Untapped Potential? Snapchat for Brands & Creators, with Hope Georgiou

With over 850 million monthly active users, Snapchat offers access to a broad audience of potential customers in the Gen Z and millennial markets. Yet it remains relatively "untapped" by many brands and creators, especially compared to larger mainstream platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

In this episode, I sit down with Hope Georgiou, CEO and founder of HG Media Group, a company specializing in Snapchat campaign development and execution, to discuss these opportunities. Hope has several years of experience working in the Snapchat platform, and her clients have included Toyota, Lev's, Chicago Bulls, and Paramount Pictures, among others. 

We discuss how to effectively leverage the platform for audience growth, the importance of spontaneous content, and how brands can find success by being early adopters. Whether you're a podcaster, YouTuber, or an aspiring influencer, this episode provides valuable insights into making Snapchat work for you. Don't miss out on these key strategies to elevate your social media presence!

Thanks for listening! Do you have a comment or question about a topic or episode? I'd love to hear that. Feel free to contact me via Instagram or the Contact Us page, and check out our merch for content creators.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Snapchat's Potential
• 0:28 Meet Hope Georgiou: Snapchat Specialist
• 1:33 Understanding Snapchat's Features and Benefits
• 5:51 Setting Up and Growing Your Snapchat Presence
• 8:43 The Importance of Authenticity and Community
• 16:40 Success Stories and Strategies
• 24:14 Snapchat for Podcasters and YouTubers
• 25:43 Leveraging Snapchat for Business
• 26:40 Community Building on Snapchat and Beyond
• 31:02 Consistency and Mindset for Content Creation
• 41:48 Hope's Journey with Snapchat and HG Media
• 46:54 Final Thoughts for Content Creators

Transcript

[00:00:00] Tim: Did you know that Snapchat is the ninth largest social media platform in the world, having more than 850 million active users, which actually puts it above other platforms like Reddit, X, and Pinterest. But it's typically not the platform that comes to mind when we think about creators or brands promoting the products or the content.

[00:00:19] And it's that very gap between the demand for content and the supply of brands and creators on that platform that could make things interesting. What's up, creators? Tim here, and today I'm gonna be talking with Hope Georgiou, CEO and founder of HG Media Group, a company that specifically specializes in Snapchat campaign development and execution, and whose clients have included Toyota, Chicago Bulls, Paramount Pictures, and others.

[00:00:45] And together we're gonna explore what is Snapchat, why Snapchat might be a good platform for you, how to grow an audience there and what we can learn from Snapchat, whether we're creating on that platform or another one. 'cause you know, I think there's something we can take away from every platform, whether we create there or not.

[00:01:02] And that's certainly the case with this one. So without further ado, let's get into it.

[00:01:06] 

[00:01:11] Tim: Hi, Hope. Welcome to the show. 

[00:01:14] Hope: Hi, Tim. Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here today. 

[00:01:18] Tim: Yeah, so glad to have you on. I'm excited to talk about Snapchat because although it's a big worldwide platform, a lot of folks, like myself, are not users yet necessarily, and I think it does skew towards a younger demographic.

[00:01:33] And so because of that, I'm was wondering if we could start with, what Snapchat is, just so we're all on the same page. 

[00:01:40] Absolutely. It's funny you say that 'cause we always make a joke at our company, HG Media. We're like, everybody knows Snapchat, but nobody really knows Snapchat. I didn't even have an account until just recently and I thought, oh, I better create one for this show.

[00:01:55] Hope: It's really interesting to see how it's evolved. I think what everyone's always known Snapchat to be is pretty much a platform where you're sending pictures and videos back and forth with your friends. 

[00:02:07] Tim: Right. 

[00:02:07] Hope: It's instant photo sharing.

[00:02:09] Once you open it, it kind of goes away. Then, later on in the Snapchat life cycle, they implemented something called Stories. So it's pretty much you are posting to your Snapchat story and it's live for 24 hours and it goes away. They call it snappy content. It's very quick content.

[00:02:29] When something fun is happening, you pull out your phone. Pull out Snapchat and capture that moment. I'm really excited for our conversation today. And talking about how the platform has really evolved from sending photos back and forth to your friends, to what it's now become an actual social media platform.

[00:02:45] Where brands are really leveraging it for their marketing efforts and creators are really leveraging it for monetization. Great. Excited to go through that and how it's evolved as a platform. 

[00:02:58] Tim: Well, it sounds like it has a lot of potential because, one thing with, social media, there's a difference between having a large following that's not very engaged and a small, highly engaged following, and it sounds like it leans more towards maybe smaller followings, but highly engaged audiences.

[00:03:16] Hope: Absolutely. You're totally right with that so basically what's going on with Snapchat right now is creators or influencers, they are monetizing on the platform or have the opportunity to monetize from their stories. The more they post, the more money they make. 

[00:03:33] Tim: Yeah.

[00:03:33] Hope: And it's almost a similar setup to YouTube, where the longer the person is watching the Snapchat story, the more ads are gonna pop up and the more ad revenue they earn and creators are posting anywhere from what we've seen is 20, 30 times a day. Mm-hmm. All the way up to 300 times a day. 

[00:03:54] Tim: Right.

[00:03:54] Hope: Are getting ready for the day and they put up their phone and they're like, Hey guys, so this morning I had this and this for breakfast it is so casual. And I think that's the reason it's finding a lot of success at one point, social media became so over polished that it was taking a lot of time.

[00:04:14] People couldn't really show their personality on social media. And then Snapchat came along and they were like, post whatever you want. The more you post, the more we're gonna favor your content. And people were like, oh man, I don't have to really edit and I can just pull out my phone and be myself and talk to the camera.

[00:04:31] That sounds great to me. 

[00:04:33] Tim: Yeah, that is very interesting because, like when you post to something like Instagram, it's going into a feed that is going to everyone. Is it the same with Snapchat or is it going more to your contacts, more to your friends?

[00:04:46] Hope: Yeah, so the way Snapchat works is there is a thing called the Discover page. So that's where you're gonna see your friends and then also new people you can find on the platform. So there's two sections within that. So there's one called Spotlight. Which is like TikTok or Instagram reels, but on Snapchat.

[00:05:05] So it's short form, scroll through videos. 

[00:05:08] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:05:08] Hope: That's really where you get virality on the platform. So that's where, you can get videos that get a million, 2 million views and gain subscribership from there. And then I always stay posting on your stories is for community. So people will find you on the discover page, they can interact with your stuff.

[00:05:25] Ask you questions, really see who you are in your day-to-day life through your posts. 

[00:05:31] Tim: Yeah. Interesting. And, we're kind of getting into one of my questions, which is like, now that I've got my Snapchat account, what can I do with it? 

[00:05:39] Hope: Yeah. 

[00:05:39] Tim: You can post images, video, 

[00:05:41] Hope: You can do so much with it, which is the crazy part. I think people are still in the mindset of just sending photos or messages back and forth with friends. If you are new to the platform, what I recommend is, getting your account set up and active.

[00:05:56] Second you can actually create a public profile. Before on Snapchat, you were not able to have a profile. now you can basically go on, you can have your profile picture, you can have old posts that get saved. It almost kind of looks like an Instagram feed a little bit.

[00:06:13] So you set up your public profile and then from there it's kind of free reign, posting daily on your stories, posting to spotlight with more short form content, and really getting that content live. the most important is being consistent as well. 

[00:06:28] Tim: Yeah, that sounds really cool.

[00:06:30] Like I had no idea there were so many different aspects to it. 

[00:06:33] Hope: pretty much nobody does, and creators know a lot about it because creators want to go to the next thing where they can start monetizing, right? it has become the next big thing in the creator economy.

[00:06:48] Now what we're seeing is a lot of brands are moving in that direction. if the brands move in that direction quickly and start using Snapchat to leverage their marketing efforts, they are going to find a lot of success because they're gonna be early to the game.

[00:07:03] I think there's a lot of hesitancy right now on the brand side It's not as established as a platform as meta in terms of data. Or not many other brands are doing it, so why should we? But to me that's the perfect reason why you should be doing it, everyone knows if you can get in early, you can kind of flush out those logistics.

[00:07:26] Really get in. Before it becomes oversaturated as we're seeing with TikTok, for example. 

[00:07:31] Tim: Definitely. I think people are experiencing the same kind of thing on Instagram as well, where it's just like they're, so many accounts and so much competition and not a lot of new users being added, at least not at the same rate as before. So there's not as many people looking for new people to follow and connect with. It just becomes more stale. With new platforms, or platforms that are up and coming, you have that opportunity.

[00:07:57] Like, when TikTok was up and coming 

[00:07:59] Hope: Yeah, that's a perfect example. Like, I remember when TikTok had first come out. We have the people that got on the platform early. Maybe they had a following on Musically or Vine, they saw the value in it early, and those are our largest creators on TikTok.

[00:08:15] So I think that is the perfect example where you had the first movers and then you had that second wave of people where it was a bit slower. They were a bit hesitant. but They were also able to see a little bit of success on the platform.

[00:08:28] And then we have the people that moved in a bit late. Yeah. Which, honestly, I would say it's The brands. Rightfully so. They wanna suss out the situation before they're gonna invest. Before they invest in creators and before they invest any sort of money. I just think, especially with marketing, you have to break through the noise, especially in digital, because everyone's kind of looking to the next person, seeing what they're doing successfully, and replicating that.

[00:08:56] When you just kind of fall into the same pattern as everybody else, you have to figure out how to differentiate yourself. If you wanna expose your brand out there. 

[00:09:06] Tim: Yeah, for sure. and then speaking of Instagram and the X App, what are some of the differences that make it attractive for a brand or creator to use as a main platform, as opposed to directing people to your Instagram or X app 

[00:09:22] Hope: I think the one differentiator that we always. press on our brand clients because we work with brand clients in all capacities. So we have familiarity with every single platform. sometimes there aren't brands that are right for Snapchat, right? I'm not saying that every brand needs to be on the platform, but there are some where I'm like, you are assuming that the audience on Snapchat isn't going to interact with your product or service.

[00:09:49] Right? And we all know that the one downfall of marketing is assumption. Sometimes when you do market research, you figure out your original target audience is not the people responding well To your product. Sometimes you think it's Gen Z and it's actually like maybe 45-year-old moms and they love it.

[00:10:08] you have to be open to really seeing how people are responding. and. How they resonate with your products and services. going back to your question with Snapchat, something we always share with our brand clients is and we've heard this directly from market research, people are so over being sold to.

[00:10:27] You go on TikTok and it's TikTok Shop, paid partnership, TikTok Shop. I can't see another TikTok Shop what brands can start doing on Snapchat is. leverage the casual nature of the platform what's great that Snapchat allows you to do is if you're talking to the camera and say, Hey guys, I have this new water bottle that I love.

[00:10:49] I'm working as a brand partner with them. Look at all these cool features. You can have a sticker link on the story that people can. click on and buy the product. a big issue we were seeing with, Instagram reels when we're working with brands is that customer journey, you lose people 'cause there's too many steps.

[00:11:10] With Snapchat, you get rid of a bunch of steps. You can click on the sticker and you can make that purchase. So we've noticed conversions being much stronger on the platform. 

[00:11:21] Tim: I could totally see that. with Instagram right now, they're really discouraging any kind of link, usage in your bio or even, in your Story. They say, you know, you saw a tool like MiniChat to send someone a dm and then they click on that. It kind of speaks to what you're saying. Like all of the steps it would make it so much better for, the consumer, but also the brands and the creators.

[00:11:43] It sounds like a really good, platform then in terms of the mechanics. Is there any limitation, like, when you can use a link or a sticker, does that have to be a certain type of content or do you have to have like, 10,000 followers or what have you.

[00:11:55] Hope: No, it's so interesting because anybody can do it. I know on TikTok with TikTok shop, you do have to have a follower threshold Snapchat allows that for anybody, which is really cool. So even if a brand wants to run a micro influencer campaign on the platform. You still have reach and can use all the features.

[00:12:15] some things they suppress on the platform is linking to other platforms, That's fair. once you link to another platform, they're like, cut. but no, there's not really limitations. I think Snapchat does still have work to do on the product end of things 

[00:12:31] Getting it to a level comparable to Meta. And getting those data points of, really being able to see what's the earned media value. Even all of these things, but they're working very quickly To get these off the ground. The beauty of Snapchat was because they sat back for so long.

[00:12:49] They were able to see the mistakes of every other platform, what was working, what's not working. And then put that all into one platform and strive to make it the most user-friendly. It's at the point right now where it's at its peak. No, but I definitely think it's getting there.

[00:13:07] 

[00:13:07] Tim: That's great. And if we think about something like affiliate marketing, it would be useful for that as opposed to the kind of dynamic we're talking about with TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube Shorts, where you can't share links within the description anymore.

[00:13:20] This would be a more direct way of reaching consumers, even if you don't have. As big a following. maybe that's one of the things to touch on, I'm not sure if you know, but kind of what is like average kind of follower accounts. How many would, how many would you have to be considered a large creator or medium small in the Snapchat world?

[00:13:39] Hope: It's very different than other platforms, if you have someone that has 30 million followers on TikTok, you'll probably see them have around 2 million on Snapchat. That is a really high follower count when you're talking about Snapchat.

[00:13:53] That's like a mega creator on the platform. However, if we're talking about engagement, we have people that are in the 200, 250,000 follower mark. But the viewership and the engagement they're getting is equivalent to someone that has a million subscribers. 

[00:14:10] So I think something to really consider, especially on the talent side of things, is how engaging is your content. How long are people watching the content? 'cause realistically, they can be watching that first slide and then fall off. So if they're watching for one or two seconds, that's not as valuable.

[00:14:27] As someone that might be getting. Less views, but they're watching the whole entire story. So it's really, being able to craft a story on Snapchat is really important. I've seen a lot of creators do this well. And the best leverage you can give yourself Is having exclusive content on the platform.

[00:14:46] For example, one girl that I used to work with she was having, her third child. she documented the whole experience on Snapchat. So she was like, if people updates on how I'm doing, where I'm at in the process, you have to find me there.

[00:15:02] That's the only place that I'm sharing it. with any platform, but especially Snapchat, you have to bring value. People don't wanna watch things that they've already watched somewhere else. so really make your audience feel like they're catching a glimpse of your life that they aren't able to find on other platforms, and that's where we've seen those really successful creators win on the app.

[00:15:23] Tim: That's interesting and you could make it more organic content as opposed to the reels or the tiktoks that you're creating as part of your other content flow. 

[00:15:32] Hope: Oh yeah, absolutely. I'm telling you, this girl's In the hospital bed with the phone and she was like, I'm at my fifth appointment and they say the baby's doing well and I think I'm going into labor tomorrow.

[00:15:45] So it's things like that where to the creators, it's so easy to make that content. And if you're somebody that you're open and willing to sharing those parts of your life. Snapchat has made it so easy to do so. because think about it, in this girl's situation with her pregnancy, you don't have that time to record a YouTube video, sit down, edit it, get it live.

[00:16:10] Like it's just really time-consuming. Yeah. So, like I mentioned before, as a platform, they really alleviated these pain points that A lot of creators were facing on other apps. 

[00:16:21] Tim: Yeah. And I imagine you can adjust it according to what, your content type is or your niche Yes. You know, I was just, thinking, you could do something about how I plan my podcast or something.

[00:16:31] I could go on and, talk about that, periodically I imagine people do unboxings and, and stuff like that of, of different kind of equipment that they've got. So that might be a good segue to talk about what is an example of someone who's been successful leveraging, Snapchat as a platform to drive sales or to increase, their presence on other platforms.

[00:16:54] Grow their audience, I suppose. 

[00:16:55] Hope: Yeah, absolutely. When we started HG Media, the first idea we had for this company was when creators started monetizing on the app. We were like, we can come in, we can post on their behalf, and we will earn a portion of their revenue.

[00:17:13] We can post for them. It'll be great. We quickly came to realize that. Posting on people's behalf. One, you can't automate it. Snapchat did that in a great way. And two, it doesn't have the same effect unless you have that personal feeling.

[00:17:29] So then we transitioned to talent management and marketing. with that talent management piece, I've really been able to find and source creators that are highly successful on the platform. One girl in specific, her name's Estelle. I am actually her, talent manager and representative, 360 Management. I help her with every piece of her business. And we noticed we were like. Hey, you have a small following on Snapchat, but it's definitely there. People are responding to it. Let's leverage it. 

[00:18:01] Tim: Right? 

[00:18:01] Hope: So we were able to help get her verified, and then create a strategy for her of like, okay, this is how many times you need to be posting a day.

[00:18:10] This is the style that people are receptive to. And within, two months, she probably grew like 50,000 Subscribers. Grew very quickly, became very consistent. and her audience was just becoming so receptive to the type of content she was posting, to the point where if there's one day where you're not posting, people are like, wait, where are you?

[00:18:32] Like, where are you posts? people look forward to opening Snapchat, being like. they're going on their walk and they're getting coffee, and it's almost this really simple content that people just love to see and love to consume. I would say it's very similar to a YouTube vlog, 

[00:18:50] Tim: Okay.

[00:18:50] Hope: Vertical, right? 

[00:18:52] Tim: What do you think was the differentiating feature? what made the content work so well? 

[00:18:57] Hope: One because it was original. I think what a lot of creators are trying to do, and this is just my opinion, but I feel like it's been proven true again and again. Is people want to be everywhere, so they start spreading themselves too thin.

[00:19:13] They're like, I need to be on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat. X, Facebook, whatever. 

[00:19:18] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:19:19] Hope: Not every platform is for every brand, and not every platform is for every creator. You have to understand the type of content you're making and where you see that audience being receptive to it.

[00:19:30] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:19:30] Hope: One thing I had told Estelle, Pick Top three or four platforms that you wanna be on and that you really wanna focus on. And you have to tailor your content to each of those platforms. And I think that's what she did really well with Snapchat, was she took our feedback of opening the phone and putting the phone up and just talking to your audience and prompting them to communicate with you.

[00:19:52] Hey guys, I'm about to board my flight and I'm really bored. Ask me some questions and we can do a q and a. And it's kind of like you mentioned before, that disconnect on other platforms, it's just been getting to people. And I think Snapchat became a refresh.

[00:20:07] And I think she was able to really leverage that and find that success. 

[00:20:10] Tim: Yeah, it's interesting I've gone through some changes myself in terms of like how many platforms I trying to be on and how you engage with them. I think that's a great strategy to pick a few priority ones and, make, the content unique to that platform, like the culture and nature of the platform.

[00:20:28] Like there's some things that you can probably post everywhere. It will still. Do differently depending on the platform, but at least If you have a reel or something and you post it to YouTube shorts and TikTok it might be more suited to one or the other, but it won't seem out of place where it sounds like certain content, if it were just reposted to Snapchat, would be kind of out of place.

[00:20:49] Hope: Yeah. And I think it's the consistency as well. 'cause we've had people approach us. They're like, I wanna get verified, I wanna get on the platform. They're really excited in the beginning, but once that happens, they don't understand that there is so much work behind that. 

[00:21:04] Tim: Right. 

[00:21:04] Hope: You can't take one TikTok that you posted and reposted to your Snapchat story.

[00:21:09] One time a week. And then expect to make any money off of that. Or more importantly, expect to develop a community off of that. I think the creators that are doing the best are driven by developing a community, not fully driven by monetization. 'cause that will come When people wanna see and talk to you.

[00:21:29] Every single day. 

[00:21:30] Tim: Such a good, reminder because I think oftentimes it gets put the other way. 

[00:21:35] Hope: Yeah. I understand everyone. You know, you need to find ways which you can monetize your content. Yeah. I'm not saying that's not important, but I think people are missing that first step.

[00:21:47] Where your community will allow you to monetize. if you're missing that piece people feel it. I know when I see a creator, I'm watching their stuff. Something is just not there. Something's not resonating. I can't really relate. And then, you know, the people where you're like, they love what they do and I can see it through their videos.

[00:22:07] Tim: Yeah. So true. I heard, just the other day, this tip about digital marketing that, you know, people can spot in authenticity now like a, a mile away. 'cause of, you know, 'cause of spending some, you know, time on social media and seeing those differences between, the creators that seem, engaged and enjoying it, and others that you can almost see it feels like they're going through the motions, right?

[00:22:29] Hope: Yep, absolutely. Going through the motions, going through the trends, just doing what the next person is doing. I talk about this with my co-founder, Colin, quite a bit when we're talking with our creators I think the topic of trends come up so much. people wanting to be on the trend and be the next thing.

[00:22:46] but I always say you don't wanna have to always follow the trend. At some point you wanna become the trend. That is how you break through to be from an influencer to a really big creator. And from there, building a business and building a brand out of it. And that's our responsibility when we're working.

[00:23:06] With all of our talent. It's not just, here's a brand deal, What type of brand deals are you looking for? How can we elevate your career? And at what point are we gonna build something bigger out of this? Because the creator life cycle isn't too long. There's always going to be the next relevant person, the next person that people love.

[00:23:26] Realistically, the brands are only gonna spend so much time with one person. 

[00:23:31] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:23:31] Hope: It's really being able to diversify your monetization in revenue, and then leveraging your brand to build something bigger out of it is so important. 

[00:23:40] Tim: Yeah. And I think that's part of why it's good to be on different platforms even if you have to prioritize a few because platforms come and go.

[00:23:49] creators come and go on different platforms. Build your audience up to a certain level and at some point everyone plateaus, if you want to expand beyond that, you need to be able to be on other platforms or as we've seen with TikTok recently, something can happen to the platform.

[00:24:05] You built everything on and then you have to shift. so being at least familiar with what's going on in different places is certainly helpful to that. it made me think about, people like myself who are podcasters and YouTubers, like what would a role be for somebody in that situation?

[00:24:23] how would Snapchat fit into their content flow? 

[00:24:27] Hope: Snapchat can fit into anyone's content flow, which I think is the most unique part of it. I would think about it this way. It's the one platform showing that unpolished behind the scenes of your life. So, for example, with you being able to, you know, let's say you get new headphones or 

[00:24:46] Just anything new for like your desk set up. Doing unboxings, showing people, Hey, this is what I recommend, or these are the two different headphones I've been using. you guys have any questions? Who wants to start a podcast? let me know if you need any recommendations. it's one of those things where, think about the old Snapchat, but leveraged.

[00:25:05] It was showing those personal moments between friends. Now it's showing those personal moments between. A creator and their audience who on other platforms, the audience feels like they're not able to reach you. I'm not gonna send somebody a DM on Instagram that has 5 million followers.

[00:25:22] They're not going to see it. But on Snapchat, if they're telling me, Hey, swipe up above my story, if you guys have any questions, I'm like, oh, cool. Like, they're definitely gonna go through these and try to respond to it. So I think for people in the podcasting world, or people in the YouTube world podcasts and YouTube, I would say are probably the two most polished forms of content. So I think that's where you can have the most leverage. Of showing people that place in your business or place in your life that they're not seeing on other platforms. I think that's the biggest takeaway.

[00:25:54] 

[00:25:54] Tim: that's interesting. And then if you get some subscribers or followers through Snapchat, is there a way that. they can access your podcast? of your show with a link or have a link in your bio? how would the mechanics of that work?

[00:26:08] Hope: Absolutely, have the link in your bio, Even a link tree where they can find you on other socials. Yeah, I think that's a big thing because when people find you on Snapchat, they're most likely gonna wanna find you on other socials as well. 

[00:26:21] Let's say that goes away and like moving your audience somewhere else. It's kind of like I said before, you are not gonna be able to move that audience unless you have a community. if you got a viral hit on TikTok and all these followers, but they don't remember you.

[00:26:36] They have no idea who you are. There's no value in that follower. Right. So I think just wrapping up that point of community and having people transfer over to other platforms and seeing different parts of your life is important. 

[00:26:50] Absolutely having the link to your podcast and the bio would be number one. 

[00:26:55] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:26:55] Hope: I think utilizing your stories and spotlight to show the type of content that you make, you can do clips of the podcast. You can do announcements or you can do q and as of saying. Hey guys, I'm having hope who runs her own marketing agency 

[00:27:12] Revolving around Snapchat on my podcast. Are there any questions you guys wanna ask her? So it's allowing people to get involved in your life in a very unique and different way That you can't really do on other platforms. And then going from there, you say, Hey guys, just wrapped up the podcast, stay tuned.

[00:27:29] For, some of the highlights or clips that I'm gonna post next. So you can get really creative with it, which is. Really fun, honestly. 

[00:27:36] Tim: Yeah. And I suppose you could do an after show q and a kind of thing too. 

[00:27:41] Hope: Oh yeah, you can absolutely do that. And then a nice thing as well that Snapchat allows that.

[00:27:47] They have, a certain access on Snapchat. for example, with all our creators, we have administrator access to their accounts.

[00:27:56] So what that means is they become friends with our business account on Snapchat. They click a button that says add HG Media as an admin. We can see all of their insights and we can post on their behalf or as a collaborator. we see that a lot with people who are like, maybe in like relationships and like, let's say like the boyfriends in Florida and the girlfriends in California, and like they can post on the same account, but not being in the same place.

[00:28:26] Where, for example, if. we do a combined Snapchat story. I can get access and post on my side without having to send you the content. So it streamlines a lot of things, which is great.

[00:28:40] Tim: I'm all about efficiency as a creator. 

[00:28:42] Hope: Absolutely. Time is money. It really is. And I think too, the thing with digital is it moves so fast. So if you're going too slow things also just feel old if you can get things up and get it up quickly.

[00:28:57] it doesn't have to be so Prim and polish people like that. 'cause it feels real. 

[00:29:02] Tim: I'll ask a follow-up question to that, which is with your experience with other platforms, how easy or hard is it to grow an audience on Snapchat? Going back to the whole question of efficiency, even if I could get a highly engaged following, if it will. be really hard. Maybe I'm better to invest my time over here. It's kind of a subjective question. I know, and it probably depends on your strategy, but take a crack at it anyway.

[00:29:25] Hope: That's the number one question we get from all the creators. Yeah. No doubt, right? Yeah, and I always respond with this. I'm like, it's. One, it's gonna be your willingness to promote it as well. So if you have a really strong Instagram audience, or really strong audience on TikTok 

[00:29:41] And you're starting from zero, like you have no subscribers, and it's a brand new account on Snapchat. You need to be able to leverage your audience on these other platforms and say, Hey, you guys, you can now find me on Snapchat. And going back to the creator, Estelle that I was mentioning before.

[00:29:57] That was something that we implemented into her strategy where she had a small following before. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't tiny, so it definitely helped. we used her Instagram stories quite a bit. weekly, she was posting subscribe to me on Snapchat or having her Snapchat username in her bio and things like that.

[00:30:17] It is not the easiest to find people on Snapchat unless they're popping up on your discover page, so if there is a creator that you are actively seeking, you have to know their username and make that effort. go into the app and look them up and hopefully they pop up from there.

[00:30:35] So you have to make it easy for your audience to either find you on Snapchat Or give them a really exclusive reason to follow you on there. Kind of how I was mentioning before with the girl that was documenting her whole pregnancy. That was definitely one where it was, it's such a striking moment where people are like, oh yeah, I wanna go see that.

[00:30:56] Like, what the heck? I'll download Snapchat to go watch. So it's giving people a reason. I think in terms of growing community, it's all about consistency. I always tell creators, if you are starting out and you really wanna hit heavy on Snapchat You have to be posting on spotlight. I've seen people like two to four times a day.

[00:31:17] Which is more like the TikTok style videos. And then on stories. Really being active, I would say like minimum 20 times a day. However, very casual, unedited content put up the phone and start talking. it's a little awkward for people in the beginning because they're not used to it, but once they do get used to it, they love it because it is so simple and people are so engaged.

[00:31:43] Tim: I was gonna ask if you had Any mindset tips in terms of how to get into that kind of, habit? 

[00:31:50] Hope: I think here's the thing. It's gonna be like any other social platform. So it's to the creators, and this is what I always remind them of, This is your job and this is your career.

[00:32:00] If you want to be a content creator and you want to put yourself out there and you wanna monetize, and you have all these big dreams. 

[00:32:07] Tim: Yeah, 

[00:32:07] Hope: Of course. It's gonna feel a little weird, but just like any job, you have to carve out times in your day where, 

[00:32:14] Tim: mm-hmm.

[00:32:14] Hope: For an hour in the morning, I'm editing my YouTube content. For the rest of the day, I'm gonna be editing my TikTok stuff, and then later that day I'm going to an event. So I'm gonna film all the stuff for Snapchat. Right. So it's kind of like you have to time block yourself. 

[00:32:30] And I think sometimes, especially from the outside perspective of people who don't necessarily do social media, they're like, oh, that's so easy. You just put up the camera and you start filming. It's really not. Because one, it's a lot of capacity to also be sharing so much of your personal life online.

[00:32:48] And doing that in a way that's also interesting to people. 

[00:32:51] Tim: Right. 

[00:32:52] Hope: You're a storyteller and you have to be good at what you do to keep people engaged. So I think just to fully answer your question, at the end of the day, it's carving out that time and making it a priority. 

[00:33:04] Tim: And I think part of it too is just repetition. Because when I first started posting videos to, reels, I found it kind of strange you're thinking, how is, this gonna go? you can't do it at a high level as you see other creators doing, 'cause you haven't done it before.

[00:33:19] But the more you do it, the more you think less about it and it just becomes more automatic. 

[00:33:25] Hope: Yeah, everyone starts at zero. And I think sometimes that's what people forget, it's the thing that people constantly say, oh, it's embarrassing.

[00:33:34] It's like, why is it embarrassing? I've always been that type of person where it's like. If you constantly live for what other people are thinking, there is no way you're gonna be successful. People are always gonna have something to say, even to the largest creators out there.

[00:33:49] No matter what business you're in, there's always going to be critics. You think there wasn't critics of people for me starting this and. Why are you doing Snapchat? Who uses that? How many times I've heard that I see a value in it that other people might not necessarily see. 

[00:34:07] But if it comes to the point where it blows up to the extent that TikTok did, then people are gonna be like, oh my God, what a great idea. How did you even think of that? So you have to be so true and so headstrong in your vision and mission. Being able to adapt as well is super important. But really at the end of the day, if you decide to have any sort of career in business or putting your life out for the public to see it, you're gonna have to just accept that criticism and keep going. I'm sure you've probably felt it as well. Podcasting is the same thing. It might not be as visual or so many nuances of your life. But you're still putting so much of yourself out there.

[00:34:50] Tim: Yeah, for sure. and I like what you said about like whether you're creator or in any other kind of business, you will face criticism, there will be critics or naysayers or what have you, and so you might as well do what you're going to do. You get your supporters and your critics but you just gotta pursue your vision. You really have to be the first one to believe in it.. And if you want other people to believe in your vision, whether they're gonna become your audience members employees, or supporters, of any kind, they have to see that you believe in it first. 

[00:35:20] So that's what makes it so hard in some ways that, 'cause you are, in a way, you're really kind of, striking out there on a bit of a limb. But, that's where the rewards come from, right. 

[00:35:30] Hope: Oh yeah. Absolutely. You can see the people that are going through the motions And copying the people that are successful. And you can see the people that are trying to break through the noise. And those are the people that are able to just pass that threshold building that community that is so strong where They might be maybe even a little bit smaller of a community, but they're like a ride or die community for you. Because the vanity numbers, people are over it. Brands are getting smarter. People know a million followers. 

[00:36:04] Yeah. who's commenting, who is wanting to know what you use and what you're doing. I think that's where engagement comes in. And like I said, a million times over your community really at the end of the day. 

[00:36:15] Tim: Yeah, definitely that. And that's a great point that, there's different levels of safety.

[00:36:20] One level of safety is not posting anything at all. Another one is copying what other people are doing, which isn't really going out there. And then the third level is, like you say, doing more original stuff. That's where you do break through more, but it is more risky.

[00:36:34] And I kind of think back to what you said earlier about as marketers, sometimes we don't always know. I'm always surprised on YouTube where. I will make a video that is kind of like in line with, with other videos, like unboxing video or something like that. It's been done before, but you do your version and you are maybe showing a different kind of product, then I'll do another one that I think is, really unusual. I don't know if it'll do well, and then it always does better than expected. 

[00:37:02] Hope: I feel like even on my side, I dabble a little bit in content creation. As well personally, I love fitness. I'm a personal trainer and I like making video content. Of workouts and things like that.

[00:37:14] It's always the video where I'm like, oh haha, this is kind of dumb. I'm gonna post it. It always does well. Everything I put my heart and soul into, I'm like, what the heck? 

[00:37:25] Tim: the way 

[00:37:26] Hope: So I completely hear you on that, and it's really interesting to see what breaks through the noise, what people like, what people are receptive to.

[00:37:35] And I hear this from a lot of creators we talk to as well. There was one girl in specific, and she started on social media doing fashion. She absolutely loved it. She loved styling, getting dressed. Showing that type of content. Then she randomly started doing cooking a little bit. And that just took off. she blew up. People loved it. And she was like. I hate making cooking videos. So what do I do? do I continue doing this thing that people like to see that I don't love? My answer always is there's a balance. If you have a community that loves you and cares about you and wants to see you grow, they're gonna be receptive to these different styles of content. But I don't think it's ever beneficial to pigeonhole yourself. I had a call yesterday with one creator and we were actually talking about this, Something I really love to see about your content. Mm-hmm. And what really like striked me when I saw it was the fact that you do so many different stuff, right? You do finance, but you also have cooking content and fitness you're very dynamic. 

[00:38:41] Tim: Totally. 

[00:38:42] Hope: And she was like, that's really interesting. the last agent I was with, said, you need to pick one thing and just niche down into it. And I told her, I remember people always saying that of like, pick your niche and don't stray away from it at all. Don't make any other content about anything else But I think now people want to, see content that's relatable.

[00:39:04] They know someone doesn't only cook all the time. Right. They wanna see those different parts of your life. so it's interesting to see how things change and how the advice changes and what works Versus not, 

[00:39:15] Tim: Yeah. Personality is so much more important in the world of AI generated content. And I imagine that's where Snapchat has a bit of an advantage with the type of content people are creating, is AI affecting that platform as well? 

[00:39:28] Hope: Yeah. I would say the only integration that I've seen with AI on Snapchat is a thing on the top of your messages now that it's like Snapchat ai.

[00:39:39] So you can kind of go in and ask it questions and it is helpful, like when you need help on the platform, you're like, Hey, this isn't working, what do I do? And It can help you that way, but I haven't seen it. Affect as much as like how we've seen on other platforms and like fake content of people.

[00:39:59] I haven't seen that quite yet. I will say Snapchat highly moderates the content. Because it does skew a little bit younger, so like the creators have to be brand safe. There's no tolerance for inappropriate content on the platform. You really run the risk of getting unverified and un-monitized, which creators don't wanna do, right?

[00:40:21] So they're very picky and choosy of who they have on the platform and who they're going to push to be successful because there's a lot on the line, especially when there's. So many young eyes on there. and I do wanna make a point about that as well, because this is something we hear from a lot of our brands is we don't wanna activate because the audience is too young.

[00:40:43] Now what I say to that is, you're assuming because it's kind of a twofold conversation. One, don't you wanna be on the platform that the next generation is being on? 

[00:40:55] Tim: Exactly. 

[00:40:55] Hope: Point one 

[00:40:56] Tim: and 

[00:40:56] Hope: Then, 0.2, the generation that grew up with Snapchat is now 25 to 30 years old. So that's prime audience that most brands wanna hit. With purchase power. they are on there. I just think that there is an assumption that they're not, you would actually be shocked. It's 75% of, all. 18 to 35 year olds Are on Snapchat in some capacity. So the market is there. I just think, again, it was to my point earlier. 

[00:41:29] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:41:30] Hope: of brand clients, they assume who their target audience is. And that's where you fail. It's the number one rule of marketing. Don't assume, 'cause who knows who will resonate with your product and who will buy it. You have to put it out there.

[00:41:43] Tim: That's right. And what drew you to Snapchat as a creator and then as a brand talent manager? 

[00:41:48] Hope: Yes, it's interesting because it was actually my previous job. I was working at an agency during college and then at my first job out of college. I was there for about three and a half years.

[00:41:59] The best experience, best people. I'm still so close with everybody who works there. They're wonderful. the first account I was put on was for Snapchat. And it was to run the beta programs. Snapchat had come to the agency. They were like, we are launching this new product called Spotlight, which is what I had mentioned before. TikTok style content. 

[00:42:22] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:42:23] Hope: We're launching this product on Snapchat, Nobody's using it quite yet 'cause nobody knows about it.

[00:42:28] Tim: Right. 

[00:42:28] Hope: in the beta phase. Can you guys put together some sort of program to basically mass get people on the platform? So that was my responsibility. Within the agency. Like, it was just very interesting to see what it looks like before it actually hits the market.

[00:42:46] So I think that was my first exposure to the platform as a social media platform and not as me Snapchatting my friends. That program eventually closed out, and I had told myself that in December of 2023 that I was gonna step back from the agency. For no reason, aside from the fact that I just knew I wanted to do something else.

[00:43:10] Yeah. It was my first job outta college. I was like, I know I've always wanted to have my own thing. I studied marketing. I'm really, really passionate about it. So I made the jump and I was like, okay, we're gonna figure it out. And kind of go from there. So I started fully full-time in 2024 with HG Media.

[00:43:28] Tim: That's great. 

[00:43:28] Hope: And the one thing I knew so well was Snapchat. So I was like, okay, we can start developing marketing, services around Snapchat because nobody else knows how to do it, so why not? And then obviously that's where a little pushback started happening of why are you guys doing this?

[00:43:46] There's not really any value in it. you think there's no value in it, but I know that there's value in it because I've seen it. So that's when we slowly and surely started finding and working with brands coming to us saying, Hey, or agencies coming to us and saying, Hey, we have a client.

[00:44:05] Hey, Toyota wants to work on Snapchat. We have no idea where to find influencers for this. Where do you guys even start? that's how we started getting our footing. We would work on behalf of these agencies. To fulfill creators for these campaigns. Then we started going to market, selling these services and saying, Hey brands, we can do this all in house for you because we know how to do it.

[00:44:30] We know all the nuances of the platform re marketing recommendations, creator recommendations, and we can put together comprehensive campaigns for your brand. So that's when it started growing. When we were working with some clients, like the music streaming space, Or with the NBA and we were getting creators on the ground for events, doing coverage on Snapchat we soon became the agency because we were the only one doing it very well known in the Snapchat space.

[00:45:01] It's any services you need on Snapchat, go to Hope and call people would always kind of say, I'm really blessed to be able to say we're at the point where we've made a name in that segment. And then starting in 2025, we've opened up services to all platforms. we really wanted to develop our brand in one specific thing that maybe people didn't know how to do.

[00:45:23] Then expand from there. So now we've grown to having. 360 creator representation. And then also on my side, which is brand marketing. having brand clients science to HG Media and handling their digital marketing efforts. inclusive of Snapchat as well. 

[00:45:42] Tim: Amazingly, you've sold me on investigating Snapchat further and getting more into it.

[00:45:47] It sounds very, exciting how do people get in touch with you if they want to work with, your company 

[00:45:52] Hope: Literally, we are on every single platform in every way. a main driver that we've used for a lot of our business has been LinkedIn, so you can absolutely find me on LinkedIn.

[00:46:01] you can also contact through email, which is hope@hgmedia.us. so I would say those are the two main ways, but both myself and Colin Harrington, who's my co-founder, we're both super active on LinkedIn. So any updates, any new signs, new clients, news, we're always posting it on the platform so people can feel up to date with what's going on. But I would say those are the two best ways to get in touch. 

[00:46:29] Tim: Amazing. very nice to have you on and thank you. I really appreciate, having the chance to talk with you today. 

[00:46:35] Hope: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure. I'm really excited to see what people's thoughts are on everything. I feel like typically people are like, wow, I had no idea that this was even a capability of the platform. it was a pleasure having your time and being able to talk today. 

[00:46:52] Tim: Thanks, Take care. 

[00:46:53] Hope: Thanks.

[00:46:54] Tim: Well, I have to admit that I haven't really gotten into posting on Snapchat, and that's because as a creator I've come to realize that we're much better off oftentimes to focus on one or two priority platforms and put most of our effort into those. It's a lot better than trying to be everywhere, which often leads to not making progress anywhere.

[00:47:16] So for me, the two priority platforms are YouTube and Instagram. YouTube, because it aligns with my podcasting goals. And Instagram because it lines up with my interest in visual media and photography, video, that sort of thing. And it also, uh, connects with the merch store that I'm trying to build. 

But there's a chance maybe Snapchat is the perfect option for you, especially if you're trying to reach an audience that's in the Gen Z millennial age group and you're into creating that kind of quick, spontaneous content that we talked about, which is the, uh, you know, primary driver of audience growth in that platform. And that's where I'll say this conversation has changed my approach to social media and that I've challenged myself to create more spontaneous content. 

And there's a few reasons for that.

[00:48:04] For one thing, I think it's a great way to build a connection with your audience, which gives you competitive advantage over all those, generic AI content channels out there, or other creators who aren't doing this.

[00:48:15] Number two, I think this can help you grow as a creator because if you can become better at creating casual, spontaneous content. It helps you create content in general, and you also put less pressure on each piece of content yourself as a creator, which can only help you in the long run.

[00:48:33] And number three, platform features such as Instagram Stories, which is based around the idea of this kind of quick spontaneous content, also have elements that make it easy to engage in a two-way conversation with your audience, either via DM replies, quizzes, sticker sliders, polls, what have you. And all of this helps to, you know, spark more of a two-way dialogue between yourself and your audience, which is great for gathering insights and also kind of fun as well.

[00:49:04] So if you're not doing this as a creator, my challenge for you would be to try and create something spontaneous, share something personal that you're comfortable with, and try to spark some kind of a conversation with your audience.

[00:49:16] And if you're looking for more tips and trends that can help you grow your presence on social media, you'll wanna check out this next episode here. Thanks for watching. I hope you have a great day, and we'll see you in the next episode.