I Tried to Win $10,000 from Snapchat Spotlight
Snapchat, Inc. is giving $1,000,000 away to the top 100 Snapchat creators. But can someone with NO FOLLOWERS win this competition?
In late 2020, Snapchat launched Spotlight to compete with TikTok and other short-form video platforms; however, with the introduction of Spotlight, Snapchat also announced its competition to give out $1M per day to the top 100 creators on the platform. This means that every winning Snap would (should) earn you $10,000.
Honestly, when I read the news, I kept scrolling. I didn’t have any Snapchat followers, so I wasn’t going to bother putting in the work to walk away with $0. All my time was going toward my [not really] get-rich-quick scheme of writing for Medium.
To clarify, I did have Snapchat friends that I accumulated over the years from high school and college. A good amount of them still view by poor-quality story; but, I had no real fan-base on Snapchat. Yes, I have a YouTube channel with a small-but-loyal following, but I never marketed my Snapchat to them.
But then I learned of success stories of everyday people making the top 100. One woman basted a turkey for Thanksgiving and was featured — not to be rude, but how mundane is that!? Another guy submitted 100 snaps per day and eventually earned over $2M. These people were not internet famous prior to winning Snapchat Spotlight; so, with newfound hope, I decided that I was going to participate in Snapchat Spotlight.
This article will share my entire experience: the steps and their outcomes, my timeline, what I learned about the feature, and (if any) my success.
Step #1: Creating a Public Profile
Although opening a public profile is not necessary to submit Snaps to Spotlight, I decided that it was the best move to make as a YouTuber. I would use whatever influence I had to push my pre-existing followers onto my Snap page to gain additional views.
I’m unsure if the Spotlight algorithm counts views from my profile page or not because they don’t release much information about its algorithm nor do many people understand it enough to post guides.
I posted my public profile page on my Instagram story and the YouTube Community tab, but I wasn’t able to provide a direct URL or set up a tracking link.
I think my marketing did something because I did receive 5 friend requests from strangers. Honestly, I didn’t like that. I instantly regretted broadcasting anything because I enjoy having Snapchat as my safe haven platform where all my friends are people that I know in real life. I‘m not on there to stealthily market to the masses, but to bored-post things that not even my friends care about.
And on top of that, the entire concept of Snapchat gets more and more confusing to me as they add new features. You can have a personal story that is private or public, on top of a public profile. You can also share your EXACT location 24/7, so everyone can know where you live and frequent. Like what!? I fear that my app will update and readjust those settings at anytime.
Step #2: Giving New Life to Old Snaps
There are many activities that I dread: grocery shopping, pool chores during the wintertime, and filming. (Yes, I’m a YouTuber that hates filming. The process of getting ready, hitting record, and messing up my words isn’t fun. My passion lies with video editing.) So, if I’m going to carve out time to film, why would I waste it making Snapchats when I could record YouTube videos for my monetized YouTube channel?
I quickly figured out that Snapchat Memories and Camera Roll Videos could be submitted to Spotlight. I could even re-upload TikTok videos, which were nicely edited mini-masterpieces, just as long as the video didn’t include the TikTok watermark. I had accumulated so many short vertical videos over the years that I was able to commit to uploading 10 Snapchats per day.
If I wasn’t able to re-post anything, I probably would have given up within the first day. The majority of people would have given up too, as 80% of my Spotlight feed is clearly recycled content. There truly isn’t enough time in the day to make original content for all these platforms.
One of Snapchat’s requirements for winning Spotlight is originality, but I’m unsure what that means. If I film myself talking to my cat is it still original content if I post to TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat Spotlight? I surely like to think so because that’s exactly what I did.
After a few days of serving greatness to the world, I began to scrape at the bottom of my camera roll. I would post 3-second clips, uninteresting topics, or too much of my cats (if there’s even such a thing.) But hey, top creators always say that it’s always their below-average posts that go viral.
Gaining Traction
Oh my! Oh my! A “Your Snap is on Fire!” banner notification popped up on my phone. Finally, I’m about to win the money I rightfully deserve for being mildly amusing.
I logged in to find my viral Snap since I had 30+ Snaps make it into Spotlight at this point. Low and behold, it was a 5-second clip of a distribution center. Perhaps I see the allure: most people don’t always get to tour factories let alone discover that the package sorting conveyor belt looks like a rollercoaster. I also think most people kept re-watching the Snap to figure out what they were even looking at.
But my Snap fame vanished quickly. After surpassing 600 views, the distribution center Snap lost its traction. Like a match, my chance of cash-money-baby had fizzled.
I did have other posts surpass 100, 200, and 300 views, but those also lost momentum.
Step #3: Losing Motivation
I think this should be considered a real step in the Spotlight Playbook because every creator is bound to experience this from lack of time or creativity.
I couldn’t keep up with finding 10 pre-existing clips to post each day. It dropped to posting three to four and then plateaued at zero. It was time to make original content, but I didn’t have the enthusiasm to do that. This went on for several days.
But then, I received the same banner notification that one of my Snaps was taking off by surpassing 300 views. What could it be? Was it me-eating-chicken-skin or my-foot-getting-caught-in-some-sticky-tape? Honestly, I had a few Spotlights that had been gaining constant daily views, but I think the winner was me-dealing-with-a-scary-spider that lead the pack.
So, how did I have a Snap take-off days after posting? What does this say about Snapchat’s algorithm? Well, after watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, I believe that Snapchat wanted me back on their platform. That’s it. The algorithm could tell that I suffered burnout, so they wanted to reward me with views to re-motivate me to return.
Now that I am “woke” about the digital world, Snapchat showing their desperation turned me off. But, I told myself that I would make a video and write this article, so that held me accountable to keep at it.
Step #4: The Comeback… Several Weeks Later
We all want a success story, so [sadly] I’m back. I guess as long as my Snaps don’t show the misery in my face, there’s still a chance to win. But my return was sporadic, weak, and unsuccessful. (I was also suffering YouTube burnout at the same time, so I think that was my body telling me to step away from media altogether.) No matter what, I couldn’t make another Snapchat accrue over 300 views like I had done twice before.
The Final Outcome
Honestly, I think I’ll soon forget Snapchat Spotlight even exists. If they had created Spotlight before Instagram Reels, I could have appreciated the healthy competition towards TikTok. But now, all of these platforms feel like a chore.
Snapchat is notorious for hiding user data, so you’ll never get the numbers you need as an influencer to negotiate brand deals. In my opinion, unless you can work out a contract, there is no need to nurture an audience over there.
People claim that Snapchat is dying, which may be true, but I still believe there’s a place for the elusive app. They offer prettier filters than Instagram, making them a top selfie cam. The vanishing feature brings comfort and a casualness to the dating scene. If a boy wants to hit me up, he always tries to do so on Snapchat. (Definitely not denying that there are socio problems that come along with that.)
Today, I still have my public page with all of my spotlights. I even submitted a few more after completing my video. I most likely will cut off public access to my Snapchat to give myself a private corner on the internet, but I can’t bring myself to do that yet.
Here is my video documenting my journey that also shows you some Snapchats, my view count, and which Spotlight submissions were denied.
