Did you hear the (social media) news? In late January, Twitter introduced Vine – a mobile service that lets users share short, looping videos. Here at Point2, we're always interested in the marketing potential for new social media developments and, since you're in the increasingly social real estate business, we think you should be, too.

Here's what real estate professionals need to know about Vine:

Vine Points

• Easily create and upload unlimited 6-second videos with audio component
• Instantly post videos on Vine, then share them on Twitter and Facebook
• Find, follow and interact with your sphere of influence
• Use hashtags like you do on Twitter
• For iPhone users only (at present)
• Available free from the App Store

Will Vine help you sell a house in six seconds? Probably not. But there is definite potential for creating engaging videos with real estate marketing applications. Vine's integrated recording feature lets you effortlessly edit video clips together, so you can produce both tiny stop-motion videos and seamless footage.

Best Vine Practices

DO:

• Share posts that include your personality. No one likes a real estate robot.
• Create Vine videos that showcase your selling areas to establish yourself as a neighborhood expert.
• Make helpful instruction videos. You have six seconds; what can your audience learn in six steps?
• Like and comment on others' posts.

DON'T:

• Only post listings – this applies to all social media! If you're only advertising yourself, instead of interacting with your community, you are being antisocial. Think water cooler, not billboard.

See for Yourself

Here is an example of Vine being used for real estate by a real estate broker (click the speaker to turn volume on). What do you think? Can you think of other ways to use Vine to market to your niche?

Like any new platform, we can't predict how successful or lasting Vine will be in the long run, but we think Vine is worth a test run. It's kind of like Instagram for moving pictures. What do you think about Vine?

P.S. In the mood for a little shameless voyeurism? Check out Vinepeek for a stream of public, 6-second videos. You might peek at babies, recipes, travels, pets, who knows... Fair warning: it's addictive!

To view the original article, visit the Point2 blog.