{"id":8264,"date":"2014-08-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=8264"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:00:24","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:00:24","slug":"just-gifs-brands-can-tell-story-using-imgur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/just-gifs-brands-can-tell-story-using-imgur","title":{"rendered":"More than just GIFs: How brands can tell a story using Imgur"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you recently see a funny meme on Facebook? What about a popular GIF on Buzzfeed? It was probably posted and hosted on Imgur<\/a> (pronounced \u201cimage-er\u201d) last week.<\/p>\n

Millions of images are uploaded to Imgur daily and shared across the web. It\u2019s where virality starts: More than 100 million people consume the content on Imgur every month.<\/p>\n

Unlike other social networks with personalized streams, Imgur is composed of one massive social community where top images are viewed hundreds of thousands of times a day.<\/p>\n

Some startups and small businesses have begun to use platforms like Reddit and Snapchat as a medium for communication and marketing, but businesses should use Imgur to take advantage of the large community.<\/p>\n

So, how are brands using it? Here\u2019s an example that General Electric put together to celebrate the 45th<\/sup> anniversary of Apollo 11. It\u2019s a picture of moon-walkin\u2019 Buzz Aldrin rocking a pair of Moon Boots.<\/p>\n

\"buzz_aldrin_imgur\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Brick and the rest of the news team made special appearances prior to the launch of the film Anchorman 2.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Brick_Anchorman<\/a><\/p>\n

The beauty of Imgur\u2019s platform is the opportunity it provides for both paid and earned media. Earned via shared content and the natural mechanics of virality built into the site. The nature of the platform encourages interaction and yields massive engagement rates. Though, brands be warned: Engagement can come in many forms, some more positive than others.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve distilled down our experience with the community and our work with brands into a four rules to follow in interacting with Imgur. In each case, we\u2019ve included proven examples that will help illustrate each point.<\/p>\n

There are four important points to keep in mind:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Tell A (Really) Good Story<\/li>\n
  2. Engage With Imgurians<\/li>\n
  3. Move Quickly<\/li>\n
  4. Play By The Internet\u2019s Rules<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Rule One: Tell A (Really) Good Story<\/b><\/h3>\n

    Imgur is more than just a place to upload funny one-off images. Blending albums and GIFs give Imgurians (and you!) the power to tell rich narrative stories that dive deep into particular issues and evoke a large range of emotions outside the random cat meme. This is a unique opportunity – Sponsored Images do not function the same way traditional banner advertisements do, therefore it is important to avoid treating them as such.<\/p>\n

    We encourage brands to take the extra time to have an editorial angle on the content you publish on Imgur, and to share original content with the community. In addition to being a classy move, it\u2019s a major thing that the Imgurian community (not surprisingly) appreciates and responds to.<\/p>\n