What Is a GIF?
A Graphics Interchange Format or GIF is a type of digital image that also allows us to create short animations with multiple images.
Imagine the layers being the pages in a book, and flipping through those pages quickly to create an animation, and there’s no limit to the level of animation you can achieve with these GIFs which explains why GIFs are mostly used for short animations these days.
So why use GIFs?
Attention GIFs help provide movement and engagement within your stories and posts. With continuous movement, your eyes are drawn to them just like a video. However, unlike videos, they can most times be more cost-effective to make.
Promotion GIFs are a great way to promote a specific event or product since the stickers and animated photos can easily be added to stories or provide movement within your post. We love seeing annual events with personalized GIFs that we can share within our stories. And, they’re a great way to provide eye-catching graphics without busting your budget on ad placements.
Retention People prefer consuming information in a visual form because the content is more appealing, engaging, and easy to understand. That's what makes it so effective. According to Jakob Nielsen, users only get to read 28% of the words published when they visit a website.
Personality Animated images make communication more charismatic and engaging between a brand and their consumers especially when they are relevant to your audience. The effectiveness of a GIF can be further enhanced with the use of the right visual stimulation. Haven’t you seen streams of communication from millennials or Twitter threads full of GIFs that convey everything they want in a single animation? It’s time to jump on that wagon.
Storytelling Skip the expensive explainer videos and string together a GIF! In less than a minute, you can convey the emotion and message you want to get across. If you want to teach your audience how to use your product, you can produce GIFs to save you the time of having to respond to every customer inquiry because sometimes it's a lot easier to explain instructions through visual form.
Whether you’re on the bandwagon or not, GIFs are here to stay. Their growing popularity and attention-capturing can set your business up for success. Ask us how you should start incorporating animated images in your marketing campaigns.
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