Last week, Twitter released a new app for creating and sharing short looping videos on the social network, called Vine. Many brands have begun to get creative with the app already, using it for marketing messages and brand engagement (check some out here). But in terms of crisis communications, think of what these 6 second video loops, with sound, can do for your brand in terms of communicating your message in an engaging and catchy way in a crisis.
However, it also presents a new form of an already existing risk for brand online: the risk of someone recording a form of negativity and uploading it to the Internet. With Vine, this type of situation risks going viral faster than a tweet that links to the same video on YouTube, because it’s right there in everyone’s stream, right on Twitter. Think back to the crisis FedEx experienced when one of their delivery guys was caught carelessly throwing a package over the recipient’s gate, on camera. This video has over 8 million views on YouTube and went viral almost instantly. Imagine how many more views it may have reached had it also been a 6 second looping video trending on Twitter.
What should your brand be doing, right now, with the launch of Vine?
Vine is definitely an app that your company or organization needs to:
- Get familiar with
- Identify the risks and opportunities that it may present to your brand
- Plan for these risks and these opportunities within your crisis management plan
It’s never been a secret that your crisis plan needs to be evaluated and updated regularly today. With the launch of Vine and the potential opportunities and risks that it presents to your organization online, now is one of those times to evaluate and update your crisis plan.
If you’re interested, here’s a Mashable post that elaborates on how to share Vine videos on Tumblr.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Good post, Melissa. I was greeted with porn when I logged into Vine today, which confirmed what I've read in the news over weekend. Yes, this can be a great tool but I also think that if the company doesn't filter out the porn (like Facebook and YouTube do) then it will never be taken seriously by the business community and will end up being just another porn site. I hope I'm wrong because I see many advantages to using it proactively. And as you always point out, whenever a new social media channel appears (especially those that are so easy to use and that can upload content quickly) the risk to business reputation rises with the social media network's popularity.
Rich, you're absolutely right. I haven't experienced the porn yet, but I do trust that Twitter will take care of it… or rather, I hope. I suppose we shall see. Though no matter what, it's a tool that will be used by consumers on some level (lower level if the porn sticks around) so it still presents the same risks to organizations. It's important to be aware of these risks and to plan for them. It's what a crisis plan is all about – staying ahead of the game! 😉