Snapchat’s Sponsored Snaps brings ads to your chats

Snapchat has always been more of a social media app than an instant messaging app, but a built-in chat functionality does mean the app doubles as a communication platform. Now, a new change to the Snap interface cleverly adds advertisements alongside your other chats, officially bringing ads to one of the few remaining platforms to be clear of promotional material.

The new implementation is called ‘Sponsored Snaps’, users will find in their chats. The DMs will be unread so they will be featured on the top.

Sponsored Snaps will appear in chats

As per a memo shared by Snapchat, the Sponsored Snaps will appear in the chat inbox as a new Snap without a Push Notification and opening the message will be kept optional. This feature will allow advertisers to engage prospective customers in a single as unit.

They can raise awareness with broad reach in the chat inbox, improve consideration with people who choose to view the Snap and drive conversion with an in-message call-to-action. Be rest assured, your conversations with your friends will remain private.

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The memo also mentions development on the ‘Promoting Places’ front. With this, businesses can use the Snap Map to reach incremental customers who are exploring places nearby.

The businesses will be able to the measure the visitation lift with a closed-loop and privacy-safe measures in place. A few more unique and actionable insights will help advertisers drive better performance and engagement within the Snapchat community.

It looks like Snapchat is trying different avenues to focus on money-making experiments to drive success for the app. While the approach looks profitable on paper, will the core user base appreciate Sponsored Snaps is yet to be seen.