Taco Bell is the nation’s largest Mexican fast-food chain. They’re known to satisfy Millennials’ late-night hunger — and their ever-growing presence on social media.
Taco Bell made headlines again this week because of a promotional move it launched.
The nation’s largest Mexican fast-food chain, known for clever social media, sent glitzy, unique rings engraved with special Taco Bell script to eight young female quasi-celebrities. They’re semi-famous because they like to tweet and post photos on Instagram about all things Taco Bell.
In a way, the rings were supposed to be an “engagement ring.”
“Every day, we get tweets and Facebook posts from consumers asking us to marry them,” Jozlynn Rush, social-media community manager at Taco Bell, told USA Today.
The goal was to get social media buzzing — and it did.
Marketers looking to score with Millennials are keeping an eye on Taco Bell because the brand is embracing The Participation Economy.
Brands that successfully market to Millennials rank
high in both participation and shareworthiness among
the generation. Copyright © 2013 by Barkley. All rights
reserved
The Participation Economy includes participation and shareworthiness. Participation means that brands are letting consumers be a part of the brand. Shareworthiness means that the brand, in whatever way, makes the consumer feel good about buying it. As a result, they share that with their friends.
I discuss The Participation Economy in the book I coauthored “Marketing to Millennials: Reach the Largest and Most Influential Generation of Consumers Ever,” which comes out this July.
The Participation Economy breaks down into participation and shareworthiness. Participation means that brands are letting consumers be a part of the brand. Shareworthiness means that the brand, in whatever way, makes the consumer feel good about buying it. As a result, they share that with their friends.
This isn’t the first time Taco Bell made waves on social media.
Just last month, Taco Bell launched their Snap Chat existence via Twitter. Snap Chat is a popular Millennial application that allows users to send pictures that self-destruct 10 seconds after the receiver opens it. Taco Bell used their Twitter audience to request connections to Snap Chat. Announcements such as “99 cent beefy crunch burritos May 23” gave avid fans a quick and easy message to get them to a location nearby.
Before that, Taco Bell announced its Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos by posting a Vine to Twitter.
Taco Bell seems to totally understand the game when it comes to engaging Millennial consumers. At this point, the question is what will they do next?
