How to post an animated gif on instagram
How to Post a GIF on Instagram from Any Device
How to post a GIF on Instagram
How to turn a video into a GIF for Instagram
How to post a GIF on an Instagram Story
How to send a GIF on Instagram DM
Best Instagram GIF apps
GIFs are a fun way to connect with your audience by referencing viral trends or nostalgic moments. And if you don’t how to post a GIF on Instagram, you’re missing out.
They’re useful for memes, but you can also share custom GIFs that add to your brand’s voice. Hootsuite’s mascot, Owly, is a particular fan of GIFs.
Keep reading to find out how to post a GIF on Instagram, including how to slide them into your DMs.
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
Technically, Instagram doesn’t support GIF files for an Instagram post. There are two workarounds to this problem:
Option #1: Use a GIF from GIPHY
GIPHY is a one-stop shop for all of your GIF needs. It also has a simple tool to turn any GIF into a 15-second .mp4 file. Perfect for posting directly on your Instagram feed.
Option #2: Upload a GIF as a video
You’ll need to convert your GIF to a video to post it on your Instagram feed. You can use a free tool like Adobe Express to convert a GIF into a .mp4 file. And then you can upload the video to your feed. Ta-da!
Now let’s talk about the step-by-step process of posting a GIF on Instagram from your phone or your computer.
Android/iOSTo post directly from GIPHY:
1. Download the GIPHY app.
2. Find a GIF you want to post.
3. Click the paper airplane icon on the bottom right side of the GIF.
4. Choose the Instagram icon.
5. Select where you want to post it on Instagram. You have 4 options: Chats, Feed, Reels, or Stories. Tap on Feed.
6. This opens up your Instagram app. Then you can add text, stickers, or other effects to customize the GIF.
7. Click on Next to add a caption, edit the cover, tag people, or add a location.
8. Then choose Share. Your GIF uploads as a reel to your profile.
To upload your own GIF:
1. To convert a GIF into a video, use a free tool like Adobe Express. You’ll need to sign up for an account first.
2. Click on Upload your GIF.
3. Upload your GIF and then select Download.
4. That’s it! Now you can upload the video directly to your Instagram feed.
DesktopTo post a GIF from GIPHY:
1. Open the GIPHY website and ensure you’re logged in. (You need an account to do this on desktop).
2. Find a GIF you want to post.
3. Click the Share icon on the right side of the GIF.
4. Choose the Instagram icon.
5. A pop-up appears asking for your email address. Then GIPHY will email you a .mp4 file of the GIF.
6. Check your email! GIPHY has emailed you the .mp4 file.
7. Download the .mp4 file and then upload it as your Instagram post.
To upload your own GIF:
1. To convert a GIF into a video, use a free tool like Adobe Express. You’ll need to sign up for an account first.
2. Click on Upload your GIF.
3. Upload your GIF and then select Download.
4. That’s it! Now you can upload directly to your Instagram feed.
How to turn a video into a GIF for InstagramYou can’t create GIFs directly on Instagram. You’ll need to use a different app or your phone’s camera roll to turn a video into a GIF. You can find our detailed guide on how to make a GIF for more info.
You could use Adobe Express mentioned above to turn a video into a GIF, but you might want to consider GIPHY for easy sharing. People using GIPHY can find your GIFs and use them in their projects or messages. Ultimately, this helps build brand awareness.
Below we’ll discuss how to turn a video into a GIF using GIPHY, but other apps can also create GIFs using video. (More on that later).
Or if you would rather watch a video on how to turn a video into a GIF, watch this:
1. Open the GIPHY app or website and ensure you’re logged in. You need an account to create GIFs, so sign-up to get started.
2. Click Create in the top right corner.
(On mobile, select “Uploads” and choose “Create”).
3. From here, you can upload a video or add a video URL link. The video must be under 100 MB and shorter than 15 seconds. Keep in mind that the URL option is only available on desktop.
4. Next, you can use the sliders to trim the video.
5. Click Continue to Upload. You can edit your GIF further by adding a caption, filters, or stickers.
Now you’re ready to share your GIF with the world. Easy as that!
How to post a GIF on an Instagram StoryThere are three ways to post a GIF on an Instagram Story.
Option #1: Upload a GIF
1. Open Instagram Stories.
2. Add a GIF to your Stories by searching for it in your phone gallery and clicking it.
3. This inserts the GIF into your Instagram Story, and you can add text, stickers, and other effects before you publish.
Option #2: Use the GIF feature within Instagram
1.
Upload or take a photo and add it to your Instagram story.
2. Click on the sticker icon in the upper right menu.
3. Choose the “GIF” feature.
4. The menu will show you trending GIFs or you can search for a GIF. Click on it to insert it into your Story.
5. If you want, add text, images, doodles, or effects.
6. Then you can click Next to publish!
Option #3: Post directly from GIPHY
1. Open the GIPHY app.
2. Select a GIF you want to post.
3. Tap the paper airplane icon to share.
4. Select Stories to post on Instagram Stories.
6. This opens up your Instagram app. Then you can add text, stickers, or other effects to customize the GIF.
7. Click on Next to share your GIF on Instagram Stories.
How to send a GIF on Instagram DMYou can also send GIFs to your besties through direct messages on Instagram. Here’s how to do it:
1.
Open the chat with the person or group you want to message.
2. Tap the sticker icon next to Message…
3. Choose the GIF icon in the bottom right corner.
4. You can scroll through to find trending GIFs or use the search function to find one.
5. Click on the GIF to automatically send it to the chat.
Best Instagram GIF appsCustom GIFs are a great way to boost your brand awareness and share engaging content to connect with your audience. But you can’t create GIFs using Instagram. It’s necessary to use another app to create GIFs to post on Instagram.
Here are the most popular apps to create GIFs for Instagram:
GIPHY
GIPHY has the largest library of GIFs. It’s perfect to find the precise GIF to convey your message or to create your own custom GIFs. It’s also the only GIF maker on this list you can use on your computer.
Cost: Free
Available on: GIPHY has an app for Android and iOS.
It’s also available on desktop, but there is no feature for direct posting to Instagram.
Best for: Uploading GIFs to a library for other people to use.
GIF Maker, GIF Editor
GIF Maker, GIF Editor has over 10 million downloads. It has a ton of features including adjusting the speed, cropping the GIF, and adding or deleting certain frames in the animation.
Cost: Free, but if you want an ad-free experience you can upgrade for $2.99.
Available on: Android
Best for: People needing a GIF editor with all the features.
ImgPlay
ImgPlay is a GIF maker using photos, live photos, burst photos, or videos. You can also trim your GIF, add filters, and merge multiple videos into one.
Cost: Free, but you’ll need to pay for premium features.
Available on: ImgPlay has an app for Android and iOS.
Best for: People wanting to make professional-level GIFs.
GIF Maker by Momento
Momento can take your photos, live photos, and videos and turn them into GIFs. You can add a creative flair by adding stickers, text, and effects.
Cost: Free, but you’ll need to pay for premium features.
Available on: iOS
Best for: Quickly create fun GIFs to share on social media.
Posting GIFs on Instagram is a winning strategy to make your content more engaging and show off your brand’s voice.
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Can You Post a GIF on Instagram? | Small Business
You have an Instagram account for your small business because you know how popular the social network is – over one billion users and counting.
To make good use of your account and connect with potential customers, you need compelling visual content. You’re up to speed on Instagram Stories, and you use Instagram Live videos to do Q&As with your followers, but you still want to post more content on your feed to keep engagement up. GIFs are a great way to increase engagement and connect with followers and new visitors discovering your company’s page for the first time.
How to Post a GIF on Instagram
In its current form, Instagram isn’t ideal for uploading GIFs directly to your feed, and you can’t create your own GIFs from the Instagram app. While you can post a GIF to your feed directly in the Instagram app, it doesn’t format in the correct way. However, using third-party apps, you can post a GIF on Instagram quite easily. Let’s dive into how.
As mentioned above, there are a few methods to choose from. The easiest method is to use a third-party app.
In particular, GIPHY is your best option, but there are plenty others to choose from.
Posting a GIF to Instagram With GIPHY
GIPHY is a search engine and GIF library with the largest collection of animated GIFs from around the internet. On GIPHY, you can select from and post GIFs to any of your company’s social platforms with an easy two-step process.
First, begin by downloading the GIPHY app for free. Once downloaded onto your phone, open the app and begin searching for your perfect GIF. After finding your GIF, click the Share icon, and you’ll be prompted to select from a series of social networks to post on. Select the Instagram Logo, and you’ll be prompted to add the GIF to your Instagram Feed or Story.
In this instance, choose Feed, and add any captions or hashtags if you like.
Then, post the the GIF to your feed!
Creating Your Own GIFs With GIPHY
As a business profile, you’ll want to do more than just share popular GIFs to capitalize on the latest trends. You’ll also want to create your own GIFs, featuring your company’s products or highlighting your company’s core service or key team members. In addition to finding and posting popular GIFs, you can also create your own original GIFs using GIPHY’s GIF Maker feature.
First, stage and record whatever you want to turn into a GIF using a video recording device. Once you have your video file, you can upload it to GIPHY in a few different ways, either by uploading with a Youtube link, dragging and dropping onto GIPHY, or browsing your files. You can then use GIPHY’s internal tools to cut the video and set the length of your GIF as needed. As is common for GIFs, you can even add captions or other effects to your GIF to make it stand out.
If you want to optimize your GIF to be findable on GIPHY, you can tag it with keywords. If you want it to be private, you can do that too. Once finalized, hit the Create GIF button, and you will be sent to a new page where your completed GIF is ready to share on Instagram.
Other Third-Party Solutions
In addition to the method above, GIPHY also has an app called GIPHY Cam where you can record your own GIFs directly on your phone. This method is pretty straightforward, and there are plenty of fun effects you can play with if you want to get creative.
Beyond GIPHY, there is also the third-party app Gifnote, which allows you to add music to your GIFs from the app’s licensed song database. There are plenty of other app options too, but for most purposes, one of these two should serve you just fine.
What Happens If You Upload a GIF Directly in Instagram?
It is possible to upload a GIF from your phone’s Gallery directly through the Instagram app.
However, if you choose to do this method, it won’t format correctly, and will instead format as a single frame as opposed to a moving image. If you still want to use this method, you may do so in the following way:
First, make sure you have the GIF you want to upload saved on your mobile device. Then, go to your Instagram account, and select the + button from the bottom center of Instagram’s home bar. From there, you will be prompted to select a file type, either Photo, Video or Library. Choose Library to select a GIF that is saved already in your phone’s Camera Roll.
Find your GIF, crop it as necessary, and click Next from the top right of the screen. There, you can apply any filters or adjust any edit settings you want. Since GIFs are heavily compressed, it’s usually a good idea not to edit them too much. When you’re ready to move forward, click Next again to add any captions, hashtags, locations or people to tag, and then click Share.
Converting a GIF to a Video
Should you want to bypass posting through a third-party app like GIPHY, you can still post an animated GIF to Instagram. Instead of posting it from your library, you will need to convert the GIF into a video first. To do so, follow these steps.
First, choose a website or app to convert your GIF into a video. We recommend the website EZGif.com for its easy-to-use interface. Either use the GIF to mp4 or GIF to mov converter, and follow the steps on the respective page to convert your GIF to an mp4 or mov video. There are also more options available listed in the resource section below.
Once your GIF is converted into a video file, return to your Instagram account. Select the + button again, but this time choose the new video file from your Camera roll, and click Next. Filter, Trim, or pick a specific Cover for your video at your discretion, then click Next again.
Add your captions, hashtags and location, then click Share.
The Boomerang Workaround
One clever trick to create DIY GIFs is by using Instagram’s built-in Boomerang integration. Boomerang popularized moving photos on Instagram with their three-second video loops. Using Boomerang, you record a video which plays forward for a few seconds first, and then plays the same video back in reverse to create a fun little looping video. Instagram now allows you to create Boomerang loops directly in the app when recording an Instagram Story, but you can use this neat workaround to upload them to your feed, too.
First, go to the top of your Instagram home screen where the Stories section is located, and click on your profile picture with the blue + sign on it. If you don’t already know, this is where you go to record your own Instagram Stories. Now, before you record anything, slide your screen to the left to select the Boomerang option.
Here you can record your own Boomerang, and use it similarly to how you would use a GIF.
Even though this section of the app is for posting to your story, you can still use this video in your feed. Go to the bottom left of your screen, and click the Save button with the down arrow icon. This will save the Boomerang to your Camera Roll, where you can then upload it to your feed using the method described above. Remember, these videos are short, so if you want to create and post a longer, actual GIF, you’ll need to use a third-party service or GIF-to-video converter as previously mentioned.
how to add — LiveDune Blog
Beautiful gifs on Instagram are an opportunity to add emotions to stories, make the content more vivid and varied. For example, for commercial accounts, a GIF is a good way to emphasize and stand out from other users.
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How to add gifs to Instagram stories
There are two ways to add gifs to Instagram stories: the first is as a separate element, the second is as a separate story.
Let's analyze each of the options.
Gif for Instagram stories as an additional element
This is the old and familiar way to insert a gif into Instagram stories:
Make a new story.
At the top of the screen, click on the smiley sticker, then "GIF".
Choose any GIF you like and place it in the desired part of stories.
The most popular GIFs are located in the Trending section. You can also search for gifs by keywords in both English and Russian. But the issue on Instagram is sometimes different, therefore we recommend that you enter the names of gifs alternately in two languages. For example: first enter “love” into the search, and then “love”, so the probability of finding a suitable GIF increases.
GIFs can be enlarged or reduced in size, as well as flipped by clicking on the animation. If you don't like the gif, you can delete it. To do this, drag it down the screen and move it to the urn icon that appears.
Instagram allows you to add any number of gifs to one story. Everything is limited only by common sense and aesthetic vision of the author of stories.
Gif on Instagram as a standalone stories
Recently, Instagram has added another option to add GIFs as standalone stories. This option is relevant when you want to place only a gif or use it as a background for text.
Go to the stories section and select Create.
Next, find "GIF" and enter the desired gif into the search.
Unfortunately, it cannot be reduced, it completely fills the stories screen. But this version of the gif can be used for a beautiful animated background. To do this, select a neutral background (ideally, so that no transitions are visible, or find a vertical GIF). Add text or other GIFs in the standard way.
How to add a gif that is not on Instagram
You can place a gif that is not in the standard list, for example, your own brand logo, using the GIPHY service.
To do this, install the application on your smartphone.
Select the appropriate gif in the "Explore" section or search for the one you need. Click on the gif you like, then on the paper airplane icon.
If you want to post the gif directly to your stories or Instagram feed, click on the paper airplane, then on the Instagram icon. If as an additional element in stories, then click on the paper airplane and save it through the icon in the upper right corner.
Next, open Instagram and create a new story. Go to your camera roll and copy the GIF. Go back to stories and click "Add sticker". In this option, we recommend looking for gifs with a transparent background, so it will look more aesthetically pleasing and will not stand out from the general content. Also in GIPHY you can create and upload your own GIF, especially for commercial accounts:
Made with GIPHY
Animated stories always attract attention, but the audience reacts to them differently, it all depends on the niche of the account and subscribers.
Therefore, always study the statistics of stories in order to predict user behavior and thereby increase coverage.
Ideas for using gifs in stories
GIFs must be used appropriately. Place it so that it complements the content, and does not take all the attention to itself. Therefore, we have made a small selection of ideas and beautiful GIFs on Instagram that will tell you how you can skillfully use them in your stories.
To announce a post, repost it in stories and add a GIF "New post", "Tap/Click here", "Fresh content" or simply place a clicking hand. Thus, you will suggest the necessary action to the subscriber and motivate them to interact with the content. You can simply post some ready-made entries in the form of "Good morning" or, for example, "Friday". So you just convey the mood and communicate with the audience at the same time.
GIFs on Instagram can also bring photos to life by adding sparkle, snow or rain. Or supplement a photo with food or coffee with smoke / steam.
This is a small element, but it adds so much charm to the photo, makes it lively and sets the mood.
Gifs on topics will add zest to an ordinary photo. For example, with the help of a GIF, you can create an effect of surprise by adding a GIF in the form of a shark to a regular photo from the sea or by placing a dinosaur in the jungle.
Conclusion
To make your stories unusual, choose interesting and beautiful GIFs on Instagram. At the same time, do not forget to observe a sense of proportion - do not add 10 gifs per story and do not use animation in each story. Do not forget about readability - animation should emphasize, focus attention, and not interfere with the study of content. For example, if you highlight a word in the text by adding a sparkle gif to it, that's good. If you highlight the entire text with glitter, it becomes unreadable, and the user is most likely to quickly flip through such stories.
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How to Upload GIF to Instagram in 4 Steps(2023)
Instagram is a great social media app where people can instantly share their personal videos and photos with their loyal followers and the world.
But there is no clear evidence that people can upload GIFs to Instagram the way they can on Facebook and Twitter.
But we can post a GIF thumbnail video on Instagram in the following ways.
You may also like Filmora Meme Generator, which allows you to create funny videos, GIFs and memes with images for free!
How to upload GIFs to Instagram
Here we present two ways to upload GIFs to Instagram.
Method 1: Convert your gif to video
It's great that Instagram allows all of its users to post videos up to fifteen seconds long. This can be seen as an alternative to an animated GIF file.
You may also like: Best GIF to Video Converters >>
You can publish this video successfully by selecting the start time and end time so that you can cut the video clip to the required 15 seconds.
Here we recommend Wondershare Filmora, which is a great video editing tool. It allows you to instantly convert your GIF images to video without any problem or if you want to convert video back to GIF images.
How to convert GIF to video with Wondershare Filmora
Step 1. Open Filmora software
Wondershare Filmora should be open on your computer after download. Then you upload the gif file of your choice to Filmora.
Step 2. Editing your gif
Then you can edit the gif by adding text, music and different colors.
Step 3: Export Video
The next step is to select Create Video and select MP4 as the format. Or you can save it directly to your mobile device. Wondershare Filmora will then turn your animated GIF into a video.
Step 4. Upload to Instagram
Finally, open the Instagram app, select your desired video from your image gallery, edit, add a written description, and upload it to your profile for the world to see.
Method 2: Use the Giphy app to upload and post your favorite GIF image directly to Instagram
Giphy is a popular GIF collection and community site, it also allows you to search for your favorite GIFs and then post them to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and also Instagram.
It will convert and save the gif as a 15 second MP4 video in your camera roll so you can open it in an Instagram post directly.
One of the disadvantages of Giphy is that it is too slow, if you want to trim videos quickly and for free, you can choose Filmora Free Video Trimmer,
which allows you to trim videos online without registration request and totally free.
Step 1: Once you've downloaded the app, it will ask you for permission to access the camera on your smartphone before you can start your first GIF video.
Step 2: Open the app and find the GIF you want to share, you can also create a GIF yourself.
Step 3: Select the magenta rectangle with the Instagram symbol in the sharing options, then Giphy will try to open your Instagram app. Open the Instagram app and post the video file you just created with Giphy. Once you post your video, it will play and automatically show your mini video from start to finish in your subscribers' feeds.
It will have a label showing it is a Boomerang video. Your subscribers can click on the app and download it for themselves.
Frequently asked questions about uploading GIFs on Instagram
1. Can I upload GIFs on Instagram?
Adding GIFs directly to your Instagram feed is an option you have, but the platform will treat the entire GIF as a single frame and you will end up posting a still image instead of a GIF.
However, there is a quick solution to this problem as you can simply convert the GIF file to a video file format that Instagram supports and upload the GIF as a video.
Installing the GIPHY app on your smartphone is another option you have because the app allows users to share GIFs from their collection directly to Instagram.
2. How to find the best GIFs on Instagram?
Instagram does not currently have a collection of GIFs that you can add to your feed, but it does offer a rich selection of GIFs that you can add to Instagram Stories.
