That's on point. By being overly closed they have pushed away the demand they have for advertising. I wish I could buy ads on their content based on location but cant (I buy media for others).

A hundred times this. I'm in the same exact boat trying to promote my side project music, and the only time I ever hear anything about Snapchat, it's some beautiful woman on Instagram asking her followers to follower her on Snapchat. It definitely seems to be used to expand existing audiences and not grow new ones.

It seems to be more for brand advertising. Meaning you're not trying to convert people right from the ad.

My side gig is a small business. We advertise heavily on Facebook. I also have no clue how to approach Snapchat ads. How do I target our demographic on there? What data do they even have on users?

You do the influencer model where you pay someone to mention your business. Thats it. Can be really profitable of done well.

I’ve read similar complaints in stories that claimed to have talked to "influencers"