Snapchat embraces and champions the ephemeral nature of communication in a landscape that is saturated with it. Snap a pic or a vid, send it to a friend, and moments after being viewed it self-destructs into the ether forevermore. We’re talking about communication that both originates from and elicits an immediate emotional response, as opposed to a long and drawn-out intellectual consideration. For this reason, snapchatting is free of the anxiety surrounding traditional forms of communication. Perhaps this is why the once-spurned app is so popular today.
How can employers use this hugely popular social app to educate, motivate, and inspire employees, transforming them into full-fledged brand ambassadors? Could Snapchat be your most powerful tool to drive employee engagement? Only one way to know. Here are ten ways you can test it out.
1) Company culture in a snap
Snapchat gives employers an opportunity to learn how to share knowledge in new and exciting ways. Use it to promote and celebrate your company culture from within. Create and share compelling “stories” that capture what life is like at your workplace. Use it to focus staff attention on specific messages and goals. Embrace and encourage the idea of employees creating internal communications that are fun, yet focused on meaningful tasks.
2) Create in-house news and buzz feeds to educate and motivate employees
Create a Snapchat channel that informs employees of important company news and events, relevant “stories” currently trending, and other hot conversation topics to keep them engaged. Snap and share original content to make company-wide or departmental announcements. Compile and maintain a go-to list of relevant and buzzworthy accounts for employees to follow.
3) Use Snapchat to reward, honor, and showcase excellence
Feature an employee, a partner, a department, or a project team on your company Snapchat feed (as either the subject or the creator of snaps or “stories”). Allow employees to nominate features with their own snap submissions. Snap a “story” that explores a day in the life of a particular employee or department. Increase interdepartmental awareness and broaden your employees’ sense of engagement with the bigger brand picture.
4) A snap for project management
It is not hard to see how Snapchat could be useful in a project management context — to share status updates and progress reports quickly and efficiently, for example. The creative, urgent, and flash-in-the-pan nature of the app makes it remarkably suited to a fast-paced work environment. Snapchat seems like the perfect tool to keep a team united, energized, and communicating in a creative and fun way around a specific goal.
5) Create a Snapchat contest
Host a Snapchat contest to rally and socialize staff. A Snapchat treasure hunt could lead employees on a journey of brand and interdepartmental discovery as they work together in teams to decipher snapped clues. A cropped-image riddle might involve the distribution of an incomplete snap image resulting in employee snaps guessing the complete image.
The preferred social media app of tweens, teens, and young adults can now be used as a powerful employer branding tool, offering immediate access to everything from job opportunities, to sneak-peek previews of new products to on-the-fly mini-movies that both entertain and inform. So start snapping.
6) Offer Quick Training Snaps
Snapchat’s short-form content is ideal for microlearning. Create quick training “stories” to teach employees new skills, share process updates, or even conduct refresher courses. These short bursts of information are easy to digest and help employees learn on the go. Use quick “stories” to train employees on new processes, share productivity tips, or even roll out refresher courses. Break down complex training modules into a series of short snaps with clear, actionable takeaways, incorporate quizzes or polls within the snaps to test knowledge and keep employees engaged, and use video tutorials or step-by-step visuals to simplify instructions. These bite-sized learning sessions are easier to digest, more engaging than lengthy presentations, and accessible on the go, making them a valuable tool for skill-building.
7) Celebrate Success in Real-Time
Celebrating success as it happens helps reinforce a positive work culture. Snapchat’s immediacy allows you to capture and share moments of achievement, whether it’s a project milestone, a client win, or an employee’s promotion. Share snaps of employees receiving awards or completing big projects, create “Success Stories” that highlight the team’s journey and how they achieved their goals, and let employees share their own moments of pride and excitement, adding authenticity to the celebrations. These real-time celebrations boost morale, foster a sense of accomplishment, and motivate employees to strive for excellence.
8) Foster Team Spirit with Fun Challenges
Snapchat challenges can inject energy into your workplace while encouraging creativity and teamwork. Create team-specific contests such as “Snap Your Workspace,” where employees showcase their unique desk setups, or “Best Team Meme,” where teams collaborate to create funny, work-related memes. Other challenge ideas include “Snap Reels,” where employees create short videos capturing their team spirit in action, “Throwback Thursday,” encouraging employees to snap old team photos and share nostalgic memories, or “Snap a Value,” where teams snap images or videos representing your company’s core values in action. By gamifying engagement, these challenges promote a sense of community while allowing employees to have fun and showcase their creativity.
9) Encourage Leadership Engagement
Snapchat offers leaders a unique platform to connect with employees in a casual yet impactful way. Quick snaps from leaders can humanize the leadership team and foster a stronger sense of transparency and trust. Leaders can share motivational snaps or personal insights to inspire employees, address frequently asked questions or provide quick updates on company goals and strategies, and highlight team efforts or individual contributions, making employees feel valued directly by the leadership. When employees see their leaders engaging on a platform they use, it bridges gaps, boosts trust, and reinforces a sense of shared purpose.
10) Highlight Brand Values Through Snaps
Snapchat is an excellent medium to visually communicate your company’s mission, values, and initiatives. By sharing stories aligned with your brand ethos, you can deepen employees’ connection to your organization’s purpose. Share behind-the-scenes snaps of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, such as volunteer programs or sustainability efforts, highlight employees embodying the company’s core values, such as teamwork, innovation, or customer focus, and create snaps that show the impact of your products or services, reinforcing pride in your brand. Using Snapchat to tell these stories not only inspires employees but also helps them see their roles as vital to the organization’s mission.
Conclusion
Snapchat’s innovative and engaging format makes it a game-changing tool for employee engagement. From real-time celebrations to creative contests and leadership messages, it offers endless opportunities to foster connection, collaboration, and enthusiasm in your workplace.
Ready to transform your workplace culture? Start snapping today and unlock new levels of employee engagement!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
