Unsurprisingly, Snapchat is one of the fastest growing networks for consumers and businesses alike. Recent statistics have shown that Snapchat has roughly 100 million daily active users worldwide, 8 million mobile videos are viewed per day on the platform, and that the app is the most popular social media channel among teenagers and young adults in the United States.

While it is easy to imagine the many possibilities Snapchat provides for its large user-base, it is important to realize that there is also huge potential for leveraging the platform within a social media marketing strategy to strengthen awareness for a brand.

One of our clients, Brazilian Footwear, is currently exploring methods for using Snapchat to engage our audience in new ways and gain increased visibility for Brazilian Footwear as a whole as well as the many brands we represent. Below, check out five tips for integrating Snapchat into your brand’s marketing mix.

1. Provide Live Access to Events

Snapchat is the ideal platform to give your followers an inside look into the events that you attend. From industry tradeshows to more consumer-facing events like New York Fashion Week, Snapchat offers an opportunity to give followers an authentic view of a live event, no matter where they are.

2. Create Your Own Geo-Filter

Snapchat allows brands to create their own sponsored geo-filter within a specified area and time-range. This allows any user within the specific area to engage with the filter (placing it on top of their image or video), providing massive potential for brand awareness.

The Brazilian Footwear team developed the “Brazilian Footwear Shoe Cam” for a recent industry tradeshow, which proved to drive deeper and more organic engagement from attendees of the show. Further, Snapchat provides impressions and engagement analytics on the back end, allowing brands to track measurement in real-time.

3. Show a Different Side of Your Brand

Snapchat can be used to take followers behind the scenes of a company to show off a different side of the business. This is where brands can use the caption and drawing tools to have a little fun, show the unique personality of the brand and capture the corporate culture.

One fun strategy is to rotate control of the Snapchat account among employees, which adds a degree of variety and flavor that fans will enjoy.

A great example of a brand that does this successfully is Everlane. This consumer retail brand, whose mission is “radical transparency,” utilizes Snapchat Stories to highlight office tours, happy hours and manufacturing warehouses where their goods are produced. It is an effective way to build deeper relationships with customers and make them feel like they are connected to the brand.

4. Offer Contests or Perks

Everyone loves social media giveaways and it is a strategy the Brazilian Footwear team uses often on Twitter. Snapchat is another channel that brands can use to host and promote these types of contests. One way brands can do this is to offer promotion codes or discounts to the fans that watch your entire Snapchat story. Or, interact with followers by posting an image of a pair of shoes you are giving away and ask them to screenshot the image and post to their Instagram for a chance to win.

5. Tell a Compelling Story

Last but not least, the most important rule of Snapchat is to tell a compelling story. With videos that last only 10 seconds long, brands have the opportunity to string several short and sweet clips together to illustrate a narrative of their brand that users will want to watch over and over again. The appeal of Snapchat is that it is raw and unfiltered – it is an opportunity to show your audience what your brand is really all about.