Dive Brief:
- Marketers will be able to use animated GIFs in Facebook Page posts and ads, reversing a policy dating to the launch of the social media platform.
- Facebook users gained the ability to post GIFs in May, and now marketers are getting in on the animated fun.
- GIFs have been around as a simple rich media device for a long time, but remain popular with marketers as a way to connect with audiences.
Dive Insight:
GIFs finally came to Facebook for its users in May, and now marketers can tap into the animated, rich media element as well. Brands will have the ability to post them on Pages as well as use them in Facebook ads.
Even though GIFs have been popular across a variety of social media platforms, Facebook held out on supporting them as a matter of policy. The rollout for brands is limited for now, with the company saying in a statement, “GIFs can be a fun and compelling way to communicate, so we’ve started testing GIF support in posts and boosted posts for a small percentage of Facebook Pages. We will evaluate whether it drives a great experience for people before rolling it out to more Pages.”
Marketers see the silent, short-loop videos as another method for connecting with the millennial audience. Old Spice, for example, just began a GIF-based campaign on “Pinterest for guys,” Imgur, in order to reach its 150 million users that skew heavily toward millennial males. For marketers, GIFs offer a fresh way to reach Facebook's massive audience.
