Build GIFs into Your Digital Marketing Strategy

GIFs are an easy way to get your point across and share a laugh with friends and family, but they can also be a great addition to a company’s digital marketing strategy. Just like friends and family, your target audience—clients and customers—find it easy to relate to GIFs, and might be more willing to engage with your content.

GIFs have been around for more than 30 years, but it is now easier than ever to create your own GIF and share it with others. GIFs are so popular, because amidst an over-saturated market, they can capture consumer attention, are quick to enjoy,and deliver an emotional impact. While text can be misconstrued and tone misread, a GIF is straightforward, appealing to a very wide audience.

You can use a GIF to elevate your digital marketing strategy in five different ways.

First, use GIFs to tell a story or explain a process. Images tend to tell a more compelling story than words alone, and a GIF is the perfect way to simultaneously capture attention and tell a complete story in just three seconds. It also serves as the perfect tool for a how-to in explaining a process.

Design your own GIFs to promote your unique products and services. Though GIF sare relatively brief, the frame-by-frame format allows viewers to focus on individual products or aspects of a product one-by-one. Be strategic in choosing which features you highlight in the images.

GIFs can also be used to add spice to your website. Unlike Flash programs, GIFs do not impact page-loading time, so adding a GIF to your company’s page adds are liable visual element that can display specific company elements, or create an emotional connection to your company.

Social medial channels, like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, support GIFs, lending a perfect way to attract attention from your target audience, and increase views with shares, retweets, or pins. The looping nature of GIFs, or Instagram’s Boomerang,gives your content a higher chance of being absorbed by an audience than staticcontent.

GIFs can be used to engage your audience with your company and one another.

Holding GIF contests and rewarding the contestant that creates the GIF that best represents your company or will be used in a new marketing campaign is a great way to generate audience-approved content and create lasting connections.

While you’ve likely seen or used GIFs in your personal life, when it comes to using GIFs for business, you need to make strategic decisions and be careful in conveying humor. Your GIF should be visually appealing and highlight a product or feature that can be enhance by the media. Design a GIF that consumers will share, and find a way to track the GIF’s views and shares so you can improve upon your strategy as needed. For more information regarding GIFs, [Click Here].