Happy Birthday Vine! See How the Internet Celebrates

It’s been one whole year since Twitter officially introduced the world to Vine on January 24, 2013. The mobile app—acquired by Twitter some months before its roll out in October 2012—has been doing exponentially well, having acquired millions of users in only 12 months.  Vine was one of many social concepts to take rise over the past 12 months; however, it was only one of few to make a real impact on the social and marketing scene.

happy birthday

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Why Shorter Is Better When it Comes to Your Blog Copy

shutterstock_115785298Let’s face it… you are swamped. From logging the 9 to 5 grind (uh… more like 9 to 7) to squeezing in parent-teacher meetings to trying to plan something special for the weekend with a loved one, there are simply not enough hours in the day. Well, guess what? Your consumers feel the same way.

In fact, your target market is so inundated with daily tasks that they are in search of pointed, succinct marketing pitches. Just to give you some perspective on the information overload you are currently experiencing, consider the following:

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Why Every Brand Needs Instagram: As Told by a Newly Addicted Instagrammer

instagram picAs you read this, your competitors are Instagramming. They’re carefully filtering photos, sharing videos that are unique to their brand and garnering “likes” for the custom-tailored content they’re delivering to an audience of over 100 million users. For those of you who have aptly adapted to this online photo- and video-sharing/social networking service, you deserve a hearty pat on the back. However, for those of you who still linger outside of the Instagram universe, you’re unfortunately charging toward a very rude awakening. Continue reading “Why Every Brand Needs Instagram: As Told by a Newly Addicted Instagrammer”

Lowes Lends a Helping Hand with Awesome Content Marketing Campaign

Lowes Vine VideosLet me start by saying that I don’t consider myself handy by any means (when I need a quick fix, my father always taught me that there’s nothing like some strong duct tape to do the trick). That’s exactly why Lowe’s “Fix In Six” campaign caught my attention. Before I knew it, the initiative – which leverages the power of Vine to share quick how-to and fix it videos – had me itching to snap on some protective goggles and get my hands on a few power tools.

I quickly realized that Fix In Six – a Tumblr blog displaying the Vine videos – could come quite in handy for those working around the house.  Ever use a Post-It to catch the dust from drilling a hole in your wall? A potato to remove a broken light bulb? Cinnamon to keep bugs out of your sandbox?

Absolutely brilliant.

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The (Unofficial) Ten Social Media Commandments for Content Marketers

social mediaWe all have some set of rules that we abide by. For example, I would consider mine to be treating others kindly, being slow to speak and being quick to listen, among others. But before I get too philosophical, let’s take a look at ten lessons every content marketer should be zeroing in on, inspired by this recent post from Buffer (props!). I now present to you the (unofficial) ten social media commandments that every content marketer should be heeding:

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Instragram Incorporates Video

Instagram revealed this week that it will be rolling out video to its users. As noted in a blog post:

Over the past two and a half years, Instagram has become a community where you can capture and share the world’s moments simply and beautifully. Some moments, however, need more than a static image to come to life. Until now those stories have been missing from Instagram.

instagramvideoThe new video feature comes with thirteen filters which allow you to change the colors and feel of each video. The addition of video seems like a natural fit for Instagram, which focuses on everything visual. Businesses will now be able to share more interactive, behind-the-scenes moments and users are sure to download fun videos to share with their friends in short, 15 second clips.

With online video accounting for 50% of mobile traffic, it’s no wonder that social networks are jumping on the video train – and this number is predicted to grow to 55% by 2016. For businesses, this can mean huge marketing opportunity, especially when you factor in that 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions.

What kind of impact will video have on Instagram? When Vine was introduced to Twitter, it didn’t seem like as natural of a fit. I predict video being more widely accepted on Instagram.

How will you use video in your Instagram strategy? Let us know!

Everything You Need to Know About Using Vine for Content Marketing – Part 2

In part one of this series, we discussed the basics of Vine and why it should play an integral role in your company’s content marketing strategy. However, knowing the history of this mobile video sharing app and what it is simply isn’t enough to augment sales, bolster brand awareness and secure leads.

Sure, it helps to know that Vine videos are four times more likely to be shared than branded online videos and that four days worth of YouTube videos are shared on Twitter every minute. But, in today’s image-centric and social media driven world, it is most vital to know how this critical tool can be leveraged to support your unique business objectives. Otherwise, these numbers have no meaning.

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Everything You Need to Know About Using Vine for Content Marketing – Part 1

vineVine – a mobile app acquired by Twitter back in October 2012 – has quickly made its way into our social media schedules and hearts. Whether it’s being used to propose to your significant other (yes, it’s happened) or being leveraged by a business looking to broaden its social media horizons, the app has exploded since its initial release on January 24, 2013. In fact, in less than five months since being introduced to the public, Vine not only became the most used video-sharing application on the market, but also the number one most downloaded free app within the iOS App Store.
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