Inside Chipotle’s ‘chronically online’ social strategy

This story is the latest in a series exploring how brands craft standout social media strategies. If you’d like to chat about how your brand is approaching social, Katie Hicks wants to hear about it. Reach out to her at hicks@morningbrew.com.

Chipotle prides itself on fresh ingredients—and even fresher social insights.

The fast-casual Tex-Mex chain has more than 6 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and X, and it keeps those followers engaged through social listening, engaging with UGC, and remaining “chronically online,” Kirby Ann Connell, senior director of social and influencer at Chipotle, told us.

“Our team is constantly in the weeds,” she said. “And then [we look] for ways to shine a light on those really unique fan behaviors and fan insights that we uncover to ultimately drive that community, drive that viral content, and even beyond, looking for ways to drive culture at large through collabs and other cool moments that we curate.”

We spoke with Connell about how Chipotle has built a social presence that’s meant to feel more like “a fan account than brand account,” and how it’s reaching younger consumers by engaging directly with them.

Stop, look, and listen

Behind the scenes, Chipotle’s in-house social team meets daily to discuss the posts the brand has been tagged in, both good and bad. The team works with the social agency Day One and uses the insights it finds to address consumer pain points, be the first to a trend, and come up with larger campaign ideas, Connell said.

The brand’s “Tatted Like a Chipotle Bag” campaign, in which customers with body ink received a BOGO offer for one hour, was inspired by a meme from Maroon 5’s 2019 Super Bowl comparing the lead singer’s tattoos to the brand’s signature paper bags and years of organic posts that followed, Connell said. The brand’s first iteration of the campaign in June 2025 was so successful that it returned for a subsequent Friday the 13th, a “huge day” in the tattoo community, earlier this year, Connell said; the next campaign date is approaching this November.

“That was the first time we’d ever done a promotion that wasn’t a full day or a peak-meal-period promotion,” Connell said. “It absolutely blew up on social and…that hour [became] the highest-ever sales hour for us during a non-peak period. It was super amazing to see how something that could just be a niche internet meme type thing could become this huge cultural moment and business driver for the brand.”

Recurring campaigns have been a winning strategy for Chipotle, which has also run an annual Halloween “Boorito” campaign since 2000. This year’s Halloween campaign features a five-city “Summon the Spirits Tour,” in which margaritas will return to stores in Denver, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. The offering was inspired by a social insight that customers were feeling nostalgic for the brand’s tequila drinks, which were phased out starting in 2018, Connell said.

While it’s the first time the brand has rolled out an experiential effort quite like this one, Connell said that it reflects the broader ethos of the marketing team: “We took something that fans were talking about and asking for online, and then turned it into a real experience that they can come and show up for with the brand in real life.”

Posts about the return of margaritas have racked up millions of views on TikTok and Instagram, although Connell said the brand puts paid behind some of its posts and has targeted them to tour cities. “We’ll always start with organic and then look at what the top-performing creator or creative is, and then consider fueling it with a paid boost, as well,” she said.

Buzzy burritos

To measure campaign success, Connell said the social team tracks post shares, word of mouth, and impressions across posts and earned PR. “We want to create moments that feel buzzworthy and have talkability, both with our fans online and also for [the] media,” she said.

Chipotle received media buzz in August when rapper Cardi B tweeted about the brand and subsequently became the face of its Chili Lime Chip release, which generated more than 215 million social engagements across owned and earned social, Connell said. The campaign included a “leak” of the chip release by Cardi B on Instagram Live, which got more than 700 million impressions and was picked up by pop culture media outlets, Connell added.

Chipotle first got into the original social series game 12 years ago with its “Farmed and Dangerous” series, and since then, an increasing number of brands have followed suit. Connell said long-form content is on the brand’s radar again; it recently released a docu-style video of vegetable instrumentalists performing at Abbey Road, which has more than 5 million views on YouTube.

This summer, Chipotle also released its “Farm to Foil” long-form series, in which creators visit the brand’s farm suppliers and participate in making its products. That series is also part of a larger creator strategy at Chipotle, which Connell said is paramount to every campaign.

“We work with a number of creators, whether it’s for cultural and social trends, supporting our menu innovation, [or] supporting our brand campaigns,” she said. “Across the gamut, they are ingrained in all the work that we put out from a market perspective.”

Whether it’s creator, customer, or Cardi input, Chipotle’s social strategy really boils down to the idea of listening first and talking later, Connell said.

“It’s really about listening closely, identifying what of those conversations really feels unique to us and to our fans,” Connel said, “and then turn it into something participatory.”