Yesterday we talked about things that can go right for your small business on Vine…so it only makes sense that we also talk about things that don’t work. After all…it’s 6 seconds of video. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it can waste a lot of your time and, quite frankly, make your business look foolish.

So, what mistakes are small businesses and individuals making with Vine?

They Don’t Actually Tell Us the Purpose of the Video

This happens a lot. People think that they are being clever (and maybe they are) but they get lost in trying to be creative and forget to actually sell the point of the video. So if you are looking into using Vine and want to be unique, that’s fine; but make sure you have well defined point to make and that you actually make that point. If you want a safety exercise to make sure you are doing this, sum up what you want to convey in the video in one sentence before filming. If you can’t do this, you’re probably not ready to make the video.

They Try to Cram a Longer Message into Six Seconds

If you know there is no way to get a point across in six seconds, don’t even try it. The video will make no sense. What you can do is think of a creative way to split that longer message into several six second vignettes. This gives you plenty of ammo to keep fresh Vine content out there. Again, make sure the message of the video is clear. When you try cramming tons of info itno sic seconds, you’re likely to have a nervous breakdown.

Forget the In-Crowd

This could be a great rule of thumb for any videos—but don’t market the videos to just a small private group. Everyone should “get” the message you’re selling. The only exception to this Vine rule is if you are creating a Vive video for loyal customers as a special thank you.

Seriously, there are tons of horrid uses of Vine out there. Run a simple Google search to see what we mean.