Dive Brief:

• Snapchat is testing allowing marketers to deep link within ads to send ad viewers out of the app as well as a demand generation option with ads including an auto-fill feature for lead gen forms, according to Adweek.
• The auto-fill option is particularly valuable because filling out forms on mobile devices with little screen real estate can be tricky for ad viewers. To protect users’ privacy, Snapchat has ad viewers opt into seeing the option every time there is a form after being presented with the first auto-fill form.
• With deep linking, Snapchat users can swipe up and tap a link in Snap Ads to leave the app for another app or a webpage such as a product page in an e-commerce app.

Dive Insight:

Snapchat has been very active in rolling out new advertising formats and options for marketers looking to reach its active, younger-skewing audience, and these two tests are arguably the most marketer-friendly ad options yet. Allowing for deep linking gives marketers much more control over the messaging and communication after getting that initial conversion by enabling users to easily click to their own digital property. And for mobile users, auto-fill lead gen forms are almost a necessity to make the process as easy as possible on the small screen.

With Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent, expected to make an initial public offering of its stock in the near future, the moves can be viewed as an attempt to shore up the platform's monetization strategy and position it for further growth, characteristics that investors will be looking for when deciding to purchase stock. Snapchat is likely to invest a portion of the money raised from the IPO to build out its marketing offerings even further. 

It's interesting that Snapchat is actively increasing its lead generation advertising options — something that Facebook began offering in 2015 — as the news arrives just as Twitter is dropping its lead gen campaigns. Last month, the micro-blogging platform said it was ending lead generation campaigns on Feb. 1 when it will be no longer possible to create those campaigns although marketer can still view, edit and delete existing campaigns. Twitter will also remove the ability to create or edit lead gen cards at the same time and marketers can view existing cards through March 1.