Snapchat is the number 1 platform for Swiss youth

Founded in 2011, the image and short video platform has never been able to keep up with Facebook or Instagram in terms of usage figures across all age groups. However, Snapchat was and is very popular with young people and is also considered a pioneer in terms of some social media functions: Both the frequently used photo filters and the concept of Stories originate from Snapchat, but Instagram has copied both very successfully and established them in the mainstream.

Because the Chinese app TikTok has been spreading rapidly worldwide since 2019 and is increasingly becoming the most important platform for young people, Xeit wanted to use an online survey to find out how Snapchat will be used in 2020.

Only WhatsApp before Snapchat

The result is surprising: even though Snapchat leads a supposedly shadowy existence alongside TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, only 0.7 percent of respondents said they had never used Snapchat. WhatsApp is the only channel used more frequently, followed by YouTube and Instagram in third and fourth place.

It must be pointed out that the participants were self-selected: The users who wanted to comment on Snapchat were not selected entirely at random and tended to be very young. Nevertheless, the results are interesting:

• Among the core target group of 13- to 19-year-olds, Snapchat usage is a remarkable 91%.
• 2.9% of respondents are not active on any other social media platforms besides Snapchat.
• 93.3% use the platform daily, nearly30 % of them for more than two hours.
• Snapchat is primarily used for chatting with friends and entertainment.
• 43% of Snapchat users who follow a business do so because it was recommended by an influencer.
• 70% of participants reported being funny and authentic on Snapchat.
• Almost 80% use so-called "branded filter", a lens designed and sponsored by companies, which comes in the form of a geofilter, AR filter, face filter and so on.

Unused marketing potential?

Many Swiss companies, it seems, are nevertheless reluctant when it comes to using Snapchat for marketing purposes - although the interest in company profiles on the part of the target group is there. Since users are active on Snapchat every day and often for several hours, the platform offers great potential to get in touch with the young target group. Contests and promotions work particularly well, as the survey further showed.

The Snapchat online survey

The aim of the Snapchat survey was to find out what the user behavior of Swiss Snapchat users is like. For this, Xeit set up an online questionnaire and promoted it using Instagram ads and linked to a contest. 1252 people took part in the Xeit survey, 80.3 % of whom are women.