Last month, Twitter introduced Vine, a mobile service that lets you capture and share short-looping videos that are six seconds or less.  It’s been described as the Instagram of video.

Dom Hofmann, co-founder and general manager of Vine, says the service is “about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas, and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.”

Businesses of all types have already posted to Vine. For example, NBC News shared a quick tour inside 30 Rock, BuzzFeed shared a video of their team dancing, and Red Vines shared some of their products.

We’ve talked before about how social media is becoming more visual with photos and videos, and Vine is a perfect example.

To use Vine, you construct a video by pointing your device at the subject and capture a clip by holding your finger on the screen. You can shoot a single video clip for six seconds, or build up a series of short shots. Once you’re done, you hit publish and share the video with your Facebook or Twitter network. You can also embed the videos in your blog content. Audio is turned off by default because if you build a series of short shots, it’s an audio mess.

SmartBlogs on Social Media recently shared 10 ideas on how to leverage the Vine app for business-to-business content marketing:

1. Showcase the building and grounds of your company’s headquarters.
2. Use stop-motion animation to deliver a company announcement.
3. Show the steps it takes to make your flagship product.
4. Introduce your employees.
5. Encourage customers to showcase how they use your products with a Vine video and reward them with prizes or giveaways.
6. Create video clips from a charity event or corporate outing your company has organized.
7. Highlight a video testimonial: Ask your customers what three words they would use to describe your company.
8. Create teasers for upcoming webinars, events, or trade shows.
9. Create a Vine campaign series. For example, how to install your product in four easy, six-second steps.
10. Animate the cover page of (or data chart within) case studies, white papers, or reports. Promote the full document in an engaging way.

Vine may not be the right app for you, but companies need to embrace consumer’s fascination with images and start to incorporate them into their marketing strategies. We’re all exposed to more information than ever before, so it’s important to provide a snippet of what a piece of content is about.

Have you tried out Vine? Will you incorporate it into your marketing strategy?

Image: jessiehart via Flickr, CC 2.0