For those of you who were intimidated by the thought of marketing yourself on YouTube, here’s a video tool for you.Vine, Twitter’s new social media video app, allows you to make short videos on your computer or mobile device and easily upload them to your Vine, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. The catch? The videos are limited to six seconds—about the time it takes to utter a 140-character tweet.
Here’s how it works
First you download the app from iTunes to your computer or mobile device, then you sign in with your Twitter account or create a new account using your email address. You click the video icon in the upper right-hand corner and start shooting. It’s that simple. Touch the screen and hold it down, say, for two seconds. Let go, focus on a new image, and touch the screen again. Shoot that for two seconds, and then a third image for two seconds. Those three videos, totaling six seconds, will play on loop, like a super-animated gif. You can shoot one video of six seconds, twelve videos of a half a second each, any combination you want.
There are two ways to use Vine
1. As a really fun, really big time waster (like playing Angry Birds)
2. To build your author platform.
Building your author platform using Vine
How does one build one’s author platform using Vine? Here are my first two Vine videos, shot today and yesterday with my iPhone and no tripod. (If you want to put your iPhone on a tripod, check out the Gorillapod + GripTight or, if you have an iPhone 4/4S and you already have a tripod, try this other great iPhone/tripod adaptor that I just ordered.)
Here's my first Vine video.
Here's my second Vine video.
Although Vine does have sound and allows you just enough time to record about one sentence of text, most big brands that have experimented with Vine stick to visual messages—either through a montage of images à la Gap, through videos of text à la GE, or through stop-action animation à la Rolling Stone Magazine.
The possibilities are endless. If you sell handmade dolls on Etsy, for example (You all do that on the side, right?), you could show short clips of three or four different dolls followed by your logo or website name. Or you could show yourself hand painting the doll’s eyes, or a little girl’s face lighting up when she receives the doll. Like Twitter, Vine uses the “freedom of limitations” approach. By limiting the videos to six seconds, you’re free to experiment without spending hours trying to script complicated YouTube videos. One website recommends four steps to creating a great Vine video:
1. Decide on your message
2. Simplify that message
3. Name your call to action (visit my website, buy my book, follow me on Twitter)
4. Convey your message visually
Here's a challenge. Download Vine, create an account, create and post your first Vine video, and share it here in comments. It doesn't have to be brilliant or market your brand. But give it a try. It's a lot of fun.
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Tags: Introverts, Meghan, Networking, Twitter, Vine, Ward, Writerland, YouTube, for, marketing, More…
Comment
Comment by Meghan Ward on March 20, 2013 at 2:49pm Donna - There are some authors who spend all their time writing. They have little online presence and they're extremely talented at what they do. If you're good enough to get great reviews in the New York Times and win contests, then you can get away with it.
Thanks for keeping us informed on the newest ways to market and/or network. Now, I have to learn how to maneuver another social media road. Yikes. Do you think there'll ever be a day when writers can just write again?
Comment by Meghan Ward on March 19, 2013 at 10:28am Catherine - When you create the Vine video, it asks you which platforms you want it posted to. If you didn't choose Twitter, you can just go to your Vine page and tweet that URL. Please let us see it!
Comment by Meghan Ward on March 19, 2013 at 10:27am Mohana - Thanks for sharing your Vine video! I need to start making more kid Vines. It's perfect for that.
Comment by Meghan Ward on March 19, 2013 at 10:26am Elizabeth - Let us see your Vines once you do try it!
Comment by Meghan Ward on March 19, 2013 at 10:26am Cynthia - Yes, all Vines are limited to 6 seconds, so they'r'e VERY short. I hadn't noticed the background noise. You can't edit vines, so the only way to have music would be to have it playing when you shoot the Vine. I like that they can't be edited. Otherwise I'd fiddle with them forever and never post them.
Comment by Catherine Hiller on March 16, 2013 at 1:59pm Thanks! Through Vine, I've just created a 6-second video about my new book. Now how do I get it on Twitter -- or does it automatically end up there? And I'll happily post it to She Writes if someone will tell me how! It's just like writing a story: the writing is easy, the problem is getting it out there!
Comment by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar on March 14, 2013 at 11:41am It's not writing related, strictly speaking, but I do often use social media to talk about the mother side of me to balance out some of the writerly tweets/promos/posts. Here's my first Vine! vine.co/v/bdnKZQTztnQ. I've heard lots about it so thanks for reminding me to check it out.
Comment by Elizabeth Appell on March 12, 2013 at 11:00am Interesting, Meghan. I probably will try it. Thanks!
Comment by Cynthia Hartwig on March 12, 2013 at 9:51am Good work on your Vines, Meghan. I liked your "conflict" piece, even though short. I'd put some music behind both of yours (you have some overlap in background noise that is distracting). IMovie is unbelievably easy to use and the audio works great. Thanks for including the Gap stop motion example. That would be easy to recreate with images and quick cuts.
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Sonja Larsen liked Betsy Graziani Fasbinder's blog post Help Your Friends to Help Your Book Go Viral© 2013 Created by Kamy Wicoff.
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