For several years, I have been hoping Snapchat would go away. Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE social media. That’s what I do for a living! But Snapchat is the one platform I couldn’t get on board with. No no no!

Fast forward to last month. I went to the Social Media Marketing World Conference and there was no shortage of Snapping. Gary Vee talked it up — as did plenty of other sessions.

I finally caved. I saw businesses, personalities and publishers using it like crazy. It is the “millennial” social medium of our time and though I’m an old millennial, I always want to reach that group!

Plus — I see how Snapchat features are sneaking into other platforms — the swiping, the emojis and most of all, the personalized contact. It’s a much more intimate platform because you get a look at details people wouldn’t share anywhere else. Plus, you can’t just mass follow people like everyone else. You have know their username and manually add them (or scan them) in.

I spent a few hours playing with Snapchat, asking people questions, Googling and I’ve finally found a comfort level with it. It’s not my favorite thing but the more I use it, the more I wonder what I was so afraid of!

1. The most personal platform. You aren’t going to throw up all the little details of your life onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. But Snapchat gives you the leeway to post multiple things in a way that doesn’t decrease the value or feel like you are crowding up your space.
2. Video is less intimidating. I’m still freaked out about live video on Periscope or Facebook Live. It’s a lot of pressure. But with Snapchat, you know each video is only 15 seconds or less and it’s not big deal if you don’t sound your best. So much less pressure!
3. It’s fun to experiment. There’s so much experimentation to be done with Snapchat — and the platform is constantly changing to add new stickers, overlays & options. That constant change keeps you on your toes and makes you want to try all the new stuff regularly.
4. You can get really creative. So I haven’t yet but…I see so much opportunity for brands to get crazy creative. I started following Taco Bell because I knew they were doing cool stuff. True to form, they are — and I’m taking notes.
5. Brand communication opportunity. I totally see how companies and brands can communicate in cool ways with their followers — and get super personal. Facebook has talked about how they are making the FB messenger app more of a priority. I think this is kind of a direct answer to what Snapchat has done. It’s gonna happen elsewhere too and brands ignore it at their own risk. My company, which I did start an account for, is already way behind 🙁

It seems to me that Snapchat is making a comeback in a big way. It’s been around for a long time in social media years but things are revving up for new users right now. It’s part of the personalized, live video phenomenon and is currently an important platform to be on. Will it be around forever? Of course no one knows that — but it is happening now so don’t miss the boat a second time!

It takes a little practice — and is most certainly a hyper-social medium — but for those of us who love social media, it actually is a more natural transition than I knew.

Follow my snaps at username Ericka81!