Vine is probably the most prolific social networking site to become popular in 2013. In fact, insiders feel Vine will be more popular than many existing social networks when it comes to marketing and branding. One of the key reasons is that it optimally utilizes the video format without being boring or invasive. Launched by Twitter on the 24th of January, 2013, Vine quickly became very popular among iPhone users. It is currently available only on iOS devices but Twitter noted that it is working on bringing the application to other platforms like Android and Windows Mobile. In this article, let us take a look at Vine is and why it is important for businesses big and small and how it can help create lasting marketing solutions.
What Is Vine and How Does It Work?
The Vine app, which can be downloaded for free from Apple’s App Store at the moment, is a mobile only platform which will soon be available for Android and other operating systems. It can be thought of as a video alternative to Instagram. However, Vine is so much more than just Instagram and is a real business tool. It helps users to create short video clips that last for 6 seconds.
How to Use Vine to Create 6-second Videos
One would need to use Vine’s in-app camera in order to shoot what they want. One needs to click on the camera button within Vine and hold the screen with one’s finger until the recording is complete. If one wants to record a video that simulates stop-motion photography, one needs to hold the screen and release and then hold it again when the subject is within the camera’s sight. Totally, it can record only 6 seconds worth of video at one go. In fact, there are several tools that can help people to convert Vine videos into GIF images. While Vine was not taken seriously by marketers initially, it quickly proved to be rabidly popular not only among common users, but also among journalists, media professionals and celebrities. The gloss and glamour associated with Vine has quickly catapulted it into becoming one of the most popular social networking apps to be downloaded from the App Store.
Vine has to be the simplest social networking site out there. It comes with no bells and whistles, and has a very clean and clutter free interface. It offers only 4 options in the menu: Home, Explore, Activity and Profile.
When you click on ‘Home’, you will see a list of videos in place of tweets or status updates on Facebook news feed. You can type a tag that you want to view the videos as well. A hashtag #cats will bring you a lot of cat videos. The videos play without you having to do anything. If you would like to comment on a video, you can do so. If you want to ‘like’ a video, all that you need to do is click on the smiley.
If you do not like the video you are watching, you can either report the person who made it.
When you click on ‘Explore’, Vine lets you type in tags or names of people you know. The app also lists editor’s Picks, which is a curated list of most popular videos on Vine. ‘Popular Now’ similarly brings the most popular videos on Vine at any given point of time. Just below these two options, you can see a list of popular tags as well, which can bring back interesting videos of users across the world. Tags and People work similar to Twitter.
Tags are similar to hashtags on Twitter and ‘People’ is similar to users on Twitter. Based on what you are looking for, Vine brings a list of videos that have been tagged accordingly.
Clicking on Activity lets you know what is happening with people you know and follow. Profile lets you edit your own profile and account settings. It is probably the simplest social networking site that we have ever known.
8 Ways Vine Can Revolutionize Digital Marketing
Vine is a great tool for businesses both small and large. The network has huge potentials and now is the time to optimize your marketing strategy with the help of Vine, when your rivals and competitors may not even be aware of Vine’s importance. With that in mind, here are some of the most important ways with which you can use Vine for your business and marketing purposes.
Vine is particularly suited for engagement because it is very simple. It is a great way to build your fan base with attractive videos and use that fan base to engage and promote your products. Vine is fun to use and keeps its users engaged as long as you are taking awesome videos with your iPhone (and other phones in the future). You could ask your audience to send their video clips of how they use your products or what they do with your services. When they use hashtags and tweets to reply to your Vine videos, engagement not only builds on Vine, but also on Twitter and elsewhere.
Vine encourages you to ask your audience to interact with you buy generating video clips on their own. If you have steady groups of fans and followers, they will only be too happy to take video clips and share it with you. You can ask them for ideas, tips and tricks, suggestions and opinions with the help of Vine. You could ask them to shoot their own faces and voices and upload them. As these videos are just 6 seconds long, it won’t take a lot of your time to engage either.
Vine is a great tool to build your marketing narrative. It helps you to create a series of videos that tell stories. Storytelling using Vine can help you to reveal the story of a product that is being incubated for launching, a service that is being planned or a company event that you want to share with your audience. All this leads to better engagement and more credibility for your products and services.
Vine is a great way to demonstrate new products and services. You can create a series of videos that are simple and succinct but tell the viewers what they need to do in few seconds. It can be a great way to instruct your viewers and followers to do certain things the way you want them to. You can build user guides that are 6 second long or provide your own inputs to your audience about what they should be doing with the products they purchase.
As companies and businesses, we often lose the human touch and become a faceless corporation. That surely spells death knell for any social engagement that we wish to create. Vine helps you to avoid such situations by helping you to publish short videos that feature your employees, office events, short interviews with customers add one word testimonials from those who matter. You could even be creative and feature a CEO, programmer, accountant, designer or just about anybody that you think will capture the audience. Do not be afraid to reveal your creative and quirky side.
Vine can double up as a great tool to showcase exhibitions, seminars and shows that you may be attending. Take short videos and publish them in order to receive more engagement. Speeches and trade shows can be featured on Vine too, as long as you are creative enough to choose the right moments to publish.
There is no place better than Vine to feature and showcase your own products and services. You can create short advertisements and videos that make your products and services look attractive. Moreover, if you are a freelancer or an independent professional, you can create a Vine portfolio by showcasing your previous work and featuring client testimonials.
There is nothing more important on social networks than building an online identity and ensuring social proof. By revealing a human side, you will ensure that people see you and your company as a reliable entity that can be trusted. Thanks to quirky way with which Vine allows you to showcase your products and services, you can build your identity in an easy and non invasive manner.
Though Vine is a very new application, it has a lot of promise and potential as evidenced by the number of people who have begun to use it. This year we expect Vine to become ever more popular and will compete with the likes of Instagram and Tumblr. Now is the right time to start using Vine for marketing and brand building purposes.
