Instagram stories are buzzing with GIFs, and it’s not just the big shots like Gary Vaynerchuk and Nike; everyone’s using them to grab their audience’s attention.
Now, what if we told you that you could go one step further and create your very own stickers?
Just think about it – Instagram for business with your own custom stickers!
It’s like hitting a home run.
In this article, we will show you how to create your own story stickers for Instagram.
So, prepare to transform your creative musings into attention-grabbing stickers that’ll leave your followers asking, “How in the world did you pull that off?“
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Why Craft Your Own Instagram Stickers?
You might be wondering:
Why bother making your own custom-animated GIF stickers when there are tons of ready-made options at your fingertips?
Well, there are some pretty darn good reasons to dive into this creative venture:
Brand Identity: Making your own GIF stickers lets you infuse your brand’s personality, message, and style into your Instagram story. Whether you’re an influencer, a small business, or a corporate giant, these stickers can reinforce your brand’s identity and make your content unmistakably yours.
Originality: Custom stickers set you apart from the crowd when it comes to posting on Instagram stories. While off-the-shelf stickers are everywhere, your homemade ones ensure your content shines and doesn’t get lost in a sea of lookalikes – your creativity can sparkle in ways generic stickers just can’t match.
Tailored Messaging: You can cook up stickers that fit your message and story like a glove. You’ve got the artistic freedom to personalize stickers for any context, be it promos, product launches, or everyday moments.
Interactivity: Stickers on Instagram can jazz things up with interactive bits, like polls, questions, or one-of-a-kind action GIFs. These interactive features rope in your audience and get them involved in your stories, boosting overall engagement.
Authenticity: When you create stickers, you’ve got the reins. This authenticity resonates with your audience, building trust and a deeper connection with your brand or personal profile.
Storytelling: Custom stickers let you spin a more captivating and personal yarn. You can whip up GIFs that go hand-in-hand with your tale, spicing it up with emotions, humor, and context.
Exclusivity: Your stickers are VIPs exclusive to your account. This exclusivity can be a golden nugget, making your followers feel special and eager to keep coming back for unique content.
So, as you can see, crafting your own Instagram story stickers isn’t just about adding some pizzazz to your Instagram account. It’s a potent tool for boosting your brand, flaunting your individuality, cranking up user engagement, and weaving an irresistible narrative.
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What are GIFs and Stickers? And Where To Start?
Before we dive into creating custom GIF stickers, let’s clear up any confusion:
Are GIFs and stickers the same thing? Well, not quite.
GIFs are like those little animated sparks that bring life to your Instagram Stories. In contrast, stickers are either static or animated images that you can use to add text, emojis, or interactive elements like polls and questions.
Now, how do you start making your own GIFs?
So, all GIFs used in Instagram Stories are powered by Giphy.com. It’s a free tool, but if you want your stickers to pop up in the GIF search on Stories, you need to get verified as a brand.
That means you’ll need to create an account for your brand and go through the verification process.
Now there is some good news and some bad news.
The good news is that the process of getting verified on Giphy is pretty quick and rather painless, usually taking around 12-24 hours. However, the bad news is that small businesses might face approval challenges due to the verification restrictions.
So, let’s begin with creating your Giphy account. That’s pretty simple!
- Just head to Giphy.com, click the Login button at the top right corner, and then select Log in.
- You’ll be asked for some basic info, like your email address and username. No worries, Giphy won’t ask for any credit card details since it’s completely free.
Now, with your account set up, it’s time to elevate your status to a verified brand account.
Step one – create at least five GIFs that match your brand identity and your intentions for using your Brand account. Be yourself – that’s the key to making your own stickers!
Next, provide the necessary info for verification, including:
- Your company’s website
- Business email
- Links to social media accounts
- Hashtags you want to use
While you’re waiting for the approval of your Brand account status, let’s spruce up your profile.
One of the steps that you would need to do is set your profile to Public. That way, people can search for your brand and see all your info there. This includes things like your website, links to your social media accounts, and a short summary of your brand.
How to Make Your Own GIF Stickers for Instagram?
Let’s dive into the exciting part – creating stickers for your Instagram account in just a few clicks. With the help of Giphy.com, you don’t need to be a badass graphic designer to do it. It’s safe to say that they have made this process pretty simple and intuitive.
When you have successfully logged into your account, you will be forwarded to the home page. At the top, you can see two options for adding GIFs: Upload and Create.
Today, we’re all about the Create part.
- Once you’ve hit the Create button, select ‘Sticker.’
- Choose a picture from your Gallery and cut it out.
- Next, animate your sticker to make it come to life.
- And lastly, upload your sticker to your already existing collection or just download it.
Make sure to use images or videos that have a transparent background.
Why, you ask?
Well, GIF stickers are basically regular GIFs but with a clear backdrop. This way, your stickers can blend seamlessly with your Story without covering it up.
Giphy.com also offers some advice on how to create a great sticker.
“A good sticker is simple, eye-catching, and fun. Because they are shared at a fairly small size, it’s important to keep them visually sharp and well defined.”
Keep reading to learn how to create GIF stickers from both images and videos.
Create GIFs From Images
Feel free to pick as many photos as you like, but remember, simple is often the way to go.
After you upload them, you’ll be taken to the Giphy Sticker Maker page. In this part, you can rearrange the images and adjust how much time they individually use up.
And now, the thrill begins: Hit that Continue to Decorate button.
On the decoration page, you’re the captain of the ship- use all your creative potential. Sprinkle some captions onto your GIFs, add stickers on the pile (yes, GIFs on GIFs – it’s a thing), dabble with various filters, and even draw over everything – do whatever you want!
After you’ve edited your GIF to your liking, you must add tags so that you and other people can find them later on Instagram. We’ll cover this in a minute.
GIFs From Videos
When it comes to GIFs, there’s a 15-second time limit, and then they loop right back around. That rule applies whether you’re crafting a GIF from images or videos.
Besides that 15-second limit, you’ll want to keep videos under 100MB. Don’t worry, though; you can still work with those long-form videos. Long-form videos are not out of the question, though.
Now, you’ve got two paths to follow: upload the video to Giphy.com and fine-tune the start time you need or simply edit it straight from your phone. The choice is yours; you can use whatever video editing tool floats your boat.
Here, instead of shuffling images, you’ll select the perfect starting point for your GIF. This helps you pinpoint that special clip from the video that you want to use. And, of course, you can set the duration of the GIF.
Next up – the Decoration part. It is basically the same as for the images. You can put some captions, slap on stickers, experiment with filters, and doodle artsy patterns.
That pretty much covers how to create GIFs using Giphy’s platform. Next, we’ll touch on how to upload GIFs if you made them yourself.
Uploading GIFs To Your Giphy Account
Here are the tech specs Giphy dishes out for making GIF stickers:
- Upload your stickers as GIF files (note: APNG files are currently not supported)
- Stickers must be exported with at least 20% transparent pixels and no white or opaque backgrounds.
- Size-wise, aim 500-600px with an even-numbered height and width.
- No worries about the file size; the Giphy server will resize your sticker upon upload.
- Stick to the RGB color mode.
- Set your sticker to loop forever when exporting.
Once you’ve covered these points, you’re all set to upload on Giphy!
To make your GIFs accessible to your followers and beyond, be sure to set them to Public on the upload page.
Now, let’s chat about tags and the Instagram connection.
Popular Instagram hashtags are a game-changer, so pick the ones that define your brand. This is how your stickers will pop up in searches on Instagram Stories. Each GIF sticker should have at least 5-10 relevant tags, and don’t forget to tag them with your brand name for easy discovery.
According to Giphy.com, the most popular searches across their API are love, happy, heart, dance, cat, sad, dog, cry, birthday, kiss, party, lol, and food.
When you’re creating and tagging your stickers, keep these terms in mind. It’s the key to showing up in trending searches! Combine that with a killer Instagram bio and your page. Boom!
Testing And Sharing Your GIFs
Now that you’ve got your GIFs uploaded and tagged correctly, it’s time to test them out.
Can you upload gifs to Instagram?
Absolutely!
- Just snap a photo or record a video, and tap the Sticker button.
- Choose the ‘GIF’ option. Then, search for your GIFs using the tags you’ve assigned.
That’s all it takes to upload a GIF to Instagram.
Feel free to use multiple tags at the same time while searching to bring up several of your GIFs.
As a bonus, Giphy hooks you up with an analytics dashboard for each of your creations. This lets you keep tabs on how many times your GIFs have been searched. Super useful, right?
The Final Verdict on Instagram Stickers
So there you have it – now you know how to make your own story stickers.
In this article, we’ve walked you through the ropes of getting your Giphy account sorted for that brand verification badge and crafting unique stickers from both videos and images. And always keep this in mind: the magic is in the tags.
Now, what’s holding you back? Start creating your own cool GIF stickers to give your Instagram stories a serious style boost!
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