If there’s anything we’ve learned in the past year of social media, it’s that brands want to be where the people – and most notable, the young adult users – are. Taco Bell has remained on the cusp of all the social marketing madness, and is now taking on a new challenge: Snapchat. Snapchat remains something of a mystery to brands; yes, it’s got plenty of users, but the posts there are private and it’s rather time-consuming to manage.
Yet not to be deterred, this is how @Tacobell announced it on Twitter: “We’re on @Snapchat. Username: tacobell. Add us. We’re sending all of our friends a secret announcement tomorrow! #Shhh.” We’ve reached out to Taco Bell for a hint regarding what this “secret” announcement might be, and we’ll update with anything we heard back.
Looking at the thread of back and forth tweets between Taco Bell and Snapchat, it would appear this is also Snapchat’s first corporate-level “client,” or partnership. Despite the enthusiasm, Taco Bell isn’t the first company to use Snapchat as a marketing tool. A yogurt chain called 16 Handles doled coupons that discounted its yogurts up to 100 percent in exchange for a photo of themselves and their friends tasting its product.
So you want to start Snapchatting with Taco Bell? After logging in or getting your own Snapchat account, add @Tacobell by tapping on the far right icon on the camera page, and then tapping on “My Friends.” Tap the plus button, type in tacobell, and voila you’ve requested to be friends with Taco Bell. Apparently, the forth meal originator isn’t too quick on accepting friend request; mine is still pending as I write this.
Regardless, taking a look at Taco Bell’s Twitter feed, fans are more than thrilled. The account is seeing its fair share of fan-submitted Snapchat photos, with appropriate Taco Bell hand drawings to boot.
Of course, all we really want to know is how many penis pictures Taco Bell has already received.
Update: Taco Bell director of social and digital Tressie Lieberman tells Mashable that Taco Bell has been “blown away” by the response to the company joining Snapchat. The fast food chain says that Snapchat would be used to reintroduce the Beefy Crunch Burrito. “People are obsessed with Beefy Crunch Burrito so Snapchat seemed like the right platform to make the announcement. Sharing that story on Snapchat is a fun way to connect with the fans that we are thrilled to have. It’s all about treating them like personal friends and not consumers,” says Lieberman.
