Instagram or Vine?

For this week’s blog, I wanted to find a really interesting topic. I avoided anything about Twitter, and instead, I found an article (article as in very little text with lots of videos) about businesses using Vine.

I know brands have been using Instagram for a while now and taking advantage of the platform’s video option, but I had no idea businesses were also using Vine for marketing and advertising. I have only accessed Vine via Twitter, and when it first became popular, I thought Vine was fun for kids but overall somewhat dumb and pointless. After seeing the Vine videos of these 15 brands, I think differently now. They are so neat!

I notice similarities across all the videos: bright, bold colors and creativity. They all share craftiness which makes the brand look fun and exciting. I watch the videos and all I think is, wow, how do people come up with this stuff?

In comparison to Instagram, Vine seems to be a useful platform for creative brands. They are like mini commercials with loads of originality. Videos on Instagram seem out of place, and I personally like companies using Instagram for photos only. Vine is the perfect example of a social media platform that may not be appropriate for just any brand to use. Vine has a younger, more energetic crowd, so colorful and lively brands targeting a younger, humorous crowd should take advantage of Vine.

Update from writing this post earlier:

I may sound a little contradicting, but here are my thoughts now. I just installed the Vine app on my phone to see what all the fuss is about it. I don't hate it, but it is a little overwhelming. Businesses could easily become obnoxious or annoying if they use it too much. Unlike Instagram, Vine is just video, and noise and fast images become overwhelming, which makes me not want to use the app as much as I do Instagram.

I think Instagram is more useful when targeting an older audience compared to the audience on Vine because Instagram is a subtler approach to building brand awareness and being transparent to consumers. Instagram is smart to have the video as an option. Brands are able to post pictures daily (or multiple times per day) without being too loud and in-your-face, and then they can add videos every once in awhile all using the same platform. 

What do you think about companies using Vine?