On January 24th 2012, the world’s fastest growing social media platform, Twitter, released a new mobile application that allows for the transference of short, precise video messages between brands and their followers.
Twitter’s inclusion of video content will prove to be a pivotal asset in the process of strengthening brands’ relationships with their consumers, as they develop their social SEO and search marketing strategies.
Brands that are already benefiting from Twitter’s ability to convey exact messages in 140 characters or less can now include and offer visual representations that illustrate a point, humanize the brand, or create intrigue and excitement among consumers.
What Is Vine?
“Vine” is a mobile application that allows users to capture and record video content that plays on a six second loop.
The application is designed to capture a given environment in motion and convey it in a simple and meaningful way.
The reason it will be the “next big thing” for brands, who are looking to improve their social SEO campaigns, is because Vine is easy to use and associated with the world’s fastest growing social platform.
“It’s really beautifully integrated with Twitter and there’s a new level of simplicity around video capture…” said Pam Kramer, President at Lightt and a former VP of Consumer Marketing at Twitter.
“I think it moved a step ahead from integrating a still photo to integrating something more dynamic.”
What Makes Vine Amazing For Social SEO?
Twitter’s decision to invest in Vine and develop dynamic communication channels that stimulate additional senses is certainly a form of validation that social video apps are how people want to engage and communicate with each other.
In addition, Vine is a true representation of the times as far as how and where communication between brands and the individual is going. Heading into 2013, the marketing world knows that in just one year, mobile users will outnumber those using desktop devices.
So for brands that plan out their budgets and strategies a year in advance; it makes sense to begin acknowledging and utilizing this platform.
Mobile usage is only going to become more popular and relevant in the lives of consumers and in their personal decision making process.
How Can Brands Make Use of this Mobile Application?
According to the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, 92% of mobile video viewers share mobile phone videos with their friends and social networks, with ‘tweeting’ accounting for 12% of all shares. That figure could rise if Vine turns video into a more prominent part of the Twitter service.
Here are just a few situations where Vine can help brands effectively meet their audiences’ demands, cut down on budget costs, and increase reaction rate for all significant upcoming events.
Customer Service and the Personification of Brands
It seems that more and more these days, brands are trying to become more “humanized” than ever before in the eyes of their constituents.
Setting up channels that position a brand as easy to reach, quick to respond, and friendly to work with, is an excellent way to increase return visits from consumers, as well as provide a sense of financial solidarity during poor economic times.
According to a 2012 Forbes Magazine article, becoming more “human” allows brands to create stories that make them interesting and compelling to the general public. In addition, brands that take on this approach are able to experience significant growth in gaining new consumers by leveraging the power of social networks; basically accelerating word-of-mouth advertising through the established chains of friends and followers that exist throughout the social media hemisphere.
Vine allows brands to do all of this by offering short video snippets that expose and introduce their company and employees in positive, light ways.
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Producing Attractive Video Content Is Now Cheaper Than Ever
Brands that are looking to promote an upcoming product launch or significant event, can now create a series of video teasers that are not only extremely cheap to make, but are also effective in reaching the most qualified, interested consumer.
For brands to run one 30 second commercial on a network television station, four times a day, throughout the week, for at least four months to ensure rich viewer reception, you’re looking at a bill somewhere between $24 -$64 Million!
Even developing video content to host online can be expensive.
Brands who want a professional video developed that contains quality lighting, sound, images, and perhaps acting can be faced with a bill that runs all the way up into the millions.
Being able to avoid a multi-million dollar network television commercial campaign or cut out the expensive development company to produce a
YouTube series, is a phenomenal opportunity for any marketing executive or CFO looking to:
- Effectively target qualified consumers
- Avoid budget concerns/limitations
Create Powerful Teaser Ads for Upcoming EventsMore than half of the Super Bowl ads this year were promoted ahead of the game with “teasers” in an attempt to attract larger audiences by getting them invested in the ads before the game aired.The art of getting consumers interested in your ads is based on the concept that if you create excitement and expectations before the ad airs on TV, then consumers will want to look out for that specific ad during a telecast and will be more likely to retain the message in the ad.
Twitter’s Vine application aligns perfectly with the whole “teasing” concept. Where brands once placed their Super Bowl teasers on just their own brand sites, now Vine allows them to deliver teasers directly to individual followers wherever they may be.
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And because brands are hitting followers with video content that stimulate one’s sight and sound, opposed to the traditional 140 character message, the rate of reaction on behalf of the consumer will increase, similar to the authority and command of TV.
Create New Forms of Contests That Influence Consumer Behavior
Brands that leverage their social platforms by offering unique incentives that are exclusive to their online audience are able to push offline consumers to their digital environments.
Because Vine is easy to use and only allows for enough time to record quick, precise points, brands can set up unique contests that are fun and attractive for consumers to participate in.
Brands like Confused.com have already jumped on board with this new concept and launched a Vine contest in preparation for “Love Your Pet Day” on February 20. They have set up a contest asking pet owners to send in creative videos featuring their pet, with the winner of the most creative Vine video winning £250.
Confused.com Hosts Video Competition for Pet Owners:
Where Is This Going?
As mobile usage becomes more popular and as the digital marketing industry as a whole begins to focus more on ways to connect with the consumer in a meaningful way, social SEO video platforms will become staples in a brand’s search marketing strategy.
As we continue to develop social platforms that become more thorough in how we connect and communicate with each other, Vine is truly an expected ‘next step’ in the social evolution of the internet. It takes Twitter’s focus as an information and text-based media service, and enhances it with memorable, intriguing videos that allow brands to be creative in how they attract and capture their followers’ attention.
In the age of content “going viral”, one smart, unique video can open brands up to millions of new potential customers immediately, at almost no cost.
Having access to multiple channels that are able to produce unique and exciting content at an extremely affordable rate like Vine can, is a must-have for all brands regardless of their size and reach.
