The Power of GIFs
Social media blogs like Hootsuite & Sprout Social constantly reiterate the importance of using visuals on social media. After all, 90 percent of the information we absorb is visual.
Yet, you may be asking yourself what other options exist for spicing up my social content? GIFs are a great option that can add a certain amount of charm to your social content.
GIFs on Facebook & Twitter
In February of last year, Twitter introduced a built-in GIF button. This new feature gives Twitter users access to a GIF library, supported by Tenor and 
Giphy. This library is a fantastic way to incorporate GIFs into spur-of-the-moment tweets, but it can be limiting for social media managers who pre-schedule their content through third-party applications.
On Facebook, you also have the option to post a GIF in your status update. To ensure it displays properly, you must include a link to the GIF (which can be deleted after the preview appears). Currently, there is no built-in GIF library for Facebook users and GIFs cannot be uploaded directly to Facebook.
GIFs with Hootsuite
If you schedule your content in a third-party application (yay for Hootsuite!) you can still incorporate GIFs into your social content. Both Tenor and Giphy offer searchable online libraries with link & download options.
On Giphy, you can copy the GIF link and paste it into your third-party application (i.e. Buffer, Hootsuite, etc.). In Hootsuite, you should link to the GIF in both Facebook & Twitter posts. If you upload a GIF to a Facebook post it will not display properly.
To ensure that GIFs work properly on Twitter, particularly when scheduling in Hootsuite, ensure that your upload options specify pic.twitter.com, as opposed to owl.ly. Here is a quick tutorial on how to change your upload options in Hootsuite Pro & Enterprise accounts.
GIFs in E-Newsletters
Incorporating GIFs into your e-newsletters can increase click-through rates and add a little variety. In both MailChimp & Constant Contact, you can upload GIFs as images and they will animate automatically.
Quick Tips
- Incorporate GIFs into your e-newsletters and social content for more visual variety
- Know the context of your GIF (this will help you avoid inappropriate references that do not align with your brand)
- Download GIF files directly from Giphy to incorporate them into Constant Contact & MailChimp
- Copy GIF links directly from Giphy to incorporate them into Facebook & Twitter posts
- Make your own GIFs from video files or YouTube videos with Giphy’s GIF-Maker
Want to spice up your social media content? Contact Interkom today.
– Sydney Dusselier