Good morning Ryan Perry Simple Biz Support. Today is Thursday, October, 22nd; therefore, it is Internet Marketing Thursday. As usual, I have Sarah, I don’t have Sarah Giometti, that’s on Wednesdays. I have Virginie Dorn, with Business Website Center, with her brand new Snowball Microphone. Good morning.

Virginie Dorn: Hello Ryan, maybe I’ll call you Joanie.

RP: Hello.

RP: I actually have Sarah, I could hear her talking in the other office, she just walked in like five minutes ago. So, that’s where I had that from, I apologize.

VD: No worries. How are you?

RP: I’m doing good. I’m glad you have your name on your screen though, so, in case I forget, I know who you are.

RP: We’re going to talk about something that is relatively new, I’ve never heard of it. I’m familiar with the basic concept because we’re talking about GIFs; however, the way you’re creating it and implementing it into web design is a new one for me so, I’m really excited to learn more. And that is a Cinemagraph? Cinemagraph, I think I said that correctly.

VD: Yes, indeed. You and I were discussing before the webinar, this is a technique that has been available for quite a while but has not become popular. I think, good online marketers have realized and having a great Cinemagraph for a marketing campaign, can be quite powerful and enticing and breathtaking. And that makes it memorable to the end users, so maybe we can step it back and explain to people what a Cinemagraph is and I’ll be happy to share some screens with you so they can better understand what it is. It does look like a video but it’s not a video, it’s an animated GIF. GIF is a form of image, which has a dynamic element as part of the image. Just think of… Or maybe I’ll start with some of the screen-share.

RP: Yeah, I was going to say maybe while you’re bring it up on your monitor you can kind of talk about, what it is. And I think is kind of unique about it and what caught me off guard is; I’m used to taking still shots and then create in a sequence from there. In this case and what you’re talking about, you’re actually using video, and extracting individual frames. And I’ll let you talk more, since you got that screen-share up.

VD: Yeah. So, actually a Photoshop designer with a high level of skill set will be the one doing that type of work. You will be provided with a short video, it doesn’t have to be very long, it could only be a few seconds. And what he does is, he picks one frame he likes, and that will be your still frame, and then extract moving elements, the same one, for multiples frames before and after and that’s what remains dynamic. So, for instance, I’m hoping you can see my screen, you can see this girl is blowing bubble, that was made from a video. She’s not moving the bubbles are moving, as you can see, that could be quite interesting if you had the right kind of product and the right kind of idea behind it. Stick a few of ’em… It’s coming.

RP: Yeah, I think, what’s really interesting about this is, what you talked about, is the fact that one element is changing; whereas, if it was just a video it’d be changing but what you’re doing, in on the case with the bubbles, the girl herself, if you really look at that video, she is not moving, it’s the bubbles that are.

VD: Correct. So, it can be a great marketing tool. Those are the type of images that can truly go viral if they are well made. Something unique, you’re looking here, the image is still, but you can still see some of the waves and the waterfall running. So, the limit is the imagination, what the online marketing can think about, then could be so cool. Then people will be like, “Wow, look at that image, it’s so interesting.” And then again, it’s shared on social media, becomes viral, and brings traffic back to your website. So, again, the idea is to use the Cinemagraph to increase your visibility online. Here is another one, the skiers are there, but everything else is still. Computer’s going a little slow. Now, there is good and bad with Cinemagraph, obviously they only work on screens, like a computer screen or TV. They cannot be printed; it’s not something you can see on a piece of paper. Now, if they are poorly designed…

RP: Right and will…

VD: Go ahead.

RP: going to say, will it work on a mobile devices though?

VD: They will work on the mobile devices, that’s what’s so great about them. But again, if it’s poorly designed, it will look really bad. So, if you’re going to use a Cinemagraph to launch your marketing campaign online, make sure it’s done 100% well. Not just on the cheap, because again, it’s going to look very poorly as you can imagine.

RP: Right and you need to find somebody who understands, ’cause it’s going to take a high level of editing. ‘Cause you’re basically extracting out certain elements, if we go back to the girl with the bubbles, as an example, she didn’t move so, all of that information had to be held steady. And then you’re actually pulling the bubbles out of each frame of the video so, I could see where it would take some expertise.

VD: Yes, indeed. And again, there’s plenty of Photoshop people out there, just make sure, they have done those before and they understand what needs to be done. I think, the biggest thing, beside finding the right Photoshop person for your project is to really envision the concept, like what kind of concept would work great? I think that’s the hardest part, finding someone of a skill level, you’ll find someone eventually and by the way, you can contact us, we know how to do that.

VD: That is to get the idea that will work for your marketing or advertising campaign. That’s more of a discussion, people like Ryan, like you guys, can help you. Yes, and by the way, the reason we brought a Cinemagraph this week, is because there’s been a lot of talk among our clients and also on Pinterest, because now those animated GIFs have become more and more popular, we start seeing them in Pinterest. So if you’re interested in doing Pinterest campaigns, which Pinterest’s by the way, is now really focusing on businesses. They have all types of new products they have launched; having a Cinemagraph will definitely set you apart from the competition on Pinterest.

RP: Alright, very cool. And also Facebook announced about three or four months ago, they’re allowing GIFs also on their platform.

VD: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And you can pin obviously the GIF, you can… There’s even buy buttons now, there’s all kinds of things. Some of this is still on beta and only available to Fortune 500 companies. But there’s new programs for businesses that are actually free of charge, then as a small business owner you can use on Pinterest, so that works really well for retail shops. So, again, take a look at the kind of products you sell, and how you could use a Cinemagraph to launch a particular product.

RP: Alright, very cool. I guess the only real question that pops up for me, I think the concept is very cool, and then additionally, as a web master, you’re always worried about bandwidth, especially with mobile devices, with Google web master saying, “Hey, we want to make sure bandwidth is always issue so that web sites load faster.” Any ideas what the file size difference is between a GIF and a movie? If you had a… And maybe this isn’t a fair question, but ’cause a movie might loop every five seconds or something and I’m assuming that file size is going to be substantially larger than it would be in the GIF format?

VD: Well, it’s larger than a regular JPEG or PNG, than another image. In comparison with movies, I do not know to tell you the truth. I just know that if you’re on a mobile device, you can have your web master select a smaller GIF size version of that image. So on the desktop render the best one on an IPad maybe render a smaller or lower resolutioned GIF, and on the smart phone do the same, even lower resolution. We have not seen that as an issue, again, it’s a single image. It’s not a repeating image, it’s one image only. Yeah, and it’s great to showcase a specific product, support your branding efforts, add visual interest to your site, highlight the benefits your company offers, communicate a new idea or new concept your trying to push of your company. And overall impress your visitors by just having this cool dynamic element.

RP: That must be… Almost looks like a tornado.

VD: Yeah, look at how cool that is. I think National Geographic has been using them… Again, they’re becoming popular. People are starting to ask questions about them, so we can see a trend maybe for 2016, having more use of Cinemagraph artworks on websites. And I can see why it would be a great marketing tool by, again, just the visual appeal behind it.

RP: Alright, perfect. So, I think, the concept is very cool and like you said it’s really about acquiring the right image that conveys the right message to have that impact and the reality is we’re humans, when we see the same thing over and over again, a good picture is always going to be impactful, but how can you make a good picture great? Maybe Cinemagraph is a great way of taking your imagery to the next level.

VD: Yeah, I agree. Again, this session today might be kind of boring a little bit but this is the one thing that can set you apart, by having a Cinemagraph. Nobody’s doing it; again, so it’s a fairly new concept, if you can have a good powerful one on your website, you will speak clearer to your user.

RP: Alright, prefect. Well, unless you have anything else to say I think being able to see the visual is pretty impactful. Just seeing how those images move is very powerful. People want to kind of get a better idea of Cinemagraphs, just do a Google search for a Cinemagraph… Did you do “GIF Cinemagraph images?”

VD: I think if you just do “Cinemagraph” and then go to the image library for Google, you will see tons of them. In order to see them, you’ll have to click on the image, that’s when you can see it in action. If you just look at the search page, they’ll all be flat, they won’t have any action into it, so make sure you click on the images and then click. It’ll give you some ideas and then maybe you as a business owner has a new idea for again your next marketing campaign, talk to your web master, see if he has someone on his staff that can do it or somebody he can refer you to. But they are great and not very expensive to have done. I mean, you’re looking at 200, 300 dollars for a really good one, if you can find the right person, but they can make you a lots of money, again.

RP: Right. And the other thing is and that’s… You have to actually shoot the content so, as an example if you were going to call up Virginie and say, “Hey, I’d love to have the Cinemagraph done, just do it.” Somebody’s gotta shoot the content first, it’s gotta be in a film format ideally high resolution that way you can extract it out at a high resolution.

VD: Now, saying that they don’t have to be long they could be just a minute or less and then the Photoshop designer can take it over. Or you can buy a short video from iStock Photos and those companies. So, there’s a video out there then we’ll render what you’re trying to say. But if it has to be more specific, specific to your company, to your business, to your industry and your products, then you go to someone like Ryan Perry, yourself, and have you do the videos. And you can use both, the videos and the Cinemagraph.

RP: Yeah, alright. Perfect. I like the iStock video idea, because they have cost effect of low, high resolution, professional work done at a reasonable price. Alright. Perfect. Unless you have anything else to say, I think we’ve tied this episode up of Internet Marketing Thursday talking about Cinemagraphs.

VD: Yes. We’ll, look for something maybe more exciting next week to talk to you about.

RP: I don’t know. I think this was pretty cool. It’s anytime something’s new out there that you can… Again take something that’s really good quality, like an excellent photo that conveys a good message and take it to the next level. It’s… We’re human… Basic human nature dictates that people are going to stop look at it, talk about it, share it. So, I think it’s a great topic.

VD: Okay. Great.

RP: Alright, Virginie. That’s it for today’s episode. We will see you on next week. As always, I appreciate the time and energy that you put into the show Virginie.

VD: You’re very welcome. Have a great week.

RP: Alright, everybody. That’s it. Take care and we’ll see you next Thursday.