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While Facebook and Twitter require youth to work on their content to get those likes and shares going, SnapChat is helping Afrillennials (African Millennials) amplify their personal brand with a completely different approach. Since it’s all about them, we give you five luring facts about SnapChat that has Afrillennials hooked!

1. They love SnapChat’s format

This is a little obvious, given the mass amount of youth participation the app has attracted, but why? Afrillennials are using it as a video version of Instagram. SnapChat is unique in that it tells their day’s story by combining images and short videos into a montage that disappears after 24 hours. Just in time to start afresh and keep reinventing themselves till they reach perfection – which doesn’t happen!

2. It was made to be addictive

The fact that content disappears means students need to spend so much time creating new content that they are practically living on the app. Anyone who follows your snaps gets to see it, the more you snap the more intrigue you create and followers you get. For this reason youth are taking their SnapChat everywhere just in case they need to snap up a moment to share.

3. No holds barred

You only live once and it’s never been as apparent as on SnapChat. Instagram is about your filtered, perfect self that lives there forever while SnapChat is about raw moments and vicarious living. Having that moment in the limelight and then having it disappear leaves all the room for making wild memories and taking a social media skydive.

4. It attracts the elite

SnapChat has had very high adoption in the LSM 7-10 group. The reason for this might be that the app is quite data hungry and students don’t want to incur data charges. As a result, SnapChat has created a special breed of Wi-Fi hunters. Remember this audience is all about instant gratification and they don’t want to wait till they have data to see the next hot snap because by that time the content may have expired, like *poof*.

5. It drives inspiration overload

Afrillennials look to successful figures for inspiration and direction in their lives. This influences who they follow and of course anyone looking for their attention needs to be sure they have the right hook. From Snapping a little twerking to broadcasting your make-up tutorial or take on fashion, SnapChat is reserved for hot montages. Some examples of influential SnapChatters that know this very well include TAZSANGELS_, Tessa, Knaomi and TshepiVundla. They get tons of views, live the life, show it off and give Afrillennials something to aspire towards.

The take-home

You can tell that getting youth in a frenzy over your brand on this platform will cost you unless you’re creative about it. According to Bizcommunity, SnapChat is a multi-billion dollar venture and some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day. The app started working with media partners and advertisers to reach its youthful audience but it didn’t get adoption because a traditional media approach doesn’t work as effectively with this platform. Afrillennials don’t want to follow a brand on SnapChat like they do on Twitter or Facebook.

This is why there’s been a rise in the use of influencers, ambassadors and celebrity endorsements as part of the creative mix of getting brands into the SnapChat space. The youth don’t want to be plagued by ads, they want to have real freedom of expression, reach their dreams and keep aspiring to go bigger. SnapChat is about sharing moments, why not play an active part in their big picture?