I heard it through the grape Vine! | Travel Research Online

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I heard it through the grape Vine!

I heard it through the grape Vine!

I am not talking about the awesome Marvin Gaye song, I am talking about the latest social media platform—Vine. I know, we all need another social media platform like we need a hole in the head, but this one is an easy one and you can likely just use it when you like and forget about it.

What is Vine?

We all should know by now that today’s consumer has the attention span of a flea. What used to be sent in a lengthy email is now sent in 140 characters or less on Twitter.  And since Twitter seems to have the corner on brevity, they developed a video product to match—enter Vine; a six-second video platform. It is currently only available for the iPhone, but an Android version is expected soon, and I suspect they will eventually get a web based version as well.

According to the company

Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.

How can I use it?

What can you do with six seconds? With a little creativity and thought–a lot! To take a video, you touch the screen and hold it for whatever duration you like. Release. And then take your next “scene”. The neat thing about Vine is that the six seconds do not need to be consecutive, so you can spend a day in Aruba. (Note: the ability to embed these is only a few days old, they should start playing, but if not, click the image and another window will open.)

 

    

 

A tour of the famous strip in Las Vegas.

 

 

Or how a quick tour around London?

 

 

So, there is no real time for “advertising” but certainly your profile will have your contact information.  And with enough vines, your name will spread. The beauty of the platform, in my opinion is that aside from the video, there is minimal interaction. It is pure visual. Take a video and forget about it. No babysitting needed. I operate a weekend trip to a dude ranch twice a year. I can create a vine that highlights the meals, the horses, the nightlife, the rooms, and staff to give my clients a very little taste of the fun we have. The speed of it also tends to create a sense of urgency. Ever have a client tell you they are afraid they will be bored on a ship? If they have six seconds, you can show them how wrong they are. You can give a prospect an idea of what the inside of a cabin might look like on a Princess ship.

 

 

The possibilities are endless. Create a library of vines on your website using very brief clips from brochures to highlight a resort or a destination, nothing says that the images used need to be moving. 

Have you used Vine yet?  What do you think? Do you have any ideas on how you can use it?

PS:  Wait, one more–just to show how creative you can get!

 

  2 thoughts on “I heard it through the grape Vine!

  1. Brenda says:

    Very neat! I hadn’t consider it but I think it’s great for travel! I love that you can embed the videos on a blog post too.

  2. I had seen VINE before but just for personal sharing and didn’t think it had much relevance to travel. But thanks for showing how quick we can grab attention and not take valuable time from our clients – to share travel tidbits, hints, highlights. I have a bunch of video clips from previous travels I haven’t had the time to ‘stitch’ together and may give VINE a chance to get bit of it out there!

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