Snapchat launched in 2011 and is an app which enables time-limited photo and video messages to be sent which expire after they’ve been viewed. Betters (2015) provides a glossary of snapchat jargon that will be a useful reference throughout this post, the main terms are:
Snapchatters: Snapchat users
Snaps: Photos or videos taken via Snapchat (you can send a snap to a snapchatter, but it can only be viewed by the recipient for one to 10 seconds before it disappears forever)
Snapback: A reply to a snap
Story: A snap you can broadcast to followers (recipients can view it an unlimited amount of times in 24 hours, and you can also post multiple snaps to your story in one day to create a narrative of sorts)
Scores: The total number of snaps you have sent and received (appears next to your name in friends’ contact lists and vice versa)
Chat: A feature that lets you privately/directly message friends
For more information about the basics of Snapchat and its functions, follow this link: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/131313-what-s-the-point-of-snapchat-and-how-does-it-work
But how can Snapchat work for Restaurants trying to market themselves?
Like every other social network, Snapchat can accommodate businesses and enable them to market themselves. Taco Bell, for example, made it to number 1 on the top 10 brands to add on snapchat (Moreau, 2014), mainly down to their 2014 snapchat story campaign which featured their new “Beefy Crunch Burrito”. Moreau (2014) describes how the successful brands have utilised Snapchat in their digital marketing strategies: “some of the best brands out there have gotten very creative on Snapchat not just to spam you with loads and loads of boring product and promotional junk — but to peak your interest, keep you engaged, offer exclusive deals and just overall give you something fun to look at.”
Audi x The Onion x Huge x Miley Cyrus???? Source: Huge (2015)
The last point was definitely picked up by Audi when they joined together with The Onion and Huge for the NFL Super Bowl in 2014, launching a Snapchat campaign which aimed to comically insert “news” snippets that weren’t about the Super Bowl. The campaign received 100,000 total views on Snapchat and generated 2,400 mentions on Twitter, reaching a total of 37 million social impressions (Huge, 2015). This is proof of the power Snapchat has for creating conversation online, and it isn’t limited to just the Snapchat app, but spreads all over the internet on various other social media platforms. To view the Audi x The Onion x Huge case study, click here: http://www.hugeinc.com/case-study/super-bowl-snapchat
However, for a business to Snapchat, it requires potential viewers to opt-in, which can be quite restricting when they may be fed up of opting in for everything else. Therefore, it is essential to communicate to everyone and anyone that your business has a snapchat and encourage them to add it. If you have a strong presence on other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) then utilise these to spread the message and get people to add you – or at least permission for you to add them! As Snapchat uses a scannable QR code (see an example below) for users to add one another, I believe this could be a great opportunity to print this QR code on receipts, product packaging, or in the case of restaurants – on the menu. This targets already existing customers only, but this is considered the key in how advertising works (discussed later in the blog). GrubHub (2015) provides a good guide on how restaurants can use Snapchat to their advantage, including the suggestion of offering coupons via the app, read more here: http://get.grubhub.com/blog/snapchat-101-a-guide-for-restaurants.html
Tip: Do not set your Snapchat GIF whilst mildly intoxicated on a public bus.
NextRestaurants (2014) also set out a clear and creative guide to restaurant Snapchat marketing, link here: http://nextrestaurants.com/loyalty-marketing/use-snapchat-in-your-restaurant-marketing/
Snapchat evidently raises awareness, but can it actually make the customer buy something? The marketing communications model that the snapchat guides and campaigns discussed rely on an unrealistic model of advertising called AIDA (Awareness -> Interest -> Desire -> Action), attributed to Edward Strong in 1925 (Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999, p26). The model suggests that advertising is persuasive enough on its own to provoke a purchase from the consumer. Ehrenberg (1974, p25) believed that the main role of advertising wasn’t to persuade, but it should “reinforce feelings of satisfaction with brands already bought”. This belief led to the ATRN model (Awareness -> Trial -> Reinforcement -> Nudging), developed by Ehrenberg et al (1998, p6), which suggests that advertising works more as a tool of reminding customers who already like the brand, that they still like the brand. It is my belief that this is more of an applicable model to using Snapchat to market restaurants, as snaps can be seen as literal “nudges” and the business is more likely to be added on Snapchat by those who have already trialled the restaurant. Hence, the previous suggestion of printing the Snapchat QR code on things like receipts, is a more relevant and effective way of getting customers to opt-in and the restaurant to start utilising Snapchat as a marketing tool to reinforce and nudge customers.
The ATRN model, attributable to Ehrenberg et al (1998)
References:
Betters, E. (2015) “What’s the point of Snapchat and how does it work?”, Pocket-lint, 26th December 2015 [Online] <http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/131313-what-s-the-point-of-snapchat-and-how-does-it-work> [accessed 30 January 2016]
Ehrenberg, A.S.C. (1974) “Repetitive Advertising and the Consumer”, Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 14, No. 2, p25-34
Ehrenberg, A.S.C., Barnard, N. & Scriven, J. (1998) “Justifying our advertising budgets: The Weak and Strong Theories”, JOAB Report No. 8, South Bank University: London
GrubHub (2015) Snapchat 101: A Guide for Restaurants [Online] <http://get.grubhub.com/blog/snapchat-101-a-guide-for-restaurants.html> [accessed 31 January 2016]
Huge (2016) Audi: Super Bowl XLVIII Snapchat Campaign [Online] <http://www.hugeinc.com/case-study/super-bowl-snapchat> [accessed 30 January 2016]
NextRestaurants (2014) 6 Ways to Use Snapchat in Your Restaurant Marketing [Online] <http://nextrestaurants.com/loyalty-marketing/use-snapchat-in-your-restaurant-marketing/> [accessed 31 January 2016]
Vakratsas, D. & Ambler, T. (1999) “How Advertising Works: What Do We Really Know?”, Journal of Marketing. Vol. 63, No. 1, p26-43
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