"The collective impact of messaging is that you’re engaging with the people you have the deepest and most powerful relationships with,” said Steve McKnight, managing director of GIPHY Ads. “That’s where culture is made.”

At EMARKETER’s Future of Digital Summit,animated GIF platform GIPHY argued that brands are overlooking a crucial opportunity: Group chats, the digital space with the most candid conversations. Here are the session takeaways.

Why group chats matter

Younger generations in particular have a strong affinity for group chats. Some 43% of US children and teens primarily use text and group messaging to maintain their friendships, per a December 2024 National Research Group. Platforms are catching on by expanding their own messaging capabilities, for example Spotify recently introduced its own social messaging feature.

"It's not just a nameless individual highlighting a product attribute,” said McKnight, stressing that trust between consumers is often heightened in group chats. “To have brands show up in those spaces in a thoughtful way that's not interruptive, but truly adds value is a really powerful thing.”

Some 70% of Gen Z social media users in the US and UK communicate with brands through direct messaging, and only 39% do so through public comments, according to an October 2024 Glimpse survey. This preference for private communication presents opportunities and challenges for brands.

While brands might hesitate to experiment in these spaces as consumers consider them sacred, they can succeed by taking a noninvasive tone and understanding where they can provide true value before entering the conversation.

"Think of messaging as being invited to a dinner party," said McKnight. "You're not going to burst in and start screaming your tagline right off the bat...we want to show up and listen more than we speak."

Turning animations into business results

GIPHY is focused on proving ROI through measurement. McKnight highlighted a case study with MUG Root Beer that showed a 4% sales increase after a custom shoot featuring the brand's mascot. He said the platform is also working in performance-centric categories like financial services to leverage messaging for business impact.

“People understand that the funnel is relatively collapsed, and even performance marketers want to make investments in brand,” said McKnight. “We’re seeing a lot of momentum across the board in terms of driving upper funnel awareness and helping people win.”

As business results dominate the conversations, GIPHY is supporting this by prioritizing better measurement, said McKnight.

“We live in challenging times,” he said. “The macroeconomic situation is a relatively tricky one. We're certainly cognizant of that and we want to make sure that every dollar you invest in our platform is working as hard as possible to drive the needle for your business.”

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.