Social media is still done manually, according to almost 60 percent of the participants, rather than though software or other tools, although some do use Hootsuite or TweetDeck. Most posts are just text, without pictures or video. “The 2018 Social Media Image Sizes Guide” below explains to you what the best image sizes are for each social network and the image types to use. Every major social media platform is listed on here so you’re up-to-date with social media platform optimization.
Have you seen any blog posts recently with animation videos that play automatically? Did you notice that Twitter recently started supporting animated GIFs? These kinds of animations are a great way of capturing attention, and also an effective way of explaining something, simply, in a few seconds. In this article, we are going to outline how you can make simple animations for social media.
What is an Animated GIF? GIF is an acronymn for Graphics Interchange Format. An animated GIF is basically a graphic image that moves! When you create an animated GIF, a series of images is replayed back to back, so it looks like a video recording. Of course, you can do a video recording instead, but if you want something simple then the animated GIF is simple to create and will generally be small in size. How Do You Create an Animated GIF?
The program we use is called. It is completely free and is available for both Mac and Windows. The first thing you need to do is download LICEcap to your local machine. If you’re on a Mac, you may need to set the permissions for this application in System Preferences (security and privacy - general - allow apps downloaded from - allow LICEcap). When you open up LICEcap, you’ll probably be confused because it opens up a frame with nothing in it! This makes it looks like the software wasn’t installed correctly.but don’t be fooled: this is the window that you use to specify what you want to record. You can see, in the example below, that I’ve put an orange box around the LICEcap window.
It’s transparent so that you can see the area you want to record (in this case ) within the application box. You highlight the area of the screen you want to record You can change the size of this box to cover the area you want to record.
When you are ready to record, hit the record button in the bottom right-hand corner. Next, you will be asked to pick a file name and then you’re ready. These are the configuration settings The configuration settings are as follows:.
Title frame – Before the recording is shown, you can display a title explaining the GIF. You can select the length of time the title should be on the screen for.
Title – You can display text within your title frame or leave it blank. Elapsed time – Enable this if you want to display in the recording how much time has elapsed. Mouse button press – do you want to record the pressing of the mouse button?. GIF repeat count (0=infinite) – when you arrive on the post, the GIF will keep replaying. If you want it to stop after a certain number of times, you can specify that number here. Control+Alt+P – To pause and restart the recording. An animated GIF on how to schedule content in Hootsuite How to Add other Effects to Animated GIFs LICEcap does what it does very well, but it is not great for adding effects.
If you want something basic that you’ll have up and running quickly, then LICEcap is probably the most suitable tool for you. But if you want to add other effects, you can use a tool such as.
This provides you with functionality such as the following:. Resize your GIF – You may need to do this at times.
For example, WordPress doesn’t automatically resize your GIF, so will display it at the size it was recorded at (or resized to). Crop – If you want to cut bits off around the edges.
Optimize – This will attempt to reduce the file size. Effects – You can add various effects, for example changing it to sepia, or even displaying it upside down!. Speed – You can speed it up or slow it down. Split – This splits up the GIF into single frames so you can edit each one individually.
Text – You can add text to the top, middle or bottom of the GIF. Which Social Media Platforms Can you Embed Animated GIFs On? You can embed them on your website and on Google+, Pinterest and Twitter. They are currently not supported on channels such as Facebook or Instagram. In January 2014, Twitter started to support animated GIFs so, if you attach a GIF to a tweet, it gets played when someone clicks on the play button within the image.
Scheduling content in Hootsuite — Ian Cleary (@IanCleary) When to use animated GIFs If you want to explain something in a video that only takes a few seconds, or if you want to capture something short that is not worth doing any editing for, animated GIFs can be ideal. Having the GIF play automatically on social media channels does catch the eye, so this alone is worth trying out. People generally don’t want a really long animated GIF playing in a blog post, but a short, snappy one works. Summary Animated GIFs are just another way of displaying content within social media that attracts attention. It’s not suitable for every occasion but for brief, eye-catching videos they can be very useful. When you share your blog post on the social media sites that support it, you can also post the animated GIF. This will attract attention on Twitter and encourage people back to your blog post.
Would you use animated GIFs? Do you find them annoying or useful? By Shutterstock.
This year, I was fortunate to have a number of opportunities to speak with small business owners about the different ways they’re using to market their businesses. I’ve had the chance to answer a lot of social media questions, and have also learned a lot about how business owners are using these different networks to their advantage. I’ve also had some surprises. One of the biggest surprises I’ve run into when speaking with small business owners is that a number of people are still linking their Facebook and Twitter accounts to post automatically. While automatically posting from one network to the next may sound like a good idea, the truth is that this can often do more harm than good. One of the biggest problems with auto-posting is that these tools ignore an important fact: All social networks are not the same. If you’re auto-posting from Facebook to Twitter for example, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of your posts will automatically get cut off.
Because Twitter has a 140-character limit, each post you share needs to be created with that specific network in mind. You may have also noticed that when you share certain pieces of content — like photos or links — these assets often don’t transition well from network to network. Another problem with simply auto-posting from one network to the other is that people connect with you on different sites for different reasons. Not only will you run into problems with how your content is displayed, if you’re posting the exact same content to multiple social networks, you’re not giving people a reason to follow you on each network. What’s the benefit of following your business in multiple places if you don’t have something different to say? So, what can you do? If you want to build an audience across your social networks that is engaged and interested in what you’re sharing, you need to spend some time thinking about the individual needs of your audience on each network.
You also need to understand what type of content is best for each. I’ve put together a quick overview to help you get started:. Facebook: Be conversational, be friendly, and use complete sentences to keep your fans’ attention. When Facebook users scan their News Feed, they’re reading thoughts and updates from their friends that are written the same way. Twitter: Keep your message short.
Twitter has a 140-character restriction on tweets. Use hashtags to stand out in the Twitter stream and get your content noticed. LinkedIn: Be conversational and helpful, but keep your content professional. LinkedIn users are using the network to share their expertise and establish credibility in their field. Pinterest: Use good descriptions so people can learn more about the content you’re pinning and so that your pins appear in search results. Google+: Be conversational and helpful on Google+, but also choose the keywords that will help get you found in a search. Google indexes all of the content shared on Google+ and references it when someone searches for your business or keywords you write about.
Instagram: Use hashtags in your photo captions to help get your photos noticed. Instagram users look for images with popular hashtags. Don’t forget to tag any person or business that’s in your photos; they’ll be more likely to interact with your content and spread the word about you. All of the social networks: Images are important on all social networks, but each network displays images a little differently. Use our to see what size will work best on each network. If you need to modify the image, use free tools like or to upload and resize your photos. Next, you need to find the right tools to help you save time and automate your social media the right way.
One of the tools I like to use is. Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that allows you to manage all of your social networks from one central location. You can easily keep track of the different conversations happening around your business and your industry, and you can also schedule posts in advance. Instead of simply posting an update on one site and having it blast out to your different networks, you can create posts that are specific to your different audiences and use Hootsuite to schedule them in advance. Creating posts that are specific to each network might sound like a lot of work, but remember that you can still share similar content on each site if you go about it the right way.
Consider this example: On Facebook we posted our with an appropriately sized image. The text is conversational and friendly. It includes a hashtag that we encourage the audience to use so we can find their posts on any social network. Then, we shared the same blog post on Twitter. We used the same photo, but the text is crafted for a Twitter audience.
It’s under 140 characters, includes hashtags to call attention to relevant topics and keywords, and has a shortened link back to the blog. You can do the same thing too. Start with a piece of content you want to share, tweak the way you promote it slightly, and make sure it fits each social network.
If you’re a Constant Contact customer, you can use our to easily share your emails, offers, and events across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also customize your message so that it fits the audience you’re trying to reach. You can reference the tips for each network listed above, and also check out some of our other helpful resources for repurposing your content:. Have questions? If you’re new to this, attend our.
Or, if you’ve been using social media for a while and need some new ideas, try our.