Stills, Gifs, or Videos: Which is Most Effective?

Stills, Gifs, or Videos: Which is Most Effective? (Thumbnail image)
Social media trends and analytics show different types of content resonate with users more effectively in specific stages of the customer journey.

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Social media trends and analytics show different types of content resonate with users more effectively in specific stages of the customer journey.

Your brand’s content strategy should be based on what stage of the customer journey the content is for. A customer journey is about understanding your consumers, how they travel through the sales process, and what you can do to improve their experience so they keep coming back. There are five main phases to the customer journey and each one is equally important to the customer experience. Social media trends and analytics show different types of content resonate with users more effectively in specific stages of the customer journey. In this blog, we will walk through which types of content are recommended in each stage of the customer journey. 

Phase 1 is Awareness. Your customer’s journey begins before they even think about making a purchase from your brand. The customer has a problem that needs to be solved, but first, they need to know you exist. This is why the awareness phase is so important. Research shows that in this stage video performs best. Because the customer is just being introduced to your brand, a video is most likely to catch the attention of the user and encourage engagement. This gives the brand an opportunity to tell a short story about who the brand is. A video is also a great way to utilize your brand elements such as brand typography, colors, and any graphics or animations used in your brand guide. You can often have multiple awareness ads running so you have multiple opportunities to get users to initially engage with your brand. 

Phase 2 is Consideration. Similar to the awareness stage, the consideration stage performs best with the use of a branded video. This is a problem-solving stage where you are working to provide answers or solutions to your consumer. It lets your consumer know why they should trust you and purchase your product. Video is a much more engaging way to get relay your brand purpose. 

Phase 3 is Conversion. All the strategy and design put into the first two stages lead to this decision-making phase. Because you have already introduced your brand and shown why the potential consumer should pick you over a competitor, it’s important not to lose your customer. This phase performs best with a still image or a gif. We recommend you make sure to continue utilizing your brand assets in the image or gif. Brand consistency makes your customers feel you are established and will also ensure your audience recognizes your branding wherever they see it. This is the best stage to consider offering a discount code or free shipping to help add value to the consumer’s decision.

Phase 4 is Loyalty. Like conversion, the loyalty phase performs best in the form of a still image or gif. Many brands make the mistake of not developing content past the conversion stage. In the loyalty stage, the main focus is nurturing your customers so that they continue to be engaged with the brand online and become repeat customers. You want to invest in the relationship with your consumer by offering special promotions or introducing loyalty programs to those that have made it to this point in the customer journey. 

Phase 5 is Advocacy. What might be better than reselling to existing customers? Having customers tell others how great their experience with your brand was! You can incentivize referrals by offering both the giver and receiver discounts on future purchases. Gifs or stills work best in this stage because advocacy content is usually utilized in email or SMS campaigns. 

It is so important to model your marketing strategy around every step of the customer’s journey. At BuzzShift, the customer journey is top of mind and we always strive to have comprehensive and strategic thinking behind each phase. Reach out today to talk about how you can effectively create content for each stage. 

 

About BuzzShift

BuzzShift is a digital growth strategy agency with a focus on mid-market, scaling, purpose-driven DTC Brands. By combining the ideologies of branding, performance marketing, and retention agency, we are able to create memorable experiences with measurable results, and build long-term success for our clients with scalable, sustainable growth. Learn more about BuzzShift.

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