GIFs have become part of our digital vernacular - they're now as common as emojis, and like emojis, they can be a great way to express emotional context, which is often absent in text alone.
They can also be great for your marketing messages, when used right. Various brands have experimented with GIFs in their outreach efforts, and Facebook added GIFs as an option in its ad creation toolset back in 2017. It won't be for everyone, but as GIFs become more commonplace, it may well be worth testing them out in your communications as a means to better connect with your audience.
In this sense, it's also interesting to understand what, exactly, GIFs are being used for. Providing additional insight on this, Google has this week published a list of the top ten most searched for GIFs of 2019, based on searches conducted in Tenor, the GIF search engine which facilitates 12 billion searches each month, and which Google acquired last year.
Based on Tenor usage, here are the key terms that people in the US and Canada went looking for GIFs to express over the past 12 months:
- "Psh"
- "Oop"
- "Hustle"
- "Oh Man'
- "Peasant"
- "Dad Joke"
- "No Regrets"
- "Everything"
- "Beast"
- "Not Happy"
Some interesting notes there - most of them align with broader internet trends, like "..and I oop", while it's also interesting to see the various expressions people are looking to share via GIF usage.
As noted, with GIF usage on the rise overall, more brands are logically looking at how they can also incorporate the animated image option, adding extra context to online conversations and communicating in common language. This listing might help provide some insight as to how you can more effectively do so, by understanding what people are looking to share via the tool.
You can check out Google's fill Top Ten GIF listing, with examples for each, here.