With the launch of its new service called Vine, Twitter is hoping to do for video what it has already done for text –shrink it into bite-sized bits that are quickly and easily shared.

Available as a free app for iOS devices (with other platforms coming soon), users can splice together six seconds of looping video for quick viewing. The animation can be one continuous shot, or as many quick cuts as one can fit into six seconds. Vine videos can be embedded into Twitter streams, or shared on personal websites or other social media sites like Tumblr.

It’s easy to imagine what some creative public relations managers might do with this new tool. And many proactive brands are already testing the waters. GE, Ritz Crackers, Dove and Urban Outfitters are some of the major brands to have already posted their own Vine videos. Are any of them ground-breaking achievements likely to lead to a boost in sales? Probably not, but that sort of misses the point.

A Personal Touch

Savvy brand managers learned a long time ago that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are more about interactive dialogue rather than one-way promotions. Social media creates opportunities for more direct interaction, and Vine videos will allow for that interaction to be more personal than ever.

These brief micro-videos can be used to provide a quick, no-budget, no-frills look past the sparkling veneer of finished ads and into the human side of a company. For example, companies might post Vine videos featuring:

• A quick product demo
• Visual menus, or daily restaurant specials
• The view from the trade show floor
• The face of a customer service rep responding to a question or complaint
• A special thank-you to certain customers, clients, or partners
• Holiday greetings
• A teaser trailer for a longer presentation on another channel, such as YouTube

Time will tell whether this new app will succeed. But it certainly creates some intriguing opportunities for marketers who are willing to give it a try.

Groupthink, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics.”

Such conformity to group opinion can be a real danger when company leaders, believing that they and those around them have an accurate sense of their brand’s reputation, fail to generate external feedback prior to making branding decisions. Brand evaluation and reorganization can be a very positive and healthy thing. Every business must evolve to survive. Messages need to be updated. Websites refreshed. Ads evaluated. But when tackling these challenges, it is important to remember that public perception is what really matters, and that perception can sometimes vary widely from what’s assumed by the top brass.

For example, members of your sales team might not feel comfortable  speaking up about their distaste for the current logo when sitting across from the company’s top executives, who likely approved that very design.

Your company’s clients, however, will probably have no qualms about being more direct.

So, what options are available for gathering meaningful data on corporate brand? Here are a few that can be much more valuable than an internal discussion in the conference room:

• One-on-one meetings with customers
• Focus groups
• Ad Readership Studies (if appropriate)
• Online survey tools like those offered by Constant Contact or SurveyMonkey.

In other words, don’t just make sure you are asking the right questions; make sure you are you asking the right people. Internal discussions are necessary, but the most coveted opinions should be reserved for customers and potential customers.