If you want the quick saved-you-a-read answer: it’s Snapchat. If you want more info—and $1K in free ad credits—keep on going.

Snapchat has been well-praised all over the media for how they’re handling the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve been providing really solid information, as well as mental health resources to help people calm and center themselves.

But we’re not just into them because they’re doing good stuff for people during this crisis (although we are very appreciative of companies that are providing free services to small businesses during this time). 

Snapchat is also an exceptionally good place to market right now—specifically, for brands that offer DTC products like apparel, accessories, and other products that have a lower price point of about $50 or less.

That’s to Savannah Sanchez, MarketerHire’s expert on Snapchat, who formerly lead the Snapchat department at a large advertising agency and who now manages her own clients. 

Here’s why Sanchez thinks that this is the moment to strike:

You can reach a surprisingly broad, highly engaged audience

Snapchat has a daily average of 218 million users—and they’re exceptionally engaged, with the average active user spending 30 or more minutes a day on the app. It may come as no surprise that Snapchat reaches Gen Z better than other platforms—90% of 13-24 year olds in the US are on Snapchat (which is to say more than Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger combined).

But they’re not the only ones using Snap. “People assume it’s a 13-25 demographic, but it’s actually 13-35—higher than most advertisers would expect,” Sanchez says, who has been seeing considerable success marketing to the 25-35 year old age group, as well. 

The cost of traffic is really low right now

“This is a really great platform to be on right now because usage has gone up. All the college and high school kids are home right now—they’re bored at home, spending a lot of time staying in touch with their friends,” Sanchez says.

It’s dirt cheap

“Advertising on Snapchat is literally five times cheaper than Instagram stories,” Sanchez says. That’s remarkable not only because Instagram stories are pricey, but Facebook ads and Instagram ads are even costlier. Snapchat offers advertising for pennies on the dollar at comparable (or even greater) ROAS to Facebook and Instagram.

There’s far less competition

“Because a lot of advertisers are focused on Facebook and Instagram, they’ve been ignoring Snapchat entirely,” Sanchez says. This means there isn’t a glut of similar products on this platform—allowing yours to stand out. However, scaling Snapchat ads can be tricky for media buyers new to the platform, and there are often nuances that can make a professional marketer very helpful. 

It’s a great way to remarket existing traffic

“I’ve seen this be a really profitable strategy,” Sanchez says. “So instead of remarketing users on Facebook, where CPMs might be $20, you can remarket that same audience on Snapchat, frequently for over half of the price. You can put a Snapchat pixel on your website and start collecting data really quickly about who on your website has a Snapchat account. It’s a really great tool not only for getting new customers at the top of the funnel, but to remarket your website traffic and existing customers on Snapchat for much cheaper than you would on Facebook or Instagram.” 

They targeting gets really granular

“Snapchat has a partnership with Experian so you can target people based off of credit card data,” Sanchez says. “So you can specifically target people who have purchased your competitors or people who have purchased within certain segments. The targeting capabilities are much more advanced than they are on Facebook, which offers much less specific targeting due to privacy issues. With Snapchat, you can drill down much further—you can say, ‘I want people who have been to this location and are buying this kind of product.’”

The content can be more, ahem, entertaining—and you can sell more kinds of products

“You can be more raunchy on Snapchat than on Facebook or Instagram,” Sanchez says. “The approval process for ads is much more lenient.” Of course, suggestive content isn’t for everybody, but nobody can claim it isn’t eye-catching—and when done right, can be a great fit for lots of kinds of businesses. Snapchat is also open to products that some other platforms don’t allow, including CBD. 

The platform is really easy to manage

Most people who think Facebook ads are too complicated—which, let’s be real, they are—will find Snapchat ads much more intuitive. It’s really easy to start advertising quickly on this platform—if you’re curious about just how easy, Sanchez made a free webinar on the subject.

And most importantly: there’s free money in it

Use this link, and boom: get $1,000 in free ad credits.