Instagram has lots of stickers you can add to your Instagram stories to make them more exciting. In this article, we’ll share how to post a GIF on Instagram!
What Is A GIF?
GIF stands for graphics interchange format. They were developed back in 1987 by a team working with the company CompuServe. What a GIF does is basically combine lots of images together to create a very short animation. They’re very popular on social media. They can add humor. The best GIFs definitely go viral!
If you want to check out some of the greatest GIFs of all time, click here. What happens is people create a moment and add a GIF to it.
For example, they might add the “blinking white guy” GIF when they are speechless in reaction to something they’ve seen online.
GIFs can convey an emotion that words or emojis cannot. They are an awesome addition to your social media profile!
How To Post A GIF On Instagram
Of course, you want to know how to post a GIF on Instagram! It’s really easy to add GIFs to your Instagram stories.
First, access your Instagram stories. Either take a new photo or upload one from your camera roll.
Next, click the sticker icon at the top. It looks like a square with a smiley face inside.
Next, click the “GIF” option. You will get a list of suggested GIFs to use. Notice that they are all animated! They all move in some way or another. You can scroll down until you find a GIF you like.
However, you can also type in a word to bring up relevant GIFs to your image.
Once you find the one you want, simply click it. Instagram will add it to your story. You can move it around, make it bigger or smaller, or change the angle that it sits at.
When you’re ready, post to your Instagram story! Your GIF will be animated for anyone who views your story. This adds something extra to your Instagram story.
You can even save the image to upload later. It will save it as a five-second video with the animated GIF so that when you upload it later, your GIF still moves.
How To Post GIF To Instagram Feed
Now that you’ve learned how to post to Instagram stories, you’ll need to know how to post the GIFs onto your Instagram feed.
It’s pretty simple! Just follow the steps from above, but make sure you save the Instagram story to your camera roll.
Then go to your Instagram main page and click the button to add a new post. You can now choose the recently saved Instagram story which includes the GIF. You can crop it how you like and add it to your feed. It will be five seconds long, but videos repeat endlessly on Instagram so it will be a seamless watch for your followers!
This is a really cute idea for mixing up your content on Instagram. Plus it might reach more people since the video will get lots of views because it is so short. The algorithm will then push it out to even more people!
Import Any GIF For Instagram
It’s true that there are a limited number of GIFs on Instagram to choose from. In fact, the one you desperately want might be there but you can’t find it using the search option. There are lots of GIFs so it’s easy to get lost in the results. On the other hand, Instagram doesn’t include every GIF.
The best app to find GIFs is the app Giphy. They have a website but also an app that’s both available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play app store.
In fact, you can easily import any of the GIFs from Giphy onto your Instagram story or feed.
After you’ve downloaded the app, search for the GIF you want. Giphy also categorize their GIFs so you can browse by topic, too. Topics include excited GIFs, feminism GIFs, ocean GIFs and many, many more! You will definitely find the perfect GIF for you through Giphy.
Once you’ve found the one you want to share, click the paper airplane icon to share. You’ll have options to share it across different platforms but definitely click the Instagram option.
The Giphy app will ask for permission to open the Instagram app. Allow this action.
Choose to post the GIF to your Instagram story or feed. Unlike the other method of adding a GIF to your feed, this option will be just the GIF. The GIF cannot be added on top of another image. This is the same for posting it to your story. However, if you add to your story, you can add text, other stickers, and even other GIFs. However, you won’t be able to put the GIF from Giphy on top of a photo from your camera roll.
Make Your Own GIFs
If you want to add custom GIFs to Instagram, then you can make your own GIFs with the Giphy app! Now you can post GIFs of your dog or you dancing to your Instagram profile.
In the Giphy app click the green plus icon at the bottom of the screen. If you want, add a face filter. Once you’ve chosen your face filter, you can start recording your GIF. If you hold the button down for longer, it will be a longer GIF. If you want a short, snappy, funny GIF, hold the button down for maybe 2 or 3 seconds.
On the other hand, you can create a GIF from a live photo or video in your camera roll. Click the photo icon and choose something from your camera roll. It doesn’t matter if your video is 10 minutes long because the Giphy app lets you trim it. The longest it can be is 6.5 seconds. However, it works best as 2 or 3 seconds long.
Once you’ve created your perfect GIF, you can add text filters, stickers or the rewind function. Next, click the purple arrow. You can upload to Giphy so any user can see it, save it to your camera roll, or other social media sites. However, to post the GIF to Instagram, copy the steps from above!
Post GIFs In Instagram Direct Messages
Lastly, you can use GIFs in one more place on the Instagram app: messages!
A lot of people use GIFs to communicate instead of sending a wordy message now. It’s quicker, easy and funny.
Open up an Instagram conversation with a friend of yours and click the + icon. Next, click the GIF button. You can scroll through the option of GIFs or type in a keyword to search for GIFs. You’ll be a pro at this now!
You can even type in an emotion to find the best GIF for you.
For example, type in “shock” and you get tons of results to send across to your friend.
You can also click the “random” button. Watch out though! When you click this, it will send the GIF before you even get a chance to see it. So you might not want to choose that option.
Now that you’re an expert on posting GIFs on Instagram, you can use these animated images to communicate and add funny or cute GIF stickers to your Instagram page! There are so many situations you can use GIFs in, and there are GIFs for any circumstance, so keep browsing and be creative!