Internet is obsessed with a new expressive format called GIF. It stands for Graphics Interchange Format and it’s pronounced as Jiffs, not gifs which are proved by Steve Wilhite (creator of GIF). It was first developed by CompuServe in 1987.
Nowadays, it is not only used by meme fanatics but many businesses, bloggers and brands to express thoughts, emotions and it’s an effective way to speak to the target audience. It is one of the biggest trends in content, digital and email marketing. Relevant gifs can generate millions of brand impressions and click-through-rate is high during the advertisement.
Gifs that can entice people to participate always create buzz. It is important to create a gif that can create a buzz among the crowd.
Many brands use GIFs to grab the attention of consumers on twitter and to convey emotion as well. Twitter is a great platform, where love for GIFs is spreading like an epidemic and forest fire. Many content creators create amazing, custom animated GIFs to raise brand awareness. Many bloggers used it to grab the attention of readers and to make them understand their content in simply short visuals.
Some brands are using it to flex and showcase their products in a visual format. GIPHY and Tenor are one of the best platforms that serve more than 1 billion GIFs each day. On social media, it’s a great tool to communicate with customers/audiences on a personal level.
GIPHY is one of the top sources for GIFs and you can create your own gif using pictures, short videos, and YouTube video links or you can use an online GIF maker app by GIPHY, available on every smartphone mobile device.
To start with creating an account on giphy.com or tenor.com. Add your own 5-6 gifs. Then apply for an artist/brand channel over there. Make sure to add your own 5-6 gifs before and upload all the necessary social links and correct information. The verification process will take some time. If allowed, your gifs are now available on every social media platform under GIF search bar.
Today, the brands are super active on social media. Instagram stories are quite popular and great at catching attention but imagine using their own Gifs of their own brand face will not only boost engagements but eventually will help to make a unique personnel brand. Using gifs over social media can help to increase brand awareness authentically and organically.
GIFs are for sure a great digital experiments to get real engagements. After uploading your own gifs on GIPHY and Tenor, you can actually track the number of views, reach, and analytics of your stickers. You can also track, how often it is viewed and how often it has been used by others.
Humbly, I am one of the few creators on this planet that create Gifs on GIPHY. Recently, my gifs got views of over 200 Million + on the GIPHY account. And after experimenting with a lot of digital stuff, illustrations and gaining a million views on GIPHY. I have turned around many brands and have helped them achieve deeper engagement on social media handles.
Why we put Facebook/Instagram ads, to get engagement right? Instagram story is a great way to get real engagements without spending a huge lump of money or penny. Putting a GIF of your own brand can help in getting a lot of attention. Videos take 3-15 seconds to open whereas files like GIFs take just 2-6 seconds. They are more easily transferable as compared to videos. It can also be used in the presentation. It not only grabs the focused attention of people to a maximum extent but also increases the people participating in the presentation.
Nowadays, humorous contents and memes are part of social awareness, campaigns, and digital marketing. Standing out and doing something different is easy to say but very hard to accomplish. Making contents that are funny, creative and at the same time, relevant is way too hard than it seems.
GIFs are a great tool that is used to deliver funny, creative and relevant content. Billions of gifs are being shared daily and used by customers and people. There is a huge opportunity knocking at the door, to use this medium at large scale and to make it big. Gifs are the most underrated feature in digital marketing. Just that we need to use it in more rights ways and the possibilities are endless.
GIF advertising market seems to be a big part of a plan to generate future revenue. It’s time to get innovative, creative and expressive through Graphics Interchange Format.
