As Facebook rolls out the ability for users to place looped image gifs in the newsfeed, when the service becomes available for brands it could give them an opportunity to gain some organic reach back on the social networking giant.
Facebook announced this week that it will now start supporting animated gifs in the newsfeed and while users are the first to get to test the experience, brand pages currently awaiting the same courtesy, George Pappas, campaign director for G Squared, said that when it comes down the pipe for brands it will be big.
“It's a huge opportunity for brands to start producing branded content in animated gif format that can engage users on the newsfeed in a new way,” Pappas said.
“I think the traditional social content types on Facebook's newsfeed, image and video and text based content, is getting saturated so this is an opportunity for brands to jump on it, because I don't think users will click onto it as quickly as brands can.”
Pappas explained that gifs could also help brands actually regenerate some organic reach on the platform, a feat which has been difficult for sometime, with Facebook altering its algorithm to not only ensure that people have to pay to advertise, but to also give consumers more power over the ads they see.
“It will basically give brands the opportunity to be the loudest in the room, organically, there’s hardly any opportunity organically any more,” he said.
Facebook allowing gifs in the newsfeed could also signal the social network trying to connect further with the millennial audience, with the gif format being popular on other platforms such as Imgur, Tumblr, Reddit and BuzzFeed.
The social network also recently announced its partnership with publishers, which allows them to publish direct to the social network.
In an announcement from its newsroom, Facebook explained that is has updated its web article format and has created Instant Articles, which it claims offers publishers new ways to publish and generate revenue.
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