It was only matter of time before Twitter 
met users’ hunger for visual social media content. Following a year when Instagram grew dramatically (subsequently being acquired by Facebook for $1 billion) and Pinterest grew to attract 1,090 visitors a minute, Twitter’s January 24th launch of the Vine app hasn’t been a disappointment.
In fact, Vine has quickly become one of the hottest topics in social media marketing, leaving brands and consumers buzzing about ways to maximize the social experience using Vine’s six-second video clips.
Visual Content is White Hot
There’s an awful lot of evidence that you should include visual content in your social media strategy. “Sometimes a picture says a thousand words and video says 50,000 words,” says Drew Smith, Director of Online Marketing at Attivio. Research indicates that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster by the human brain than text. 85% of US online consumers view video content regularly. ”
There’s even a lot of evidence in support of the super brief, six-second format of Vine: Marketing blogger Jeff Bullas is a firm believer that the average attention span is much shorter than it was even a few years ago. When YouTube first became popular, the most viewed videos were an average of 2–3 minutes long. Now? Popular content is significantly shorter, sometimes no more than 15 seconds long. Video abandonment tends to soar to 20% after 10 seconds. By all expert accounts, Vine is perfectly engineered for the bite-sized appetite of the modern consumer.
With all that said, here are seven easy, fun ways you can make those six seconds count!
1. Showcase Your People and Processes
A 15-minute video of your CEO talking? That might get a little boring. A much shorter clip that showcases the people, animals, and events that make your team tick? That’s actually pretty fun and awesome. While we don’t recommend that you do it daily or even often, Vine is the perfect format to turn the spotlight on the people behind your product. It’s an outstanding way to give a brief glimpse into your brand’s personality.
2. How-To Tutorials
Can you showcase how to use your products in six seconds? We bet you can. In fact, Jeremy Cabalona of Mashable used the format to demonstrate how to make a microwaved brownie in a mug:
How to make a brownie in a mug #recipe #dessert #howto vine.co/v/b5l6hvWEm9d
— Jeremy Cabalona(@jeremycabo) January 26, 2013
3. Mystery Marketing
Brands who give their fans an opportunity to become detectives can win promoters for life. Mystery marketing is an effective way to build hype. You can’t reveal too much in six seconds, but sometimes giving just a hint can drive up your engagement. Even former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has gotten involved, inviting his Twitter followers to guess a song based on six-second clips in his feed.
4. Spotlight User-Generated Content
Invite your followers to share their Vine clips of your product or venue. The Four Seasons Hotel chain was one of the first to receive customer-generated content via Vine, which it shared. Free visual content for the win!
5. Strut Your Stuff
It’s definitely possible to be too pushy on social media, but it’s a lot harder be terribly obnoxious with the Vine format (at least for now). Use the mini-clips to showcase your brand’s latest development, whether it’s a new product, a happy customer, or an all-new website design! Blogger Chris Brogan highlights the fact that Vine is the perfect format for giving your prospects a 3-D view of your product before they make the purchase.
6. Amplify One-on-One Engagement
Your fans love it when you engage with them. Is there any way to make your fans feel extra warm and fuzzy than with a customized, six-second video? Check out this fantastic response to a Twitter follower by Red Vines, an early adopter of Vine:
Yo @skatershayna. We’ll do you one better. #vine vine.co/v/b1Z9YDTa2WZ
— Red Vines (@RedVines) January 31, 2013
7. Embed Vine in Your Blog Content
See what I’ve been doing throughout this content? Vine doesn’t need to be limited to your Twitter feed. In fact, you can and should embed the videos in your blog content. Marketing Sherpa research has found that blog content with video averages 100% longer views than simple text. Plus, video content is three times more likely to attract inbound links than other types of blog content.
Share Your Ideas and Experiences
How have you been using Vine so far? Have you seen any really unique uses from other brands? Leave your thoughts in the comments!