If a picture is worth a thousand words, a gif has to be at least 10,000 thousand words!
First things first, my deep research has revealed that the correct pronunciation is Gif with a hard G. I’ve heard people say otherwise (I’m looking at you, my teenage kids who like to debate me at every turn!), but this article has a linguistics professor that backs it up. And who am I to quibble with a linguistics professor?!
As a lover of nonverbal communication, gifs had me at hello!
It seems, however, that they’ve had everyone at hello.
Why all the fuss?
Sure, they’re delightful and fun, kind of like the throw pillows on a couch. They add a punch of color and zhoosh up the place, but there is a bit of science to their power as well. It seems that research indicates that 90% of information transmitted to the human brain is visual.
“The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than it does text. Some people may work better with words, others with numbers, but everyone gets pictures.”
-Harris Eisenberg
Mind blowing, right? And yet it makes a lot of sense.
Quick vignette.
A few years ago I was hired by a company to figure out the turnover issues related to a specific job category. This required me to connect with a group of 80+ employees and build connection and engagement to help figure things out and stop the high turnover.
As one can imagine, an outsider coming into a new group (one that knew I was there to observe and figure things out!) requires some fancy dancing and stealthy people skills.
As I attempted to connect and learn more about the employees, I stumbled upon a communication hack. I soon learned that when I sent a basic text asking to meet people one on one, I could quickly move into a friendly exchange just by using a clever gif. A well-placed gif changed the tone of our interaction and often moved me from being an outsider to being very relatable instead.
Example:
Me: Hi, this is Kristin Bock and I’d love to grab a coffee with you to learn more about your job at___________. Are you up for connecting? Coffee and snacks are on me!
Them: Sure.
Me: Wonderful, it’s a date, and I promise to buy you candy if you’d like. Are you okay with a caffeine buzz and sugar rush?
Them: Ha, ha! That sounds great 😂!
Cute story, but what am I supposed to do with this information?
Well, I’ll tell you…
Your action item is to start thinking about ways to use gifs, memes, pictures, emojis, or anything you can think of to be more relatable. Your ability to connect is quickly enhanced when you show a bit of your personality and self to another person. A lot of this can be done via pictures (remember last week’s blog post?) and gifs.
Warning.
Different businesses require different sets of rules so perhaps a lawyer, doctor, banker, etc. won’t find this appropriate.
But the concept still works.
Find a way to add a human touch to your conversations and emails. This can be done with words as well. And don’t underestimate the power of humor. Even in professional settings, a little done tastefully, goes a long way. When people start connecting with you on a more personal level…well now we are getting somewhere!
Make sense?
Your co-pilot (who may or may not be known for sending too many gifs to friends),
