The majority of brands understands the importance of social presence but can sometimes fall into a weary routine. Therefore, gifs can serve as a saving grace for marketers feeling stuck in a rut while also appealing to up-and-coming consumers.

"Marketers need to take care in how they use gifs,? said Deborah Hanamura, director of marketing at global marketing agency Metia, Seattle. ?Marketers should think of a mobile-specific experience and produce content that works on different platforms. 

?Rather than mobile-first, think of content as experience-first," she said.

Whether it is a branded initiative, such as Taco Bell?s efforts on Tumblr, or an outside source, such as using clips from a famous movie or TV show, all benefit the brand by initiating a conversation and showing consumers that brands are keeping up with current trends.

In many ways, brands have to blend work and play by combining business with fun to engage with this audience. If customers are not engaged or entertained, they are less likely to interact with a brand.

"Social is the natural environment for gifs,? Ms. Hanamura said. ?Their low-fidelity, playful looping animations can easily enter into conversations without much production time. 

?When Twitter enabled gif functionality in the timeline, brands were practically giddy,? she said. ?Gifs are a nice alternative to Vine, which just hasn?t gotten the traction for brands that other platforms have gotten. 

?Gifs have a place in email, but they should be used intelligently, and add value to the content of the email. Gifs in email for the sake of entertainment value or a gimmick will backfire."

Since gifs obviously do well on social, they can be used with caution and on occasion on other platforms.

All in all, gifs can help brands build bonds with their customers and cause brands to be viewed as more personal. If nothing else, customers enjoy feeling like they are being heard from their favorite brands, and native content can be a good start to achieve it.

While gifs are not a new concept, mainstream social sites such as Facebook and Twitter have most recently found them to be useful on their platforms. Now, brands working to maintain strong social engagement can take advantage.

Lexus is a brand that leveraged the interactivity of gifs during the holiday season (see story).

Ms. Hanamura provided a brief history lesson on the gif, attributing the tool to being a good source of fun in the marketing space.

"Let's give props to the man Steve White who invented gifs in 1987,? Ms. Hanamura said. ?Steve White personally cleared up any controversy regarding pronunciation of gif when he confirmed that it was intended to be said with a soft ?G,? like Jiff. 

?Further, he chose the soft ?G? because he liked the tagline, ?Choosy developers choose gif.? So in addition to making countless Tumblr boards possible, Steve had a sense of humor.?

"Whether you pronounce it with a hard ?G?, my preference ? sorry, Steve, or a soft G, like Jiff, these teeny animations are an increasingly popular mechanism to capture attention, and have some fun with your marketing."