During the holidays, Wet Seal had teen blogger MsMeghanMakeup take over the retailer?s Snapchat account, resulting in more than 6,000 views and a large audience growth during two weeks.

Wet Seal partnered with ICED Media to launch a branded Snapchat account to connect with teens. With an impressive following of her own, MsMeghanMakeup brought a fun and energetic take to Wet Seal?s account, helping the retailer reach its audience where they are in an engaging way.

?The Wet Seal audience of teen girls is highly engaged with mobile devices and use Snapchat to stay in constant communication with their friends,? said Christine MacGregor, vice president of marketing and ecommerce at Wet Seal, Foothill Ranch, CA. ?As a brand seeking to appeal to these girls, Snapchat is a perfect channel for Wet Seal to explore.

?The main goal has been to expand the branding of Wet Seal and provide a deeper relationship with our core consumer,? she said. ?To drive ROI, we are testing specialized coupon codes and are looking forward to the results of a Snapchat-driven promotion.? 

Wet Seal takeover
Wet Seal launched its own Snapchat account so that it could connect with teens on the platforms that they frequent.

The retailer decided to partner with popular teen blogger MsMeghanMakeup to help them kickstart the account. Meghan has more than 200,000 YouTube subscribers, 48,700 Twitter followers and 101,200 Instagram followers, so Wet Seal figured her popularity would benefit the brand.

During the weekend takeover, Meghan embodied the Wet Seal spirit while posting fun snaps. The resulting Snap Story resulted in more than 6,000 views, which according to Wet Seal is the most engaged Snap Store in Snapchat?s history.

After just two weeks, Wet Seal had grown their Snapchat audience to more than 9,000 connections.

The goal of the takeover was to give Wet Seal a persona on Snapchat and make it feel more like a friend than a brand. Wet Seal plans on continuing its efforts on Snapchat to create a personal and emotion connectional with consumers.

Make it snappy
While brands have been flooding Facebook and Twitter with promoted posts and mobile ads, Snapchat provides a more intimate, one-to-one connection with consumers. It allows for more creativity and spontaneity (see story).

Snapchat was initially released in 2011 and has grown to be a widely popular messaging app, especially among teens and millenials. The premise of the app is that a snap disappears after ten seconds, adding another exciting element to the platform.

A number of other brands besides for Wet Seal have also started experimenting with Snapchat for marketing. The list includes 16Handles, Taco Bell, Acura, Karmaloop, GrubHub, New Orleans Saints, Rebecca Minkoff and MTV UK.

The ability to connect with consumers on an individual basis is unique to the platform, and since it is not yet crowded with marketing and advertisements, it presents an open opportunity for brands to break in.

?Snapchat is quick, casual and fun,? Ms. MacGregor said. ?Wet Seal is able to leverage the natural tone of the platform by snapping fashion ideas, behind the scenes images and special promotions ? all while positioning Wet Seal to build an emotional connection with our Snapchat audience.

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York