When you hear the words “animated gifs”, you might think of old school clipart animations, or short clips from tv shows and movies that are used daily on social media. GIFs have evolved since their first creation, and are now being used in an assortment of ways, including in marketing strategies. Brands and businesses have opted to use GIFs on their social media platforms, emails and on their website. We’ve compiled a few ways that you can incorporate GIFs into your web design.
Catch Attention
If you have a specific section on your website that you want to draw attention to, using animations or GIFs is a great way to achieve this. Not only does it catch users’ attention, it also keeps them engaged for longer periods of time and makes it easier to digest your content. Use GIFs on your website in places that you want to really stick out.
Make Icons Fun
Instead of having still icons on your website, try replacing them with animated GIFs. Your social media icons and phone and email icons can be brought to life, and really make the user want to interact with them. Icons should do more than take up space on your website, they should make users want to visit your social media profiles and contact you.
Replace Videos
GIFs can be handy if you’re using an older browser. They are an alternative for CSS3 animations and videos, which aren’t always supported by old browsers. Using GIFs in replacement of videos on your website ensures the content is short, readable, and also will load faster. GIFs are lightweight but can still achieve the same effect that a full-size video has.
Engage Visitors
The amount of time visitors spend on your website is one factor that Google considers when it comes to ranks on SERPS. Not only do you want to drive traffic to your website, but you want to make users spend more time on your website. GIFs can help increase user engagement, which in turn will make them spend more time on your site, which helps Google find your site more credible. GIFs make your content easy to understand, which is what your audience wants. They want short, quick and to the point content that is easy to find and consume.
Headlines
Animating the headlines on your website can make a drastic difference in the appearance of your website. It adds a “oooo – ahhh” feeling that really grabs your audience’s attention. Even if you add an animated logo to the top of your site, or just the first headline, it can make a real difference on how willing users are to move past the homepage or landing page. Too much isn’t always a good idea though, so be sure you aren’t adding animations where they aren’t needed. Too many can be hectic for the user to understand.
Animated GIFs can be used in a variety of ways in your digital marketing strategy, not just for web design. You can use GIFs in your email campaigns, social media campaigns, and other digital assets. For free downloadable marketing gifs, click here.
