VINE
Vine is a mobile app that allows users to create six-second looping video snippets with their mobile device. Think of it like Twitter, but for short video clips instead of text. These videos can then be shared on your Twitter and Facebook personal profiles. (Note: Business pages are exempt from sharing.) Vine videos are easy to create and don't require you to be a professional videographer or editor. All you have to do is simply tap the camera icon to start recording and then tap the video to stop and restart the recording. To search Vine videos on Twitter for a specific topic, enter, “vine.co” and then your keyword. (For example, “vine.co investing.”) When viewing Vine videos in your Twitter feed, simply click on the video to get it to stop the loop.
How Can I Use Vine for Financial Services?
Vine is the video equivalent to adding an image to your tweets. It's a customized way to visually engage a viewer with your message. Much like other forms of social media, financial firms are creatively using Vine to highlight new products and services, tell a story about their brand, offer behind-the-scenes office insight and personality, and connect with consumers. Flere are some examples of how businesses are using Vine to their advantage:
■ Illustrate a Message – American Family Insurance (@AmFam) is constantly using the app to visually share simple messages and promote their content. By creating helpful how-to videos, AmFam generates high engagement and shares while keeping their brand top-of-mind.
■ Show Your Work – A portfolio manager from Chicago (@bbolanl) uses Vine videos on Twitter to show customers he's hard at work managing his buy and hold recommendation service, Home Run Investor.
■ Promote an event – My personal favorite is Morningstar Advisor's Vine campaign launched in June 2013 to “celebrate 25 years of sharing investing ideas and insight at the Morningstar Investment Conference.” They invited conference attendees to tweet Vine videos finishing the sentence, “Investing is . . .”. The videos flew in attached to the conference's hashtag, #MIC25. This is a great example of how to have your audience create content for you using this app. Check out Bill Winter- berg's (@BillWinterberg) creative response to the campaign challenge in Figure 17.6.
Because Vine is linked to Twitter, if you're comfortable tweeting away and attaching images to your tweets, it's easy to consider this tool as a next step for a social media savvy professional. Those who enjoy the creative
FIGURE 17.6 Bill Winterberg on Vine
process of social media may enjoy the new opportunity for artistic inspiration that Vine provides. On the other hand, if you're just starting up in the social media scene and still finding your feet, Vine isn't something you should be concerned about learning. Focus on the basics of growing your network and engaging on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. It's critical you walk before you run with your social media. Once you get comfortable using these platforms, then you can start exploring different social media applications.
As you can see, there is a plethora of social networks to be involved in. They all have their unique advantages, audiences, limitations, and beneficial aspects of business and social interaction. I advise you to research them all, but don't forget to consider the most relevant networks among the basics (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+) and then move on.
