What’s Vine?
It’s Twitters new social network that makes it easy to create and share social videos on the go.
Twitter is obsessed with limitations (because they breed creativity), so just like we only have 140 characters in a tweet, we only have 6 seconds to shoot a Vine.
Vine was released on February 4, 2013 and within 7 days of launching, over 100,000 Vines had been shared. Which makes you think…
Does Vine for small businesses work?
Social Media examiner wrote an AMAZING post on 16 Ways Businesses Are Using Twitter Vine that got over 3,000 tweets and 800 shares on Facebook. If you want to understand how small businesses are using Vine, check it out.
But before you get distracted, the real question is should you use Vine?
That depends. Here are 6 questions that will help you make your decision.
1. Do you use Apple?
Vine is only available for Apple iOS. So unless you have an iPhone or iPad, it’s an easy decision – you’ll have to wait.
But not for long, as we’re predicting an Android Vine app will be released this year.
2. Are you exclusive?
Vine is public to everyone.
You don’t have privacy options like you do with Twitter, Facebook, G+ and other social networks. This means secret giveaways or messages that you share exclusively through private groups won’t work on Vine.
Chances are this isn’t an issue – just remember what you post is free for all to consume.
3. Where are your customers?
The rule of online marketing is to go where the conversation is happening.
If your customers aren’t early adopters on Vine, chances are it’s not worth your time.
Sure, Vine for small businesses is the cool new thing, and it’s fun to be a part of a social community from birth (just ask Chris Brogran who started blogging in 1998). You can set trends and you might get good enough marketing your business on Vine that you’ll convince your customers to use it, and you’ll pick up new leads there as well.
But unless you have time to test this without hurting the growth of your business, there are better ways to get customers online.
4. Do you have a Marketing Strategy?
If you don’t, Vine isn’t for you.
Why?
You won’t know what to do. You’ll waste time, focus on vanity metrics and chances are, you’ll stop using it in a few months after you realize it’s not helping the bottom line.
p.s. Don’t have a marketing strategy? Check out these resources on 10 Simple Strategies for Business Blog Content, 9 Hard-Hitting Content Strategies for Small Business Blogging and 7 Strategies for Growing Community on Your Blog.
5. Do you love social media?
Be honest.
You know the answer, but you may not feel comfortable telling everyone because you’re worried they’ll think you’re “behind the times.”
If you love sharing online, go for it. Vine is fun (though we’ve only tested it on silly things like my kittens and ferry commute to work.)
But if you’re struggling online, maybe this isn’t the platform for you?
It’s early days, and while there are already best practise guides by inbound marketing leaders like Hubspot, why not let people who are obsessed with social media test the waters and figure out what works – and you can jump on board when it’s more mature.
The key with any social platform is to focus.
We were doing a content marketing presentation a few weeks ago in Vancouver and an entrepreneur in the audience asked us if we’d heard of “the 50 social media networks you MUST be on for your small business.”
My heart sank.
No, I hadn’t heard of it. Sure, there are 50, probably more like 500 social media sites you could be on, but there are a lot of things you could do to grow your business. The real question is – how much time and resources do you have to actually grow your business?
Focus is key.
6. Do you hate Twitter?
Ironically, I think Vine is a great platform if you’re not a huge Twitter fan because video is an easier media to consume.
It’s probably the biggest idea in making videos since YouTube. – Business Insider
Just think, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, how much is 6 seconds of video worth? If you do the math, there’s an average of 24 frames a second. Multiply that by 6 seconds and we get 144 frames. That’s the equivalent to 144,000 words!
But again, best practises haven’t been defined. So if you don’t like Twitter because you’re not seeing growth that’s different than if you don’t like Twitter because you prefer visuals and can’t stand text.
Conclusion
Vine is a trend.
That doesn’t mean it’s going away (we love it and believe it’s here to stay, and will become critical to some businesses) but it does mean that you shouldn’t jump on the latest trend without understanding how it fits with the rest of your business strategy.
It’s easier to get distracted by the shiny object than it is to fix something that isn’t working.
So, are you using Vine? What helped you decide it was the right platform?
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