Vine Tribes:
How the Drama Kids are Winning the Mobile Video War and why it Matters
Show-offs, goofballs, comedians, artists, musicians and drama kids have found their tribes in the Vine community. It takes one to know one, so I’m here to tell you why this simple little mobile video app that lets us make six second skits and songs to share with friends and strangers is so powerful, and why it will change the way we all buy and sell things.
My name is @juliejulie. I’m a storyteller, a drama kid and a Viner. Vine has changed my life. Vine turns my phone into an interactive TV I carry around in my pocket. I make six second skits with my kids, my dog, my boyfriend @kwrkey, and a bunch of new best stranger-friends all over the world by tapping my finger on my phone a few times, then hitting a little green check mark to “post.” Bam! Easy, and oh so powerful.
If Twitter is a junkie for writers, Vine is like crack for drama kids:
Yes. I know. We are ridiculous. We just can’t help it. We were born drama-kids. It’s in our DNA. And now, finally, the whole world really is our stage.
We, the content creators on Vine, are sharing stories, skits and songs through mobile video with an audience who chooses to follow us. The instant ping of “like” we hear from our phone when we post is Pavlovian. Want more likes? Make more Vines. We quickly learn what our audience wants, and we adapt. Vine is the ultimate “lean” tool for entertainers and marketers. It’s so easy to pivot!
On Vine, I can scroll through channels to watch other people’s lives, but only the parts they want me to see, in six second snippets. I show them my life, in real time, but at my leisure. I can talk to other Viners through comments on our Vine posts instantly, or when convenient, as if we’re texting.
Mark my words, this is the big opportunity for brands. Real people can now sell real products to other real people when it’s all personal and part of an ongoing story line, quickly and easily. Once brands figure out how to tap into the small, interconnected tribes that circle throughout the Vine community and sell by telling authentic stories, things will get even more interesting, for all of us.
In the world of marketing there are content creators, influencers, and content consumers. Brands need all three to spread their message. Vine has given the masses a simple new way to create, distribute and consume small sound bites of video on our mobile devices, using art, stop motion animation, stories, jokes and songs. Everything a storyteller needs, right at our fingertips. This is powerful stuff.
Talented influencers have risen to the top of the Vine heap with millions of followers, but there are millions more of us who use Vine who don’t need to be famous; we are playing and entertaining each other, and sharing our stories for fun. Brands who want to market to us are just starting to figure out ways to encourage us to tell stories for them by creating contests and hashtags so we can all teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony, 6 seconds at a time, in one huge #SongCollab.
@Kwrkey and I tune into Vine every night to watch Ryan Koch (@JRK on Vine) and his wife Laura Koch (@LauKo on Vine), the goofball-sheep hat-wearing-jitterbug dancing Canadians with three little girls. Because they are funny, and real, as you can see:
Lowes, Snapple, and many other brands are using top stop motion artists and like Meagan Cignoli, Pinot,Jethro Ames and Khoa to tell stories and sell product. This is smart, because the popular people have audience, make fantastic content, and their creative art moves customers with visual stories.
Brands like Urban Outfitters and eBay Now are doing a marvelous job of drawing us into their stores and offices, and making us feel like we’re not just customers, but part of their hip, fun tribe.
I completely appreciate the talent of the hilarious young comedians of Vine like Nicholas Megalis, Jordan Burt, KC James and @BrittanyFurlan who entertain me and my teenagers nightly. I especially like how they interact with their fans (including me, hi Nicholas!) and I’ve even pitched the idea of using some of these guys in ad campaigns to marketing managers I work with, because it would be a very smart move and a way to reach a huge market we’re after for one of our products, I think.
And for heaven’s sake, someone should sign up dear Rob Johnston, the ultimate drama kid/journalist who tries harder than most all of us combined to get to his goal of 100k followers to become Vine verified. Just go follow him on Vine. Please.
But brands don’t have to depend solely on the famous (or almost famous) to make an impact. The Vine tribe is diverse, though it might not seem like it at first glance if you are just scanning the popular pages on Vine. We are not all 18-24 living in our parent’s basement, or famous boy bands or cute cheerleaders.
If you drill down a bit, you can find people who aren’t smack-camming each other, but are smack in the middle of leading pretty normal lives: going to school, working on careers, and raising kids. I know from watching my tribe on my phone that most of us live in nice neighborhoods, drive decent cars, own laptops, and of course, have smart phones.
We talk to each other, and support each other, and chat with the high school kids and the 24 year olds who happen to find us. We play games together, entertain and encourage each other, and even raise money for good causes, all through Vine.
We also buy things, and tell each other about the things we buy. So help us help you, dear brands. We finally found our stage! The storytellers and drama kids might not inherit the earth, but we will tell everyone about it, and maybe sing a song and share a laugh or two in the process. Tap dancing costs extra.
Please join us on our new adventure over at www.thatisremarkable.com where we will travel to meet other Viners and Remarkable people and share their stories.
Bio: @juliejulie is a middle-aged mom with three teenagers who works in marketing and innovation at a big tech company. She grew up watching Carol Burnet, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke and Mr. Rogers. Julie was a drama kid who wanted to be a movie star, but accidentally started selling data analytics for money, and her Hollywood career never really worked out, although she did sell a suitcase she decorated with puff paint to Julia Roberts once, and produced a stellar video about taking her mannequin to a U2 concert in Vegas. Still, she’s not even close to almost Vine famous. Yet.
@juliejulie’s boyfriend @kwrkey has two boys and works as a resource and financial forecasting manager in the aviation industry. He was also a drama kid who can tap dance, run surprisingly fast in cowboy boots, and is a talented singer/songwriter who played in a band for many years. Real life and the lure of health benefits keep these two off the streets of Hollywood and Nashville, but together, @juliejulie and @kwrkey can still show up in your pocket, on your phone, anytime, anywhere, via the magic of Vine, along with all their other crazy drama kid friends.
