Over the last 12 months, Snapchat has really cemented itself are one of the top social media platforms, for use at least with up to 150 million active users daily.

However, it’s also been a bit of a marmite platform for business. Some hailing it as the go-to place for cheap and successful marketing, others saying it doesn’t have a wide enough demographic and its metric are useful for calculating ROI.

I sat in the first camp, I’ve loved Snapchat and always thought it is a hugely untapped platform for any business use or promotion. The question in my mind has always been, ‘how’s best to use it?’. You can use it as a general user, communicating with fans, customers etc, share a ‘story’ to send communications to all of your user base, or create sponsored filters so all users within your specified area.

All have their pros and cons, some are authentic but lack reach, others have the reach but scream of sponsored content which can be a turn off for end users.

However, with some creativity, the perfect strategy for your content can be found, and I believe Ed Sheeran (or his team) has done exactly that.

Just the other week I was playing around on the app, checking out the new filters as they change quite often. I scrolled through the ‘sponsored’ filters impressed to see what was there, but knowing I wouldn’t use them. I then came across a new filter, sunglasses with background music. A concept very similar to a pre-existing and very popular filter, but with a change in music and style of glasses, I promptly recorded and sent a snap of me bobbing along to the beat.

No wording, no sponsored badge, just the graphics. I beat of the song however stuck in my head, I had no idea what it was or who it was by, but I liked it. I used the filter quite a few more times over the following days until one day I heard the same beat playing on the radio. I quickly found out that the song was a new release from Ed Sheeran – Shape of You. The song has been a huge success since release, becoming the UK number 1 straight away and I believe the filter is a big reason.

Firstly, the hardcore fans recognised it was him straight away and took to social media to share the tease of his new sound, creating a huge online buzz even before release. Secondly, for other listeners like myself, it got the song into my head without any pre-judgement of who it was by. I loved the song before I’d heard more than 30 seconds and so as soon as the full song was released I was listening straight away, I don’t I’d be so hooked without that first interest.

So why I am I sharing this. In my opinion, this is a PERFECT example of how to be clever with social media. It’s not about making a sale straight away, it’s about building a buzz ready for the bigger thing.

In case you missed the filter, here’s a video of it being used – sadly it’s no longer live.