Sniply
About the Company
Sniply is a San Francisco-based tool created by a team of Simon Fraser University graduates, with Matt Bentley as the marketing lead. The company operates as a B2B tool used primarily by startup founders, social media managers, and brand managers who share third-party content on their social feeds. By adding a custom CTA button to any page they share, Sniply enables users to maintain traffic back to their own sites. As of today, Sniply serves 550 paying customers, including top marketing companies, and has been featured on well-regarded platforms like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Moz.
The company's pricing model follows a standard SaaS subscription model with a free trial, which allows users to become familiar with the product before subscribing to the basic $29 monthly package. With its unique approach to URL customization and traffic redirection, Sniply stands out from traditional link shorteners like Bit.ly by focusing specifically on conversion rate optimization (CRO) for third-party content shared on social media.
Idea Behind Company
Sniply was born from the realization that marketers lose potential customers when sharing third-party content, which drives traffic away from their own platforms. Co-founder Michael Cheng came up with the concept after noticing the gap in ROI when promoting other brands’ content on social media. The tool was designed to offer users a way to retain audiences even when they shared content from other sources.
In content marketing, many marketers use the 70-20-10 rule, sharing 70% of their own content, 20% curated third-party content, and 10% promotional content. However, sharing third-party content often means traffic leaves the marketer’s platform, resulting in lost engagement. Sniply’s CTA buttons address this problem by guiding users back to the original marketer's site, thus maximizing conversions from curated content.
Creating the Company
The original Sniply team, composed of seasoned software engineers, took on the technical aspects of creating the platform, combining a user-friendly interface with backend link management. They implemented three key features: 1) the webpage users wish to share, 2) a customizable message on the CTA, and 3) the CTA button itself. This unique URL functions just like a standard page link but with an embedded CTA, which subtly encourages users to return to the marketer’s site.
Building Sniply's functionalities required focusing on key user needs, such as link tracking and messaging optimization, while also providing integration options with social media management tools like Hootsuite and Buffer. Unlike traditional URL shorteners or CRO tools, Sniply is designed specifically to recapture traffic and enhance conversion opportunities from curated third-party content.
Launching the Business
Initially, Sniply aimed for funding from Y Combinator but pivoted to bootstrapping after a rejection. This decision pushed the founders to independently grow the platform and validate its market fit. They expanded the platform's features to support multi-CTA types, track performance, and customize URLs, among other user-requested functionalities. As content marketing evolved, the Sniply team stayed agile, adapting to shifts like Google’s AMP requirements and addressing the unique challenges of managing third-party content in a sustainable manner.
Since its launch, Sniply has celebrated significant milestones, including 100 million total CTA clicks by 2016. In 2020, Sniply was acquired by SaaS.group, marking a new chapter for the company as the original founders moved on to other projects. This acquisition provided additional resources to grow the tool, as it continued evolving with innovative features that met the changing demands of marketers.
Earnings
Sniply’s financial model, driven by a steady subscription-based income, brings in about $35,000 monthly. Its consistent growth has been supported mainly by inbound marketing, particularly through a well-curated blog offering content marketing insights. The company experienced positive word-of-mouth from users who saw increased ROI using Sniply to convert third-party content views into website visits.
Today, Sniply has a strong user base of 550 paying customers and around 3,500 active monthly users. Recent marketing efforts, including SEO and link-building initiatives, have further expanded its reach, with notable blog features on sites like Jeff Bullas and Business.com. These strategies, along with Sniply’s focus on enhancing the user experience, keep the company on a positive financial trajectory, showing promising growth potential for the future.
