People love to use GIFs to communicate online. They can be used to share a funny clip, express emotion, or demonstrate a new product. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise that GIFs are also frequently used in online marketing campaigns. Businesses can use GIFs for social media marketing and in email marketing to show off their brand, connect with customers, or explain new services.
If you plan to start using GIFs in marketing campaigns, then this article is a great place to start. First, we will cover why you should use GIFs in your marketing plan and provide specific examples of successful use cases. Then, we will go over how to specifically use GIFs for social media marketing and in email marketing. Finally, we will discuss various platforms that you can use to seamlessly integrate GIFs into your marketing strategy.
Why Use GIFs in Marketing?
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GIFs provide an excellent way to attract new clients and retain returning customers. They provide a way of processing information that is both visually appealing and easy for viewers. According to research conducted by the University of Minnesota, the human brain processes images about 60,000 times faster than words. So, not only is a GIF more appealing than a box of text, it is also easier for the brain to process quickly. With a GIF, you can convey information much faster than with text instructions. And because a GIF repeats over and over, it quickly reinforces information through repetition.
GIFs also catch the eye faster than images or text. Our eyes are drawn to movement. As such, a moving image is more likely to garner attention than a static one. The repetitive nature of a GIF is also more likely to stick in the mind’s eye. Someone who views a GIF is more likely to remember the visuals or information it conveys for a longer period of time.
This is clearly important for brand marketing, wherein the best way to attract customers is to catch their attention and keep it. Unsurprisingly, many successful companies use brand GIFs to promote their logo or products. For example, global corporations Starbucks and McDonald’s use GIFs to show off new menu items. Other companies use GIFs to show interactive graphs demonstrating the effectiveness or their product or service, give quick presentations about company changes, and show clients how to use their product or service. You can use GIFs in almost any marketing situation to attract customers and more effectively convey information.
Now, let’s go over in more detail the ways that you can use GIFs for two popular types of online marketing: social media and email.
Nearly half of the world’s population uses some form of social media. As such, if you want to reach new customers, you need to have a social media presence. However, with so many individuals and businesses alike on social media, it can be difficult to stand out. If you want people to pause at your post while they endlessly scroll, then you need to set yourself apart from the rest of their feed.
A simple way to do this is with GIFs. As discussed above, GIFs catch the eye as repeating animated images. Users’ attention will automatically be drawn to GIFs. So, if you’re advertising a new product on social media, a great way to attract users is through an appealing product GIF. Make sure to capture in your GIF the most appealing and noteworthy parts of your new product!
You can also use promotional GIFs effectively on social media. Are you having a sale or special promotion? Advertise it with a GIF! You can use a GIF to countdown to the sale, advertise multiple products, or provide a coupon code. Social media marketing GIFs ensure that customers are always aware of new products, sales, and important information.
How to Use GIFs in Email Marketing
An example of using a GIF in a marketing email
Email marketing is another popular and effective way of reaching out to customers. With email marketing, you can send more personal messages to people who have already expressed interest in your product. However, like with social media, you need to make your email messages stand out. Once again, digital marketing GIF images are a great way to retain attention and convey information quickly to your customers.
Plain and simple, people don’t want to read a wall of text in an email. Consequently, many marketers have turned to using visual and videos to convey information over email. According to Covideo, video email marketing increases email open rates by 19%, click-through rates by 65%, and response rates by up to 200%! GIF marketing likewise increases email open and click-through rates and helps recipients better retain the information found in the email.
There are many cases in which you should use GIFs in your email marketing campaigns. Are you introducing a new product or sale over email as well? Use a GIF like you would on social media. Do you need to show customers how to use a new service? Create visual how-to instructions using a GIF. Introducing new employees? Use a welcoming or funny GIF. Want to show off impressive sales numbers or a customer satisfaction increase? Make an information graph or table as a GIF!
Whenever you send out a new marketing email, you should be including appealing visuals, including GIFs. If you need help including GIFs in email, then check out our article on how to add GIFs to an email.
Do you need help getting started with GIF marketing? Check out the following platforms for help creating, sharing, and advertising GIFs. You can also review our articles on how to make GIFs, how to edit GIFs, and how to convert video to GIF.
Droplr is a screen recording and screenshot app that also lets you screen record as a GIF. It is the perfect tool for recording visual instructions and digital graphs as GIFs. After your GIF is finished recording, it is automatically saved to the Droplr cloud. You can share your GIF by pasting a short link generated by Droplr that will lead anyone who clicks on it to the GIF. You can also download GIFs to your desktop or, conversely, upload GIFs from your desktop to the Droplr cloud. From the Droplr dashboard, you can group your GIFs using tags and boards so you can keep track of which campaign you are using each GIF in. Droplr’s integrations with communication platforms like Slack, Gmail, and Discord make it a solid choice for online GIF marketing and sharing.
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GIPHY is the most popular GIF creation and sharing platform. With GIPHY, you can look up the best advertising GIFs and GIFs for marketing. You can also use GIPHY to create your own GIFs for sharing on social media and email. Companies can even create a brand channel on GIPHY. This channel is searchable and will display all brand GIFs that you make. Your branded GIFs will also be searchable on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, making it easier for both your social media team and loyal fans to share your GIFs. You can apply for a GIPHY brand channel once you have created and posted at least 5 GIFs on the platform.
There are other GIF makers and marketing platforms that you can use to find digital marketing animated GIFs and introduce them into your marketing campaigns. Check out our article on top GIF makers for both desktop and mobile for more GIF making and editing options. If you need help getting started with social media marketing, then check out Hootsuite; if email marketing is what you are focused on, then look at Hubspot. Both platforms let you include GIFs in your emails or social media posts.
Regardless of what platforms you use for marketing and GIF creation, you are sure to achieve more success in your marketing campaigns by using GIFs for advertising, brand awareness, and promotions. Start using marketing GIFs today!