By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Facebook announced last week that Instagram just added a video sharing feature to its iOS and Android applications. Instagram videos now allow users to capture a 15-second video, which can be uploaded on various social networking platforms. The new video feature also comes with some filters, similar to the photo filters it has, that can help in improving the video. It was reported that 5 million Instagram videos were shared in its initial 24 hours.

This new feature goes up directly against Twitter's Vine with the main difference being that Vine is only 6-seconds of video. So think of how much more you can do with those additional 9 minutes! I see a new and exciting way to host a video contest. A few have already tried with Vine, but the 6 second limit is a bit constricting to really get a message across. I predict we'll start seeing more promotions now using a hashstag and and entry page that requires the URL address of an Instagram video.

Here's a current video contest that we are assisting the Georgia Tourism team that's part of their "Homegrown with a Twist" Summer Celebration honoring the 40th anniversary of the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Office. The contest launched back on May 15 which has more than $3,500 in prizes, including a two-night stay in Madison, Georgia. The planning for this contest was way in the making before the Instagram video announcement, so perhaps Explore George will consider it for their next contest.

The contest invites participants to create a video that shows what they love about the state of Georgia in three minutes or less. Explore Georgia is seeking original videos that showcase different tourism destinations, events or pastimes in the state and asking participants to be creative. All submissions must be in by July 31.

The judges will view them all and and are using the following criteria to determine the winners: Adherence to Theme (50%); Originality and Creativity (25%); and Overall Quality of the video (25%).  Each video can be submitted once during the promotional period under either the Student,  Amateur or Professional category. The judges will choose one Grand Prize winner that has the highest overall score from all categories as well one winner from each category.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a $3,000 gift card along with the two-nights at the Farmhouse Inn in Madison, Georgia. Each category winner receives a $250 gift card. The winning videos will then be screened  at the “Homegrown with a Twist Summer Celebration” event which will be taking place on  Thursday, August 29, 2013, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. A special screening of the Georgia-filmed movie, "Zombieland" will also be shown at the event.

All videos can be viewed  here in a gallery that is being hosted on the Votigo Social Media Platform. The platform enables participates to easily share their submission via Facebook, Twitter, mobile and the web. Currently there are 8 videos submitted, all are very well done so I invite you to check them out.