I talked about this early in the football season, but the sports industry is stepping up its GIF game. Long gone are the days where teams and leagues focus only on pop culture GIFS. Now, teams and leagues are creating their own on-brand GIFS with originality and creativity. I curated a great collection of GIFS for the football season. Now it’s time for basketball to shine.
Before we get into the examples though, here are some tips for using GIFS:
No. 1- Pick your moments.
GIFS can be overused. Take the time to think through a strategy for your GIFS and figure out the moments where you can use them for the greatest impact. What moments cause great reactions? That’s when GIFS work well. Remember, GIFS are a treat and not an every tweet thing.
No. 2- Avoid redundancy.
GIFS can be a powerful content piece to enhance play-by-play coverage. It gets extremely redundant thought using the exact same GIFS over and over again for a certain moment. If you plan GIFS for certain in-game plays, then consider creating several options to pull from. GIFS can absolutely be repurposed and used again, but there’s a fine line before the content gets boring. It’s important to find a way to mix it up.
No. 3- Find the humor in YOUR brand/team.
Teams often look to find humorous GIFS outside their team, but humorous GIFS can be really powerful when teams leverage their own footage to give us a laugh. Take the time to go through football and find those funny moments you can splice and dice.
Julie Phayer of the Warriors actually did a poll asking what type of GIFS fans preferred GIFS that featured the team and players over pop culture ones:
https://twitter.com/juliephayer/status/672468880980226049
No. 4- Focus on cadence.
GIFS work well on Twitter because they’re short, sweet and quick. If you go about creating graphic-heavy GIFS, make sure the cadence is quick enough to grab and keep your fan’s attention. The cadence is a bit art and science, but play around with the length and movement to understand what works best.
No. 5- If you use pop culture GIFS….
make them relevant to your team. A few of us in the #smsports community got into a conversation about GIFS, and @Ober made a great point: Pop culture GIFS are more impactful when the theme somehow ties back to your brand (even loosely). His example: The Eagles using Fresh Prince GIFs because of the Philly connection.
Now that you have these tips in mind, it’s time to get inspired. Below is a collection of some of the best GIFS I have seen so far this basketball (NBA and college) so far this season. Enjoy!
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 1, 2015
#Badgers win! pic.twitter.com/pgnGX4f6fB
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) November 16, 2015
Final.
Shields and White combined for 51 today.
✊🏀🌽 #GBR pic.twitter.com/iLh3qxtVI1
— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) December 5, 2015
Tonight's Starting FIVE. #watchus pic.twitter.com/48plhaZQip
— Wichita St. Gameday (@GoShockersLIVE) December 6, 2015
Wolfpack takes down the Tigers in OT!
NC State serves LSU their 2nd loss in a row! Final/OT 83-72 pic.twitter.com/dUaHTyyJLS
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 25, 2015
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 2, 2015
Performers of the half. #takeNOTICE pic.twitter.com/bbkAGdYH21
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) November 17, 2015
He.
Can.
Ball.Ben Simmons 20 REBS and 21 PTS! pic.twitter.com/w3avlt3qTe
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 24, 2015
Today's starting lineup vs. Harvard #kubball pic.twitter.com/eM7OmNRNo8
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) December 5, 2015
Final team stats from tonight's victory over Central Arkansas! #takeNOTICE pic.twitter.com/vRMDcezdI3
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) December 4, 2015
No changes to the starting lineup tonight @DePaulWBBHoops … Jefferson, Nurse, Stewart, Williams and Tuck. pic.twitter.com/770OLWOWil
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) December 3, 2015
RC3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/jK9zBFqKPJ
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 5, 2015
Time to #BeatTheStreak.
Here's your @IasisHealthCare #SunsVsWarriors starting lineup: pic.twitter.com/stdq9jyzmg
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 28, 2015
B-Mac finds JvZ for the alley-oop! #B1GCats pic.twitter.com/89TxUWM6iQ
— Northwestern Basketball (@NUMensBball) December 2, 2015
.@morrissette1 aims, shoots and gets the 4-point play #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/wI7PMrH97c
— Purdue Women's Basketball (@PurdueWBB) December 6, 2015
Up next – the Dubs head to Indiana for a Tuesday matchup with the @Pacers. pic.twitter.com/0RWpjWFilY
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 7, 2015
#DubNation feelin' like pic.twitter.com/dPeajn2aZr
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 7, 2015
AIN’T PLAYING AROUND!!! pic.twitter.com/Bj2CXMQTAk
— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) December 3, 2015
The clutch block by @alexlen is officially a BLOCK BY @ALEXLEN!!! pic.twitter.com/krRGRtBJuL
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 6, 2015
New AP poll: https://t.co/pHEsHU2fEj
1. UNC
2. Kentucky
3. Maryland
4. Kansas
5. Duke pic.twitter.com/5ysScAGaQO— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 16, 2015
Tune-in Rundown:
🏀: #SunsVsKings
🕖: 7 PM
📺: FOX Sports Arizona
📲: FOX Sports GO and Suns App
📻: @AZSports pic.twitter.com/4agAXwOKAm
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 5, 2015
And Landry Nnoko gets in on the act, punching a TSU shot to the floor! His 153rd block in a #Clemson uniform. pic.twitter.com/mRsBa55SA4
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) November 20, 2015
RETWEET if you're pulling for Kentucky tonight! #BBN pic.twitter.com/5RhWeRCELh
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 18, 2015
Give Dre another double-double.
10 points, 12 rebounds for the big man. #MotorCity pic.twitter.com/XDSuErXygu
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 7, 2015
Wes back-back!!!!! 👍🏼 pic.twitter.com/AuYruGNQks
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 7, 2015
Meyers! pic.twitter.com/LOWcJEAqUu
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 6, 2015
Have you seen any GIFS you love? Share them below!
Thanks for reading!
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