How to Use Snapchat Geofilters and Why You Should Create Them

Earlier this week, Forbes published an article announcing that Snapchat’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, is the youngest billionaire in the world at just 25 years old.

This little app for ephemeral communication has forever changed Spiegel’s life and the lives of its millions of daily users! Snapchat is a social platform and potential marketing tool that should not be overlooked.

Snapchat’s continual release of new updates and features keep the app relevant and exciting for users and marketers.

One feature that higher education can easily implement is the use of geofilters on campus.

Geofilters are illustrated overlays that appear on snaps when Snapchat users are in a specific location (i.e. a college campus). Once a photo is taken, a user simply swipes across his or her phone screen to access geofilters. These filters provide a fun way for users to share their location with friends.

Last year, Snapchat allowed users to begin creating their own geofilters for their favorite locations. Since then, thousands of these filters have been created worldwide. The best part is that the process for creating a geofilter is much easier than you’d expect.

Snapchat provides a list of submission guidelines, which can be found here.

Your geofilter must be an original work submitted in a web-optimized, transparent PNG file format. The PNG should have a width of 1080 px and a height of 1920 px. Snapchat provides you with geofilter templates on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Once you have uploaded your image, you will create your ‘geofence’ on the map and submit your new geofilter.

Your geofilter will then undergo an approval process.

Geofilters are reviewed in the order in which they are received, so the approval process time is dependent on the number of submissions. You will be notified once your new filter has been approved. You may also receive an email notification explaining why your filter has not been approved.

Either way, creating a geofilter for your campus is a fun way to stay ahead of what’s new and next. Students will love your new filter, and you will be able to create amazing student-generated content.

Check out the geofilters University of Michigan created:

These geofilters are a great way to promote school spirit and raise awareness for your institution. With so much fun to be had, why wouldn’t you want one on your campus?

As the social media and web undergraduate assistant at Simpson College, I have recently advocated for a geofilter on our campus, and we are currently undergoing the approval process.

Stay tuned for more Snapchat updates.