Vimeo has acquired Echograph, an iOS app that lets users create animated GIFs, or more specifically cinemagraphs. The deal will bring Echograph’s team into Vimeo’s fold and aim to expand the app to all mobile platforms. Echograph will remain a standalone app but will now be free (it previously sold for $2.99).
This appears to be a response to Twitter’s Vine app, which has turned a bright spotlight onto the mobile video-sharing space.
Marketers should be paying attention because this breath of fresh air in the video-/GIF-sharing arena brings opportunities in a realm that isn’t rife with competitors yet. Engagement campaigns are one idea brands can run with on these apps. However, these videos/GIFs, though short, will require storytelling, a skill that wasn’t necessarily needed for tweeting and taking filtered photos.
As videos become more prevalent, innovations like Wistia’s Twitter Follow Lab will also become more intriguing and powerful. The tool allows users to embed Twitter follow buttons directly into videos.
Marketers who haven’t taken advantage of Vine and the other apps in this space shouldn’t feel too bad. A study from AYTM Market Research found that just 13.5 percent of U.S. Internet users were aware of Vine a few days after its official launch. This number has surely grown since then, but marketers who get on this trend now could still have an early-mover advantage.
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