We all know what Snapchat is. It’s funny and dumb. It can be your best friend or your worst
enemy (screenshotting should be forbidden…). We always Snapchat our "Best Friends" but would you ever Snapchat a company?
Until someone mentioned businesses using Snapchat last week
in class, I had no idea brands were even attempting this social platform. I had
to find out about this, so I searched on mashable.com to learn more.
16Handles, a fro-yo chain, has its own Snapchat promotion.
Todd Wasserman, Mashable’s business editor, explains the process in his article:
“If you snap a pic of you or your friends at a 16Handles location tasting one
of their flavors, you can send it to Love16Handles on Snapchat. In return,
you'll get a coupon for anywhere from 16% to 100% off on your purchase. You
have 10 seconds to let the cashier scan the coupon, though.”
The company’s idea is fun and creative, but what happens
when more and more people add Love16Handles? It won’t be an efficient process
because the company has to respond to each individual. I don’t think this will be a successful
technique for long if the chain only has one Snapchat account. The one person
sending the surprise discount to all these users will not be able to keep up as
more and more people add the company account.
Each 16Handles location should try having its own username.
This may be less people per account making it easier for the store to respond
to each individual. Part of the reasoning behind this strategy is that
16Handles customers are Snapchatters, but like I’ve said before, just because a
company CAN be on a platform, doesn’t mean they SHOULD be.
Also, it’s inevitable that 16Handles will (if it hasn’t
already) receive inappropriate pictures from people... This plan could easily
get out of hand.
Anyway, 16Handles is so popular in NYC, so I wish I had read
this article before my summer in the city! I would have loved to try the system.
Who doesn’t love a discount?!
What are some other brands using Snapchat? I want to add
companies to see what they would send me!
I agree that I think this could be very difficult to keep track of being with social media the whole thing is if you are going to have it you need to be able to respond to your followers. But as Lynley said it could get out of hand when someone sends inappropriate pictures as they are trying to be funny with Snapchat. This is just a few reason I think it could be difficult for businesses to use Snapchat. But i think it is a different idea that could be explored more by companies, and see if it is actually useful and brings more buzz or people to their stores. Living in New York this summer as well I would have loved these discounts through Snap!
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