Snapchat has been making waves among the Gen Z and millennials. It lets users share content that disappears after it’s viewed. But more than that, Snapchat presents a marketing opportunity for businesses who want to promote their events—Snapchat filters. These are fun overlays that users can add to their images and videos to share with their friends.
Done right, Snapchat filters and geofilters can be a great addition to your event marketing and promotion strategy.
How to make a Snapchat event filter in 4 steps
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- Go to create.snapchat.com and click “Create filter”
- Upload an existing filter design as a transparent PNG file with dimensions 1080×2340
- Choose the date and the location when you want the filter to be active
- Make the payment and wait for Snapchat to approve the event filter
Let’s begin with a quick understanding of Snapchat event filters and how they can be useful for your event promotion, and then jump right into creating your own Snapchat filters.
What are Snapchat event filters?
Snapchat event filters allow users to add quirky and fun overlays to their photos. For example, when a user clicks a picture near your event location, they can see filters that are relevant to that location.
The event filter, like the one below, can be shared with their friends which makes their pictures fun, and also ends up promoting the event.
There are 4 types of filters on Snapchat:
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- Community geofilters: Free for everyone. These filters are location-specific so users can only apply them when they’re near your event location.
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- Community moment filters: Free for all. These are fun filters that users anywhere in the world can use. These highlight specific moments like “Vibing to some song” or “grabbing lunch at your restaurant” etc. If used right, these can be great marketing material.
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- On-demand geofilters: Low-cost, used by smaller businesses. These can purchase for specific events or locations.
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- Sponsored filters: Expensive, generally used by large multi-national brands. Sponsored filters or lenses are some of the most premium offerings of Snapchat. You’ll see these filters generally purchased by the largest brands like Nike, L’oreal, etc.
If you’re targeting GenZ, you must try Snapchat. That’s where the GenZ audience is, especially people in the US. The platform is designed to be one-to-one with a bit of gamification that keeps people coming back often.
Ninad Pathak, Fractional Content Marketing Manager, Staytuned
About Snapchat Event Filters
Snapchat event filters are quirky, fun little stickers that Snapchat users can add to their photos and videos. It makes for great event marketing because you get access to customer-driven promotions with Snapchat.
Reasons why you should create a Snapchat filter for an event:
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- Filters are easy to make and all the users of Snapchat have access to it
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- Geofilters are automatically displayed to customers when they’re in a location and want to add filters to their pictures
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- They help you spread the word without spending additional marketing dollars as customers share snaps with their friends
Steps for making a Snapchat filter for an event
Let’s now get right into the steps for designing and making a Snapchat event filter.
1. Designing the filter
Filters are PNG images with a transparent background. The dimensions for a filter is 1080×2340.
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- The easiest way to design a filter is by using Canva. Add the elements you need to the canvas and download the completed filter as a PNG file. If you’re a Canva Pro user, you can download it with a transparent background too.
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- If you’re using Canva free, you may need to look for background removal tools
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- Next, head over to create.snapchat.com and click on “Create filter”
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- Upload the transparent PNG file that you downloaded
2. Setting the date, time, and location
For the location, you get the option to target a very specific location by drawing a fence around the area (see the screenshot below).
Alternatively, you can pick the location from the bottom left where it says “Click for featured cities”.
You can also enable the filter only for a range of time. If you have an event filter that you do not want people to use after the event, modify this setting.
Click “Continue” once you’re satisfied with the location and targeting.
3. Checking out and securing the filter
In this final section, you’ll be required to enter a few details about yourself and the filter. Also depending on the type of filter, you may or may not be required to make a payment.
Once you’re done, click “Submit” and wait for the Snapchat team to approve your filter.
Guidelines for Creating Snapchat Filters
Here are some guidelines when creating an event filter. This is specifically applicable to community filters that you
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- Include a good description of your Snapchat event filter
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- Make sure your file is 1080px wide and 2340px tall
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- Place text and important elements outside the buffer zone of your Filter — 210px from the top and bottom
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- Keep your file size under 300KB
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- Save your file in .PNG format with transparency enabled
If you’re buying a Snapchat filter, you will have a different set of guidelines and additional information to fill in for the target.
Best Snapchat geofilter maker websites
While Canva is the most accessible option when it comes to designing, there are many other options out there. Here are a few tools that can help you make a Snapchat Geofilter online.
Canva
Canva is extremely popular and easy to use when it comes to designing. You can use Canva to create your event filters easily.
The benefit of Canva is that it has a lot of elements, graphics, vectors, and stock images built into the platform—making it all the easier to access.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express
But, you do not need to be a pro when using Adobe Express. It is designed to be easy to use like Canva, yet powerful like its desktop suite tools.
SnappyInk
SnappyInk is a free Snapchat filter maker. It offers a simple and intuitive design and a lot of pre-made templates to start with.
You can also create your Snapchat filters right from your mobile device. If you want a tool that’s made specifically for creating filters, this would be the one to choose.
Fotor
Of all 4, Fotor would be the last option for me. It offers similar functionality to the others but lacks the predesigned templates that other tools offer.
Along with that, it also feels unfinished when it comes to usability which can make it difficult to create designs. But like all the tools above, Fotor has a free version that you can try before making the choice.
Examples of Snapchat filters and lenses created by brands
Snapchat has a unique audience base. Moving your marketing assets between social media platforms may not be the best idea here. Take a look at what some brands have created.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s played with multiple Snapchat filters and lenses for marketing. That campaign gave them a lot of news coverage and publicity.
Disney
People still use their Snapchat lenses, especially the ones in the above screenshot, to keep the brand on top of minds of their customers.
Taco Bell
This filter by Taco Bell caught fire in the market and got their brand in front of 224 million people. Making a Snachat event lens requires someone with AR and 3D skills. But you can try Snapchat filters that stand out and make your users want to try it!
Summer Fest
This is one of the simplest ones on the list. But it works great for people who already know about the event. So you will need to merge Snapchat event filters with other marketing campaigns and use these filters to amplify the event further.
Other ways to promote your events with Snapchat
Why stop at creating a filter for event promotions? Snapchat has multiple ways for you to promote your event and gather a bigger audience.
1. Running Snapchat Ads
Snapchat ads can be an easy way to reach a young audience at the right time and at the right location. You can customize the creatives, the audience, and the objective of your ads with Snapchat to make the most out of your marketing spend.
2. Partnering with influencers
Like other social media platforms, there are many Snapchat influencers who can help you reach your target audience easily. Depending on how big your brand is, you can directly reach out to the influencers or connect with them through an influencer platform that can help you complete the deal.
3. Running Snapchat competitions
Another effective event marketing strategy is to run contests and giveaways on Snapchat. These can help you grab your audience’s attention and encourage them to engage with your campaigns. You can find a few great examples of Snapchat contests that brands have run to grow their following.
With cash rewards, free tickets, or event swag, in exchange for participants sharing your campaign with their friends, you can expand your reach beyond your current audience with minimal marketing spend.
4. Creating a Snapchat event story
If you already have a following, a Snapchat story is a great way to promote an upcoming event. Event stories are easy to create—all it takes is a short video or picture, a nice filter, and you’re done. You can use these stories to record your event, provide behind-the-scenes footage, get the audience to connect with your guests, and more.
Once you figure out what works for your audience, this exclusive footage can get your audience to spread the word and help you reach more people.
Start snappin’ your way to a great event
Snapchat filters are a fun and easy way to promote events to a young audience. With just a few steps, you can create custom event filters that users can add to their photos and share with their friends.
Also, Snapchat’s event filters and geofilters can increase visibility and awareness for events without spending additional marketing dollars—giving you a better bang for your buck.
But marketing is just one part of hosting a successful event. You also need to provide users with a seamless ticketing experience. While you can use third-party ticketing tools, they take away the opportunity to create a memorable brand. You end up sending your potential customers to another website.
If you have a Shopify store, why not use it to sell your event tickets? Evey Events is the perfect Shopify app for creating branded event ticketing experiences. With Evey, you can create custom event pages, sell tickets, have tiered pricing, and track attendance all in one place.
Try Evey for a fully customizable and branded event ticketing experience on Shopify.
And since your tickets are sold on Shopify, you see your funds almost immediately like any other Shopify product you sell.
You also have the opportunity to upsell event swag and merch to customers that are purchasing tickets improving upon the branded experience.
Have you tried Snapchat for your marketing? What are some of your favorite ways of reaching customers on Snapchat?
