If your bandwidth is limited, the best social networks on which to set up shop and share are probably going to be sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, four of the most popular players in the field today.
But if time is not an issue and you really want to make a splash in the social media waters, you should try making videos with the mobile app, Vine.
Sure, with more than one billion unique users visiting the site each month, your potential audience on YouTube is going to be gargantuan. And with over 150 million monthly active users on Instagram, you’d be hard pressed not to experiment there as well, even if your videos can only be up to 15 seconds in length.
If you want to socialize with all the cool kids, however, you can’t overlook Vine, where more than 40 million registered users are telling their stories in short, continuously looping six-second videos.
Vine is much more than a shiny, new social toy. It’s got a lot more going for it than novelty. Vine presents brands with an innovative, surprisingly powerful way to take advantage of the fact that visual content performs well on social media. If you ask me, there are many reasons why you should use Vine to build your brand. Here are my top 10…
1. It’s easy to use. I’m not going to tell you that anyone can create a masterpiece in six seconds, but I will say that you don’t have to be a cinematographer to record a decent video on Vine. All you need to do is hold your finger on the screen to record and take it off to pause. It’s that simple. You can record straight through uninterrupted or use the stop-motion feature to shoot your own impressively animated shorts.
Example: Samsung Mobile US
2. It’s quick to digest. With such a glut of commercial messages competing for your audience’s attention, a succinct visual message that can be quickly scanned on the go is about as convenient as it gets for them. It’s mobile. It’s social. It requires next to no effort at all to experience and enjoy.
Example: Trident Gum
3. It’s spur of the moment. The simplicity of Vine makes it possible for you to capture news as it’s happening without any preparation whatsoever. It’s ideal during live events or when you want to involve others in the action and share an exciting firsthand experience not just on the channel itself, but on Twitter, Facebook and even your own blog.
Example: Boston Red Sox
4. It’s convenient. A free mobile app, Vine goes wherever you go as long as you have your smartphone. All it takes is six seconds. Then press share. Vine is the power of real-time – not to mention real simple – videography in the palm of your hand.
Example: American Air
5. It’s instructional. Many users have already discovered what a great platform Vine is for show and tell. From cooking to card tricks, gardening to bartending, they’re sharing their secrets for doing what they do best, positioning themselves as thought leaders, valuable resources and brands consumers can trust.
Example: Sephora
6. It’s entertaining. No question about it, brands and average users alike are experimenting with Vine, recording everything from comedy routines to sports highlights, reality shows to pop culture news, puppetry to live action shorts. They’re showing off their lighter sides and amusing their fans in these GIF-like videos with sound.
Example: Oreo Cookie
7. It’s engaging. If you think Vine is simply a broadcast channel, think again. From liking to commenting to revining, there’s plenty of back and forth among users of this app. One brand, Nissan, even went so far as to incorporate Vine footage created by fans into an ad campaign for its 2014 Versa Note.
Example: Nissan USA
8. It’s a creative medium. Vine brings out a little Steven Spielberg in all of us. Because you have such a short time on Vine to get your message across, you may find yourself being particularly resourceful and imaginative. Simplicity plays well, but some of the most successful videos on Vine are ones that are thought out in advance, choreographed, scripted and cast like they’re Hollywood films.
Example: Klondike
9. It’s promotional. As offbeat and quirky as it may seem to the uninitiated, Vine is actually an ideal channel in which to conduct business. Win your followers over with enough genuinely interesting looping video clips and you’ve earned their loyalty. Run contests. Show off your team. Take viewers behind the scenes of your work place. Include as much sizzle as steak in your Vines. Don’t hesitate to turn up the marketing heat.
Example: Taco Bell
10. It’s measurable. Not only do you see how many times people have liked your Vines, you can now get a count of how many times each of them has looped as well. Along with comments and revines, these two metrics provide you with a fairly good gauge for your clips’ popularity.
Example: MTV
Note: This post, “10 Reasons Why You Should Use Vine to Build Your Brand,” was originally published on ClickZ on July 15, 2014. To read the post there, click here.
