For the last few months, I have been actively exploring the use of Snapchat for the purposes of business.

I’ve specifically looked at how you can use this tool to share and show your work and projects for the purposes of creating conversations with people inside and outside your field and networks.  I have been surprised at how this platform enables you to create your own personal stories, express your creativity in your own voice but most of all, connect and build a community of people whom you can learn from, have a laugh as well as be inspired.

For those following my blog, I have written various Snapchat posts that delve into the detail of my discovery journey and you can find them by typing “Snapchat” in the search box of this website, however, I will be collating these posts into an e-book for you to download in the coming months.

This month, I have been working on an infographic that shows you 15 different ways to use Snapchat for your business that is available to download for $AUD2.99.  It is a detailed resource that explains how you may use this platform to share and show your work as well as share your knowledge and experience.  It is designed to be used as a checklist of different ideas to incorporate into your next business event, conference, workshops or in fact, any business related activity.

The checklist empowers people to start having conversations with each other by using the platform as a “Work Out Loud” tool.

As I wrote these different ways, even though my focus was on personal and professional learning and networking, I saw the applications can be used by the Marketing, Public Relations, and Change Management teams of your organisation so that your employees act as advocates and promote the great work and people in your organisation to your customers.

This is where the lines started to get blurred for me.  Now, it wasn’t simply a tool for Learning and Development teams – it was a platform for the entire business.  It can be a platform to share employee experiences, results, stories – all while at work.

It’s fluid, it’s real time and it’s real life….

Sometimes Learning and Development teams believe that the use of social media in learning has to be prescribed or controlled.  That it’s another platform or delivery system to push out content, force people to share, like or respond to posts or measure their engagement as some form of assessment of the training program.  Snapchat and indeed, every other social network has shown us that conversations between people cannot be forced, they can’t be controlled nor can they be manipulated.

Instead, Learning and Development’s role is to guide and show people on how to use these social tools so that they can build their professional learning networks in their own way, in their own time, for their own context and purposes so that they can support business outcomes.

Download your copy of the Snapchat for Business infographic for $AUS2.99.

(If you’re part of my Snapchat community, snap me your details and you’ll get this for free as you’ve been instrumental in my own personal development of this tool)