Snapchat is a platform often overlooked for affiliate marketing. And that’s exactly why you should explore Snapchat affiliate marketing in 2025. What makes Snapchat unique is its user demographic – overwhelming Gen Z and Millennials. The platform has 443 million daily active users, with most opening the app at least 30 times a day.
Think of the marketing potential.
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We’re deep-diving into everything you need to know about Snapchat affiliate marketing, from which affiliate marketing verticals work best to how to maximize your conversion rates.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat is a multi-media platform focused on images, videos, and messages designed to disappear within one view or 24 hours. Photos and videos are commonly referred to as “snaps” with users able to post photos and videos to their profile as stories – similar to Instagram – to view for 24 hours.
Snapchat is the social media platform that belongs to Gen Z and Millennials. Over 90% of Gen Z users in 25+ countries use Snapchat, along with 73% of 13-34 year olds in the same countries. The platform estimates that the so-called ‘Snapchat Generation’ has $4.4 trillion in global spending power.
What makes Snapchat stand out, compared to platforms like TikTok and Facebook, is its popularity within certain regions. India is the country with the largest Snapchat audience, clocking in at over 202 million, followed by the United States at over 106 million. Pakistan, France, and the United Kingdom each have over 20 million Snapchat users.
If you’re targeting consumers in these countries, you can’t afford to overlook the potential of Snapchat affiliate marketing.
Understanding Snapchat Users’ Nature
The short lifespan of Snapchat’s messages and stories encourages users to return to the platform more often. 443 million daily active users open their Snapchat app at least 30 times a day, prompted by messages and the lack of a traditional feed like X or Facebook.
Just like on Instagram, Snapchat users follow friends, family members, influencers, and businesses. What makes a Snapchat affiliate program attractive is the parasocial relationships users develop on the platform, giving them more influence over purchasing decisions than celebrities and influencers on other social media platforms.
The lack of a traditional feed on Snapchat is one of the reasons why the platform’s users are considered to be happier and more receptive to ads. Snapchat claims its users are genuinely happier because “they feel free to express their authentic selves”.
Which Verticals to Consider?
If you’re considering the potential of snap on affiliate marketing, you’ll want to think about verticals. The affiliate marketing verticals that are best suited for Snapchat reflect its Gen Z and Millennial user base.
Dating, eCommerce, fitness, and nutrition are verticals that can easily earn money from Snapchat. The platform is acutely aware of this, implementing updates like the “try on’ feature to elevate the advertising experience for its users.
Any vertical with a Gen Z or Millennial target audience can leverage the potential of Snapchat affiliate marketing.
The Best Advertising Practices for Snapchat
Advertising on Snapchat requires a different approach to Facebook Ads. The key is to build an authentic relationship with your audience by creating high-quality content that feels personal. Your affiliate marketing on Snapchat should feel like recommendations, rather than in-your-face marketing.
Instant and Advanced Create
You don’t have to spend hours working on your Snapchat campaigns. Instant Create allows you to create a campaign with a single ad in just 5 minutes. This streamlined ad creation flow utilizes tested templates with simplified ad options. You can go one step further with Advanced Create by using advanced targeting to select additional parameters like interests, devices, and custom audiences.
Video or Single Image Ads
Don’t overthink your Snapchat ads. Start with a video or single image to reach new customers and grow your following. These types of Snapchat ads are given Spotlight and Stories ad placements, helping to boost your ROI and conversion rate.
Snapchat recommends that video ads should be between 3 and 5 seconds with the ‘offer’ to your audience appearing in the first seconds. Keep your content relevant and experiment with different media types, including video and single images, to optimize your ads.
Snapchat Masks and Drawings to Blend In
The focus of your Snapchat affiliate marketing strategy should be to blend in. Your audience should feel like they’re getting a recommendation from a friend, rather than a business or influencer. Use special effects and popular filters to blend in, incorporating organic and everyday content alongside your ads and affiliate marketing.
Using AR content, masks, and drawings can also help drive engagement to your Snapchat posts for higher conversions.
What Is Snapchat Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when a user or business promotes products or services and receives a commission for each sale made through their links. It’s one of the best ways to earn money from Snapchat as the platform makes it easy to post affiliate links within content.
Best of all – there’s no follower requirement. You don’t need 10,000 Snapchat followers to get started. The platform’s younger demographic and high engagement rate make it ideal for affiliate marketing. As a mobile-first platform, it’s ideal for incorporating product links and discount codes.
How to Use Snapchat for Affiliate Marketing
Whether you’re a business or an influencer, you might be wondering “can we make money from Snapchat?”. The answer: absolutely!
While you can use Snapchat ads, there are three ways to post affiliate links on Snapchat organically:
- In direct messaging chats
- In Snapchat stories
- In snaps sent to followers
You can choose photos or videos for any of this content and use the paperclip icon to add your affiliate marketing link. Companies with a primarily Gen Z and Millennial customer base can enhance their Snapchat affiliate program by providing users with exclusive discount codes and early access to product releases and sales.
Why should you invest in Snapchat affiliate marketing?
The platform’s primarily younger audience is more likely to click on affiliate links and take product recommendations than on other platforms. It’s easier to nurture a relationship that feels more genuine when the content feels more exclusive and intimate than on feed-based platforms like X and Instagram.
The short-lived nature of snaps and stories creates a sense of urgency for followers, promoting them to open the app more and engage with content on a deeper level. The focus on personal content enables businesses and influencers to create relationships with followers that feel authentic.
Tips for Increasing Snapchat Affiliate Marketing Conversions
Whether it’s everyday lifestyle posts or behind-the-scenes content, followers feel like they can trust the users and accounts they follow on Snapchat. This relationship translates to higher conversions with the time-limited nature of snaps creating a sense of urgency amongst users to purchase a product, increasing the likelihood for an impulse purchase.
Here are our top three tips for mastering affiliate marketing on Snapchat:
Keep Your Snaps Videos Short
Snapchat users – like on most social media platforms – have a short attention span. Keep your video content under 10 seconds or go even shorter. Snapchat recommends a duration of 5 to 7 seconds for maximum engagement. Start with a hook and highlight the product or service within the first few seconds.
Don’t Compromise on the Video Quality
How often do you see a blurry video and just scroll on? It happens every day. Social media content is always improving in its quality. While you want to lean into a fly-on-the-wall perspective, don’t compromise on your video quality. Always record in your highest quality setting, whether it’s 1080p or 4k.
You don’t have to splurge on an expensive camera. Your smartphone camera is all you need. Editing software like Adobe Premiere and CapCut can help add a professional touch to your snaps.
Direct Linking on the Go
The benefit of affiliate marketing on Snapchat is that it’s easy to do direct linking on the go. You can incorporate affiliate links into all your content by simply copying and pasting with the paperclip tool.
Snapchat is for fast and quick advertising. Keep it simple, don’t overload your followers with information, and use a call to action (CTA) for your link. Using a simple CTA like “buy now” or “save 20% here” makes it easy to post on the go.
Engage Gen Z and Millennials on Snapchat with RedTrack
2025 is the year to take affiliate marketing on Snapchat seriously. This mobile-first platform has a highly engaged audience, giving you access to younger demographics with growing global buying power. Grow your audience, generate sales, and drive traffic by tapping into the potential of Snapchat affiliate marketing.
Discover how RedTrack has helped affiliate marketers just like you with our conversion API and book a demo with one of our specialists to start leveling up your affiliate marketing on Snapchat.
