In today’s digital world, it’s crucial to find innovative ways to repurpose your content and share that content with your audience.
It's how you build your brand, connect with your audience, and go from unknown to unforgettable.
And that's what Digital Confetti is all about: teaching you new strategies to create shareable content from your videos, break it up, and sprinkle it across the internet like confetti.
In Digital Confetti episode two, we talked about one of my favorite ways to repurpose content: by turning your live streams into animated GIFs.
Whether you pronounce it as "gif" or "Jif" (yes, like the peanut butter), GIFs are such a fun way to promote your content, shows, events, or even product launches.
By creating GIFs from your live streams, you get to show off your personality and engage with your audience in a new, exciting way. Once your show ends, let your audience share those reactions and moments as GIFs.
Although creating GIFs from content might be a new idea for some, there are content creators out there who have been doing it for years.
I brought on a special guest in this episode of Digital Confetti, who is known for her amazing GIFs. She blocks out time in her schedule to batch create them, and the result is pretty cool.
When I say she creates GIFs, I mean it. Her GIF game is strong. So let's talk about her GIF-creating strategies.
What got Christine Gritmon into the GIF game.
Christine Gritmon is a digital marketer and social media strategist, but over the last few years, she's become known for something else: creating impressive GIFs.
When Christine first started using GIFs, she didn't even think of it as marketing or branding. She used them often, especially on Twitter, to add more personality to her comments.
As time went on, individuals online began speaking out against "digital blackface," and Christine realized this applied to GIFs as well.
Many people, especially on Twitter, used GIFs of African-American women to convey sassiness, which plays into negative stereotypes.
It was during that time when Christine decided to make her own GIFs to express herself.
And why not? If you are creating videos and live streaming, you already have the content. It's just a matter of recreating it the way you want to.
“Use GIFs to show off your brand’s personality. You already have the content from your videos; you just need to recreate it as a short animation.”
Christine keeps a running note on her phone with GIF ideas, including props. Then, she batches GIF content on certain days with the help of her husband, who films her.
Not only does Christine create GIFs for her content, but also for her clients. What better way to create a unique content strategy than by using GIFs?
Today, Christine is known for her incredible GIFs, and they have over 20.6 million views on GIPHY. One of her GIFs was even picked up by actress Kirstie Alley on Twitter.
Christine truly uses GIFs as a branding tool. It's such a unique way to show off your personality and stand out from the crowd.
How to create GIFs from your live stream content.
Repurposing your content as GIFs is easier than you think, so I'm going to walk you through the programs I use to create them.
Once I pick a video clip I want to use, I open it in GIPHY Capture, which I have downloaded on my Mac.
GIPHY Capture is so easy to use because I just need to highlight a specific part of a show and then add text overlays and metadata, which helps with your content's searchability.
With GIPHY Capture, you can change the loop type to normal, reverse, and even ping-pong. The different loop types determine how your GIF appears.
Next, you can change the pixel size, frame size, add captions, change colors, and change the animation.
“The possibilities of creating GIFs are endless because you can do anything you want to the content.”
Once I've created my GIF, it automatically uploads to GIPHY. However, I also upload my GIFs to Tenor because they become searchable within 24 hours. I typically upload GIFs with my name and the action of the GIF.
When Christine makes her GIFs, she records them with Ecamm Live on Record mode and edits the videos with Final Cut Pro. She then uploads the content to GIPHY.
It's important to note that GIPHY has particular guidelines when posting GIFs, and you might not be searchable right away. That's one of the reasons why I choose to upload my GIFs to Tenor as well.
Why GIFs are the perfect way to share your content.
Creating GIFs provides your brand with instant value.
When you finish recording a live stream or video, you already have the content ready to go. All you need to do is create a couple of GIFs.
The best part about GIFs is the versatility, especially if you batch content like Christine.
You can add fun backgrounds and props that draw your audience's attention and help them recognize your brand, no matter where they see the GIF on the internet.
Additionally, you can use GIFs to promote ANYTHING.
When the 360 Marketing Squad published our new book this summer, The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing, we even used GIFs as a way to promote it!
We started a live stream and unboxed the book together, and I made GIFs of each person to gain traction for the book launch.
You can make GIFs to promote or recap anything: a speech, an event such as a conference, guest interviews, product or service launches, and more. GIFs are also a fantastic way to build relationships with your clients.
I have been creating GIFs from my shows for the past year and it's so much fun. I even do a little thing I like to call GIF-Giving, where I create GIFs from memorable moments when I speak with a guest on a show.
“If I have an amazing guest on a show, I want to create a GIF for them because I know my audience and theirs will love having that shareable piece of content.”
With GIFs, the content never stops.
GIFs are the perfect way to keep engaging with your audience. Imagine this: you create five GIFs from your most recent live stream and use one of them to promote the video recap.
Your followers see the GIF and it resonates with them. They send a text to a friend and include the GIF in the message. Before you know it, your GIF is being searched and used on GIPHY or Tenor by users all over the world.
To end this, I want to challenge you all to create your own GIFs.
The next time you have a live stream scheduled, or a new product launch, or even when you start working with a new client, make a GIF.
Get creative as you want and show off your brand personality. This is your chance to shine!
What do you think about using GIFs to repurpose your video content?
Let me know in the comments and share a link to your GIFs on Tenor or GIPHY for me to check out!
Thank you to Restream for sponsoring Digital Confetti!
If you haven’t heard, Restream allows you to broadcast live video to 30+ social networks at the same time.
