How to Create Your Own Snapchat Geofilter

The Snapchat geofilter, a unique overlay that can show other users where you are in quirky, memorable ways, has become far more than another fun addition to your Snapchat photos. Businesses, event organizers, and politicians alike are turning to Snapchat geofilters as a valuable means of marketing and advertising! The steps to making your own geofilter are easier than you think. Some things to know:

Pricing
For every 20,000 square feet covered, you’ll pay approximately $5 per hour used. You can purchase your geofilter for up to thirty days, and you cannot go over 5 million square feet. To put that into perspective, the most you can spend on one geofilter is $180,000! Wowza.

Getting Approval
You should give at least two business days for your geofilter to be approved by Snapchat. Although you can submit one day before, it’s best to play it safe. If you’re planning on playing with Snapchat’s guidelines, make sure you give yourself even more time for approval in case Snapchat decides to turn down your submission. Make sure you plan ahead!

How to Submit
Submitting your geofilter is simple. Just go to Snapchat’s website, make an account, and log in. Next step: make your filter. You can use Photoshop, Illustrator, or any other photo editing program. Alternatively, Snapchat provides templates that you can play around with as well. If you decide to make your own, keep in mind that your files must be 1080px by 1920px, under 300KB in size, and saved as a .PNG with a transparent background.

Before submitting your filter, you should test it on a few photos to make sure it’s versatile, and will look good over different images. Try to avoid taking up more than ⅓ of the screen, and make sure the geofilter is valuable to the user, rather than just you, or your advertising effort.

After making your filter, upload it to the website using the self-serve tool. Then fill in the timeframe for your geofilter’s availability, the location, and the name. Once the form is complete, hit submit! You should receive an email from Snapchat letting you know your submission has been received. Soon enough, you’ll get an email declaring its approval or rejection, a bill for the geofilter, and an announcement that your geofilter is live!

Show’s Over
Once your geofilter has expired, you can look at the “metrics” tab on your account to see the number of uses, and views. Keep in mind that the views will continue to change, even after your filter has expired, depending on how many people view your filter in previous snaps and stories. Ready to put this knowledge to the test? Check out our tips on how to get more Snapchat followers, so more people can see your handiwork!

PSafe Newsroom

The dfndr blog is an informative channel that presents exclusive content on security and privacy in the mobile and business world, with tips to keep users protected. Populated by a select group of expert reporters, the channel has a partnership with dfndr lab's security team. Together they bring you, first-notice news about attacks, scams, internet vulnerabilities, malware and everything affecting cybersecurity.