After several years in the mainstream, GIFs are no longer relegated to just funny internet memes. In fact, thoughtfully-designed GIFs seem to towards everywhere we squint these days! Whether you love them, love to hate them, or wish you knew how to make GIFs; they’re here to stay.

Companies large and small are creating GIFs to explain, demonstrate, educate, entertain, and tell stories.

For those seeking a definition: GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a file format for moving images. GIFs usually last only a few seconds long, but they’re set to loop endlessly. The popularity of GIFs is rooted in the looping, which uses an unremittingly entertaining moment of rich, moving media to leave a lasting impression.

While our team doesn’t know how to pronounce GIFs (is it jiff, or giff?), we do know how to put them to good use. In this guide, we’ll explore how to engage audiences and share information increasingly powerfully with GIFs. We’ll squint at platonic places to use GIFs, and moreover how to get started creating them in Vyond’s studio.

4 places to use GIFs to capture attention

Unlike traditional video, GIFs are usually short unbearable to alimony viewers watching throughout their unshortened loop. GIFs moreover typically swoop right into the whoopee or the cadre message, ensuring that you don’t lose viewers with lengthy exposition. GIFs can be used wideness a number of variegated channels, and here, we’ll squint at how to use GIFS to vamp viewers and make them stick virtually for your supporting content.

Email

In an uncounted sea of boring, plaintext emails, it’s tempting to include a video to engage the recipient of your messages. Most popular email clients like Gmail, however, don’t directly support video play within an email. If you try to embed a video in an email, you may end up with nothing increasingly than an image shown in the soul of the message. GIFs, however, scrutinizingly unchangingly play with no issues. GIFs moreover automatically play, which can help yank sustentation to your content immediately without a user opens the message. Read increasingly in this helpful resource for remoter context on how email clients handle video and GIF embeds.

Animated emails aren’t only for expert marketers. Anyone can cut through the inbox scramble with fun and delightful GIFs. The out-of-office GIF unelevated is a perfect example of how to turn a wearisome email into a memorable one. Vyond customers can edit this GIF as a customizable video template.

GIFs can moreover be used to make internal liaison increasingly engaging. You can inject a bit of pop culture or humor into your email to alimony things light, and the share-worthy nature of GIFs can uplift the likelihood that employees will remoter discuss the message that you’re sharing.

Presentations

PowerPoint templates and other slide-based software can rationalization viewers’ vision to glaze over. Try subtracting life to your presentation with GIFs. With their eye-catching movement and often humorous tone, GIFs will help you alimony your regulars engaged.

GIFs are uneaten constructive when shown while transitioning to a new part of your presentation, as they provide visual support while the speaker introduces the coming section.

Ambient movement, too, goes a long way in making your presentation increasingly dynamic. You can cusotmize the slide above as an editable template with any existing Vyond account.

Social Media Posts

If you’re a marketer, consider using GIFs in your social campaigns. GIFs are popular wideness social media considering they’re easy to share, short to consume, and uniform with scrutinizingly every platform. Twitter is a particularly popular waterworks for GIFs, marrying the popular brevity of a tweet with short-form video at its smallest.

Promotional GIFs like the template unelevated are a unconfined example of using volatility to momentum sales on social media. You can edit this sales promo template with any existing Vyond account.

Of course, you can’t talk well-nigh GIFs on social media without mentioning the “reaction GIF,” which shows a recognizable personality showing emotion in response to a message or action.

When the “facepalm” feeling spreads to the unshortened audience.

Brands can use these GIFs to help viewers connect with a message or understand the tone that the speaker is trying to convey much increasingly meaningfully than with text alone.

Messaging Apps

Brands are increasingly using chatbots to create one-on-one communications with customers via SMS or their smartphone’s messaging apps. In these chats, brands can insert GIFs to capture viewers’ sustentation and make the conversation finger friendly.

In this example, arts and culture festival South-by-Southwest (SXSW) uses GIFs to gloat a user’s registration and zestful them to upcoming happenings.

Regardless of the waterworks used, GIFs provide a delightful user wits that capture your audience’s attention.

What to squint for in a GIF

Choosing GIFs as a professional isn’t as easy as finding one for a friend. The GIFs you’ll use in merchantry contexts should be polished, non ambiguous, and designed to be wieldy for all viewers. Here are a few tips to alimony in mind when choosing or creating GIFs at work:

• Don’t use too much motion. The GIF file format only supports a small number of pixels per image, so scenes with too much motion can towards pixelated and blurred.
• Limit your use of color. Unlike video, which supports millions of colors, GIFs only support 256 colors. Consider using a limited palette to stave videos loading improperly.
• Avoid annoyingly repetitive loops. Making your GIFs too short can add a strobe-like effect to the footage, potentially worrying and alienating users.
• Be mindful of accessibility. Flashing images or content can trigger unpleasant reactions in viewers who are susceptible to seizures. The WCAG 2.0, the most popular serviceability framework for websites, advises that web content creators stave using images that towards to wink increasingly than 3 times per second, either due to an very wink used in the image or the strobe-like effect that can come from looping GIFs.
• Aim to alimony your GIFs small. Be shielding not to create GIFs that are too large, as some platforms have limits on the size of GIFs that they’ll display. Err on the side of circumspection and aim to create GIFs under 1 MB to ensure that they’ll play in your desired channel.
• Keep it appropriate. Stave GIFs that might antagonize viewers based on their beliefs or background. For example, don’t use a GIF that makes fun of a politician.

Follow these tips to find and create GIFs that are both entertaining to watch, while still reflecting well on your brand.

How to create your own GIFs in Vyond

There are plenty of GIF libraries out there (like Giphy), but some projects undeniability for increasingly professional or personalized assets. Try creating your own within Vyond’s easy-to-use video maker! Here are some step-by-step tips on how to export high-quality, engaging GIFs from Vyond Studio:

1. Start by creating a short, simple video within Vyond
2. Click the “Export/Download” icon in the top right corner (just as you’d do when converting your video into an .mp4 file or other video format)
3. Select the “GIF” option
   
4. You’re all set!

Vyond’s self-ruling plan doesn’t support GIF export, but the full-length is misogynist in our Personal, Premium, Professional and Enterprise plans. For increasingly information on which Vyond plans support GIF exports, take a squint at this plan comparison.

Create increasingly engaging content with GIFs

GIFs are everywhere on the web, and for good reason. They provide a short, engaging splash of content that captures viewers’ attention. At the same time, GIFs are just long unbearable to share meaningful information with your audiences, such as highlighting new products for customers.

It’s easy to start creating GIFs right yonder for your trademark with Vyond. Learn well-nigh Vyond’s video volatility platform and start a self-ruling 14-day self-ruling trial.