Marketing With GIFs: Small Animations That Spark Joy in Business

GIFs… More engaging than still images but easier to create and embed than video. Animated GIFs are great for driving more engagement in your external and internal communications campaigns. They are ideal for communicating emotions and ideas. You can use GIFs in emails to communicate an element of surprise, humor, or delight. Whether you plan to educate, instill a sense of curiosity, inform, or entertain, GIFs can be helpful in boosting the overall polish of your marketing efforts.

Mostly, we use GIFs through search engines like GIPHY.com. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. Just like the JPEG or PNG file formats are still images, GIFs are usually noiseless animations made from still images or videos that loop like a flipbook. Ideally, they are under 3 seconds long and less than 1MB for fast loading across platforms.

It’s science… People love GIFs because humans are visual creatures. The human brain processes images 60,000 times quicker than text. Advertising content performs better when it has visuals. GIFs are a great way to get messages across in a short, engaging visual format that feeds into the instant gratification consumers want when consuming content. GIFs are naturally entertaining due to their blending of pop culture, memes, and emotion. GIFs can also be extremely personal. GIFs are how people communicate in messaging conversations when words alone can’t convey the emotions they want to express.

In this speech, get the latest info about which platforms accept GIF files right now. We discuss Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook, X, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Blogger, and WordPress. We also discuss HOW to make short segment GIFs under 3 seconds and how to loop them and compress them small enough to send over text messages, WhatsApp, MMS, Email, and the Web.

Jessica Kizorek bio:

With her unique experience telling stories with video, Jessica Kizorek teaches students, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs to produce media that matters. She is a futurist, constantly encouraging clients to deepen emotional relationships online.

For the past 20 years, Kizorek has developed a presence for herself as an entrepreneur and international activist. Working primarily with large nonprofits – such as the United Nations, AARP Foundation, Special Olympics, and Lions Club – through her company Two Parrot Productions (co-founded in 2000 with her father, Bill Kizorek), she has created hundreds of short films and video-centric fundraising campaigns.

Having traveled to over 60 countries, she has covered a multitude of humanitarian causes as a journalist and documentarian. Many times venturing onto the front lines of such efforts as education in Pakistan’s largest refugee camp, World Women’s Day in Nepal, and fair trade farming initiatives in Ghana. 

As a diplomat representing the USA, Jessica travels the world, empowering millennial women to enter the workforce and start businesses. She facilitates this mainly through an organization she founded in 2010 called Badass Businesswomen. Her production company covers many issues, though female entrepreneurialism is the cause closest to her heart. Referred to as a “Women’s Empowerment Specialist” by the US Department of State and a “Small Business Expert” by Fox News, Jessica speaks to international audiences about the art of modern business in a digital world.

Further accolades include:

Author of 10 books and online courses. Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder with a degree in International Business and Spanish. Masters from Florida International University in Global Strategic Communications. Guest lecturer at Princeton, UC-Berkley, University of Michigan, Florida International University, University of Miami, and Miami Ad School. She has also appeared as a featured guest on major news outlets such as Fox, NBC, CNN, Weekend Today, and The Better Show.

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