How effective are GIFs in social media marketing and how should you use them?
The short answer: They are highly effective and you should promote and share them everywhere you post and respond to customers.
Now, for the long answer: Yes, using a GIF over a static image is going to grab more eyeballs. It’s well known that GIFs are a simple and powerful way to show off products, highlight a special offer and latch onto popular trends.
That’s all wonderful but the GIFs largest potential lies in people sharing your brand.
For those unfamiliar, the ideal situation goes something like this: Your brand creates and shares some highly appealing GIFs possibly through your GIPHY channel. If your GIFs gain traction, people looking to add cute little GIFs to their Instagram stories, text messages, etc., will find your GIF in top search results. Very suddenly, your GIF could be reaching millions of people.
You’ll find some compelling examples of brands gaining massive awareness from the latest Shorty Awards. The Shortys have been recognizing the best content on the social web since 2008, including Best Use of Animate GIFS. Back in May, their virtual awards ceremony revealed some stunning metrics among the award winners. Here are few prime examples:
NFL’s GIPHY channel outdoes itself in 2019:
- 229 million views of Baker Mayfield dancing GIF (pictured)
- 7 billion GIPHY channel views
- 408 million GIF views on Super Bowl Sunday
WWE’s GIFS Run Wild Across America:
- 9 million views of Smackdown Five GIF (pictured)
- GIPHY channel grew from 3 billion to 7 billion views
- 324 million views of WrestleMania GIFs
Here are some quick tips on maximizing your social media channels with GIFs:
- Perform A/B tests. It’s easy to test colors, imagery and messaging in this short-form medium.
- Stand out but be relevant. Competing for eyeballs in someone’s feed is only half of the battle.
- Follow trends. Use pop culture, current events and trending GIFs to test new designs (but realize that everyone else is doing the same). Again, make it relevant to your specific audience and brand.
- Keep it consistent. Use your best GIFs across social media channels to help them gain traction.
- Use GIFs in your replies. GIFs add emotion and memorability to social media interactions with customers. In fact, Southwest airlines won a Shorty award for that by increasing engagement by 73%.
A parting fact: 2020’s top GIF is a thank-you to essential workers which gathered 1,061,535,526 views. We wish you all the best in harnessing the power of GIFs for the good of everyone.
P.S. If you missed it, here’s Part 1 of “Gettin’ GIFFY”.
