Using Animation To Give You The Edge with Elizabeth Doss

In the latest episode of Hospitality Huddles, I chatted with Elizabeth Doss, a social media consultant specialising in animated GIFs for businesses who shares her secrets behind achieving 5.7 BILLION views on GIPHY.

We shared how hotels and restaurants can leverage the power of GIFs to enhance guest engagement, boost brand awareness, and stand out in the digital landscape.

Here are the top takeaways from the episode:

GIFs Capture Attention and Convey Emotion: Animated GIFs have the unique ability to quickly convey emotions, reactions, and messages in a visually engaging way. As Elizabeth explained, GIFs allow you to "reference an emotion or something that we're feeling through these pop culture references" - making them highly relatable and shareable for your audience.

Optimise GIFs for Discoverability: The key to getting the most value from your GIFs is ensuring they are properly optimised for search. By incorporating relevant keywords and leveraging Giphy's "GIF engine optimisation", your custom GIFs can become easily discoverable when guests search for content related to your hotel or destination.

Integrate GIFs into Your Social Media Strategy: GIFs can be seamlessly integrated into your social media content and engagement. From using branded GIFs in Instagram Stories to responding to guest comments on LinkedIn with a personalised reaction GIF, there are endless ways to make your hotel's digital presence more dynamic and memorable.

Leverage GIFs for Personalised Guest Experiences: Get creative with how you use GIFs to enhance the guest experience. Elizabeth shared the example of a hotel creating a "Happy Anniversary" GIF to celebrate guests' special occasions, or developing destination-specific GIFs that guests can use when sharing their travel experiences.

Cultivate a GIF-Savvy Community: Educate your guests and followers on how to find and use your hotel's custom GIFs. By encouraging the use of your branded GIFs, you can foster a sense of community and brand loyalty, while also increasing visibility for your content.

Creating the Auden Hospitality GIFs

Elizabeth shared the process of developing the custom GIF library for Auden Hospitality.

She explained that it started with a collaborative call to understand our brand, personality, and the tone he wanted to convey. This allowed Elizabeth to align the animation style and content with Auden's brand image. They worked together to identify key phrases, reactions, and moments that would resonate with Auden's audience. This resulted in a diverse collection of GIFs, including reaction GIFs for LinkedIn engagement that has reached 4.1m views.

The key to the success of the Auden GIFs, as Elizabeth noted, was the focus on creating content that authentically reflected the brand's identity and provided genuine value to the community.

The key to unlocking the full potential of GIFs lies in understanding your audience, aligning your GIF strategy with your brand identity, and consistently incorporating these visual assets into your digital marketing efforts.

As Elizabeth demonstrated throughout the episode, GIFs can be a powerful tool for hotels and restaurants looking to stand out, engage their guests, and strengthen their online presence.

If the episode has got you intrigued, reach out to Elizabeth Doss here on LinkedIn or check out her website here.