GIFs! We see them in texts, social media, emails and if you’re not doing so already, it’s time to start using them in your marketing.

Hello world! Mike Ploger back with Visme – your online source for marketing with ease. Now, before we begin, you may have already judged me from my pronunciation of the term.

I say, GIF, you might say GIF. Before you log off in fury over the debate, it’s okay. Our planet is largely split over the correct pronunciation of the term. Heck, even the Visme offices are split on the correct pronunciation of the term.

If you’re team GIF, please forgive me. If you’re team GIF, we can now be best friends.

In all seriousness, the use of GIFs has skyrocketed in the past five or so years. You probably wouldn’t even believe me if I told you that GIFs were first created 33 years ago.

CompuServe published the first GIF in 1987. While it may have taken a few years for GIFs to find their footing, there’s no denying their success in both social and now professional settings.

So, in this video, I’m going to help you change the way you market using GIFs . Shall we?

1. Why You Should Use GIFs

Before I dive into how you can use GIFs, it is important to understand why you should do so.

First, GIFs are so easy to consume. They’re quick, clear and enjoyable. Through Giphy, the most popular GIF resource on the internet, an endless amount of GIFs are available through just a few clicks on your keyboard.

But, don’t worry. If you don’t want the same GIFs that others are using, Visme can help you create entirely new GIFs to fit your brand. We’ll actually circle back through this here coming up shortly.

Getting back on track, another reason is GIFs are much easier, cheaper and faster to create than full videos. Their file sizes are minuscule in comparison to lengthy videos.

Now while we continue to push tutorials like this, you’ll also see us using GIFs in other content. Static images can be great to replace text, but GIFs are great replacements of static images.

A third reason to use GIFs is how functional they are. A GIF you create for an email can be shared across social media platforms or sent to friends via text. There’s really no limiting where you share this content.

And lastly as to why you should be using GIFs, simply put – they’re more engaging. You’re much more likely to draw a reaction from someone when using a GIF.

People will stop their scrolling for a GIF while they may skip right past a photo or not care to take the time to watch a full video. To me, GIFs are the cookie when you don’t want just one chocolate chip or a full cake.

2. Ideas For Using GIFs in Your Marketing

Okay, on to the reason you likely came here. What are some ways you can use GIFs in your marketing campaigns to increase your engagement?

Let’s hop into it.

Animate Your Social Media Posts

Social media posts have a range of purposes. One post could be to inform while the next is to entertain and the next could be to sell a product.

It’s all dependent on your brand and the content you post. As I show you the next few examples, keep in mind that they were all created in Visme.

Our first example is meant to introduce viewers to an e-book. We took a brain and split it up into its two hemispheres to show how one side helps us with logic while the other side is meant for creativity. Perfect for an e-book on creative strategy.

This next GIF could be a great Facebook ad to promote a product. Fresh fruits, but where? Viewers get a taste of what they’ll find and know exactly where to go to fix their craving.

Now, we’ve discussed visual storytelling often on this channel and one way we can promote that is with this GIF. The visuals make sense and it’s really not too complicated. Slight movements and the blink of an eye will catch a viewer’s eye when scrolling.

And maybe you just want to maintain relationships and wish people well. A great way to do that is by creating a holiday or just by creating a GIF to commemorate one that we all celebrate.

Animate Your Newsletters

Now, newsletters can become quite dull if you’re providing the same content and endless text each time you distribute them.

Rather than simply handing them more information to read, make your newsletters interactive. Show your audience you have new content with various GIFs.

GIFs are a great way to incorporate a call to action button as we see here. Viewers can go right to the source with a simple click.

Or, why wait to put a GIF halfway down your newsletter when you can grab somebody’s attention with a title or header GIF. It’s more engaging and creative, setting your newsletters apart from then countless others.

Animate Your Blog Content

And lastly, blogs are a great place for GIFs. On the spectrum of being professional and being casual, blogs fall somewhere there in the middle. Just like GIFs do with videos and pictures.

If you’re creating fresh content based off of research, an animated GIF could be a great way to make your points stand out. Or again, create a GIF with that call to action button to really promote your blogs.

As I mentioned earlier, GIFs make for excellent headers as well. They can still be accompanied by a text title but add some flare with a GIF.

It’s less daunting when a reader sees a welcoming GIF rather than a block of text. Not to mention, a GIF that you created will really add to your expertise. Which brings me to our final point.

3. How to Make a GIF With Visme

Making an animated GIF sounds complicated, right? I mean, that could take a lot of time and effort that you just simply don’t have.

Wrong!

With Visme, creating GIFs has never been easier. Forget Giphy, you can now create your own content that’s completely fresh and will wow your viewers with little effort or lost time. Let me show you how.

First, head to Visme.com and log in to your account. If you don’t have an account yet, that’s fine. Creating one is completely free.

You’ll then be taken to your Visme Dashboard which consists of past projects or the option to create new ones. To start new, click that create icon in the left sidebar to start a completely new project.

From there, you’ll be asked what you want to create. Web graphics or social graphics is likely best for these purposes but don’t hesitate to try new templates and other categories as well.

Once you settle on that template you like, you’ll be taken to an editor where it’s time to get to work. Everything within that template will be fully customizable to your liking.

Don’t like the font? You can change it. Want the colors to fit your brand? You can change that too. Anything and everything is able to be fit to your liking.

Once you have a general layout you like, click the Graphics icon on the far left hand side of the page. Here you’ll find hundreds of animated illustrations, characters, gestures and more.

If you have something in mind, Visme likely has it. And again, everything is fully customizable from the color of their hair to what pose they’re striking.

For an idea of what it’ll look like, click the preview button. If you like what you see, then go to the download button because it’s not too far away.

Go down to video and you’ll find the GIF format right there.

Just remember, using GIFs is the latest trend in marketing and it’s not going anywhere soon. GIFs are a great way to display emotions and really trigger responses.

And when it comes to animating your own, you don’t have to be professional anymore. Just head to Visme.com to get started right away.

I wish you the best of luck on your marketing adventures. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to see how else we can help grow your business and also, make sure to comment with your GIFS that you created down in the comments below.

For now, I’m Mike Ploger with Visme, helping you Make Information Beautiful.