What are Branded Instagram Story GIFs?

Whether you pronounce it ‘GIF’ or ‘JIF’, we’re almost certain that you’ve used these fun little animations at least once in your life!

But did you know that you can actually create custom GIFs, specific to your brand?

Let’s dumb it down a bit

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, we should probably explain what a GIF is – just in case you’ve recently emerged from under the rock you’ve been sheltering under and have no idea what we’re talking about.

GIF stands for ‘Graphics Interchange Format‘ and basically it just means an animated image, or image that moves. You might be thinking, ‘an image that moves is a video’, but it’s a little bit different. There is no sound, and then it plays on a repeated loop – a bit like an old school flipbook, like our examples below.

They’re fun to put on my Insta stories, but how can they actually help my business?

How to Geek sums it up by explaining that “GIFs are gaining popularity because, like memes, they’re useful for communicating jokes, emotions and ideas”.

There are other reasons why custom GIFs can benefit a business:

They increase brand exposure
They showcase your company’s personality
They are mobile friendly
You can customise them to match your brand

Pretty cool right?

For more information, read our blog on social media branding or learn about brand consistency.

Sounds cool and all, but how do I actually do it?

While you can create your own through a multitude of different websites, our talented designers at Oraco (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) know exactly how to make these little animations and we can match them perfectly with your company’s branding and messaging.

All of our current GIFs are uploaded through a website called GIPHY, and in only three months our cute little GIFs have been viewed almost 200,000 times! Mind = blown. You might not realise, but GIPHY is a platform you can find anywhere that your conversations are happening – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and iMessage to name a few. To see the custom GIFs we have created for Oraco, simply type ‘Oraco’ into the search bar when you are posting your next Instagram story!

Now you know what they are and how they can help your business, let’s get GIF-fy with it, and create some of your very own. Get in touch with us to find out where to get started.

Ready to build, nurture or evolve your brand?

Get in touch

Posting isn’t dead. Boring content is. 👀

You can still promote your business, your services and what you do, but the way you package it matters.

Create content people actually want to stop, watch and engage with first. Sell second.

Because good marketing shouldn’t always feel like marketing.
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#SocialMediaMarketing #ContentMarketing #OracoAgency

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Posting isn’t dead. Boring content is. 👀

You can still promote your business, your services and what you do, but the way you package it matters.

Create content people actually want to stop, watch and engage with first. Sell second.

Because good marketing shouldn’t always feel like marketing.
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#SocialMediaMarketing #ContentMarketing #OracoAgency

Meet Leanne, Co-founder, Creative Director and the curious mind behind a lot of the brands that come through our studio.

She`s usually the one asking why? (and then asking it another five times), digging into the stories, people and ideas behind a business before working out how they can take shape visually.

Outside the studio, you’ll probably find Leanne painting with symphonic metal playing in the background, halfway through a fantasy novel, out exploring with Toby and Simon, or at a gig.

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Filed by: Oraco Agency
Reference: TF-001
Photo source: @joannaphotography.au
Filed under: #TeamFile #BrandStrategist #BrandIdentity #BrandStory #BrandStrategy

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Meet Leanne, Co-founder, Creative Director and the curious mind behind a lot of the brands that come through our studio.

She's usually the one asking why? (and then asking it another five times), digging into the stories, people and ideas behind a business before working out how they can take shape visually.

Outside the studio, you’ll probably find Leanne painting with symphonic metal playing in the background, halfway through a fantasy novel, out exploring with Toby and Simon, or at a gig.

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Filed by: Oraco Agency
Reference: TF-001
Photo source: @joannaphotography.au
Filed under: #TeamFile #BrandStrategist #BrandIdentity #BrandStory #BrandStrategy

Rebranding doesn’t mean erasing everything that came before.

If you’ve been in business for five, ten or twenty years, you’ve already built recognition, reputation, relationships and stories that have value.

The interesting part is working out what still belongs.

What should stay? What has the business outgrown? What needs to evolve? And what would you be crazy to leave behind?

A rebrand should make room for where you’re going, while still feeling unmistakably yours.

Think you might have outgrown your brand? Take another look.

Brand + rebrand projects now booking. Visit our link in bio to book a chat.
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#Branding #Rebrand #BrandStrategy #BrandIdentity

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Happy Father’s Day to the dads behind the Oraco team 💛

To our dads, stepdads, partners who are dads, and all the father figures who have supported us, shaped us and made us laugh along the way, today is for you.

And a very happy Father’s Day to all the dads and father figures in our wider Oraco community. We hope you’re feeling very loved and appreciated today x

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Happy Father’s Day to the dads behind the Oraco team 💛

To our dads, stepdads, partners who are dads, and all the father figures who have supported us, shaped us and made us laugh along the way, today is for you.

And a very happy Father’s Day to all the dads and father figures in our wider Oraco community. We hope you’re feeling very loved and appreciated today x

I’ve always been fascinated by symbolism 🌀

By how a single mark, image, word or gesture can represent something far bigger than itself. Across cultures and civilisations, we’ve used symbols to communicate identity, beliefs, stories, belonging and ideas that sometimes go far beyond what words can explain.

And somewhere along the way, I realised that’s also how I’d started to see brands.

A logo can become a symbol of what a business stands for. A colour can carry years of recognition. A phrase can represent an entire belief. A story can become shorthand for where a business came from and why it exists. Iconography can represent services, philosophies, products or ideas.

What we see on the surface carries meaning because of everything sitting behind it.

Over nearly two decades of working in branding, I also began noticing the same themes appearing again and again in the businesses people really remembered.

Their past, beliefs, future, people, identity, expression, impact and longevity.

Eventually, I gave each of those ideas a symbolic form.

They became Oraco’s Eight Brand Marks, and today they give us a way to look at a business from eight different perspectives and uncover the stories, ideas and meaning that make it distinctly its own.

The strongest brands aren’t built by adding meaning that was never there. More often, the clues already exist.

You just need to know where to look.

Explore the Eight Brand Marks via the link in bio.

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One of the hardest things about running a business is knowing what actually deserves your attention.

When you`re inside it every day, everything can feel important. The website needs updating, content needs creating, marketing isn`t quite working, the messaging feels off. Someone suggests a new platform, another campaign or a complete change in direction. But more activity isn`t always the answer.

A big part of Jessica`s work, both through Oraco and the business owners she mentors, is helping people step back far enough to see what`s really going on.

– What are you actually trying to achieve?
– Who are you trying to reach?
– What`s already working?
– Where is the real disconnect?
– And what can probably wait?

Sometimes the most valuable strategy isn`t adding another thing to the list. It`s creating enough clarity to know what matters now, what comes next and what doesn`t need your attention at all.

If you`re looking for strategic advice, a fresh perspective and someone to keep you accountable to actually doing the things you said you were going to do, Jessica offers one-on-one business strategy and mentoring sessions. Shoot us a DM to find out more.