GIFs in Social Media Marketing: How to Get the Most out of Them

They are inexpensive, liven up even the dullest text and encourage sharing: Gifs are the perfect complement to images and videos on social media. Used correctly, they can even be a great branding tool.

Read on to find out

• why GIFs are more than just a gimmick,
• what you can achieve with them, and
• how to use GIFs efficiently in social media marketing.

We’ll also look at how you can create your own GIFs and how other brands are succeeding with GIFs.

What is a GIF?

The abbreviation GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It is a raster format that supports static and moving images. It was developed in the 1980s to download large image files quickly.

What probably comes to mind when you hear the word GIF are animated GIFs, which usually repeat in an endless loop. They have become an integral part of communication via messenger and social media, but also appear in blog articles.

via GIPHY

GIFs are characterized by their small file size compared to images or videos. GIFs are also basically silent. As animated image files, they represent a middle ground between an image and a video that is played automatically. Experts like to attribute the popularity of GIFs in social media marketing to the fact that they convey emotions and information in a very short space of time. Pop culture references, for example to films or series, provide personal points of reference and a sense of community.

Why GIFs in social media marketing? – The advantages

via GIPHY

GIFs in social media marketing have several advantages:

• Attention-grabbing: Images that move attract attention. You can quickly create eye-catchers with GIFs.
• Emotional: GIFs are very well suited to arousing emotions and conveying a mood in a small space. Because they are funny and likeable, they promote closeness between brands and consumers.
• Versatile: You can use the animations on different platforms for different purposes.
• Inexpensive: Creating full-fledged videos is time-consuming. This also applies to quickly produced short videos. A GIF, on the other hand, is wonderfully uncomplicated and inexpensive to produce.
• Customizable: You don’t have to limit your marketing to the GIFs that are available to everyone. Simply create your own animations. You can find out how to do this below.

Where to find GIFs

Want to get down to business? You can find a large selection of GIFs in the following places, for example:

• GIPHY

GIPHY is the first port of call for most people looking for GIFs. This is mainly due to the huge selection and easy search. In addition to classic GIFs, you can also find stickers on GIPHY.

• Tumblr

A good alternative to GIPHY is Tumblr. The platform now also has a search function that you can use to find GIF gems.

• Social media platforms

Whether Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram, most social media platforms give you the opportunity to communicate directly with GIFs and search for the right GIFs on the spot.

Create your own GIFs – this is how it works

Quickly adding an existing GIF to your community management is one thing. Creating your own GIFs opens up other possibilities for your social media strategy.

Sounds like a job for an expensive graphic designer? Fortunately not.

There are now a number of platforms that allow you to create GIFs easily, quickly and for free:

• GIPHY

GIPHY is also at the forefront in this case. To create your own GIFs on the platform, go to “Create”. Then upload the videos and/or images you want to use to create your GIF. You can then edit your clip, for example by cropping it or adding captions. You can use the GIPHY app to turn a smartphone video into GIFs on the go.

• Canva

As a comprehensive graphics tool, Canva also allows you to easily create animated videos. The tool provides you with a large selection of templates that you can edit and modify. Or – which is usually the best idea – you can work with your own material.

If you work with image editing from time to time anyway and are equipped accordingly, Photoshop is another alternative, both for GIFs from photos and for those from videos.

You can find out how to create GIFs with Photoshop in this tutorial.

Best practices for GIFs in social media marketing

Now we come to the question that may already be on your mind: How exactly can you use GIFs in social media marketing?

The following strategies are particularly promising.

Use GIFs for interaction with users

GIFs that show clips from well-known films or series, for example, liven up (almost) any communication. You can take advantage of this when replying to user comments. To come back to the “almost”: GIFs are particularly suitable for good-humored communication. They are less suitable for responding to serious criticism.

You can also create GIFs yourself and post them on platforms such as GIPHY so that others can use them for community management. Of course, this makes the most sense if your brand is recognizable and well-known in the GIF.

via GIPHY

Promoting products with GIFs

Starbucks often uses GIFs to promote its coffee creations on social media. Here, for example, the brand focuses on one ingredient.

Simple, but effective.

Whether with colorful illustrations or photos, GIFs are an alternative to static product images. They also help you to emphasize important product features without long explanations.

Supergoop demonstrates this in the following case:

Use branded GIFs in stories

Create your own GIF stickers for your brand and integrate them into stories. This gives them a brand design. Make sure that the GIFs match or reflect the character of your brand.

Inform

You can use GIFs for short tutorials or, as in this example, to draw attention to an informative caption:

Announcing events

Slack provides a charming variant of an event announcement with GIFs in the following example:

Google does it more concisely:

Storytelling with GIFs

Harness the power of storytelling and tell short stories with GIFs.

Dos and don’ts when using GIFs

Finally, some tips for the successful use of GIFs in social media marketing:

• Create GIFs that fit your brand.

GIFs can be many things: funny, informative, playful, minimalist. Make sure they reflect the character of your brand.

• Focus on comprehensibility.

If you have created a particularly crazy GIF in turbo mode, this may fill you with pride. However, there is also a risk that no one will understand what you are trying to say.

Make sure that your GIFs remain understandable and don’t overload them.

• Create short GIFs.

GIFs work best if they are no longer than 3 to 5 seconds. We recommend other formats for longer stories.

• Don’t use too many GIFs.

Of course, we hope that this post will inspire you to use GIFs more often in social media marketing. But here too, it’s worth exercising moderation. Otherwise the effect will quickly fade.

• Make sure the quality is high.

If GIFs look cheap, this will quickly reflect on your brand or products. Therefore, pay attention to quality. Also consider which format looks best in which place.

GIFs can enrich your marketing

GIFs have been an important part of online communication and social media for years. Used in a targeted manner, they open up numerous possibilities for marketing. This starts with the integration of GIFs in communication with your own community and ranges from branded story stickers to GIF storytelling.

The fact that they are easy and inexpensive to create is one of the main advantages of GIFs. However, they have the greatest effect if you integrate them carefully into your strategy. Their benefits go beyond their entertainment value.