Mashable took an early interest in Snapchat and was one of the first media companies to launch its presence on the ephemeral app in January 2014. Over the course of the past year, Mashable's Visual Storytelling team has been doodling, exploring and experimenting with the storytelling app non-stop. From tech reviews to long form features, communicating with the Mashable audience through Snapchat quickly became a uniquely personal way for Mashable to reach its community. After just a few weeks of experimentation, it became clear that this platform was not a fad, but an extremely powerful tool for delivering visual stories on a personal level. In one year, Mashable has formed a thriving, interactive and creative community on Snapchat that fully encompases the Mashable brand.
Mashable's strong daily Snapchat stories deliver engaging visual content with energy and personality. Mashable's Snapchat content strategy began with a plan to snap from live events, share moments from day-to-day life at Mashable HQ in New York City and post news bites as they moved in and out of the news cycle. Its stories share useful and timely information; they convey compelling narratives, and they allow big names — such as the likes of Shaquille O'Neal, Sesame Street's Grover and Nick Cannon — interact with Mashable's audiences quickly and intimately.
Throughout the year, Mashable has snapped a wide variety of narratives, its content constantly shifting as each snap runs the course of its 24-hour lifespan. In 2014, Mashable took its followers on tours of New York City museums; it embarked on urban quests for donuts, pizza and Easter eggs. In April 2014 Mashable became one of the first brands to create a short film on the app. It produced a Hobbit-themed Snapchat mini movie--costumes and all. It snapped live from Rio during the World Cup and from New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It learned to share the Mashable experience with the world, snapping anything and everything from the minutiae of life in an office to the excitement of events like CES in Las Vegas, Comic-Con, SXSW, The NYC Pride March and even The Grammy's red carpet. Mashable post its Snapchat stories on Youtube, for fans to watch at their own convenience.
Mashable joined Snapchat with the goal of engaging its audience in a direct and personal way while furthering its understanding of the platform and investigating an emerging avenue for mobile content distribution.
Mashable has learned to embrace the strange intimacy of Snapchat videos, to never underestimate the power of a one- or two-second snap, and to employ emojis whenever possible. With significant time and resources dedicated to the platform, including full-time visual artists on staff, Mashable has accomplished the daunting task of adding a new and creative dimension to its social media presence that feels both fresh and at home on mobile devices.
