Using Photos from your Library
When we first began using Snapchat in our social media marketing strategy we began cataloging the things we discovered so that we could share our knowledge and offer tips and techniques to businesses that wish to add Snapchat to their social media repertoire.
See Step One — The Basics — and Step Two — A Guide to Snapchat’s Many Editing Tools— for more information.
This is step three and our original plan was to share how to use already existing photos — In the beginning of July 2016 there was not a built in feature that allowed for that and there were several work arounds. By the end of July 2016 Snapchat implemented Memories.
Memories allows you to access your photo library on your phone and Snap photos that you have saved. This is especially good for business marketing because you can create perfect photos and/or videos and Snap them to your story for your friends to see.
To access your camera roll and Memories from Snapchat’s main screen— swipe up. You will see two categories. Snaps and Camera Roll. Snaps stores your Snaps that you have taken with Snapchat, that way you can share them again later. Camera Roll accesses your photo library on your phone.
Tap on the Camera Roll category and you will see your photos and videos. If you wish to edit a photo with Snapchat’s fun filters just tap and hold the photo then touch the pencil icon. There are some new editing tools in addition to the ones we covered in the last Snapchat Blog. One looks like a paintbrush and brings up a variety of filters that add an artistic flair (similar to the filters on Prisma). The other looks like scissors and allows you to use your finger to ‘cut’ out a portion of your image and make a sticker! The sticker gets saved to your Stickers and can be used on other Snaps at a later date. Once you have an image you want to share tap the arrow and send it to ‘My Story.’
Memories adds a time to the top left of photos that you snap (for example: taken 2 weeks ago). The date is acquired from the data attached to the photo — the date you took the photo, or that the photo was added to your library. This lets friends know the photo is not from RIGHT NOW the way Snapchat was originally designed.
Another fun feature in Memories is Stories. Stories allows you to connect multiple photos into one Snap.
To make a story first take a few snaps. After you take each one tap the save button and close the photo. Find the photo on your camera roll (inside Snapchat), tap it and swipe down to see the editing tools and a menu. Tap the menu on the top left and choose ‘Create a Story from this Photo’. Then tap the photos you wish to add to your Story.
Return to the menu by tapping the back arrow and you will see your Story in a new category called Stories. The Snap will cycle through your pictures. Tap the Snap and hit Edit & Send. Tap the blue circle with the right arrow to send the Snap collection to your public MyStory or to friends.
You can also give a New Name to your Story by tapping and holding it and choosing Name Story from the upper left menu.
Make your Stories fun! Use all the editing tools on each photo in your story and share your creativity with the world.
Do you have any tips for using Memories and Stories on Snapchat? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to Friend us. Happy Snapping!
