As they work to evolve the revenue potential of the platform post-IPO, Snap Inc. has announced a couple of new ad options for Snapchat to help tap into user interests.

The first is called ‘Snap Engagement Audiences’, through which advertisers can re-target users who’ve previously engaged with their other on-platform ad content.

It works like this – once someone has interacted with one of your Snapchat ads, be that an in-stream ad, Sponsored Geofilter, Sponsored Lens. Once a user has engaged with your ad content, they can now be re-targeted with another of your ads, based on that being a sign of indicative interest.

It’s essentially the same as re-targeting available on other platforms, but Snapchat-specific.

You can also only re-target users who’ve actively engaged with your ad content – as explained by Marketing Land:

“If someone simply watches a standard Snap Ad, they can’t be retargeted. But if someone interacts with the ad — e.g., the person uses a brand’s Sponsored Lens, applies a brand’s Sponsored Geofilter to a photo or video (unless it’s an event-based Sponsored Geofilter) or swipes up on a brand’s Snap Ad to play a longer video, visit a microsite, view an advertorial or install an app — then the brand can send another ad to that person that builds on their demonstrated interest.”

The option could provide new opportunities for brands to boost their Snapchat ad performance by working with more defined user signals – if someone has actually interacted with your ad content previously, there’s a higher chance that they’ll be interested in your subsequent offers. This could prove particularly effective for Lens and Geofilters campaigns.

Another option available with this new format is the ability to exclude those who’ve responded to your ads from subsequent campaigns, in order to avoid potential fatigue. Snap Engagement Audiences can also be used for lookalike campaigns on the platform.

In addition to this, Snap has also added a new ad bidding option for mobile app marketers, giving them more control over how much they pay.

Different to Google or Facebook, Snapchat charges app advertisers based on the number of times their app install ads are served, not on how many lead to actual user actions. The new option will enable advertisers to set a price they’re willing to pay for an install, then let Snap Inc’s team determine who to show the ad to, based on the users they think are more likely to take action.

It’s Snap Inc’s latest move towards more familiar social functionality in order to boost utility – last week, they released a new search option for Snap content, which is still fairly restrictive in what you can access, but is another step towards opening up the platform and maximizing its potential.

Now that the company is publicly listed, you can expect to see more ad options coming – possibly including some more innovative tools like image-recognition triggered ad content.

Article Written by Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today