Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone - Snapchat For BeautyCon

BeautyCon’s  announcement that I was taking over their Snapchat,  included this image that their team created.

A few screen grabs from the Snapchat done for BeautyCon

 

Sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone.

I love social media, and use most platforms regularly (FB, Instagram, Periscope, Youtube, Vimeo, Twitter, & Pinterest) but one platform that I have never used is Snapchat.  Snapchat is one of the top two social media platforms out there for brands trying to reach young consumers (Gen Y and Gen Z specifically) and something I knew for awhile that I needed to master.

I was asked by BeautyCon (over 250,000 followers on social media) to do a social media takeover – which means the company you are working with puts the word out that you are taking over their social media platform for the day and you are given their login passwords, and the controls are left in your hands. Scary right? And bigger than that it would be my first time using Snapchat, and I was doing it at the largest event of the summer – the Vans US Open of Surfing.

I started thinking “what have I gotten myself into?” – BeautyCon has a religious following of tween and teen girls and they voraciously DEVOUR the social media content  that BeautyCon puts out each day. Teen girls can be very direct when they don’t like something. Scary. I knew I really had to learn the tips and tricks of Snapchat – photos vs video, filters, geo tagging, drawing on photos, text type on images, sound quality, and most importantly, how to create a living “story” that people would stay around throughout the day  to follow…

I already had my VIP Press passes for the women’s skateboard event at the US Open/ Van Doren Invitational so  I put my fears aside and started making calls to the pro skater girls I knew who were competing. I then got my butt down to their practice session and asked for some in person tutorials. I also spread the word that the next day I would be covering their event on Snapchat for BeautyCon. That got the skaters excited as their sport was going to be viewed by a whole new audience of girls and I knew they’d be on board when I started filming with my iphone before, during, and after the comp. I stayed up until 1 AM the night before the contest practicing Snapchat (on my own account) and watching tutorials on line.  I was still working out the kinks during the one hour drive to Huntington Beach.

BeautyCon had total faith in me and really let me run with the day – I was let loose to film and photograph anything and everything associated with the entire event, so after an intro with me on camera, I dove straight into Snapping away. I posted for over 5 hours and had everything from short video clips of the pro skaters talking to the BeautyCon audience, to actual footage of the contest, as well as fun shots of cool apparel looks and hair styles (which is what BeautyCon girls love!). I even had a short video with Vans owner/founder Mr. Steve VanDoren while he was cooking hotdogs for the crowd.

I was absolutely relieved  at the end of the day to log out and turn the controls back over to the team at BeautyCon,  but I loved what I had experienced and been involved in.

Yesterday I heard that the takeover on BeautyCon’s Snapchat was a huge success!  It had over 24,000 views and over 250 screen shots. And I was asked to come back in the near future and do it again – success! I am thrilled at the viewership numbers, as this means BeautyCon was happy with the takeover (as were their followers),  and women’s skateboarding was opened up to a whole new audience because of this unique opportunity with BeautyCon.

Getting out of your comfort zone is always a good thing – even when it’s last minute & scary.  The best way to do that is to say YES and commit, but then make sure you prepare well so you don’t fail. I plan on continuing to use Snapchat as part of my social media strategy, and I hope to work with other companies who wish to reach the Gen Y & Z audience by partnering in the same way.

It was a great experience and a huge thanks to  BeautyCon for reaching out and bringing me in!