Among many unique and unexpected tools that we love to see in a good content strategy is the humble Graphics Interchange Format - usually known as a GIF. These little animated pictures are versatile and can be a great way to encourage engagement. They’re perfect for driving likes on social media, promoting a product or adding interest to your website and blogs. And well, they are just funny, they make your feeds and viewers smile!
We love a great GIF - they’re so totally underrated! What many marketers don’t know is that creating and integrating GIFS for your brand is simpler than you might expect - there are plenty of advantages to investing a little time into learning how. Let’s talk business!
How to create GIF’s for your brand
You might be looking for a super-detailed guide to creating GIF’s for your brand - if so, it’s worth checking out this in-depth tutorial. However, if you want to be able to create a GIF for your own brand - in just five minutes - we can explain exactly how. It’s dead easy!
If you’ve followed our blogs you’ll know that we’re passionate about creative branding. One example of this which we love is a video from a brand called Dollar Shave Club - so much so that we included it in another article, about
five stand-out brands who dare to be different. Just want to see this awesome video that we're talking about? Check it here!
Let’s use that video as an example to show exactly how to create your own GIF - using the free GIF Maker at GIPHY.com.
Step one - upload your video. We’ve used the URL from the Dollar Shave Club video on Youtube, but of course, you can use any video you like from your brand or even use images to create a slideshow.
Step two - select the part of the video you want. We’ve gone for our favorite clip - a purposefully terrible attempt at a tennis shot. Although he did a pretty cool job of catching the tennis racket. All will be revealed...
Using GIPHY you have the opportunity to decorate your GIF’s and even add text if you want to. After that, it’s simply a case of uploading your clip to GIPHY and there you have it! A totally customized GIF, which you can easily embed and share:Told you it was a great shot!
Told you it was a great shot!
Creating GIF’s for your brand is an incredibly cool way to spark your audience's imagination, and it couldn’t be simpler. So where can you use them?
How and when can you use GIF’s?
If you’re sharing content online then you can use a GIF pretty much anywhere. Got a blog or an article that needs livening up? Use a GIF! Need funny material to show off your brand on social media? Keep people entertained with GIF’s. This article about how Denny’s Diner used GIF’s to increase their fanbase is a great place to start for some inspiration. Already voted the most engaged restaurant on Facebook, they had to think outside the box to continually improve. Turns out GIF’s were the answer!
Using a GIF to promote your products is a great idea to make them stand out. If a picture paints a thousand words, a short animated clip must be the next Michaelangelo, right? Check out this recent example from Louis Vuitton, which utilizes a GIF to present their latest product in an engaging way.
Why use GIF’s?
There are plenty of pro’s to using GIF’s. Of course, the big one is audience engagement - a short animation is more likely to captivate your audience than a static photo. GIF’s can easily be shared by your customers on platforms such as Facebook messenger. Many a GIF has gone viral - yours can too.
As we’ve seen, GIF’s are easy to create. They’re also free to use - so you have to invest very little time and no money to incorporate them into your digital marketing strategy. In return, these useful little critters will boost engagement and spark interest around your brand!
GIF’s are a great way of presenting part of a video, without having to slow down the speed of your page. Unlike an embedded video, they won’t take time to load, so you can include them without having to worry. They can also take the hassle out of editing a video if you only want to show a few seconds of it - as we did in the example above.
You should try and use GIF’s to engage your target audience. Perhaps your last-mile distributors and marketers have videos or photos from their local stores or outlets. With GIF’s, you can easily create a small, animated snippet to engage a specific audience. It’s a quick and effective idea, and one of the many ways you can share your brand’s story at a local level. Simply upload any made GIF’s to our app and tell your distributors that they’re in there, waiting for them to share the heck out of them…
Things to consider
Used effectively, GIF’s are a great opportunity. However, there are a few things to think about before you dive right in!
One of those is how often you want to use this marketing tool. GIF’s can be a welcome addition to a blog post or social media page and they’ll certainly spice things up. However, over-using GIF’s or stuffing them in wherever you can will result in less effectiveness. Your audience won’t know where to look! Have you been overdoing it with Boomerang videos on Insta lately? You know who you are…
Similarly, a GIF isn’t the best way to present an image or video with lots of detail. GIF’s with lots of text should be approached with caution, as your audience may not have time to properly read the information. The key is to enthuse them - but don’t bamboozle them!
Finally, GIF’s tend to be short for a reason. They provide a quick snapshot, in the hopes of capturing a message or telling a story perfectly. Make sure you highlight the absolute best bits of the products you are advertising or the funniest part of a video.
And remember - think outside the box...
As always, we’d love to see the masterpieces that you put out there. Upload them to our app, or tag us by using #embrosapowered! Remember to let your distributors know: use Embrosa. We’ve got you covered!
P.S. Did you catch Rogier and Arthur release our new app (App Store / Google Play)? OMG. All we're saying. Go check it out!!
