people in a specific area. This ensures that your marketing reaches the target audience at all costs. Local marketing through Geofilters is especially useful for newer brands that are starting off in busy areas. You can also use geofilters to announce grand openings.

Targets the Younger Audience

Getting a hold of the younger audience through old fashioned ads is very difficult. We’re all always trying to skip ads as fast as possible. But with Snapchat Geofilters, you’re pretty much only targeting millennials and the Gen Z demographics. This tool is a great way to get their attention while they’re doing something they enjoy.

Cheaper Marketing Plan

Out of all the marketing tools you can have, a Snapchat geofilter is one of the cheapest. Given the level of visibility that is offered through a Snapchat geofilter, it’s a fantastic marketing strategy, especially when you consider that it’s done at a fraction of the cost it takes to set up and display an ad.

Shows Community Involvement

For brands starting up in newer places, it’s important to get a hold of local audiences. When you create geofilters, you’re showing off that you care about the local community. This strengthens relations and does wonders for improving customer loyalty.

The Bottom Line

Snapchat Geofilters are a combination of fun content and geofencing marketing. This creative tool allows brands to connect with a target audience in a way that doesn’t disrupt what they’re doing. After all, it’s not an ad that people want to skip. It’s a fun filter that they can use and add to their pictures and then share with their friends. 

By understanding what Snapchat requires for you to make your Geofilter, you can use this tool to improve brand visibility easily. So, why wait? Open Canva or Adobe and start designing your Geofilters!