PROMOTING NUMISMATIC EVENTS VIA SNAPCHAT

As one of the YNs who attended the EAC General Meeting in Denver, I found the CoinWeek article about that very event interesting. In the piece, Morgan and Walker express doubt about the capabilities of Snapchat in terms of sharing the hobby. They bring up some valid points, and I do agree that Snapchat is not the most effective social media to use.

However, it does have one specific feature which I believe could be utilized. This is the “Our Stories” component. Users of the app can post a picture a picture or video to “Our Story” via a button. If enough people post (using this feature) in a certain location, Snapchat and its users can see something notable is happening there. This means that if several people post while at the ANA Convention, it could attract the attention of people using the app. Additionally, if a lot of people post, it could become what is called a “trending topic.” This means that the event is visible on the front page of Snapchat. Thus, events like this get free promotion. I will mention yet again that I do not believe Snapchat is the best choice for numismatic promotion, but it does have this one option.

Second, I would like to address another point in the article: “the one thing absent from this discussion…was how we can better communicate to collectors already in the hobby that don't feel like they are part of our community…” One idea that comes to mind is more discussion between major organizations and the people following them. Many numismatic groups have social media accounts with thousands of followers, but do not try to be social! I have seen many instances where the organization posts something, some followers respond, but then no further discussion is had. If there was an active conversation going on, I believe it could help to make some collectors feel like they are part of the community.

LEFT: Here you can see that I have take a picture of some numismatic items. I have a variety of options for what I can do with this picture, but to post it I will click the blue arrow on the bottom right.

CENTER: Once I click the blue arrow, I come to this page. As you can see, many of the people I talk to on the app are visible on this page. The most important thing, however, is the "Our Story" button/bar second to the top. As you can see, I have clicked it and can now post it via the white arrow at the bottom right.

RIGHT: This picture shows what happens once enough people post pictures or videos from some location.The red spot on the map shows the concentration of posts, and if I were to click on the spot I could see all the posts from there. You can also see that CenturyLink Field and Pike Place Market have individual tags. This is because so many people are posting from there that they are on the front page of Snapchat.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
BRIDGES TO NEWER GENERATIONS OF COLLECTORS (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n33a24.html)

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