While some may be only a few seconds, the impact of micro-videos can be huge.

The benefits of micro-video are numerous as a promotion tool, sharing information and a look at business cultures among other attributes.

With the evolving visual web – supported by platforms such as Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram – and the proliferation of mobile devices, among of consumer trends, we are seeing a new wave of media: micro-video. In essence, short, bite-sized clips of video that can be easily made and shared primarily from mobile devices.

Probably two of the most notable names in the micro-video scene are Twitter’s Vine and Instagram. Others include Vigi, Twitvid, and Socialcam.

Vine is a mobile service that lets people quickly capture and create looping video clips. And of course, Twitter continued to embrace brevity, allowing videos to be a maximum of six seconds. Since their launch last January, they have seen some impressive growth, with over 13 million users sharing an estimated 12 million videos a day on Twitter (as of June 2013). Even more recently it was said that nearly five tweets per second contain a Vine link (via 7^th Chamber). A few months after the launch of Vine, Instagram showed their take on micro-video when they rolled out video mode where users could make video clips up to fifteen seconds. With Instagram’s strong user base (~150M active monthly users), it wasn’t a surprise to see immediate uptake – a reported 5 million videos uploaded in the first 24 hours.

As the features and services continue to evolve, it will be interesting to watch how the micro-video space grows. Vine recently announced two new features – the ability to save posts to work on later and the ability to edit a post before you share it on Vine or another social network. Nonetheless, there have been some exciting examples of businesses tapping into these tools for a variety of uses.

Here are a few examples:

Sharing news and information

In this case, the literal sense of sharing news…USA Today cleverly took to Vine to preview the day’s top stories, offering a six second clip of the major headlines. Think about how you might be able to highlight reports, press releases, newsletters, etc. with this different medium.

Giving a glimpse into office culture

Inbound marketing company Hubspot used Instagram video to show off some new office space. Consider how this could help in attracting talent to your business – perhaps sharing new space like the example here, big milestones, or just some of the day-to-day office shenanigans.

Promoting upcoming events and announcements

Whether it’s events you’re hosting or products being launched, this medium can be a creative way to make announcement. Taco Bell took to Vine last spring to announce a new product.