Instagram may be hot, but Snapchat is still heating up. Instagram may be in the spotlight, but the light is still shining on Snapchat. The fact is, despite the hype and the press, Instagram never killed Snapchat. The Snapchat naysayers will end up eating their own words. Because Snapchat is blazing it's way down the comeback trail, and here are some reasons why:
1-Snapchat has a user base that is passionate and loyal to the platform. Regardless of the influencer hype around Instagram, Snapchat continues to maintain strong interest and is actually building it's momentum back up. Influencers are not abandoning Snapchat thanks to the loyalty of it's real users that represent the audience. The potential of tapping this audience is continuously reinforced by this loyalty, just as the loyalty is reinforced by the vibrant audience that makes Snapchat uniquely great.
2-Snapchat's organic effectiveness isn't hampered by a newsfeed algorithm like the one that is killing Instagram and Facebook. Snapchat values the real time phenomenon that makes social media special. This supports it's real users over big business, and allows small business to effectively reach an audience thirsting for fresh and fun content.
3-Snapchat is a modern version of television. This characteristic is not as evident in Facebook and Instagram, as hard as they try with live video. The closest thing to this characteristic would be Youtube, and this makes Snapchat so unique and such a competitive threat to Facebook and Instagram. And, this characteristic makes the way users consume content difficult, even impossible, to emulate in absence of acquiring Snapchat.
4-Snapchat does things their way. And their way has worked well so far. This approach helps fuel the loyalty of it's user base, and this is a situation unique to Snapchat, which makes the company so valuable and the platform so powerful for small businesses.
Snapchat's future prospects are brighter than ever, regardless of the negative press and prediction of it's demise as a victim to Instagram Stories. Snapchat is too unique and powerful to meet this fate, and it is very likely that we have not yet witnessed all of the greatness it will achieve through innovation. For this reason, small business should prioritize Snapchat as much as Instagram stories.