Which Video Social Network is Best for Your Brand? – Part Two: Vine

Welcome to part two of our five part series covering the five biggest social video networks that are hot right now.

This series is designed to help the great minds behind companies and brands to determine which social video network will work best for them. By effectively choosing the right network, marketers have the opportunity to develop a prosperous video content strategy that will prove engaging for audiences and rewarding for business ROI.

Last week we looked at Keek. Despite being the lesser known of  our five, Keek proved to have some interesting functions such as Keekbacks (real time video responses to videos which have been posted), analytics and a Kred rating system so that you can understand how fans are reacting to your videos. You can read our blog about Keek here, but if you’re all up to date on that front then you’ll be pleased to know that this week we’ll be talking about Vine.

Vine was founded by Dom Hofmann and Rus Yusupov in June 2012 as an iOS app that allowed users to share short, looping video clips. A mere 4 months later (before the app was even released) Vine was acquired by Twitter. When Vine was released on the 24^th January 2013, it became a show–stopping revelation in the world of social media and content marketing with users rushing to share their video clips. In the furore you could hear the cogs in the minds of agencies and brand marketers everywhere start whirring as they developed strategies for Vine that would make consumers stop, look and share in a bid for viral success and earned media limelight. In the short period since it’s launch, Vine has become the most used video sharing app in the world!

How does it work?
Vine’s are a maximum of 6 seconds long. To film a Vine (video) all you need to do is navigate to the camera icon which will open up the recording page. To start recording tap and hold your finger down on the screen. To stop recording just lift your finger up. You can stop and start recording as many times as you like until the 6 seconds of content has been filled (you can create videos shorter than 6 seconds if you would like to). Once you’re done recording your video, you can share it along with a comment – usually a reference to what the video is about. Since Vine is now owned by Twitter, it probably won’t surprise you to know that hash tags are also used on the video network, so you can include appropriate or trending hash tags when you first share your video. This novel way of recording video may have been a contributing factor to the apps success; fuelling Vine’s creative userbase to create a host of stop-motion animations, comedy sketches and entertaining clips.

Once a video has been posted other users can then comment on it by tapping a speech bubble icon or “like it” by tapping a smiley face.

Users can search vine by hash tags or by a person’s name which helps them to find cool new Vines they’ll be interested in and new people to follow too. Trending hash tags on Vine work in the same way to Twitter. Hash tags which are being used frequently, in a short space of time, by many users will make the hash tag trend on the Explore page of the Vine app. When a user clicks that trend on the Explore page they will be able to see all the videos which have been shared using that hash tag, again helping them to find awesome new Vines and interesting people to follow.

Who uses it?

Predominantly tweens, teens and young adults use Vine however due to its nature of being a creative tool you’ll also notice that many musicians, designers, comedians and actors have made their mark on the network. If you want to see some of the best examples for how to use Vine then take a look at this article from Mashable which features some truly remarkable ideas.

Pros

• There is no play button barrier for Vine videos. If a Vine video is scrolled to in the app or embedded on a web page the video will automatically start to play – potentially offering more exposure for your brand.
• The interface of the Vine app is slick and easy to navigate.
• Users can easily search for tags or people, making it easier for them to find your brand.
• Vines are only 6 seconds long, which means they are more likely to be watched and shared because they’re quick to view. Having just 6 seconds to work with for each video will seriously challenge your creativity too.
• The fact that Vines are shorter, also likely means that whilst using the Vine app users will watch MORE videos than they would on an app/website with longer videos.
• Filming a video is extremely easy, all you need to do is hold down your finger on the screen to film and lift it off when you want to stop.
• Vine is currently not monetized so it offers a beautiful user experience – which ensures users keep coming back.
• You can use Vine to easily create some amazing stop motion videos, enabling you to be creative with the videos you make and bring motionless products to life.

Cons

• At present Vine doesn’t have a fully functioning website, which is a bit of a pain if you’d prefer to manage your company profile on a computer rather than a phone or tablet.
• Vine only has apps available for Android and iPhone, so they’re missing out on a huge potential audience across Blackberry, Windows and Nokia – which means you’ll miss out too…for now.
• Whilst this is also a Pro too, Vines are only 6 seconds long which really limits the content you produce – is all the effort worth it for just 6 seconds of content?
• Currently there are no analytics, which can leave you rather blind – sighted because you’ll never know how many people watched your video.
• Now that video is available for Instagram it’s likely that Vine will lose a lot of users who would prefer one app which can handle video and photos rather than having two separate social networks which can only manage one of each.

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Which type of brands does Vine work best for?

Vine is an ideal video network to use for brands which market a physical product. Imagine that instead of explaining what your product does in words you could just show your audience with a quick Vine. With the Vine stop motion recording features you can bring to life products that wouldn’t otherwise have it. Take a look a look at these Vines from Barcardi and Converse which have used stop motion to create brilliant and share-worthy pieces of branded video content:

“But how is this any different from an advert?” Is what you might ask. Well there is something quirky and very real about Vines, they’re not chopped and changed, air brushed and photo shopped which may make them appear more honest than a video advert – something that resonates with Vine users.

So this brings us to the end of part two of our five part series. We hoped you picked up some interesting tips and ideas for using Vine for your brand. Let us know if you’re using it already or if you have found success with another great social video network in the comment box below.