In 2016, I wrote something controversial: Snapchat would never become a tier-one marketing platform. Snapchat was the hottest thing at Social Media Marketing World that year, and thought leaders were falling over themselves to teach Snapchat marketing strategy. I called it a flash in the pan.
I was right. Here is why, and what the Snapchat story teaches us about evaluating any new platform for content marketing.
The Original Argument
After spending several weeks playing with Snapchat in 2016 — partly because my friend Cliff Ravenscraft was getting serious about it — I identified three fundamental problems that would prevent Snapchat from becoming essential for marketers.
Problem 1: No Sharing
Viral marketing depends on sharing. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube — the entire model is that someone sees something great and passes it along. Snapchat had no native sharing mechanism. If someone created something amazing, the best you could do was screenshot it. Content reach was linear, not exponential. Without viral distribution, Snapchat's utility as a marketing platform was fundamentally capped.
Problem 2: No Archive
Content marketing depends on three things: loyal readership, sharing, and organic discovery. Snapchat content disappeared in 24 hours. That meant no search traffic, no evergreen tutorials, no product reviews that could generate revenue for months or years. Every piece of content was disposable.
Traditional content marketing pieces — tutorials, how-to guides, product reviews — were essentially useless on Snapchat unless you happened to post at the exact moment your viewer needed the information. Snapchat was a one-legged stool.
Problem 3: Missing Fundamentals
Beyond the structural issues, Snapchat lacked basic marketing tools: no desktop client, no call-to-action functionality, no low-barrier interactions like a “like” button, no way to import or schedule content, and an unintuitive user interface.
What Actually Happened
Instagram launched Stories in August 2016 — just months after this article was published — and essentially cloned Snapchat's core feature while adding everything Snapchat lacked: sharing, discoverability, archive options, and integration with an existing massive user base. Instagram Stories became the dominant short-form content format for marketers.
Snapchat survived as a company but never became the marketing powerhouse that 2016 conference speakers predicted. Its user base skews young, its ad platform serves brands targeting that demographic, but it never became a required tool in any content marketer's stack.
Meanwhile, TikTok arrived and solved the problems Snapchat never addressed. TikTok has viral sharing, algorithmic discovery, content that lives beyond 24 hours, and a creator ecosystem that rewards quality content with massive organic reach. TikTok became what Snapchat evangelists were hoping Snapchat would become.
The Lesson for Evaluating New Platforms
The Snapchat story offers a framework for evaluating any new social platform for marketing potential. Ask three questions:
- Can content be shared virally? If the platform limits distribution to direct followers only, your reach is linear and your marketing ROI is capped.
- Does content persist? If content disappears, you are on a treadmill. Every conversion requires new content creation. There is no compounding effect.
- Can you own the relationship? If there is no path from platform follower to email subscriber or customer, you are building on rented land with no way to bring the audience home.
Any platform that fails on all three of these criteria is not worth your time as a content marketer. Snapchat failed on all three. If you are spending time worrying about having a Snapchat marketing strategy today, you can stop. You could have stopped in 2016.
What's Changed Since This Was Written
Short-form video became essential, just not on Snapchat. TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts now dominate short-form content. These platforms solved the sharing and discovery problems Snapchat never addressed.
Ephemeral content found its place — as a supplement, not a strategy. Instagram Stories and similar features work well for engagement with existing audiences, but no serious marketer builds their entire strategy around disappearing content.
The “build on rented land” warning is more relevant than ever. Platform risk is real. The marketers who weathered every platform shift are the ones who prioritized email lists and owned websites from the beginning.
Hey Mark great post and I can totally relate. I’ve personally never used SnapChat and I’ve been listening to Cliff rave about how great it is but I’ve found that as far as a marketing platform goes it all really depends on the way you want to market your business.
As an example last year it seemed like everyone was jumping on the Periscope bandwagon. I have to admit I thought it was pretty interesting to see guys like Chris Ducker, Pat Flynn, and Jeremy and Jason from Internet Business Mastery live.
So I decided to give it a shot as well and did not have a lot of luck with it but more importantly I found I just don’t prefer that kind of marketing. And that’s one thing I’ve really learned about myself over the last several years of doing internet marketing is that you have to find what works for you and focus on that.
I use to think that if everyone else was doing that I needed to as well but if it doesn’t reflect what actually works for you then just implementing one more strategy won’t be of much use.
Anyways that’s just my 2 cents.
Boy do I hope you are right Mark. The last thing we need is for “marketers” to come in and ruin another “SOCIAL” network with a bombardment of “marketing.”
Interesting thing… You and I have been friends for YEARS! This is the “very first time I’ve ever read a single blog post on your website.” I’m not saying that you don’t have great content. It’s just that I rarely every read ANY blog post.
By the way, I didn’t come here because you mentioned me and put a link to my tutorial (THANK YOU FOR THAT BY THE WAY). The fact, is that I had no clue that you had mentioned me in this post before reading it.
But here’s where I get to that “interesting thing.” I found this blog post and I’ve now read it because of what you said about it ON SNAPCHAT. (one could argue that this is a form of marketing, the pitch was for folks to check out this blog post and here I am responding to that very soft call to action).
As for the shortcomings you posted…. I’d like to share my thoughts.
1) No Sharing. Initially, I thought I didn’t like this either. However, I now hope that they NEVER allow sharing on the platform. I LOVE the fact that when I’m following a Snapchat account, it’s 100% original content. If I ever follow anyone on Twitter, the VERY FIRST THING that I do is “DISABLE RETWEETS.” And I end up unfollowing anyone who i s consistently publishing links to other people’s content. I’m following someone to follow “them” not every piece of content that they think I might want to see. I want “their” content.
2) No Archive. Yeah, that’s a bummer. I’m not going to argue against this one. Though, I do like that if I am away from Snapchat for a few days (okay, I confess, this hasn’t happened yet), but if I do end up missing someone’s content over a few days because I didn’t have time to see everything that everyone I’m following has posted…. I sort of like that I don’t have an archive to “catch up on.” I just get to see what’s going on within the past 24 hours. Helps me from getting overwhelmed.
I will say that content can be downloaded and repurposed in a number of ways if it were all that important to archive. 🙂
3a) The User Interface Is Not Intuitive. That’s an understatement.
3b) There’s not a desktop client. I like that it is a mobile only platform. My preference is that it remains this way.
3c) There’s no good way to do a call to action. I disagree. I’m here aren’t I?
3d) Interaction Methods. Okay, Perhaps a like option would be cool.
3e) No way to import content – THANK GOODNESS. I don’t want to see pre-produced content. I want the raw, authentic real time content that this limitation forces. Hope they never change this.
3f) No way to schedule content. THANK GOODNESS. If they add this, I’ll delete my Snapchat account INSTANTLY. I hate scheduled posts. They pretty much KILLED Twitter.
Overall, I agree with the premise of your post. Snapchat isn’t a great “MARKETING PLATFORM.” I’m 100% thankful for this. Perhaps that is why I love it as much as I do.
However, it is an amazing RELATIONSHIP BUILDING platform. Which, by the way, I much prefer “relationship marketing” anyway.
I’ve only been on the platform, seriously, since January 27th. I’ve already earned $4,000 dollars in sales of my Podcasting Course as a direct result of just mentioning it a few times in natural daily stories.