4 Things Brands Need to Know About the New ‘YouTube For Vines’

Twitter just launched a YouTube for Vines, Vine.co, and it’s great news for brands.

“YouTube for Vines” may sound like a half-baked Silicon Valley VC pitch, but Vine.co actually pretty cool. The new platform gives Vine its first robust desktop experience, and it features a search engine, just like YouTube. It’s an exciting move because Vine is one of the most fun and creative platforms on the web, and discovering the best of Vine just got a lot easier. Here’s what brands need to know.

The power of the playlist

Vine.co is Twitter’s attempt at organizing the Vine ecosystem into playlists and themes, similar to how Spotify organizes music via a navigable interface. There’s a lot of room to use this layout to your advantage in terms of giving users what they want and helping them find your best content.

For Vine, the “stream” approach to content creation and discovery just makes sense. It’s silly to consume only one Vine—they’re just six seconds long. Instead, users binge on dozens of Vines at a time. Playlists make this easy—for an example, watch these 15 incredible basketball shots.

Clearly, brands should start creating Vines with playlists in mind, grouping them around certain themes. And coming up with great headlines for those playlists will also make it much easier for users to find and consume your content.

A new kind of channel

In addition, Vine.co curates Vines into various channels, such as Animals, Art, and DIY. It’s very similar to YouTube, right down to the fun illustrated icons. Needless to say, creating content that fits into one of these channels is just a smart move; getting featured will likely give your content a significant boost.

Partnerships

Given all the similarities between Vine and YouTube, it’s safe to say that many of the types of partnerships and strategies that worked on YouTube transfer over to Vine. If you find a Vine artist you think will suit your brand, reach out to them and see if they’ll promote your content or link to you. Many “Vine stars” already do this.

The need to be native

There are plenty of websites dedicated to teaching tricks for creating great Vines. There are even sites specifically for brands. The key to creating content that feels native to the platform seems to be manipulating perspective and the element of surprise within a short burst of narrative. Also, it’s okay to go a little crazy. After all, you only have six seconds to make your mark.

Have a look at these blogs for more tips and tricks:

Brands on Vine

The Art of Stop Motion on Vine

How to Add Special Effects on Vine

How to use Vine Sessions and Time Travel

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