A new type of advertising

As most of us know, social media is becoming one of the top ways to advertise for several reasons. Not only is it typically more cost efficient, but also has the ability to reach people like never before. Recently, some of the most commonly referred to social media sites for advertising include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. However, Twitter is making a big splash with their newest form of social media, Vine. For those who haven't experienced the creativity of Vine yet, it is an app that plays a video for 6 seconds on a loop. You might be thinking that 6 seconds would be insignificant in terms of advertising, but that's not the case at all. In fact, several "Vine stars" have been approached by large companies such as Trident, General Mills, Ford and Virgin Mobile in order to appeal to audiences in new ways. Vine has several strengths even though the clips are so short. For instance, one Vine star, Nicholas Megalis comments that users are forced to be more creative simply because of the time constraints. Similarly, most vines play upon humor, which is a great way to gain the attention of younger audiences.
One of Vine's most prominent posters is Brittany Furlan, who like all Vine posters, finds random things to do in her 6 seconds of fame. She has over 650 vines and 5. 4 million followers. With a following of this size, companies should be trying to use Vine more often.
Here is a link to her Vine page: https://vine.co/brittanyfurlan
One of Brittany's vines

There are several YouTube channels that have long playlists of Vines to showcase some of "the best of." Each month new Vine "best of February," for example, are released and get hundreds of thousands of views.  Similarly, "Magic Vines" are becoming popular. One of the most well known Vine "magicians" is Zach King. View some of his Vine magic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP5bTDqMQKA. Vines are spreading like wildfire and should definitely be considered a good outlet for companies because they are inexpensive and the message is repeated several times.




-Sherie

Source: Kantrowitz, A. (2014). Vine comedians emerge as latest hot property for brands. AdAge, Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/digital/vine-comedians-emerge-latest-hot-property-brands/292096/