Creating custom geofilters on Snapchat couldn't be any easier but it's always helpful to do some research before you jump in. Like creating anything there are some do's and don'ts that you'll want to learn about first so you can make the best geofilter. That's why today we'll go over the basic guidelines on how to make a custom Snapchat geofilter.

If you don't know what a custom Snapchat geofilter is yet, check out last week's blog post that explains what they are and why you should be using them right now!

Guidelines

So we should probably start with Snapchats official guidelines when it comes to making a geofilter. First thing you're going to do is choose what type of geofilter you're making, falling into one of two categories;

• A Personal Geofilter is one that doesn't include any branding, business marks/names, or logos, and doesn't promote a business or a brand. You might submit a Personal Geofilter to celebrate a birthday or graduation, for example.
• A Business Geofilter is one that promotes a business or a brand, and it will need to meet the Business guidelines.

If you're creating a Business filter, remember that you must have the necessary usage rights and permissions to include any brand or business names, marks, logos, or trademarks.

Another important thing to remember is filters must not contain any photographs of people, URLs, hashtags, phone numbers, or emails. This means you may need to get creative when it comes to adding a call-to-action in your filter. Try using buzzwords that communicate your URL or social media handle without using an '@' or '.com'

Snapchat says to give 48 hours for review of your filter. But it's always better to play it on the safe side and allow for at least 4-5 days before you'd like to use them. This way, if they're rejected for any reason you have time to make changes and resubmit. There's nothing worse than submitting last minute and getting rejected!

Geofilter do get rejected by Snapchat, but they're actually really nice about it and do our their best to provide you with a reason as to why it was rejected. Plus they let you make adjustments and resubmit your filter as a new order, so you can keep on trying!

Geofilter Specifications

• Geofilters must be between 20 thousand and 5 million square feet.
• Each filter can only be active for a maximum of 30 days.
• Files should be 1080px wide by 1920px high. Use the preview page tool when setting up your geofilter to see how it will look on different sized devices.
• Files should be under 300KB in size and saved as a .PNG file with a transparent background.

Another important thing to keep in mind while designing your geofilter is to keep the screen clear. You want your graphic to only use only about 25% of the screen. This gives you the most chance of people using your filter and snapchat accepting it. Nobody is a fan of a huge clunky graphic the cuts off everything in the photo.

Design Inspiration

Not all of us are designers, and not all of us can afford to hire a designer to make them a filter. Good news though, it's easy for almost anyone to do. Snapchat actually comes with it's own templates that you can edit and customize to your liking. This is pretty useful if you don't have any design programs of your own. Another great program that can help you is Canva - A free to use online graphic program that comes with tons of great templates, fonts, and pre-made elements to create the perfect filter with.

If you need some inspiration to get started, I'd suggest checking out this Tumblr dedicated to Snapchat geofilters so you can get a glimpse at the competition. Take your time and a note which filters stand out to you and which ones don't.

If you'd like to see even more of the process, you need to head to the Geofilter Reddit page. This is where you can see filters that people can't get accepted, questions, answers, techniques, tips from the community, and more. While seeing the accepted filters is great, being able to view the rejected ones it a much more valuable lesson.

Filed in // Social Media, Social Media Marketing