GIF Buzz

The Social Media world is buzzing with the news that Twitter now supports GIF files! Wonderful…but what is a GIF? Can you make one yourself? Can it help your business?

GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format. Animated GIFs are short pieces of video (usually only two or three seconds) that continuously loop round. OR they can be created from a series of still images in Photoshop…I’m sure you have seen them, usually coupled with a clever caption of sorts…

Yes in fact, you can make your own! Here is a handy 5 step guide to creating your animated GIF with video. Here is a guide to creating your GIF from still images in photoshop.

Now then, as for helping your business…Well, as with most things in marketing these days, you have to get creative. What can you show off about your business in three seconds? The answer is, a lot.

For example, if you are a shoe company, why not have your model wearing three different styles? With a bit of photoshop wizardry you show off three different styles in three seconds! Great! Instead of having to use three separate images, you have advertised three styles in one handy animated GIF…

And now, rather than just having to stick to your website or Tumblr to peddle your wares, you can now show them off to the world on Twitter!

Good Luck!

Content Creation Cheat Sheet

Here are some things for businesses to think about when creating online content:

  • Create the content BEFORE you start marketing your business online, a blank page looks like you don’t care, or even worse are not in business (failure to update your page/feed regularly will have the same effect…).
  • Post as your business, not as yourself.
  • Post a minimum of two times a week on Facebook, aiming for 4 or 5 times per week.
  • Tweet once a day, aiming for 4 or 5 times a day.
  • Don’t sell all the time (every once in a while is fine, as long as it is genuine, friendly and not pushy), Nobody want’s their timeline to be full of ads and Facebook will stop you from being seen by anyone if you are constantly trying push your adverts on people.
  • Talk about other people, e.g. post inspiring videos, share interesting content from other pages – you can connect with other pages by “liking” them as your page – go to their business page, click on the … button, and “like as your page”.
  • Make sure posts are interesting and are of quality, a good question to ask yourself is whether you would want to read what you are posting if it were on your own timeline, if you saw it would you like it or share it…sharing things you find interesting is always good (as longs as they are relevant…).
  • Try to build and maintain a genuine connection with people, respond to them if they send you messages or mention you in tweets.

Hope this is helpful!

Blogs Matter!

Well we all know that…

But I’m talking about bloggers in your local community.

If, for example, you own a restaurant and want people to know you exist, reach out to local bloggers! Following them on Facebook and Twitter, inviting them to come and check out your restaurant – you could even offer them freebies. Blogs are a great way to get your name out to your locals – who are the people you really want, as they are most likely to be your repeat customers.

People listen to each other and they want recommendations. Think about the last time you wanted to go for dinner, maybe you asked a friend who knows about these things, maybe you just randomly chose somewhere…but chances are you looked for reviews on the internet before you went – wouldn’t it be magic if you could have great reviews of YOUR restaurant out there?!….

Well it’s a lot easier than you might think…and trust me it is worth the effort!

The Importance of Photography

Professional (or at least high quality) photos make a HUGE difference to any post, even outside of platforms like Pinterest and Instagram where beautiful are the norm.

Nobody likes a shabby image, and if you are looking to get people to share and like your content (which is kind of the whole point), don’t post fuzzy, stretched or squashed photos!

I get that not everyone can afford a nice camera or a professional photographer, but my advice is beg, borrow, barter or steal…(well, don’t actually steal…)! Ask a friend, colleague or customer that is handy with a camera if they would consider taking some photos for you in exchange for something…your time, a free beer, sandwich, home-cooked meal, or whatever you can muster!

When you look at your, e.g. Facebook, business page, it should look bright, inviting and professional…quality photos are a hugely influential factor in this.