How to Use Motion Graphics for Social Media and Ads

With over 3.2 billion people using social media, they have probably seen every kind of social media post and ad there is to see. Standing out from millions of social posts and capturing the attention of your audience takes a lot of imagination, creativity, and ingenuity.

One way to grab that fleeting attention and convey your message is to use motion graphics in your social posts and ads.

Read this article to learn more about social media motion graphics, understand the benefits an animated social media post can help you leverage, and see several examples of stellar motion graphic videos.

What is motion graphics?

Motion graphics are an offshoot of animation and is widely used today. Specifically, it is graphic design when design elements, objects, shapes, images, and text are animated or put into motion.

For a more accurate Motion Graphics Definition, take a look at what Wikipedia has to say, “Motion graphics are pieces of animation or digital footage which create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects.”

An excellent example of motion graphics for Beech Nut’s “Real Food for Babies”, which uses a unique illustrative style combined with live-action footage to communicate their brand message.

While motion graphics are a form of animation, there is more to it. It is an amalgamation of animation, graphics, and text with the purposeful intention of presenting information to the viewer.

It can be effectively used with clever copy, live footage, voice-over, and sound to create eye-catching explainer videos, presentations, and even social media posts and ads.

Motion graphics take graphic design to another level. You don’t have to have a story or narrative to create a piece of content with motion graphics.

In fact, you can use motion graphics to create an interesting variation of your logo or add some excitement to a boring old graph in a video presentation, or even present information interestingly in a social media ad.

Network 10 Rebrand by Tim Clapham. Motion Graphics can easily bring life to a static logo and create some excitement.

Motion graphics vs Animation

Animation is a broad term that covers all kinds of techniques where objects or images move. This could be hand-drawn animations, Claymation, CGI, or motion graphics.

Animation is an art form that focuses on a narrative. Animation uses cinematic techniques and storytelling to take the viewer on an emotional journey.

AirBnB uses the power of storytelling in this short animated video which takes the viewers on an emotional journey while showing the potential of video to connect with viewers.

Motion graphics is a type of animated graphic design and is highly used in marketing. While traditional animation focuses on characters, stories, and elaborate settings, motion graphics bring life to static graphic elements, abstract objects, shapes, and text. These elements are typically put into motion to explain a concept, illustrate a point, create awareness, or engage visually.

There is no need for a story or a narrative in motion graphics. However, text is an important component used to convey the message along with other elements such as sound and voice.

Why use motion graphics: The 4 benefits of social media motion graphics

There are four main reasons you should use motion graphics in your marketing campaign:

1. Grab viewers’ attention

A study by Microsoft revealed that humans have an attention span of eight seconds, which is shorter than that of a goldfish at nine seconds. More importantly, human attention decreases by 88 percent every year.

This means that when your audience is online, they are not looking at the content but scanning it quickly. If it is not interesting, they are more likely to move on to the next thing.

Graphics and interesting visuals have the power to grab attention in a fast-evolving online media space. But motion graphics goes one step further combining audio, visuals, animation, and sound to attract the attention of your viewers in a short space of time.

Motion graphics are usually 30 seconds to 3 minutes long and even watching 10 seconds of a social media ad with motion graphics is enough to increase brand awareness according to a Facebook study.

An attention-grabbing social media campaign for Ikea’s summer collection 2019 by Lobster Studio using motion graphics with simple shapes, animation and sound.

2. Creates a visual impact

Humans are visual learners and are more likely to remember concepts and ideas through charts, diagrams, illustrations, graphics, and more.

The power of motion graphics lies in visual presentation. Using graphic elements and animation techniques makes it a popular medium to deliver your message in a few seconds and create the impact you need.

The benefit of this type of video is that it brings life to static graphic designs and easily conveys information about your brand.

The latest statistics show that people retain 95% of a message when they watch a video compared to 10% when they read it in text. This means that people are more likely to enjoy, engage, and keep any information when motion graphics are used in your social media posts and ads.

Shell uses simple motion graphics to distill complex information. The visuals easily help convey the ideas while the bright colors and casual narration makes the video friendly, approachable, authentic and professional.

3. Convey Complex Ideas

Simple static graphics or infographics cannot explain some ideas and concepts and often need to be simplified.

With motion graphics, you can easily add excitement to static graphic elements with the help of animation, live video footage, and audio to present complex ideas that appeal to your sense of sight and sound.

“Communication Without Chaos” by Slack. This is a perfect example of motion graphics used to explain how the team wide communication app works and solves their problems.

Humans can process visual information in just 13 milliseconds according to an MIT study. This rapid-fire processing in the brain is a continuous process as your eyes move from point to point about three times per second sending information to the brain.

This incredible biological reaction is the reason visual communication is so effective. The graphical representation of ideas and information with the help of motion graphics work with the way your brain processes visual information, making it useful to convey complex information. So, the next time you explain something difficult to grasp, make sure you offer your followers an animated social media post.

4. Increases Engagement

When motion graphics are used in social media posts and ads, they not only attract attention but also entertain your audience. This leads to better engagement and brand awareness.

The latest research supports this too and, according to Twitter, tweets with GIFs see 55% more engagement than those without.

Motion graphics are more engaging because they captivate your emotions. Imagine watching a short clip where the mood is set with moving graphics, strong visuals, great copy, voiceover, and sound. If you like it, you are likely to like it, comment on it, and even share it with others.

In fact, social video generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined, making it an ideal choice for social media posts, ads, presentations, promos, and more.

LÓccitane promotes their TerraCycle packaging in an engaging animated ad using motion graphic animations. Designed by BluBlu studios in collaboration with Analog Digital Agency and Pete McDonald.

How to use motion graphics in your marketing

Motion graphics is a new marketing medium that gives you the benefit of videos, audio, infographics, text content, and graphic design—all rolled into one impressive piece of content.

There are two ways to create motion graphics. You can either start with the animation itself or you can use flat pieces of graphic elements in your content library and use software or a visual editor to add animation and transitions to it.

Motion graphics can be used for various applications in your marketing campaign such as:

• Traditional television ads or online ads
• Explainer videos to explain concepts, ideas, processes, or tutorials
• Social media posts to engage with your audience and increase brand awareness
• Social media ads
• Brand promo videos to publicize your business or brand
• Culture marketing video to showcase your brand, people, value, and causes

Motion Graphic Examples from Around the Web

Let’s look at some awesome examples of motion graphics.

Alibaba Brand Overview

A classic example of an explainer video that uses graphic animation, sound, and voiceover to explain how Alibaba—one of the world’s largest online e-commerce companies—works to bring suppliers and consumers together.

Freedom

This video communicates the brand essence of Freedom Outdoor Living. Here the video cleverly uses photos, video clips, and graphic design elements to create motion graphics.

Sugar of the Day

A thought-provoking video explains how much sugar we consume in a day and really drives the message home only with live-action footage and motion graphics text overlay.

Fable

Here Charles Schwab uses a motion graphics video to connect with the emotional side of their audience. The video tells a story of the human experience and perseverance that everyone can relate to.

Dash of That

Katie, a blogger, promotes her blog through this colorful and fun motion graphics video.

Squiryl, How Does It Work?

A simple explainer video that explains how the Squiryl app works and helps keep track of your rewards programs at various stores.

How to Bloody Mary

This short and quick motion graphic example teaches the viewers how to make a classic Bloody Mary. There is no voice-over, just music and motion graphics.

Eighteen Things You Should Know About Genetics

This fun, upbeat educational video presents the fundamental concepts of genetics and explains a complex topic with some interesting motion graphics.

Beautiful World

Motion graphics dominate this music video. Besides the lyrics of the song, the animations tell the story and meaning of the song.

Empowering women and girls

This video conveys a strong, powerful message and creates awareness for an important cause using motion graphics.

In Summary

Motion graphics can be used to enhance your marketing strategy. It is one of the most popular styles of videos used today by marketers due to its high engagement value.

Motion graphics are easy to produce and this means fewer production costs for businesses and less time taken to create stunning content.

With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that motion graphics are becoming a dominant form of marketing content for most brands and businesses globally.

Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level with motion graphics? Try VistaCreate and its templates, where making motion graphics is a breeze.