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Spectacles
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Creator Growth and Discovery Guide

Creating a great Lens is only half the work—people also need to find it. This guide helps you improve your Lens name, tags, preview, description, and sharing strategy so more Snapchatters discover and use your Lenses.

Improve your Lens name​

  • Keep it short, clear, and descriptive of what the Lens does.
  • Make it original—avoid copying names of popular or ML Lenses.
  • Avoid generic names; a distinctive name is easier to find and remember.

Easy Lens suggests a name automatically. Review and refine it before publishing.

Choose effective tags​

Tags help Snapchatters find your Lens in search and Lens Explorer.

  • Add tags that are directly relevant to your Lens. Irrelevant tags are moderated and won't help distribution.
  • Use Tags of the Month when they fit your Lens. These highlight trending themes and are a great way to get noticed. Learn more in Submitting Your Lens.
  • Don't over-tag—a few accurate tags beat many loose ones.

Create a strong preview and icon​

Your preview and icon are the first thing people see.

  • Use an interesting, clear preview that shows the Lens in action.
  • Review the icon Easy Lens generates before publishing. If it doesn’t clearly represent your Lens, replace it with clear, original imagery to improve discovery.
  • Make the effect obvious at a glance so people understand what they'll get.

For details, see Creating an Icon and Creating a Preview Video.

Write a helpful description and hints​

  • Describe what the Lens does and how to trigger it.
  • Add Lens Hints so Snapchatters know how to interact (for example, "Open your mouth" or "Smile"). See Lens Hints.

Build a sharing strategy​

  • Share your Lens link and Snapcode across your channels once the Lens is Live.
  • Post content using your own Lens to show it off and seed engagement.
  • Encourage friends to try it—early usage helps your Lens gain momentum.
  • Avoid "Subscribe to me" or "Follow for more" text in the Lens itself.

Quality checklist for maximum distribution​

To qualify for the widest distribution on Snapchat:

  1. No copies of ML or viral Lenses.
  2. No default Lens Studio icons.
  3. Interesting, clear Lens previews.
  4. Add Lens Hints so people understand how to use the Lens.
  5. Optimize and compress resources—a smaller Lens (ideally under 8 MB) is better.
  6. Avoid "Subscribe to me" style text.
  7. Use the Tags of the Month when relevant.

Discovery and monetization go hand in hand. If you plan to earn rewards, also review the Monetization and Rewards FAQ.

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