Four Reasons Video Marketing on Instagram Is So Much Better Than on Vine

by Dane Atkinson  |  

April 30, 2015

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How much time do you get to tell your story in a video? How long until a viewer loses interest and clicks over to another link? Those are big questions for video marketers who compile content with timestamps in mind, the same way content writers typically compose with word count in mind.

Most marketers will agree that short-form video has become a great way to build awareness and drive people to the very top of your sales and marketing funnel. In fact, millions of videos are posted on Vine and Instagram daily. The short, concise video lengths help retain viewer engagement, as they require less time commitment.

However, some marketers are conflicted as to which platform ultimately has more impact with a brand's consumers and fans.

Should You Use Instagram or Vine? 

To figure this out, let's first take a look at the history...

When Vine first arrived on the scene a few years ago, it initially prompted brands to experiment with short, looped video to showcase products and reinforce brand identity.

Similarly, since being bought by Facebook a few years ago, Instagram added the ability to share video clips on its wildly popular social media platform. And as its large user base continues to grow, Instagram is proving that brands can have more reach and engagement by using its platform.

Now, let's look at size (which does matter in this case). Instagram is definitely the bigger of the two, offering a 15-second limit for its videos, which is two and one-half times longer than the six-second limit Vine imposes on its users. Because 15 seconds is comparable to the length of an average TV commercial, marketers and brands can use Instagram to showcase much more visually compelling and content-rich videos.

Instagram can be used in myriad ways for creative advertising that users love. For example, a how-to video can be useful for answering consumer questions before they even contact customer service, providing immediate value. Or a narrative can be used by enabling audio on a video, giving a marketer the chance to retell the brand's story in innovative ways.

Additionally, there are millions of active users on Instagram, which makes for a very robust community for sharing content. For example, there is a section in the Instagram app where the Likes of the people you follow appear. That can create a new method of promoting your content, as having one follower can potentially open doors to many followers, creating a chain effect that grows exponentially over time.

The following are other key advantages for video marketing on Instagram vs. Vine.

1. Instagram has more users

As of March 2014, Instagram’s audience was 200 million; Vine's was 40 million. More importantly, Vine's growth slowed after Instagram introduced video capabilities.

2. Instagram is owned by Facebook, Vine by Twitter

Not only does Instagram have a larger audience, it is also owned by Facebook, which has a much larger audience than Vine's owner, Twitter. As of February 2015, Facebook had 1.23 billion active users, five times more than Twitter's 232 million. In terms of these numbers, marketers can potentially reach many more customers through Instagram than Vine. Instagram users can quickly and more easily tell the story about their product and share the content within Facebook's large user base, driving further engagement.

3. You can do a lot more in 15 seconds than six

Although it's easy to fall on your butt in a six-second Vine video, it's pretty challenging to create a meaningful marketing message in that amount of time. Instagram's 15-second maximum is much more generous, and it allows you to more effectively show extra details and content, as well as convey the overall story of a brand.

4. Instagram has filters

Beautiful filters are what really set Instagram apart from other networks. Not only can you share content on Instagram, but you also can create stunning video and images. Add to this other improved tools that Instagram offers over Vine, such as editing, integration, and cover image selection, and it's easy to see why brands may choose to use it over Vine.

Keep in mind that the customer base that typically uses and responds to Instagram videos are very social media-savvy and wise to marketing ploys. If a brand pushes out content that's too dry or appears too "advertisement-driven" (obviously aiming to boost sales), your videos will most likely be ignored and gain little-to-no traction.

* * * 

Posting videos on Instagram is a chance for brands to communicate with their audience, rather than at them. Sharing compelling videos can give brands the opportunity to engage and delight users, connecting with them in a much deeper way across multiple social media platforms. And it's also a fun, creative way to stand out from the competition.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2015/27567/four-reasons-video-marketing-on-instagram-is-so-much-better-than-on-vine#ixzz3Yo75cGjK

Top 10 Stop-Motion Artists Doing Brilliant Work for Brands on Vine

 Throwing the industry for a loop By Michelle Castillo

• September 24, 2014, 12:12 PM EDT
• Technology

Article:

Pause your day, and take a look—or three or four—at these brilliantly crafted Vines. Marketers are finding a way to tap into the short-form nature of the medium by working with Viners who have found success creating carefully edited works.

"Stop motion animation has become an incredibly attractive way of advertising for brands and marketers who are increasingly turning to micro advertisements to reach mobile users," explained Rob Fishman, co-founder of the technology platform Niche.

Niche connects social media content creators on 19 different platforms (including Facebook, YouTube, Vine and Instagram) with brands. The company compiled the list after considering the number of followers each Vine user had and the number of branded engagements they produced. Not all the ad work had to be set up through the Niche platform to be considered.

Fishman added that while a single six-second stop motion Vine may take days to make, it's extremely successful at condensing a big idea into a short, whimsical piece. Because they are so truncated, it makes it easier to share, which is why these ads have life on other social media platforms as well.

1. Jethro Ames
Followers: 39,800
Total number of loops: 2,025,750
Below: Work for Hewlett-Packard (164,550 loops)

2. Frank Danna
Followers: 10,900
Total number of loops: 785,705
Below: Work for Jack in the Box (39,950 loops)

3. Gentleman Jack
Followers: 50,700
Total number of loops: 4,914,170
Below: Work for BMW i USA (7,500 loops)

4. Ian Padgham
Followers: 359,800
Total number of loops: 52,146,125
Below: Work for Home Depot (201,175 loops)

5. Meagan Cignoli
Followers: 509,700
Total number of loops: 68,822,060
Below: Work for Toaster Strudel (83,180 loops)

6. Hunter Harrison
Followers: 28,800
Total number of loops: 3,965,205
Below: Work for Samsung (196,730 loops)

7. Marc Morgan (Vanilla Gorilla)
Followers: 35,500
Total number of loops: 3,664,490
Below: Work for Blue Apron (12,950 loops)

8. Pinot
Followers: 305,300
Total number of loops: 18,405,368
Below: Work for Samsung (175,040 loops)

9. David Schwen
Followers: 745
Total number of loops: 6,057
Below: Work for Yoplait (170 loops)

10. Kaif
Followers: 178,800
Total number of loops: 28,200,995
Below: Work for Whisper (454,000 loops)

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The 5 Things Marketers Are Saying About Vine's Loop Count

 

Initial brand stats surprise By Christopher Heine

• July 2, 2014, 4:56 PM EDT
• Technology

A screengrab from a Tide Vine that has garnered 2.5 million "loops."

Vine yesterday revealed a "loop count" metric to show marketers and users how often people are watching their six-second videos. Prior to the metric's availability, they had to focus on likes, comments and revines (same as a retweet) to measure the impact of their social clips. Loops have replaced revines on the platform.

The development comes as a relief to brands such as Tide, Milk Bone, Charmin and Red Vines that regularly put resources into the 18-month-old social media platform.

Here's what marketers had to say about Vine's "loop count."

1. It's about time. Prior to the metric, marketers couldn't see how many views they were generating on Vine. Loops help brands justify putting budget toward the social videos.

"With digital/mobile spend being under intense scrutiny, the ability to measure the performance of content is key," explained Michael Kelly, senior media/consumer communications manager at American Licorice Company, which owns Red Vines. "Having an understanding of which content is keeping viewers engaged can a help to inform the creative direction or style of the Vines made in the future."

Slaven Radic, CEO of Tapstream, said the metric "will be a significant [key performance indicator] to watch for certain types of campaigns as in a sense it speaks to the video’s engagement level with the audience, something we couldn’t measure quite as directly before."

2. It shows major brands can gain traction. A quick scan of Vines shows bigger numbers than one might expect. Single efforts by Ford (3.4 million loops), Charmin (2.4 million) and Buick (1.3 million) are bringing in surprising numbers. To be clear, though, not all of those brands' efforts have performed so well virally. But once again, financials come to the forefront: It's going to be a lot easier turning these stats in to the brand CFO when compared to a few hundred comments and several thousand likes. And bigger numbers are going to please sales teams for social media marketing vendors.

"[Before], we would have to sell brands influencer videos, without knowing the impressions," said Eric Dahan, CEO of influencer marketing firm Instabrand.

3. Make the metric real. The loop count is far from perfect. Vines play automatically and can keep looping to drive up the loop number, and there's no guarantee anyone is watching. Twitter, Vine's parent, would be wise to ensure that the loop stats represent something close to reality.

"The trick for Vine will be ensuring authenticity," said Jill Sherman, vp/group director, social, content strategy, DigitasLBi. "Vanity metrics can be rigged. We've see this with fake fans and paid likes. If Vine can overcome this, the loop count will inevitably carry some bragging creds."

4. Please give us unique viewer metrics. Since Vine's looping feature also enables the count to include numerous views by a single person, it doesn't give marketers the clearest sense of the size of the audience they are reaching. And brands welcome more data.

A unique viewer number would enable them "to effectively compare the performance of marketing efforts on Vine relative to other platforms such as Facebook," Kelly from Red Vines said. "You can't compare what you can't measure. Vine's ability to earn a spot in marketer's media plans will depend on their ability to provide measureable data that marketers can use to gauge the performance of their efforts."

5. It could drive up what Vine influencers get paid to work with brands. At least that's what influencer marketing folks such as Instabrand's Dahanwould lead you to believe.

"Influencers are all of sudden rethinking their rates across the board and now feel that they have the leverage to charge what they should," he claimed. "In addition, influencers incentives are now aligned with brands since now they're truly able to charge based on impression, meaning the better the content, the better the payout." 

Here's that Charmin's big Vine loops generator mentioned earlier in the post.

How Brands Are Using Vine to Reach Their Audiences

by Elizabeth Harper - Jul. 16, 2013 at 8:00 am

If you follow the old adage and believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much must a video be worth? Even a very short video would be worth tens of thousands of words. In the succinct world of social media, where an entire message needs to be communicated in just a few seconds, the communication power of video can’t be denied.

This is where micro-videos come in, and Twitter has jumped in to provide the social media community with a creative option. Twitter’s Vine service offers 6-second videos (while Facebook has cast its lot with Instagram’s 15-second video format). To see how these tiny videos are making a big splash in social circles, we spoke with three brands who have been using Vine to promote their work.

Why Use Vine’s Micro-Videos to Get the Message Across?

“The average attention span of an American adult is seven seconds,” explains Laura Spaventa, PR Manager with Vocus. “A Vine video is six seconds, so it gives you just enough time to grab someone’s attention and get your message across before that person loses interest. There’s so much noise and competition in today’s social media landscape, so why not drown out that noise with something creative and different?”

Vine’s extra short length — less than half the length of Instagram’s videos — is reminiscent of Twitter’s own 140-character limits. It forces video makers to be creative with their messaging since they have to communicate a lot with a little.

“For us, it was really welcome technology,” says Trupanion Social Media Manager Stacy Kowalchuk. The pet insurance firm has a pet-friendly workplace — and animals are always great fodder for social sharing. “We’ve always had pictures of what’s going on in the office, but we’ve never been able to show live action of what’s been going on.”

A new social network to figure out isn’t necessarily welcome to everyone, though. Chemda, with theKeith and The Girl comedy talk show, explains discovering Vine with trepidation. “As a company, it means more work on our end. Whether that means learning the new buttons, creating the presence, or promoting for followers,” Chemda tells us. “Vine clicked with me automatically though. As soon as I got the app, I felt like I knew what I was doing. There was a really small learning curve.”

The simplicity of the platform is definitely an advantage for time-pressed marketers. Videos can be shot in just a few seconds using only your smartphone — and even videos that require some planning and setup can be put together within 20 minutes. That may seem a long time for those used to quick text messages on Twitter or Facebook, but the time you’re spending can pay off in improved impact.

Integrating Vine Into Your Social Strategy

Since adopting the platform, Keith and The Girl has used Vine videos to introduce guests on the daily show, and the podcast has gotten great feedback on its video efforts. “Vine makes the introduction more interesting,” Chemda explains. “It does the job of not only giving the information that we’re trying to relay but it adds personality to it. People are more likely to click on the video and learn, quickly, about who is going to be on the show.”

Keith and The Girl also uses Vine to keep fans up to date on what hosts Keith and Chemda are up to. For example, a recent set of Vines showed Keith’s and Chemda’s differing methods of getting coffee while on vacation. In six seconds, these videos communicate a lot, giving fans old and new a feel for the identity of the show’s hosts and the sort of content to expect on the podcast.

At Vocus, Spaventa is constantly trying to come up with creative ways to promote things — and Vine’s been a natural fit. “We had two days to promote a Guy Kawasaki webinar, so obviously time was running out for people to register,” she tells us. “It clicked to me that ‘time’s ticking’ so I thought it would be different, interesting, to create a Vine featuring different watches of my colleagues. This was also a great way to get other people in our company involved with social. That not only helps colleagues further connect with our brand, but they also will usually share or retweet the video with their social audiences. This helps us get our message out to a wider audience than we would have by just sharing on our company’s social platforms.”

Why Vine Instead of Instagram?

Everyone we spoke with had great things to say about Vine, but none of them are using Instagram’s video feature regularly. You might think that Instagram’s longer videos — it’s no coincidence that Instagram’s 15-second length matches nicely with short television commercials — would be an advantage. However, the brevity of Vine — and the creative decisions that brevity forces you to make — is a big part of its appeal.

“if you only have six or seven seconds of footage,” Kowalchuk says, “you have to figure out something to fill out the rest of the time. I was just filming one of the dogs here who was talking, howling, and it only took five or six seconds.” When you don’t expect your viewer’s attention span to be longer than the 6-second length of a Vine, doubling that length can certainly be a hurdle.

“Vine is a different and creative way to engage with our audience, rather than just tweeting out a link to a blog post,” Spaventa tells us. “Right now, we have more followers on Vine than we do Instagram and I think that speaks to the value and creativity we’ve been able to showcase through Vine.”

And for Chemda, who was reluctant to jump on board with a new social network? “Vine is too fun not to keep using,” she says. That said, Instagram Video is gaining steam — and the backing of Facebook doesn’t hurt — so you should keep an eye on both.