How to use GIFs in your digital publications

In PUBLISHING
24 May 2018
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More than thirty years after they were first developed, GIFs have proved that they’re here to stay. These looping animations have become a major part of modern Internet culture. In fact, 36% of American millennials think that GIFs, emoji and stickers allow them to communicate better than words.

It’s clear that GIFs offer a unique way to enrich content and express ideas that is engaging to today’s Internet users. But did you know that you can add GIFs to your digital publications on Calaméo with our Editor? In this article, we’ll explain how to insert GIFs and suggest a few ways to use them in your publications.

GIFs are a simple but mighty technology that compresses multiple images into a short animation. The file size is smaller than a video, which makes GIFs practical for displaying clips that are just a few seconds long.

Including a GIF in your digital publications is easy. You can either use your own or embed one from a GIF sharing service like Giphy or Tenor.

If you wish to add your own GIF, make sure the file is hosted online and available through a secure URL (https://…).

Once you have decided on the perfect GIF, open your publication in the Calaméo Editor. Navigate to the page where you want the GIF to appear and select the images icon. Move the blue image zone to position your GIF and resize the zone as you like.

Next, enter the URL of your GIF in the “Image URL” field. When using a GIF hosted on Giphy, click on “Copy Link” and choose the “GIF Link” option to get the correct URL.

To see how your GIF looks, save your publication and select the eye icon to view.

Adding GIFs to your publications on Calaméo is a breeze, but using these eye-catching animations well can be a little harder. To help you get started, here are some possibilities we recommend:

  • Decoration. Whether you prefer a trendy reaction clip or subtle animated effect, GIFs liven up your page. Avoid including too many to balance visual spice with focus on your content.
  • Advertising. Businesses are producing GIF ads as the format becomes more and more popular. With Calaméo you can insert advertisers’ GIFs into your digital publications for a twenty-first century experience!
  • Instructions. Does your publication have recipes, fashion tips or decorating ideas? How about charts, graphics or information specific to your industry? Creating a GIF to animate any of these examples transforms your content from words on the page to a dynamic illustration that is fun and easy for your readers to watch.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to using GIFs to enhance your digital publications. This engaging and versatile format is a great way to get creative on Calaméo.

See what else you can do with the Calaméo Editor by checking out our Help Center. Have questions? Write to us at contact@calameo.com and we’ll be happy to help.

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PUBLISHING

Looking to grow your subscribers? Here’s how!

In PUBLISHING
16 July 2020

There’s no denying that building a subscriber base for your magazines, catalogs or professional content requires a lot of hard work. In fact, standing out is a big part of the challenge to grow your subscribers!

In this article, we’ll explain the strongest strategies for attracting subscribers to your publications. Plus, get tips on how to manage them with ease using Calaméo.

Use Digital Publications

Because more and more people access their content solely online, it would be unwise not to have a digital presence for your magazine.

Calaméo offers an excellent Platinum plan that enables you to convert your print publications into multimedia digital publications. Designed specifically for professional use, its exclusive interactive features help to enrich your documents and set your publications apart from the rest. Getting creative with your digital content will make it more engaging and more likely to draw new subscribers.

Adapt your content to your audience

First and foremost, your magazine must be seen as a valuable source of content to your audience. Therefore, be sure that your publications are targeted specifically to your readership. For example, the Washington Post was able to grow its ‘digital only’ subscriptions 145% in just one year. This rise was partly due to the fact that it broadened newspaper’s opinion and politics coverage, two areas that the Post’s subscribers were particularly interested in.

Be consistent

No matter what the theme of your content, your readers still need to know that it is coming from you. You can achieve this by making sure that your content and visuals maintain the same look and feel of your brand.

To put these measures in place using Calaméo, insert your brand logo and upload a consistent and professional background image in your publication viewer. Such steps will help to make your digital publications more professional, inviting and trustworthy. And as a result, you’ll increase their potential to grow your subscribers.

Rely on detailed insights

Calaméo provides statistics that let you see where your readers are coming from and track how long they stay on each page. These insights are essential to identify the content that works best for your audience. Once you know what engages your readers, you can build on this information to improve your subscriber numbers.

Share your content

If you want to get noticed, consistently promoting your publications on your blog, website or social media channels is important. Readers see the value in online visibility and will subsequently be more inclined to browse, share and subscribe. Need ideas on how to develop your strategy? Check out our Digital Publisher’s Guide to Social Media for tips and trends.

Subscription forms and pop ups

The simplest way to add to your subscriber count is to ask your audience to subscribe. It’s as easy as that! In order to achieve growth, your website or blog needs to be a subscription driver. Although pop-up subscription forms on your website may be a nuisance to some, they are often very effective in increasing subscriptions. Create a compelling call to action for best results.

💡 TIP: Did you know you can include forms in your Calaméo publications? Learn more in our Help Center.

Provide Exclusive Access

Never underestimate the power of exclusivity to grow your subscribers. In other words, subscribers value knowing that they are the only ones who can get this privileged information from your content! Calaméo offers you the possibility to assign exclusive access to your subscribers. While exclusivity can keep subscribers happy, it also has the ability to attract a lot of new readers and can give a definite boost to your chances of building a loyal subscriber base.

Here’s how:

Control the Distribution

You can further control the distribution of your content on Calaméo by limiting the way your readers can view to your content with individual usernames and passwords. Calaméo allows you to assign three types of access:

  • Single – the subscriber is assigned access to selected individual publications
  • Period – the subscriber can access all of your publications published between two chosen dates
    For example: all publications between January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021
  • Series – the subscriber will have access to a set number of publications published from a specific date onward
    For example: 12 publications beginning on January 1, 2020

Read more on how to manage your subscriber sessions here.

For more tips and ideas to inspire your digital publishing, have a look at our review of the year’s top strategies.

PUBLISHING

Create unique digital publications in 3 steps

In PUBLISHING
8 July 2021

Not all publications on Calaméo are the same, and that’s a good thing! You surely already know, but in communication, and more generally in marketing, you must know how to differentiate yourself while still being recognizable right away.

To help you create excellent publications, the entire Calaméo team got together to list their best tips for unique digital publications, and here is the result:

Step 1: Before importing your document on Calaméo

For a unique and recognizable publication, it starts with the writing (on your word processor) and the design (on your layout software).

Tone

The way you speak is an integral part of your brand’s identity. The tone you use is unique and should reflect your values: it can be funny, serious, informative – or any other adjective – it all depends on you and the character you want to give your brand. Find and adopt a tone that is specific to your business and use it in all your communications.

Document design

Design is a very important element in making you stand out. Having a strong brand style guide or graphic charter that you will use in all your communications – including your digital publications – is essential.

Remember to follow your brand style guide when using:

  • colors
  • typefaces
  • images and illustrations
  • your logos

And while it’s necessary to stand out, keep the user experience in mind: your content must be understandable and readable. Don’t lose the meaning of your message because of a layout that is too complex.

💡 TIP: Think of your document and its format according to the purpose it will have: will it be printed? Will it be downloaded? Or only viewed online? You should adjust your document accordingly (ex: no image for printing, etc.)

Step 2: When importing your document on Calaméo

When publishing your document on Calaméo, just before uploading it, you will have the opportunity to start working on the design of the viewer to offer a unique experience to your readers.

Choice of display mode

You can choose how the pages of your document will flow: scroll up, or a slideshow, or a flipbook with pages that turn like a magazine. Think carefully about how you want your publication to be displayed because each mode offers a different reading experience and comfort level.

Sound atmosphere

So far we’ve only talked about visuals, but with digital publishing you can also import audio elements. With a Premium or Platinum Calaméo account, you can add background music to your publication, as well as a sound effect each time the page turns to create a unique reading environment!

Personalizing the viewer

Another advantage reserved for Premium and Platinum users: you can add your logo and a customized background to the viewer. Of course, you should respect your graphic charter so that all your publications reflect your brand. For example: you can choose to create a single background that you will use for all your publications or you can create color variations that correspond to your charter.

Step 3: Once your document is posted on Calaméo

Once your document is posted on Calaméo, it becomes a publication. To make your publication unique and recognizable, you can use several of our personalization tools that will operate directly on your publication or on the viewer.

Adding interactivity

Thanks to our Editor tool, you can add all sorts of interactive elements to embellish your publications. You can add:

  • external links: send your readers to your site, to your sources or any other URL.

💡 TIP: thanks to the “Overlay” option (reserved for Platinum users) of the external link integration tool, you can also add forms that open directly in your publication

  • internal links: redirect to a page inside your document. You can make an interactive table of contents for example.
  • shopping links: link directly to the product information. For example, you can insert a shopping link over a photo of a product in your publication.
  • videos: for example, you can create personalized videos and insert them in each one of your digital publications, like a vlog, to give your content more personality.
  • audio tracks: add music that will accompany your readers on a single page or throughout the publication. You could also add music at a convenient time to create a specific mood: joy, fear, relaxation, etc.
  • media: think of all formats. You can add photos, images, animated GIFs, etc. Feel free to experiment!
  • zoom zones: created to improve visual comfort. You could also insert elements that are only readable with the help of this zoom zone like a small hidden QR code for example.

Thanks to the elements you can add with the Editor tool, you will be able to create an atmosphere specific to your brand: bring movement and energy by adding animated GIFs, recall the environment of your stores by adding a recognizable audio track, imagine unique experiences for contests etc.

💡 TIP: Learn how to use our Editor tool  

Personalizing the viewer (continued)

Thanks to our Elements tool (reserved for Platinum accounts), you can create custom themes and change the appearance of the viewer however you like. Change all the elements directly in the code: the social network buttons can change color, the navigation arrows can be a different size, etc.

💡 TIP: Explore the Elements tool and make your publication stand out with customization

The possibilities for customization are infinite with the digital publishing tools that allow you to create personalized content that is unique to you and your brand!