Stepping Up Your Social Media Game: How to Create a GIF
The GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, is hardly a new concept among the social media world. Since its inception in 1987, the internet quickly embraced the GIF and its relevance is still prominent today.
From being appealing, effective, and easy to consume, there are plenty of reasons your brand should be using GIFs to catch the attention of your audience on social media. The other great thing about GIFs is they are super simple to create!
Here is the quickest and most simple way to create GIFs that will step up your social media game:
Pick a conversion website:
There are several different GIF conversion websites available; the most common being:
Select a video:
The best GIFs relate to specific feelings or situations. Be sure to pick a video that will make sense to your audience. The footage you choose should effectively get your point across. You can choose a video you’ve saved on your desktop or cell phone, or you can search a video online using YouTube or Vimeo.
Upload the video in the conversion site:
If you are uploading a personal video, choose that option within the converter. When using a video from the internet, copy and paste the complete URL into the converter’s URL field.
Crop the video length:
The next step is to isolate the exact moment you want to capture from the video by bookending it with timestamps. Your GIF can be up to 3 minutes long; however, the most effective GIFs are ideally two to six seconds long.
Add Text:
GIFs, unlike videos, do not include sound. If you feel your GIF could use some extra context, use text to add a quotable moment or highlight a feeling you hope to express.
Download your GIF:
GIFs will automatically begin to play when downloaded and opened on your mobile device; however, your desktop makes you take an extra step. Once you download a GIF on your desktop computer, it won’t be animated and will instead show a series of frames. Resolve this by just dragging the GIF into your web browser, and the animation will work.
While there are several other ways to create a GIF, this is the most straightforward way for those who lack graphic design or animation skills. If you are looking to grow your social media in other ways but lack the time or resources to do so, give the social media gurus at Marketing Eye a call today for a free consultation.
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