The use of GIFs in digital marketing isn’t anything new. Marketers use GIFs in messaging platforms, emails, blog posts, social media, and more.
There are many different types of GIFs marketers can utilize in their marketing strategies. Finding amazing GIFs is easier than slicing your favorite kind of pie.
The most popular reaction GIFs include:
- Reaction GIFs. Instead of typing a response or sending an emoji, users send reaction GIFs to actively show exactly what they’re feeling like.
- GIF art. Digital art exhibitions
- Cinemagraphs. A photograph with a section that moves endlessly in a loop, giving a feeling of being stuck in a magical moment in time.
- Optical illusion GIFs. Similar to illustration GIFs with the added bonus that the illustration is an optical illusion.
- Illustration and cartoon GIFs. These are pretty self-explanatory.
- Branded GIFs. Brands use these to showcase products or something special happening with their business.
The Benefits of Using GIFs in Your Marketing
- People LOVE GIFs. GIFs are everything marketers are looking for when delivering their content. GIFs boost your brand awareness. They’re a unique way to promote, engage, entertain, and accomplish goals and objectives.
- They show action and demonstrate learning. If you’re trying to educate and inform your customers of something you have a lot of knowledge in, GIFs are the ideal tool to deliver your message effectively. According to Smart Insights, the brain itself is built to process image much more quickly than words.
- GIFS are mobile-friendly. GIF file sizes are much smaller than video files. If you have a large video on your website and a user is trying to search for your site, that large video file can slow down their smartphone browser and create an unsatisfying user experience. GIFs make the mobile viewing experience less annoying.
- They’re more cost-effective. Brands want to show off their products and services without having to spend thousands of dollars. GIFs make it easy to create an engaging piece of content using tools like a smartphone and an imagination.
- They can boost your SEO. You can optimize the GIFs you create to rank higher for keywords in search engines. This increases your chance of being found first for those keywords relevant to your brand.
How to Use GIFs to Drive Business Growth
Did you know that Giphy actually delivers more than 1 BILLION (with a big ole capital B) GIFs each day? That’s not surprising. People, brands, and businesses don’t use GIFs to just for cats, memes, and hilarious scenes from The Office. Here’s how brands can use GIFs to their advantage thanks to Giphy:
- Use GIFs in your email marketing. Using relatable GIFs in your email newsletters shows your readers a different side of your brand. GIFs are an ideal way to build excitement, curiosity, and anticipation with your customers. Powerful emotions and connections get people to take action in some way.
- Illustrate your products. Not every brand has that top-notch budget to build high-quality product videos. They could do product photos, but those only deliver a one-dimensional approach to products. How can you find that happy medium? GIFs deliver that universal feel and appeal to what a product looks like, how it can be used, and more. Making GIFs to show off your products gives your better credibility to your virtual personality.
- Product functionality. You don’t have to use GIFs just to show off your products. You can also use GIFs to show what they do and how to do it. That insight into your product functioning can create that sense of security your potential buyers are looking for.
- Encourage engagement on your homepage. Your website homepage is a great place to display GIFs. GIFs attract the attention you want and make your website more inviting and appealing. They are also a good way to entertain and delight your visitors and make your site more lively.
- Motivate your followers to take action. GIFs are a unique way to display your call-to-actions. Including GIFs in explainer articles or to showcase features is a great way to attract attention to your product or service creating some solid calls-to-action that are visual and appealing, yet not bothersome enough to have the visitor sit through an entire video desperately trying to retain their attention.
- Use GIFs on your social media platforms. Everybody loves GIFs. They’re easy, entertaining, and an ideal way to communicate without having to use words if you’re not in the mood. Such initiatives on social media websites not only create a sense of trust, loyalty, and all that jazz but they also promote some humorous interactions that might forge good relationships.
