Will marketers leap onto Vine following new, separate kids version?
Vine?s introduction of Vine Kids could be the beginning of an opportunity for mobile marketers to dive wholeheartedly into efforts on the original platform given that less mature audiences will no longer be a burden of consideration.
Currently, brands are mostly using the platform for content distribution, but given the success in Twitter?s promoted tweets, the absence of minors will open doors for more marketers to leverage Vine. Twitter?s next step is likely to integrate advertising capabilities on the mobile-first platform.
?Parents may be much more likely to allow their children to use Vine for kids versus the main Vine app since there is a separate app that is confined to use for kids five and under,? said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta. ?Since the content is created by the Twitter staff and it doesn't appear that there is a way for users to upload content, this limits the abilities for marketers to utilize the kids app for marketing purposes for now.
?If or when Twitter/Vine decides to allow users to upload content to the kids vine app, then it would indeed be a perfect venue for uploading marketing content to kids,? she said.
Building capabilities
While top brands, including Coca-Cola and Lord & Taylor, manage accounts on Vine to deliver seven-second-long video clips of promotional content, mobile advertising solutions could obviously help Twitter monetize the platform.
Meanwhile, marketers are up against consumers? high expectations when it comes to mobile ads. There is a strong force requiring brands and retailers to be creative and ensure ad content is interactive, personalized and relative.
Vine is an ideal location for creative content that also attracts young audiences. Additionally, video content is most often consumed via mobile devices. Users are interested in this type of content during idle time.
Twitter definitely has an advantage in this space. Its promoted tweets are frequently used to reach social users, who are most often checking their news feeds on mobile devices.
In addition to mere ads, brands would need the ability to utilize deep-linking and commerce-enabled capabilities, similar to Twitter?s offerings. When considering Twitter?s success in the space, it is likely a similar task to implement these solutions on Vine.
Marketers have to tip toe in their efforts when children are involved. However, the elimination of young viewers can help marketers act more freely.
On the other hand
Vine Kids could open doors to similar monetization aptitudes. Kid marketers could leverage the new platform and could therefore keep efforts solely geared toward young audiences and their parents.
In 2014, brands solely used Vine to push its products, which did not seem to be so successful in driving conversion or long-term engagement.
At the time, while brands including Target, GE and Urban Outfitters were nailing creating compelling Vine content, the majority of marketers? attempts with the video application remained stuck on pushing products.
Twitter-owned Vine made a significant splash in the marketing world when it launched in 2013 as a platform for marketers to push the limits of creative video within seconds. As the momentum grows around short mobile video content, the need for moving away from content that solely promotes sales is becoming more important in 360-degree digital campaigns (see story).
?It appears that marketers can use vine now to promote their products through video, and quite a few have, including Dove and Toyota to name a couple,? Ms. Troutman said. ?The terms of Vine do specify very clearly that any and all content is subject to removal at anytime if inappropriate to the audience but also states that all content is put up at the users? own risk, and Vine is not responsible for any litigation that could ensue on ?adult content? or otherwise, but will if needed, remove and ban a user from use.
?Even with the age restriction on Vine, users could not be truthful about their age, and end up viewing non-age appropriate content,? she said. ?As with most social networks, Vine?s terms of service specify that the service could not be appropriate for users under 13 and parents can ask to have a child?s account removed.?
Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York