5 Well-known Brands and Ways They Use Snapchat in Their Marketing Campaigns

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Snapchat has become a Social Media leader in the Age 13-34 target market (Brand Guidelines), but how has it affected companies who also target people within this demographic? What do they do to stick with these ever evolving trends? How do they compete with other forms of social media?

Thus, I give you these 5 brands…

Taco Bell – “Going Where the Audience Goes”

The fast food chain is best known for it’s overplayed commercials, but they can now be seen as the life of the party on the social media scene. They know how to be active where their customers are most active, and they use Snapchat stories to introduce new menu items to better build their brand and continue their witty advertisements. Timing their stories right can engage their consumers and encourage them to come in when they are hungry and find the nearest Taco Bell location, since they are widespread and get returning customers excited about new menu items or affordable deals (Smith, 2015).

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GrubHub – “Creating Brand Advocates”

GrubHub has gone above and beyond to be proactive in the social media environment and interact with their customers on Snapchat, mainly because their food delivery system relies on technology and the use of cell phones for online purchases (Smith, 2015). To enhance their delivery service, they send out frequent steals and deals, while telling people about their good service. They even use it to recruit and hire for their brand, making the process interactive and fun. They became famous for running a contest for an internship interview by creating a doodle drawing on Snapchat (Smith, 2015). They have been able to utilize multiple technological features of the app to create positive marketing campaigns (Jarboe, 2015). GrubHub also does a great job of using different social media outlets to promote their company services and all work together, like teasing deals on Twitter but sending customers to Snapchat to claim their coupon.

Wet Seal – Collaboration and Influencer Marketing

Wet Seal does much of the same on Snapchat, providing exclusive behind the scenes footage and coupon codes, but they also have tried something a little different. The clothing brand targets younger females and does a great job of finding those in that target market who are current influencers on social media and collaborate with them on a marketing campaign via Snapchat. Last year Wet Seal partnered with MissMeghanMakeup, an 18 year old beauty blogger with thousands of followers on all her social media accounts (Smith, 2015). Just by working with her for two days, the brand was able to capture her teen female audience and even earned the Shorty Award for the “Best Brand on Snapchat”. Knowing that she already had a huge impact in their target market, they’ve done a great job of using their resources and knowing how they can better create relationships to score within their targeted audience (Brand Guidelines, n.d.).

McDonald’s – Real-time Snapchatting

Other social media accounts let you keep your posts forever, and Facebook even tells you what you posted years ago – but the beauty (and sometimes pain) of Snapchat is that stories and snaps are gone in a flash and lost forever. McDonald’s integrates Snapchat with other forms of social media, particularly Twitter, to engage their viewers and current or future customers – whether they’re watching the Super Bowl or just simple advertisements online, the brand reaches people in the moment and at the right time (Smith, 2015). People who aren’t busy, who are browsing through social media, or watching television, would see their Snapchat campaigning and want to be a part of it, and more inclined to participate because there is something in it for them (usually a coupon or a contest). By reaching their audience and getting out the message about new items, brand campaigns, and other company matters they can successfully reach people at just the right time with real-time Snapchatting that is live, and feels like a conversation (Smith, 2015).

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HBO’s show ‘Girls’: Broadcasting Teasers

The popular HBO series successfully engages current viewers and knows how to bring new viewers on board, particularly people who might not have HBO channels or heard of the show. They also use Snapchat features to remind people of new episodes and provide behind the scenes content, a good marketing strategy to make viewers feel like they are a part of something and essentially “friends” with the brand – even though they are simply followers (Smith, 2015). They make all of their content seem exclusive and that’s what an audience likes to experience. Also, when it comes to timely reminders, people who are active on social media and are busy can appreciate knowing when their favorite shows are on or when a new episode is available (Jarboe, 2015). This campaign is highly effective, and when used in combination with other social media portals, brands like this can keep the conversation going with fans and followers to increase popularity of the company (ie. A television show) and leave them wanting more from Snapchat.

Many companies have jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon, but it is obviously hard to compete when everybody is trying to make their marketing campaign the best and the most current and modernly acceptable.

Some top marketing tips for brands on Snapchat are: (Abono, 2016)

– Increase user engagement with story replies
– Create customizable on-demand Geofilters
– Offer exclusive discounts for followers
– Target content to select followers directly
– Utilizing the stories feature
– Build up to a moment, event or launch of a product (Abono, 2016)
– Back a marketing campaign with Snapchat Ads

References:

Abono, C. (2016, March 11). 7 Tips for a Successful Snapchat Video Marketing Campaign. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.reelseo.com/7-tips-snapchat-video-marketing-campaign/

Brand Guidelines. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2016, from https://www.snapchat.com/brand-guidelines

Jarboe, G. (2015, March 23). Snapchat: How Ephemeral Video Marketing is Engaging Viewers. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.reelseo.com/snapchat-video-marketing/

Smith, A. (2015, April 29). 5 Ways Brands are Using Snapchat for Marketing. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.reelseo.com/brands-snapchat-marketing/

Wagner, K. (2015, April 13). Snapchat Is No Longer Selling Its Original Ad Unit, Brand Stories. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://recode.net/2015/04/13/snapchat-is-no-longer-selling-its-original-ad-unit-brand-stories/

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