Embedded Files
Video content is increasingly becoming more shared and a key type of marketing content. While video can easily be shared online it can cause problems (due to the file size) if it is sent via email as an attachment. While it is not possible to embed a whole video into an email it is possible to embed a snippet of a video that will drive a higher level of engagement and entice people to click through from the email to our website.
To embed a video snippet at GIF file needs to be created. GIF files are effectively a moving image, i.e. they are not truly video and therefore have a higher compression rate and can be embedded into an email that is sent or newsletter mail out.
To create a GIF following these steps:
Gify
1. Go to http://giphy.com/
2. Select Create
3. Enter YouTube URL
4. Select point at which you want the YouTube Video to Start
5. Enter Tags
6. Click Create Gif
7. Right click image and save to Video's folder
Make a Gif
Using Ez Gif
1. First ensure you have high quality images as this will dictate the end quality of your gif. If the image is deep etched you can save it either as a PNG (larger image size) or JPG (white background) which will then be a lower image size.
You ideally want images that are at least 800+ pixels wide. 1000 x 1000 is quite good. You can always resize the Gif using the "Resize" button. You can also compress the images online using www.tinypng.com before uploading them to Ez GIF. If you use jpeg files and pre-compress them then you will have quite good quality and low size files to start with.
2. Ensure that the image you have has room for text at the top of bottom.
3. Upload the images.
4. Select the speed of frame, 75 is a good option if showing difference between frames.
5. Select "Write" and add the heading to the GIF. Some settings that are good: Size 70 font with yellow or black colour with a Very Strong Border.
6. Create the GIF
7. Compress / optimize the gif, recommended is Lossy optimisation at 100.
8. Save the gif. This will download it and it can be saved on Google Drive.
Can resize to 600 pixels wide - most sites don't offer this, plus can share directly to social media/Facebook
1. Login at https://makeagif.com/ using details in LastPass
Also can try http://gifmaker.me/ and http://gifcreator.me/
Resize Gif
To resize a gif go to http://ezgif.com/resize
Using Movavi Video Suite
1. Open Movavi
2. Select Convert Video
3. Drag and Drop the video you want to convert into the Movavi
4. Select the portion of the video you would like to convert to GIF using the slide bars on the under the video preview
5. Change the GIF settings as follows:
Frame Size > Smart Fit
Size > 450 x 338
Resize Quality > Good (Fast)
Frame Rate > 10
Capture approximately 6 - 7 seconds of footage to allow for a small enough file size
6. Convert
7. Saves in the default folder. You want to make the final GIF approximately 3 MB in size.
8. Copy GIF file into the folder you need it in
9. Use in email mailout
An alternative to Movavi (which is a paid software) is Gyazo which is a free semi-online converter
Using Gyazo
1. Download Gyazo software from https://gyazo.com and install it on your computer.
2. Source the Video. Open up the video content you would like to take a snippet of. If it is a YouTube video you can just open up YouTube and bring up the video. If it is on your phone or camera you will first need to download it to the computer.
3. Resize the screen. If using YouTube you can hold down the "Control" button and use the scroll on the mouse to get it to 33%. If viewing a video in a video player like Windows Media Player you will need to resize the screen from the corner.
The main reason the screen needs to be resized as it impacts the size of the final GIF, and large GIFs are no good to embed. You want to make the final GIF approximately 3 MB in size.
4. Start playing the video
5. Find a part in the video from which you would like to take the 6 second GIF snippet. It is best to have a segment of the video where there is action / movement as otherwise there is no point in using a GIF.
6. Open Gyazo GIF (make sure you open Gyazo GIF and not Gyazo Image)
7. Screen shot the video part of your screen with the cursor. This will automatically create a GIF of 6 seconds.
8. Wait about 10 seconds and the GIF will be created in a new web browser window
9. Go to the new browser window and view the GIF to make sure if all looks OK
10. Right click on the GIF and save it to DropDox in the following location Beer Cartel > Marketing > Newsletters > "NEW FOLDER WITH TODAYS DATE" and save it in there. Name it with the date and GIF e.g. Newsletter 11-02-16 GIF
11. Drag and drop the GIF into the email or mail chimp mail out. Note it needs to be added as into the body of the image not as an attachment for it to play within the email.
12. Send a test email to ensure that the GIF is working correctly.
13. Process complete.
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