1 Million
I reached 1 million views as a verified Giphy artist in 30 days. on October 3rd.
Exciting?
Of course, didn't expect I'll get my "one million" in such shot period of time.
What kind of character I'm gonna to create after 1 million views? I asked myself.
《Squid Game》.
People are talking about Squid Game all over the world.
Let's make a 
and see how it goes.
Giphy updates the analytics one time per day, so I moved on to something else until I checked out the analytics dashboard on the other day.
29M
???
I uploaded 1 gif per day and gained 1 million views in the past month.
But now, just because of 1 squid game gif, I got more traffic in a day than I accumulated in one month
Flying Pig Theory
To be an entrepreneur, is like to be a pig standing in a windy spot.
I have to agree with Jun Lei.
But not just entrepreneur, you can find this rule in lots of scenario.
Making gifs thesedays is like making Youtube videos 5 years ago.
Supply is way less than demand. Random dude can get huge traffic if he uploaded consistently.
Put the same person with same skill level and same passion in 2015 and 2021. Make them film same videos and upload to Youtube, traffic they got will be 10 times different.
Of course you can still achieve certain success in the crowded market, great people always find their way.
Perseverance is important, so does choice.
If you can be the king of a blue ocean, will you stay in the red ocean to fight with half-naked and overly optimism rivals?
Journey
Back to my gif artist journey.
Some time stamps for your reference.
9/7 application got rejected
9/8 resubmit working files
9/9 approved
9/23 asked for blue badge, no response
10/3 reached 1M views
10/6 1.2M views, uploaded squid game
10/7 29M
10/8 Got blue check
You think I am the flying pig?
Well, I'm just a dude who found a trend.
Before uploading gifs to Giphy, I launched a sticker set on Line Creator Market on September 1st.
I thought I could use my sticker after I made it, but no. In order to use your own line sticker, you have to purchase it in advance.
WTF?
Then I switched to Giphy, at least I can use my sticker on Instagram Story.
I didn't bother to promote my 3D meme creatures on social platform.
After being approved as giphy artist on September 9, everything went smooth.
I didn't get much traffic redirect to my IG account, but the analytics is growing.
The top engagement keywords I found is workout related, like abs and bodybuilder, which made me think whether Instagram becomes Abstagram.
I use Blender to build the characters and auto-rig with Mixamo. The process is fun and satisfying especially when you see your mascot dancing vividly. I even record a course to share my experience.
Most of the character I built is inspiried by meme, shrilling chicken, teletubbies, muscle doge and pepe.
Haven't create 100% original character so far, what I did is bring people something they're familiar with in novel looks. And it works.
Will I claim myself as a professional GIF artist?
One thing I learned from past, what you got from the platform (for free) have to return to the platform.
If you want to build a castle, better build it on top of a firm rock.
Giphy is a platform, Youtube is a platform, most of the apps you used for free is a platform.
Wise people use these platform to leverage for something bigger, but never depends on it.
Traffic is just a number. Know where to find the traffic and redirect is more important than traffic itself.
I've been thinking were giphy not acquired by Instagram, will there still be such huge amount of traffic?
This business stuff is what really triggers me.
There're Gfycat and Tenor, why did Instagram choose Giphy?
(Encourage you to find blue oceans and potential gif platform like Discord & Tenor)
Thoughts
The final word, find the momentum and do what inspires you.
"If you double the number of experiments you do per year you’re going to double your inventiveness."
Bezos is right, keep exploring.
