How moving content is taking over
Intro
Scrolling through your feed on social, you’ll probably see a lot more moving content than a few years ago. There has been a boom in people sharing moving content online, interacting with friends and followers using animations, videos and GIFs.
Everyone is familiar with video, but what exactly is a GIF? The GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) was created in 1987 – probably a lot older than you thought it was! They are made from a series of frames or still images which are animated to form a short, soundless, looping animation.
GIF and video have seen a surge in popularity over the last few years with evidence suggesting that it improves engagement and metrics online. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and Tumblr are all investing huge amounts to increase their bandwidths and make their platforms more video content-friendly, encouraging visitors to stop scrolling and interact with their content.
The trend towards moving content on social is clearly one that cannot be ignored but why does this happen and what does it mean for the photo booth industry?
What makes GIFs and moving content so appealing?
There are three main reasons we found for GIFs and videos taking over social media.
- Emotional connection
There’s a reason people prefer to meet face to face rather than over the phone or text. It’s a lot easier for us to get a read on people’s emotions when we can see their faces.
Looking at any of the most popular GIFs of the last year, it’s not hard to see why they were popular, they go a long way to conveying some sort of emotion or feeling without using any words at all.
Videos and GIFs can capture an emotion or feeling that text, or a still image just can’t explain – which is why they are shared on social so much.
- Visual
Our dominant sense is sight. Not only do we process video about 60,000 times faster than text, but we are able to remember a lot more visual content than words. Maybe this explains why video and GIF has a lot higher engagement rate and leads to users spending more time on websites or profiles that feature moving content.
- Accessibility
As you’ve probably noticed, mobile devices are getting more and more sophisticated in terms of the tech in them. Compared to the phones of the 00’s video is much more viewable, and data is much more affordable. This means that moving content is viewed more regularly, in 2015 there were 8 billion daily video views on Facebook, a number which has continued to rise.
Why does this matter for photo booth owners?
The photo booth industry changes quickly to keep up with all the latest trends and development. From the advent of the internet to the boom of social media, adapting quickly and keeping up with the trends keeps us popular and in demand. Being able to offer GIF and video output alongside the traditional still photos from your photobooth gives you a unique selling point (USP) and sets you above the competition.
For both corporate and private events, photo booth ownership is about delivering stand out, high-quality content that consumers want to share. Closing can be difficult, so delivering popular outputs, such as GIF or video, shows the client the benefit of the service that your photo booth will offer, whether that be high engagement rates for a corporate client, or content that will show off a private client’s special day and get loads of likes.
All DreamBooth’s products have the capability of delivering GIF or video content to help improve your ROI. Check out our range here.