Article

Vine vs. Instagram Video: Which platform is best for restaurants?

Video marketing may be the future of social media.

November 12, 2013 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Restaurants are always looking for new ways to engage customers and drive traffic to ultimately increase sales. Although social media platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter, are nearly a standard go-to for most restaurants trying to win fans, others are adding video sites to their marketing tool kits.

The two largest video platforms are Vine, owned by Twitter, and Instagram Video, owned by Facebook; both allow users to share short videos with their followers. And just as businesses hopped on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagons, they're starting to board these video platforms as well.

Take Barberitos, for example. The Georgia-based fast casual chain known for its farm-fresh food, joined Vine last month and has about 60 followers, but Katie Carswell, marketing assistant for Barberitos, expects that number to increase dramatically.

"We believe this platform is the future of social media," she said. "It allows a company to get their information out in a fun, interactive way that will draw the attention of many different demographics. Our Facebook page and Twitter pages are geared toward the college and older consumers; we are looking for our Vine to target more of the middle school, high school and college-age demographics. We feel videos will be able to give more insight than pictures into who we are a as a company."

The chain is working on a few Vine-specific promotions to help create a larger following on PepeDPepper, the official name of its Vine platform.

"We just had amazing success with a Halloween Social Media contest on Facebook with an increase in engagement of 799 percent in a week," Carswell said. "We are planning on doing something similar to get our fans talking and excited about following us to Vine. We have gotten some feedback about the frequency and content of our post from our current followers; we are taking this helpful insight into consideration as we move forward."

Instagram Video vs. Vine

Although Vine and Instagram Video are similar, there are a few major differences, said Nate Riggs, social media expert and FastCasual.com blogger. They include:

• Video Length: Vine = 6 seconds, Instagram = 15 seconds.
• Filters: Instagram = yes, Vine = no.
• Sharing: Instagram videos can be shared to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, email and Foursquare. Vine videos can only be shared to Vine, Facebook and Twitter.
• Embedding: Instagram videos cannot be embedded, while Vine videos can be embedded on sites and blogs, although it's tricky and takes a bit of time and a few work arounds, Riggs said.
• Editing: Instagram provides some editing ability in the app; Vine does not.
• Looping: Instagram = no, Vine = yes.
• Usability: Instagram video is more robust in features and flexibility, while Vine is simplistic and purposely limited to create ease/speed of use, Riggs said.
• Usage: Instagram has 150 million monthly active users, while Vine has only 40 million. Instagram's large user base comes from how popular Instagram has been with sharing photos. The platform just recently launched the video capabilities this summer, however.
• Allows paid advertising: Instagram =yes, Vine = no.

Riggs believes that the fact that Instagram allows paid advertising makes it more valuable and expects Vine to soon follow suit. He points at the success that Designer Michael Kors has had with Instagram Ads. Notrogram, an offshoot analytics company has reported that the returns on the campaign generated in terms of engagement with the ad, which could be seen as impressions, was about 3.57 percent.

"In the context of social advertising, that's about double what we see in terms of Facebook ads, Twitter, etc., as a typical trend," Riggs said. "You also have to consider that for Facebook, Instagram's holding company, ad revenue is core to the business model, so there are a lot of resources being put behind this to make sure it works. While I think restaurants need to experiment with both, having the advantage of advertising inside a social network can help brands get a leg up. It takes time to build presence on social networks organically. Ads are a quick way to get things moving and have incremental success."

Creating content

Marketing interns at Barberitos have been creating Vine videos that teach customers what to expect when visiting one of the restaurants.

"We are trying to give someone a sense of what we do and the great service they will receive when they are a customer of Barberitos," Carswell said. "We will begin adding videos that represent Barberitos' involvement in the community, our dedication to fresh ingredients, and the quality of food we produce. We believe in transparency and that the consumer should always know what they are getting when they come to a Barberitos. We are hoping that when we grow a larger following, we can begin adding promotional information, contests, and more interactive activity on Vine."

Similar to the way Barberitos uses Vine, Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Verve Coffee Roasters, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, post a variety of videos on Instagram Video. Verve often features videos that teach customers about their products. For example, this one features the pouring technique of its baristas, which may or may not entice someone to buy a coffee, Riggs said.

"In featuring the pour, a case can be made that VerveCofee is showing the quality of their espresso pours," he said. "While the video entices likes on Instagram, it's not going to drive traffic through the doors to purchase more espresso. For that, there needs to be some type of practical value offered in the close of the video in a way that calls the viewer to action. This could be as simple as a list of locations or some type of offer, hand written on a sign."

Should you be on both platforms?

Although both Vine and IV are both free, it still takes employees to feed the content beast. If those resources are there, Riggs said, it's always good to start experimenting on both.

"But, fail fast. Try both and see which one resonates with your audience the most. Eventually, you will want to pick one and commit in order to get more traction," he said. "All that said, you can't ignore Instagram's user base as well as the ties to Facebook. People often forget that Facebook is the largest social network on the planet. Facebook and Instagram are still in the lead in terms of data, users, dollars and consumers' time spent."

Although Barberitos focuses on Vine, it's also on Instagram but only posts pictures for now.

"We have not yet begun adding videos to Instagram, but have considered doing so in the future. We have tried to use each platform in a different way to best reach our consumers," Carswell said, who admitted using Facebook and Campaign Monitor for most promotional information but said Instagram has been great for smaller promotion of food items, monthly deals and photos of fans.

"We are trying to get into video now, and that is why we have joined Vine," she said. "We have seen this platform grow rapidly in the younger demographic and that is a target market we really want to begin tapping into in the coming year."

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Cover photo: By Matt Nazario

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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