With the rise of social media, businesses have had to get creative with their marketing in order to stand out from the crowd. Enter: GIF marketing. A GIF is a short, usually highly-valuable video without sound that is looped for easy viewing. And it turns out, people love them! In fact, according to GIPHY, the average person spends over 3 hours watching GIFs every day.
Not only are they fun and easy to consume, but they’re also a great way to get your brand in front of potential customers. By creating engaging GIFs, you can reach a wider audience and boost brand awareness for your business.
What Is a GIF?
A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a type of image file that allows for animation. They are typically short, looping videos that are no longer than a few seconds long. Because they are so easy to create and share, GIFs have become hugely popular online. In fact, there are even entire websites dedicated to them, like giphy.com.
How Can I Use GIFs in My Marketing?
There are a number of ways you can use GIFs in your marketing campaigns:
- Use them in social media posts – A great way to use GIFs is to incorporate them into your social media posts. This can help your posts stand out in people’s feeds and help you better engage with your followers.
- Create ads with them – You can also use GIFs in banner ads and other types of online advertising. Like with social media, using a GIF in your ad can help it stand out and capture people’s attention.
- Include them in email marketing -Similarly, you can use GIFs in email marketing campaigns to engage recipients and get them to take action. For example, you could include a GIF showing someone using your product or service in an email promoting a sale.
- Add them to your website – In addition to using GIFs in external marketing materials, you can also add them to your website. This can help liven up your site and make it more engaging for visitors.
- Share a funny or relatable GIF on social media to humanize your brand and make people laugh.
- Add a GIF to your website or blog to liven things up and add some personality.
- Create GIFs from your existing video content.
If you have any existing video footage—customer testimonials, product demos, behind-the-scenes footage, etc.—you can easily turn it into a GIF. All you need is a video editing program like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP and a little bit of creativity. Just remember to keep your GIFs short (under five seconds is ideal) and make sure the final product looks professional. - Make branded GIFs.
Another great way to use GIFs in your marketing efforts is to create branded GIFs—GIFs that feature your company’s logo or other elements of your visual identity. Brand recognition is important, and branded GIFs are an easy way to get your name out there. You can create branded GIFs using existing video or image assets, or you can commission someone to create custom illustrations or animations specifically for your brand. Either way, make sure your branded GIFs are high-quality and professional-looking—you want people to associate your brand with quality, not with shoddy workmanship. - Add a personal touch with handcrafted GIFs.
For a more personal touch, consider creating handcrafted GIFs—GIFs that are made entirely from scratch, without any preexisting video or image assets. This approach takes more time and effort upfront, but it can pay off in terms of engagement and reach—if done well, handcrafted GIFs can be truly share-worthy pieces of content. If you’re not confident in your ability to create quality handcrafted GIFs, consider hiring a freelance artist or animator to help you out. - Use reaction GIFs in customer service interactions.
Finally, one great way to use GIFs in business is to incorporate them into your customer service strategy—specifically, by using reaction GIFS as a way to show empathy and build rapport with customers. In the age of digital interactions, it’s easy for things to feel cold and impersonal; by adding a few well-chosen reaction GIFS into the mix, you can quickly build warmer, more human relationships with your customers.
How to Use GIF Marketing?
There are many ways that you can use GIF marketing to boost brand awareness for your business. Here are some tips:
- Create engaging content: When creating GIFs for marketing purposes, it is important to create content that is engaging and entertaining. Your GIF should be relevant to your brand and capture the attention of your target audience. Ensure that your GIF is high quality and accurately represents your brand identity.
- Use relevant keywords: When creating a GIF, be sure to include relevant keywords so that it can be easily found by those who are searching for it. Keywords will also help to ensure that your GIF appears in search results when people are looking for information related to your business or product.
- Share across social media platforms: Once you have created your GIF, share it across social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Be sure to include a link back to your website so that people can learn more about your business. You can also embed your GIF on your website or blog so that visitors can view it there as well.
- Measure results: After you have implemented your gif marketing strategy, take time to measure the results so that you can determine whether or not it was successful. Track metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and sales conversions over time to see if there has been an increase since you began using gifs as part of your marketing strategy.”
Conclusion
You may not have thought about using GIPHY marketing to promote your brand until just now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start now.
GIF marketing is a great way to get your brand in front of millions of people every day. And you can make a good GIF marketing plan with what you already know about marketing.
GIFs are a fun and new way to market something. So, enjoy yourselves!