If a 60-second video is a dinner date, then Vine – the short-form video app owned by Twitter – is the opening flirt across a crowded bar.
Let’s dissect the anatomy of the flirt: the wink, the blown kiss from a loved one. These familiar tactics are short-form moments that bring joy.
At Virgin Mobile, we call these surprise and delight moments the “Virgin Touch.” Our goal is to shower customers with tons of little metaphorical kisses, hoping that a few stick. Virgin flirts constantly with hopes that some of these moments are shared, which in turn adds to the mythology of our brand.
Vine was brought to my attention by Gary Vaynerchuk, the Internet maven who started his career as a YouTube celebrity. He had the bold idea, along with Jerome Jarre, to start a new company called Grape Story that would solely represent Vine stars and connect them with brands.
At the time, he was putting the final touches on his new book, “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook,” which focuses on the multiple touches a brand needs to do to break through and win a prospect.
Virgin Mobile was the first brand that would partner with Grape Story on Vine and would attract top-tier talent to help bring awareness to our brand.
At its core, Vine is about “rubbernecking” – distracting your attention for a mere instant with hopes for a payoff.
For some it’s an attractive passing stranger. For others it’s a car accident at the end of a long traffic jam. Either way, for a brand to break through on the platform, you need to reduce your message or brand essence to a simple beat, and then set up for the payoff of that beat. All in six seconds.
Though this may sound daunting, there are considerable benefits. Vine videos automatically repeat after they play, so your moment’s frequency will deliver roughly three times for a given user (if they enjoy the video, that is).
Within three weeks of launching our Vine relationship with Grape Story, we gained over 30,000 followers (and are trending to hit 100,000 followers in a month or so).
Viners have the unique ability to tell a breakthrough story in six seconds and can build an organic following because of this skill.
According to our friends at Grape Story, there is no famous Viner that gained fame in another platform before joining Vine. Engaging fans in such short time is a talent. Brands can learn plenty from those who’ve mastered the art of digital flirting.
(Ron Faris is head of brand marketing at Virgin Mobile USA.)
