Well, I have only been an intern here at Net-Results for three weeks, and already I can tell you that there are significant differences between college and the world of business. The interns here at Net-Results run a blog called Internlandia, where we get a chance to explore some of these dissimilarities. One of the most blatant differences between my life as a student at CU Boulder and my life as a marketing intern is how different social media platforms are utilized.
Being a college student, I am no stranger to social media, but tweeting about finals, instagramming the culinary masterpieces of the dining hall, or filming Vine videos of your reaction to the latest Game of Thrones episode is a completely different game from using social media for professional purposes. When using social media for marketing, the goal is to promote your company and educate your followers on relevant industry topics, while creating opportunities for interaction. This can be achieved very easily in more straight forward social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, but marketers need to think outside the box for some of the other more abstract platforms, such as Vine .
Vine is a platform designed by Twitter for the ipad or iphone, and allows users to upload six-second long videos that play on a loop. When it comes to Vine, creativity is key (Tweet This!). The more creative and entertaining your videos are the more people will share your videos. For example, one of the most circulated Vines was Tyra Banks reenacting Mommie Dearest in six seconds. Of course, Vines don’t need to be totally off the wall, but a little creativity goes a long way.
When it comes to using Vine for business, there are a few points of usefulness for both B2C and B2B companies, specifically, demonstrating products, customer satisfaction, and company culture.
1. Show off your product
Six seconds isn’t a whole lot of time for a product demonstration but show your product’s most intriguing or useful features to get people interested in it.
2. Educate about your products
Use your videos to show quick tips on how customers can better use your products. Perhaps you can have a daily series of quick tips.
3. Show satisfied customers
Many companies include customer reviews of their products and services on their websites, but a Vine of customers quickly stating their satisfaction makes it more convincing and creates valuable customer interaction.
4. Show company culture
Use Vine to show off your company culture. Vine is meant to be a fun and entertaining application, so use it to show the casual side of your company.
Since Vine is still a fairly new application, users are still exploring different ways to use it creatively. One of our white label marketing automation partners held a contest where they asked their customers to create Vine videos showing how they would automate their lives. Participants in the contest then had the opportunity of having their videos turned into a flipbook at a booth at SXSW. As Vine becomes a more widely used social media platform the possibilities to interact with prospective and existing customers continue to grow, so creating a presence on the application early on, will help to ensure your success.
