Quick! Don’t Blink That Was A Micro-video
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 Twitters 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 7th 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 Instagrams strong user base (~150M active monthly users), it wasnt 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 days 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 its events youre 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.
