When Snapchat introduced its Stories feature earlier this month, it was unclear how brands could take advantage of a new platform in which messages, photos and videos hung around for 24 hours.
Taco Bell is providing a road map. The brand was quick to jump on Stories as a platform to tell a very simple, brand-appropriate tale. Here's one example:
See also: Could Snapchat Become the Next Instagram?

Taco Bell was one of the few brands to adopt Snapchat, a platform that has a reputation for sexting. The fast food chain used Snapchat to introduce its Beefy Crunch Burrito in May, using the app's ephemeral, 10-seconds-and-it's-gone format for the launch. Stories offers new possibilities, said Nick Tran, social media lead for Taco Bell.
"This is something a lot of fans tell us all the time," he said. "They love sharing their stories and trips and adventure. We created a story that modeled that experience of hanging out with a friend."
Though Taco Bell appears to be one of the very few brands to embrace Stories so far — a Snapchat rep couldn't think of any others, though GrubHub, the food delivery company, also has been experimenting with it — the New Orleans Saints also launched a Snapchat presence this week using Stories.
Alex Restrepo, the social media manager for the Saints, said he was drawn by Stories.
"Stories was the main reason we decided to do it," he said. "The fact that posts last more than 10 seconds was huge."
Restrepo said he plans to use Snapchat Stories to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the team. Future snaps will include shots of players' lockers, images of the traveling and pre-game performances by local bands before home games. Restrepo said that the metrics on Snapchat take some getting used to — you can't measure how many fans you have, for instance. However, the platform's ability to show the number of people who have viewed an individual image is valuable, he said.
For Snapchat, Stories provides perhaps the clearest path to monetization. Eventually, Snapchat could charge brands for the ability to create Stories or — more likely — to promote those Stories beyond a brand's fan base. Before that happens, though, Snapchat will probably have to improve the quality of its videos, which appear very grainy in the current format. (Restrepo said he tried video but was unimpressed with the quality, so will not use it again.) The Snapchat CEO has promised something "a little less terrible" in the future.
Image: Getty/David McNew