Using Snapchat for healthcare marketing — 2019 update
If you’re looking for advice on how to best leverage Snapchat as a hospital or health system, our advice to you is this: don’t. Although Snapchat is an excellent platform to reach Millennial 20-somethings and Gen Z teenagers and pre-teens, it’s not worth the investment to reach the very small audience that would actually use your services. Your most profitable consumers are Gen X and Baby Boomers, right? Only 24% of 45-54 year olds and 11% of 55-64 year old internet users use Snapchat.
Let’s break down the numbers. Snapchat currently has 188 million daily actives users. 71% of users are under 34 years old, 45% are between 18 and 24, and roughly 70% are female. Perhaps you’re thinking you can use Snapchat to target young mothers or pregnant women.
90% of US mothers are active on social media, however if you want this audience, Snapchat isn’t the most effective solution. According to eMarketer’s report, only 8% of mothers use Snapchat. By far the most popular social media site for millennial mothers is Facebook.
The second most popular site for mothers is Instagram. Since Instagram released its Stories feature back in 2016 as a direct competitor to Snap, Snapchat’s user base has declined. In 2018, Stories already had 400 million daily users, over twice the size of Snapchat’s.
Since Instagram and Facebook go hand in hand (you can simultaneously post to your Instagram and Facebook story), these two platforms used together would be a better option to reach millennial mothers.
The only feature of Snapchat that we would consider utilizing is the custom location filter for broad awareness. Depending on how large your geography is, you can add a special filter around your hospital, so passersby will know where you are. And of course there will probably be sick or injured millennials using it to show off their casts and stitches to their friends. If that’s something you’re down with, go for it. Otherwise, consider skipping it.
Snapchat filter examples:
