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How to use stickers in instagram


How To Find and Use Cute Instagram Stickers (2022)

When Instagram Stories first launched in 2016, it introduced new opportunities for brands and users alike to be more authentic and creative on the platform.

Now this fleeting media format with a 24-hour lifespan has become a pillar in most Instagram marketing strategies, complementing the posts you publish permanently to your feed. 

But there’s a powerful feature within Stories that many brands still ignore: Instagram stickers.

It’s easy to mistake stickers as mere aesthetic add-ons, but using the right Instagram stickers at the right time not only makes your Stories more fun but can help you achieve a variety of marketing goals, from reaching new audiences to mastering how to make money on Instagram. 

Table of Contents

  • How to use Instagram Story stickers
  • Cute Instagram stickers
  • Types of Instagram stickers
  • Creative ways to use Instagram stickers
  • Tracking your performance with Instagram stickers
  • Instagram stickers: A fun and functional feature
  • Instagram stickers FAQ

What are Instagram stickers

Instagram stickers are dynamic graphic elements that can be added to both image and video Stories. Some are animated, some are clickable, and others even allow users to interact directly with the Story. Simply put, they make your Stories more interesting, which makes users more likely to engage with them.

Some businesses prefer a less direct tactic and Instagram stories is perfect for adding product stickers to your stories as a low pressure sales tactic.

Taylor Loren, in an edited excerpt from the course How to Make Money on Instagram

How to use Instagram Story stickers

  1. Tap sticker icon in the top right corner of editing options
  2. Browse through customizable and interactive stickers
  3. Scroll down to find the rest of the stickers
  4. Click on sticker you want to add
  5. View the sticker on your story

Stickers can be found after you’ve taken or uploaded your photo or video by tapping on the sticker icon in the top right corner of your Stories’ editing options.

Once you tap on this icon, you’ll see a list of stickers appear. Customizable or interactive stickers will show up first, including the hashtag, mention, and location stickers (or new stickers).

All others can be found by scrolling down or by searching for what you’re looking for. Just click on what you want to add stickers to in your Stories post.

Cute Instagram stickers 

While functional stickers like hashtag and link stickers are super useful, sometimes it’s nice to add a cute sticker for the sake of aesthetics. Using cutesy stickers can be an important aspect of your branding (if it’s your style), or they can be a great way to signify a more casual Story interaction.

Whichever the case, let’s take a look at cute sticker sets available at the time of writing. The first few are keywords you can use to find cute stickers related to the word or style, then the remaining sets on the list come from specific artists.

Cute

First up is obvious: type “cute” in the search bar and you’ll see cute stickers.

These stickers are made by various artists and are designed to make the viewer think “aww. ” Using cute little animal-based characters is a quick way to many people’s hearts.

Plants

Next up is the word “plants.” Some people might not associate plants with cuteness, but there are plenty of plant folks out there that do. If you don’t, these stickers might convince you otherwise.

These various plant illustrations are small, cartoon-like, and have simple animations. You can use them to convey a sense of growth or change.

Pastel

Plenty of small businesses base their style or aesthetics on a pastel color palette. If that’s you, you’ll find plenty of cute stickers if you search for “pastel.”

While you might come across some odd or context-dependent stickers, most of them follow the classic light pink, blue, and yellow palette. Many use cute characters or convey cute/sweet messages.

Boho

Another well-developed aesthetic in the ecommerce space is “boho” (short for bohemian). Similar to pastel, the boho look inspires a calm and relaxed feel, typically using fall/autumnal colors.  

These types of stickers can be cute because they have simple “twinkly” movements.

Mikyla

Moving onto the artist highlights, let’s look at Mikyla. If you search for Mikyla in the stickers feature, you’ll get the following options:

Mikyla adopts a pastel color palette and uses simple plant illustrations for the most part, but also uses language many people associate with cuteness.

Izzyink

Next up is Izzyink. Following the theme of “simple,” Izzyink’s illustrations mostly use words rather than images:

But even word-based stickers can be cute when they’re related to cute things or “cute” behavior.

Hanmade

Using a similar strategy as Izzyink, Hanmade (not to be confused with “handmade”), uses more words than pictures, but in a slightly different style.

Hanmade uses lots of cursive-style writing, which is a whole aesthetic in itself—one that lots of people find cute or pleasing to look at.

Green Dotori

Keeping up with the minimalist aesthetic, Green Dotori uses simple graphic-based illustrations that help bring attention to other parts of a Story.

Green Dotori’s art is a great option because it’s both cute and functional, often helping you point out a call to action (CTA).

Wildflowerbar

Revisiting the plant theme, wildflowerbar’s illustrations feature cute cacti, hearts, and word-based GIFs for Hungarian speakers!

Following the usual pattern, these are particularly cute because they’re small and have twinkly animation with very little movement.

Latifundija

Another super-cute set of stickers comes from Latifundija. These stickers are simple personifications of everyday foods or objects (plus a few Pokémon).

Having those tiny, simple smiley faces of various foods or animals is just irresistibly cute.

Studiojonesy

Studio Jonesy is a UK-based artist with a focus on “positivity and confetti.” These stickers are both cute and uplifting.

Other than the positive vibes on offer by Studio Jonesy, a few of them are specifically useful for small businesses, such as “Giveaway,” “I can’t wait!!!” and “Click me. ” 

Ohlalalita

Coming back to the written word stickers, Ohlalalita has a ton of cute stylized stickers of words that people and businesses can use.

Lots of the words in these informal stickers we associate with cute behavior such as “ta-daa,” “ootd,” and “yay!”

Ketnipz

Our final set of cute sticker recommendations is from Ketnipz. The artist behind Ketnipz created this character and lots of people found it cute.

What makes it even better is that the artist has the character doing cute things in short GIFs that help make your Story relatable. 

Types of Instagram stickers 

While some stickers help to make your Stories more fun, others directly contribute to your Instagram marketing goals. There’s no shortage of options to choose from, but the following customizable stickers are especially relevant for marketing:

  1. Hashtag stickers add a clickable hashtag to your Story to reach more users. When users click on it, they’ll be taken to the hashtag’s feed, just like if they’d searched for it manually. You can only add one per Story.
  2. Poll stickers ask users a question and give them two answers to choose from. By default, you can ask a yes or no question, or you can change the responses to create your own either/or-styled inquiry that lets users choose between two answers. Users click on the sticker to answer, and the results are calculated in real time. You can see who voted and what they voted for as well, giving you the opportunity to engage directly with them. 
  3. Question stickers let you crowdsource ideas, feedback, and responses from your audience with an open-ended question. Answers can then be shared directly to your Stories as a follow-up post.
  4. Location stickers tag a location in your Story to expand your reach. When users tap on it, they’ll see a feed of other content with the same location tag. You can only add one per Story.
  5. Mention stickers tag another user in your Stories, notifying them that you’ve done so. When someone taps on the sticker, they’ll be taken to the tagged user’s profile.
  6. Music stickers add background music to your images or videos, letting you choose a soundtrack from Spotify.
  7. Countdown stickers add a countdown timer toward a specific time and/or date (useful for product launches or events).
  8. GIF stickers are looping graphics from GIPHY that you can add to Stories. They’re not just fun and dynamic, but also can be used to add animated calls to action to your Stories (e.g. “Follow us”).
  9. Shoppable stickers are available through the Shopping on Instagram integration. Business accounts with this sales channel enabled will be able to tag products in their Stories. Users can tap to see the price, description, and product name, and tap again to go directly to the product page to purchase.
  10. Emoji slider stickers ask users a question that they can answer with a slider (i. e., on a scale of 1 to 10), such as “How much do you love our new line compared to last year?” You can choose an emoji to represent their response, and users will be able to see the average after they give you their vote.
  11. Date stickers will show the date that the photo, video, or Story was created. They can be used to post throwback content to reminisce about the past or build hype for an upcoming event by displaying today’s date.
  12. Link stickers replaced the swipe-Up feature, allowing you to link to content outside the Instagram app in your Story.

Naturally, you can mix and match stickers in the same Story to layer the benefits on top of each other and maximize their impact.

Creative ways to use Instagram Story stickers for marketing 

1. Ask for feedback and test ideas

The temporary nature of Stories make them great for soliciting feedback—after 24 hours, when you have the input you need, your Story automatically disappears.

Poll stickers, emoji slider stickers, question stickers, and quiz stickers each present opportunities for getting different types of feedback, depending on the type of survey question you want to ask.

You might use an emoji slider to ask your followers to rate something on a scale of 1 to 10. Or you could use the poll sticker to ask them to pick a side in a popular debate.

 

Not only can you learn more about your audience this way, but you can even use Stories as a testing ground for new product and marketing ideas.

2. Host an AMA to connect with your followers on a personal level

Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions give your followers direct access to you, the person behind the brand, in a way that most social media content doesn’t.

Using the question sticker, you can facilitate this Q&A format and pull back the curtain to offer your followers a chance to get to know you. 

Your followers would likely love the chance to ask big questions that your About Us page doesn’t answer, like what products are coming up or what your favorite book is.

Let people know that the best questions will be answered in your Stories, and get ready to watch them come pouring into your notifications. 

3. Share user-generated content and encourage others to create their own

User-generated content can be a powerful addition to your content mix, but only if others see it and recognize that it was created by a fan and not by you. 

Using mention stickers, you can share UGC in your Stories and then tag the creator so they get credit and a public thank you. This will show that you value your followers and encourage other users to share content too.

Better yet, you can also add your branded hashtag to direct your audience to check out more UGC or contribute their own. 


If you’re in a rush, a strategy that I often use is to ask permission from users to directly share Stories that you’re tagged in. When sharing, I add a "📸 credit" next to a mention sticker tagging the original poster. These posts generally have high engagement rates, and I’ve found they encourage more users moving forward to tag your brand in their Stories, too.

4. Create more relatable Stories by adding a soundtrack

Music stickers can help establish a certain mood or feeling and effectively grab a user’s attention. From lip syncing along on video to playing holiday music over your photos, these stickers offer a lot of opportunities to get creative with your content.

If you aren’t sure where to start, Instagram has its music sorted by moods and genres, in addition to allowing search for specific tracks, letting you add snippets of hits from big names like Drake, Cardi B, Fleetwood Mac, and other artists on Spotify.

Music stickers can also help you express yourself as a brand and connect with your audience through shared tastes.

Note: If you don’t have access to music stickers yet, Instagram is slowly rolling them out and they should become more widely available in time.

5. Promote your branded hashtags

A lot of brands will try to harness the power of hashtags to get users talking about their brand in a way that is easy to monitor. They’ll use branded hashtags, or contest- or event-specific hashtags to generate awareness and encourage users to also post content using the same tags.

Since hashtags often get buried in your Instagram posts, Stories are a great way to bring them to the forefront of your audience’s attention.

When you have a branded hashtag populated by content from your fans, you can even start using the hashtag sticker to direct your audience to this gallery of content. When Story viewers click on the sticker, they’ll immediately see all the other posts containing the tag, which can serve as powerful social proof.

6. Tag locations of events you’re attending 

Are you attending a tradeshow, a conference, a farmers market, or another event? Whether you’re actively selling your products or just networking, post a Story to show your followers that you’re there in person, and make sure to add a location sticker.

This won’t just let your followers know you’re there, but will also help others at the event discover you if they’re also browsing the location tag.  

7. Ask customers to choose between two products 

Using poll stickers and asking customers to choose between different products is an excellent way to promote two items at once, share visible social proof, and learn about your audience’s preferences.

The ease of participating will work in your favor, and everyone else will be able to see the results live.

Many users will want to vote simply so they can see how others are voting, and once they see the results, it may even encourage them to purchase.

8. Use date stickers for flashbacks or to hype up events 

Sometimes it’s good to look back, which is why #TBT (#ThrowbackThursday) is such a popular hashtag. When you want to share content that happened in the past, this is a good way to do it. It establishes context and is particularly powerful for sharing Stories about past events like anniversaries, conferences, or milestones.

When you select an old Instagram Story from your archive, it will appear in the editor with the date sticker by default, making it easy to reminisce and reshare these moments.

Date stickers also work well if you’re counting down to a particular event, like a sale or a pop-up shop. Attach the date sticker to a sneak-peak photo or behind-the-scenes video, and let users know how much time they have left before the big event. 

9. Drive sales to your newest products 

Instagram’s new product stickers don’t just raise awareness for your products—they help you convert that attention into sales. Users can tap on them to learn more about the featured product, and then tap again to be taken to the product page to purchase. 

You can even feature multiple products in a single post to give your audience options and show off a collection of products. 

10. Use the “sound on” GIF to get users to enable sound 

One of the most understated uses for Instagram stickers is to turn implied actions into explicit calls to action.

Since videos play without sound by default, the “Sound on” sticker can make it clear that sound is an integral part of the content they’re viewing.

It encourages users to enable sound, even if they likely wouldn’t have otherwise thought to.

It’s a simple addition to your video Stories that can help you keep your audience’s attention longer.

11. Collaborate with other businesses 

Sometimes building relationships with other brands is a smart way to market your business, and sharing some love on Instagram can benefit both of you—especially if they return the favor.

Shoutout exchanges are an easy-to-implement and effective co-marketing tactic, as long as you can find a complementary brand with a target audience that overlaps with your own.

Use either the mention or location stickers to tag other businesses when sharing Stories about them and what they do. They could be a vendor, an industry influencer, or just a complementary business. If you’re hosting or participating in a sale, event, or contest together, even better.

12. Get festive with seasonal Instagram stickers 

Whether it’s April Fool’s Day, Halloween or Thanksgiving, people love getting festive—especially when it comes to Stories. Seasonal stickers will pop up at the appropriate time for almost every major holiday you can think of, making it easier for you to add a festive holiday touch to your Stories without any extra effort. 

Nothing suggests a possible Christmas gift idea quite like an animated Santa Claus walking across your stocking stuffers.

13. Use the link sticker to drive traffic

One of the most useful stickers to businesses now is the link sticker. Not too long ago, Instagram got rid of the swipe-up feature that was limited to accounts with 10,000 or more followers and introduced the link sticker. 

Adding a link sticker to your Story will label the link with the website address by default, but you can opt to customize the link text in a more creative way.

For example, in the above Story, Gymshark made the link sticker part of the sentence it wrote in the rest of the Story.

14. Raise money for a nonprofit with the donate sticker

Another sticker that has been getting love recently is the donate sticker. As a business with some level of influence with your followers, you can encourage them to donate to a good cause either related to your industry or one that follows your brand values.

Similar to the link sticker, the donate sticker will automatically add text asking users to donate to the selected charity. But you can change the text to whatever you want (within character limits). Side note: Instagram will only show charities that have Instagram accounts linked up with donation information.

15. Encourage users to create UGC with the “add yours” sticker

The final sticker on this list is the “add yours” sticker. With this option, you can create a chain of Stories originating from your profile that all use the same sticker.

When you use the “add yours” sticker, you can click on it to see which users have created a response. This is a great way to discover new profiles to interact with as well as generate UGC related to your brand or industry.

Tracking your performance with Instagram stickers 

Instagram stickers are a great way to get more engagement, traffic, and social proof out of your Stories, in addition to brand awareness. In order to understand the effect that different stickers have on your content, however, and how effective they are overall, it’s important to monitor their performance.

The best way to do this is to carefully monitor your Stories’ performance in Instagram’s Insights. Instagram’s native analytics report has a section under the “Content you’ve shared” tab dedicated specifically to Stories, where you can view how each Story performed based on certain key metrics.

The metrics related to Stories include:

  • Impressions: the total number of times your Story was viewed.
  • Reach: the total number of unique accounts who saw your Story.
  • Profile visits: the total number of times a viewer visited your profile from your Story. 
  • Forwards: users who skipped to different photos or videos within your Story.
  • Back: users who went back to different photos or videos within your Story.
  • Exited Stories: users who completely exited their Stories after viewing yours.
  • Replies: the number of users who replied to your Story.
  • Next Story: The number of users who swiped ahead to skip your Story entirely.
  • Link clicks: The number of click-throughs on your link stickers.

Though you can also monitor the following metrics from the same place:

  • Call button taps: how many people clicked on your call button from your profile page.
  • Business address taps: how many people clicked to view your business address from your profile page.
  • Text button taps: the number of users who tapped to text your business from your profile page.
  • Website taps: how many users clicked on your website button from your profile page.

You can only track Stories data in your native Instagram analytics for 14 days, so keep careful track of the data. If this feels like a hassle and you want a big-picture view, third-party Instagram tools can give you the same information but store it for much longer periods of time.

Look for patterns here. If some of your Stories have record-high impressions and reach but very little engagement, take a look at why. Do certain stickers seem to make an impact on engagement rates like replies, or back swipes to view a Story? Are people ignoring your stickers because of the placement or size?

You’ll start to see how different stickers affect your Stories’ performance, which can inform how you use them moving forward. 

Instagram stickers: A fun

and functional feature

Instagram stickers are more than just a fun add-on that layers smiley faces onto your Stories. They can play an integral role in Instagram marketing, allowing you to generate social proof, engagement, reach, brand awareness, and traffic to your profile and even your site.

They’re a valued part of your Instagram marketing tool kit and, with a bit of strategy, they can help you get more out of every story you publish.

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Instagram stickers FAQ

How do I get Instagram stickers?

Add Instagram stickers by clicking the square smiley icon on the top of your screen. You’ll open the Instagram stickers tab and see different options for adding stickers. Choose the sticker you want to use to add some creativity to your Story

Why are Instagram stickers so popular?

Instagram stickers are a fun, dynamic way to spruce up image and video Stories. Stickers can be animated or clickable, and allow users to interact with your Story. In short, stickers make your Stories more interesting and increase engagement.

Can you make your own sticker on Instagram?

Instagram recently rolled out “Add yours” stickers in Stories. This feature lets people respond to Stories following a prompt or specific topic.

3 Easy Ways to Add Your Own GIF Stickers on Instagram Stories

Want to add your GIF Stickers on Instagram Stories? In this post I share 3 easy (but lesser-known) ways to create your own GIF Stickers and share them on your posts.  

You might be surprised by the potential of GIFs and GIF Stickers for your brand! 

Woman with Lollipop Hearts by Rohappy (Shutterstock)

BY DONNA MORITZ | 1 FEBRUARY, 2019

Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links, which means we receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through a link. 

If you've been using Instagram for a while now you would have met GIF Stickers. They're the fun GIF images, videos or illustrations that you can use as overlays to place over your Instagram Stories – made possible by their transparent background.

They let you add personality and interest to your posts, making them more engaging!

Types of GIF Stickers on Instagram

The main way you find GIF Stickers on Instagram is to search for them via the Sticker menu on Instagram Stories. To find them you choose the Sticker icon:

Here's a list of GIF Stickers that you can access on Instagram. Some of them are Instagram's in that they are features of Instagram that they make available in the sticker section. Some are available through Giphy Search where you can access 1000's of GIF Stickers via Instagram's GIF search function:

  1. Location Sticker
  2. Mention Sticker (to tag someone)
  3. Hashtag Sticker
  4. GIF Sticker (accesses the entire Giphy Sticker library for search).
  5. Clock Sticker
  6. Poll Sticker
  7. Question Sticker
  8. Countdown Sticker
  9. Emoji Sticker

And here is an overview of the Sticker selection including the stickers listed above:

Why would you add your own GIF Stickers?

Most people don't even realize that you can add your own GIF Stickers to Instagram. But you can!

Now, of course, you can go the easy route and use GIF Stickers made by other brands – and by Instagram themselves – and that's a totally valid option, especially if you don't have much time.

Here's a post I wrote all about using Poll Stickers for instance. It walks you through how to use them for engagement.

So, there's loads that you can do with the Stickers available to you in Instagram already.

But there actually is a way… 3 ways in fact.. that you can add your own custom stickers to Instagram Stories.

I've shared them all below.

When you add your own GIF Stickers you can be a little more strategic about your branding and content.

And you can make your stickers your own.

And add value to your community who can potentially use them too.

One example of a brand that does this well is Target. They're always adding new, engaging Stickers that their fans and customers love to use to express their fandom on Instagram Stories:

So let's jump in and take a look at how you can create and share your own GIF Stickers on Instagram.

3 Ways to Create and Add Your Own GIF Stickers on Instagram Stories

I'm going to start with the simplest method that involves the least amount of  “work” to add your own Stickers on Instagram Stories right down to the option that involves a little more work but also gives you the most options.

You're not limited to just one option. You can use all 3 in your marketing!

Note: all of these methods involve adding Stickers with transparent backgrounds or PNG format images or animations. So make sure when you create your Stickers that you have them in this format. There should be some transparent “white space” around your actual image or GIF in transparent format.

Here are the 3 methods:

1. Add Stickers from Your Camera Roll

This one is a simple trick that I hadn't discovered until recently.  Here's how it works on my iOS smartphone:

Please note: Some people are saying that this is not currently working. And I am not aware of a workaround for Android as yet. If this is the case for you, then skip to No 2 (below) as you can share a GIF sticker from a Giphy account, so the alternative is to host it there and share from Giphy. Ahhh Social Media… the only thing we can rely on is change!

1. Open up your Instagram Story in Instagram and prepare to add a Sticker.

2.  Save your completed GIF Sticker (image or GIF Sticker with transparent background) to your Camera Roll. You can do this from Dropbox, Google Docs or via Email. In this case I'm copying this flip-flops GIF over from email. It's a simple GIF that shows the flip-flops moving from side to side.

3. I then choose the Download icon in the top right corner:

4. A screen will pop up with options for you to save and share the GIF Sticker. Click “Copy”.

5. Then open up Instagram again and your Instagram Story will still be there ready to go. An option to add the Sticker you just copied will pop up! Tap the “Add Sticker” Icon.

6. Voila! Your Sticker will be added to your Instagram Story, just as if you had added it from Instagram's selection of Stickers. Cool, hey?

7. Finish off your Story as you normally would. That's it! A few simple steps and you've added your own custom sticker from outside of Instagram Stories into your Story.

While you get excited about the creative potential of that little trick, let's take a look at another way you can share your own custom GIF Stickers into Instagram Stories.

2.  Add Stickers from your Own Giphy Channel

This takes a couple of extra steps but I'm building you up to #3 where you can really do some cool stuff with GIF Stickers for your brand.

In this second option, you're going to set up a Giphy Channel to store and share your GIFs and GIF Stickers.

Honestly, I think this is a great move, and I highly recommend you do it, even if you are not ready for Step 3 (applying for a Branded Giphy Channel) yet.

Why? Because it allows you to:

  • Host your GIFs and GIF Stickers in a central place.
  • Share the links to your GIFs and GIF Stickers with your audience to use on social media.
  • Allows you to easily share your GIFs by links as well.
  • It's the first step in helping others discover your GIFs for your brand – whether they be regular GIFs or GIF Stickers.

Then, when you're ready, you can apply for a Branded GIF Channel, but for now let's get you started with a regular GIF Channel.

Set up a Giphy Channel

Setting up a Giphy Channel is easy. You just simply sign up for a Giphy Account here.

I won't go into the how-to's of creating and uploading GIFs in this post, but suffice to say Giphy has some cool tools to enable you to create GIFs from images or videos and to edit and upload them.

If you're looking for other articles about creating GIFs, head to the end of this post, where I'll share some.  

You can create GIFs from images or video using Giphy's GIFMaker

Once your channel is set up, all you have to do is start creating and uploading GIFs. Then you can share any of your channel GIFs to Instagram using the following method:

Adding your GIF Sticker to Instagram Stories

This is super simple, and takes just a few clicks, just like #1 above.

1 Firstly, open up your Intsagram Story ready to add your Sticker.

2. Then go to your Giphy account and find the GIF you want to share. In this case I am going to find the “Marketing Besties” sticker from my Socially Sorted account. You'll need to open up Giphy on your phone and open your account. You'll see a selection of GIFs and GIF Stickers that you have uploaded.

Note that even though I have a branded Giphy Channel, this works for regular Giphy Channels too.  

3. Tap to choose the sticker you want to use, ready to copy. The following screen will open up, with the single sticker you choose:

4. Tap and hold as directed to copy the GIF to your camera roll. Then open up your Instagram Story again in Instagram – just like the example above. The GIF Sticker you just copied will appear in the corner of your story ready to tap:

5. Now you're ready to roll, with your GIF Sticker added and pumping. In this case, the heart is literally pumping as the sticker animates. You can check it out here.

I've kept the background simple to show you how it works, but obviously I would add this to a photo of me and my speaker friends or marketing team – however you want to use it. Scroll down to see a fun example below.

And feel free to use this one if you work in Marketing .. you can find it on Instagram by searching the hashtag #sociallysorted to see my stickers.

What about regular GIFs (that aren't Stickers?).

You can also do this with GIFs that are regular GIFs (without the transparent background that makes them “Stickers”) or even regular PNG static images.

Here's a regular GIF without any transparency that I can share to an Instagram Story by copying and pasting in the same way:

Basically this will work for any GIF, image or transparent image that you want to share into an Instagram Story. All you have to do is copy the image and then add it as a “Sticker”.

Note: the above examples are all from an iOS phone. I am not sure if it works on an Android but if you know a process for making this work, please share in the comments and I'll add it to the post. Note that Intsagram has been playing wiht a Sticker feature that allows you to instantly add a sticker from your camera roll, but so far it is only available to a small number of users. I'm not sure if it will be rolled out to everyone but fingers crossed that it will be!

Now it's time to look at the Holy Grail for adding Stickers to your Instagram Account: A branded Giphy Channel.

3. Add Stickers via Search from a Branded Giphy Channel

I have had a Branded Giphy account for a while now and it has many added benefits:

  1. Acknowledgement by Giphy that you are a Company, Recording Artist, Brand or Public Figure.
  2. The ability to add searchable GIFs to your Giphy account. This means that you – or anyone – can search on your GIFs via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Which is very cool.
  3. Tracking of “views” of your GIFs. You get to see basic stats on how your GIFs are being viewed.

I'll get into how you can apply below, but first, here's my channel:

You can check out my Branded Giphy Channel here or click the image below.

At the time of writing this post, I have 12.3 million views of my stickers. Partly because they are viewed a lot on Instagram Stories.

My account got off to a great start when the Ellen show used one of my early GIF Stickers on their Instagram Story. That one Sticker alone now has over 3 million views. #TrueStory.

Ellen's team used my Sticker to get Y'all to Swipe Up ;o)

So far I am using my channel to experiment with reach and to experiment with the potential of GIFs for myself and also so that I can advise the brands I speak for and consult with.

I'll be adding more GIFs over time, and in the meantime you can access them by searching on #sociallysorted via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter search. You'll also see regular GIFs too that you can use in social media engagement.

Adding GIFs from a Giphy Branded Channel

Anyone can simply open up Instagram Stories and search (via the GIF Sticker) for the GIF Sticker that they want. For example, I could search “Excited” and a whole bunch of GIFs open up for selection.

Here's a few ways this works really well:

1.   It means that your audience or anyone random can find your stickers via search (Hello, Team Ellen).  It's Instagram + Giphy, so the potential numbers are mind-boggling.

Let's take a look at the image above for example. Ellen's team usually have their own Sticker overlay for “Swipe Up” but I am presuming that they wanted to post something quickly so searched and selected by Sticker under the search for #SwipeUp.

2. You can also search for your own GIF Stickers and use them in branding. So I can open up Instagram Stories and search for my own GIF Stickers by using the hashtag #SociallySorted – as I have added that hashtag to all of my stickers for search in Giphy.

I can alternatively search on keywords that I know will bring them up, like “Swipe Up” or “Queensland” for my pair of Flip Flops. Yes, they rank for high search terms, because… well… not many people are doing this as yet!

Now I can add my stickers easily to my Instagram Story, in this case a post about getting excited to speak at Social Media Marketing World… and one of my favourite photos of fellow speakers and attendees from previous events!

Shout out to some of my marketing besties, Azure Collier (TripleSeat), Viveka Von Rosen (Vengresso), Elena Verlee (Tech Marketing Strategist), Steve Dotto (DottoTech) and Ian Anderson Gray (iag. me). Shenanigans. 

3. You can also give your audience the search hashtags or particular search terms for them to find your GIF Content in Giphy Search.

For example, if you are “Target” you might tell your Instagram audience to go crazy with their #Target #Valentines Day Stickers. Oh, and look… they show up on search!

Target has perfectly optimized their GIF Selection for Valentine's Day, knowing their fans will love to share the Target love on Instagram.

The Target GIFs are branded, yes, but they are also super fun and some of them will suit any generic post (aka GIF Stickers for “relationship goals”).

It may not always be super branded, but it is super target with an ROI in mind but it is entertaining to their audience. They are giving their Instagram-loving, Target-loving audience another reason to love them. Check out their Brand Channel here.

I could go on about the potential of this, but let's jump in to how you can apply for a branded Giphy Channel:

Applying for a Giphy Branded Channel

Applying for a Giphy Branded Channel takes 3 simple steps:

  1. Set up a regular Giphy Channel as I outlined above.
  2. Add some GIFs to your channel. I recommend you include a few GIF Stickers too (ie GIFs with transparent backgrounds).
  3. Apply to become a Giphy Branded Channel.
    1. You can apply to be a Brand Channel with this form.
    2. You can apply to be an “Artist” Channel with this form.

If you are lucky to be accepted you'll get a welcome message, something like this:

Giphy recommends that to be successful with your application you need to:

  • ensure that your e-mail address is a company domain, otherwise it will be rejected. They are looking for legitimate applications, naturally.
  • provide a functioning company website address (ie social accounts are not going to make the cut and will cause your application to be rejected).

My application was accepted quickly but others have taken longer or even two attempts. Some people have not had any luck at all. How it all works is not entirely clear, so it's hard for me to dive difinitive advice.

However, Giphy are providing more and more tips for getting accepted so I would I would follow their recommendations and add a mix of branded and non-branded GIFs that your audience would love to use and share .. and cross your fingers! 

I believe it's worth applying if you already have a Giphy Channel set up. It takes just a few minutes to do the form and apply. Unfortunately it's getting harder to get accepted as more and more people apply, but it's worth a shot! 

Want more GIF Posts?

You can read more about GIFs in these posts:

How to Create Animated GIFs that Stand Out

How to use Cool GIFs in Marketing to WOW Your Audience (Infographic)

Our calendar posts for each month of the year – find them here. 

How to bring Still Images to Life – Social Media Examiner Podcast

Tools for Creating GIFs

If you want some tools for creating GIFs, I use:

Easil (for creating my graphics)

EzGif (for editing my GIFs)

Giphy (for hosting and sharing my GIFs)

Wrapping it Up

While not always connected to direct returns or sales, GIFs and GIF Stickers can be great branding tools for replying and engaging on social media channels.

They can also be fantastic for creating content for your audience to use –  that taps into your brand and helps them to tell your brand story. That's the potential I am excited about.

Are you excited about the creative potential of GIFs and GIF Stickers?

Are you creating or sharing GIF Stickers? Let me know in the comments below.

Woman with Lollipop Hearts by Rohappy (Shutterstock)

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Donna is a Visual Content Strategist and founder of Socially Sorted, listed by Forbes as a "Top 5 Social Media Blog You Need to Know About". Donna helps brands leverage the power of visual storytelling and content strategy in their business. Her content has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Inc. & Entrepreneur and she is a speaker and trainer on visual content for the marketing and tourism industries internationally.

How to add stickers to Instagram: to Stories, Stories

Stickers for Instagram Stories are used in creating sections and designing each Story. By adding to one picture or video, the user can create interesting collections: music, with polls or quizzes.

Table of Contents

  • Adding Stickers to Live
  • For Stories
  • Sticker Missing Instagram Music
  • Animated

Adding Stickers to Live

There are many types of stickers that will add interactivity to the Story.

Popular ones:

  • quiz. You can ask subscribers a question and give up to five answers, one of which must be correct. When viewing the History, the votes of each visitor will be displayed;
  • questions. Visitors ask the author any question or send a song;
  • survey. This is a bit like a quiz, but there are no correct answers here - rather, it is an analogue of a "public opinion poll". The author asks a question and provides several answers, and then looks at the most popular one; nine0008
  • location. The location is displayed, and when clicked, visitors will see areas nearby;
  • donations. This sticker cannot collect money for business accounts. In addition, it is not available to everyone.

Other views: " Hashtag ", " Current time ", " Selfie ", " Music ". With the help of stickers, you can create separate categories of "Actual": collections of questions or quizzes, music files. nine0003

To make a cover for Instagram Trending as a sticker, the user must create a post in advance. That is, upload a record with a sticker, go to the Archive and add it to the main photo.

For Stories

Instructions on how to add stickers for Instagram Stories:

  1. Log in through the mobile application.
  2. Select icon " Camera " above - take a picture or add from Gallery.
  3. In the editing tools select " smiley squared ".
  4. Select the desired graphic object from the list and place it.

By stretching and moving, the user specifies the position of the object in the picture. The category includes not only animation and action, but also standard Emojii.

Pulling the edges with two fingers will enlarge or reduce the picture. To delete: hold your finger on the object - the icon " Baskets " will appear below - move and delete.

To add other stickers for Stories on Instagram, you need to use the " Search " function. When opening a section with graphic objects, there is an entry line at the top of the window. It is recommended to enter only English words, because the search is carried out using the Giphy service.

Not only static ones, but also animated ones for Instagram Stories will appear in the list. The feature for adding graphics is only available for Stories.

When adding a photo to the Feed, the user will not be able to add a sticker. But by saving a snapshot from the Story with a sticker, the object will be static on the publication. nine0003

Instagram Music sticker disappeared

A long-awaited innovation appeared in the application a year ago – now many people add music stickers to Instagram. This means that you can attach your favorite song to the Story, which will automatically start for users when they view the image.

But there was a problem: the "Music" sticker on Instagram of some profiles is missing. Occurs among users of different versions and smartphones.

Reasons for not opening:

  • no updates available or the user has not installed a new version;
  • outdated smartphone OS version. You need to update, if possible;
  • blocked in some countries.

For example, the music sticker did not immediately appear on the iPhone and was completely removed in one of the Android updates. With the latest updates, the ability to add " Music " is not available to all users.

If Instagram has not been updated, set automatic updates and downloads directly in the application itself. nine0003

Instructions on how to set automatic updates on Instagram:

  1. Enter the application - Settings .
  2. Scroll down the list - Information .
  3. Application updates.

In the settings, specify automatic updates for Instagram.

Animated

In addition to all these tools, you can bring your Instagram story to life with animated stickers. After uploading the image for the Story, you need to go to the stickers section by clicking on the icon with a square smiley on the top panel. A selection window will open - you need to select the option labeled "GIF". nine0003

Animation provided by Giphy. The user can search on request in English and Russian. Such graphic objects are stretched, rotated and placed in any convenient place.

The user will be able to add their stickers to Instagram only when they are uploaded to the Giphy service. To do this, download the mobile application or go through the computer version.

Stickers for Instagram Stories are not only beautiful design, but also functional objects. This category includes "Quiz", "Poll" and others. nine0003

how to create stickers for stories, new in history

The question of how to make your own stickers on Instagram is asked by many active users of the social network. In stories, as a rule, they do not think about the beauty of the photo, but only show the audience life events.

Stories are made a little more expressive with stickers. The standard set is not enough for manipulation. A special program like Any Sticker helps in solving the problem. Let's talk about sticker programs, gifs in private messages, and the rules for editing stories. nine0003

Contents

  1. Working with the Any Sticker graphic editor
  2. Selfie stickers for Instagram
  3. Creating a selfie sticker yourself
  4. Attaching a picture to videos recorded with Boomerang
  5. Gifs in private messages, where they are
  6. Working in the Instagram story editor
  7. Creating and uploading a personal GIF sticker pack
  8. Uploading your own content to a social network
  9. On personal computers
  10. Working on smartphones based on the Android operating system
  11. What to do on iPhones
  12. Video review:

Working with the Sticker Any graphic editor

Instagram stickers are not always suitable for photos. The Any Sticker program comes to the rescue, where stickers with icons and inscriptions are created. For example, users select arrows for navigation, write the place where they are going now. Knife and fork tags are a way to indicate restaurants or hint that you are going out for dinner. nine0003

First, enter the text in the input box in the program, select the shade that will be used to color the label. Find the main image, crop it, adding the work to the story. The social network has built-in graphic editors that resize, move sticks, and so on. The principle of working with self-created content in Any Sticker is practically no different from working with a standard sticker pack.

Instagram Selfie Stickers

With the latest updates to the social network, there is a feature called a selfie sticker. The function allows you to take a photo by saving it as a stick. Further, a self-created sticker will be saved and can be used in the future. The update appeared simultaneously on all devices, regardless of the operating system. In the editor, other inscriptions, labels are added to the content, and the stickers themselves are attached to photos, videos. nine0003

Creating a selfie sticker yourself

As we found out earlier, stickers for Instagram are created using the built-in social network editors from a photo. To work, follow the instructions:

  • Take or add a new photo to the story, selected from the gallery.
  • Click the icon to add a sticker in the story editor.
  • Select the camera symbol.
  • The area where the photo is added appears. Above the area is a camera. nine0008
  • The finished image is rotated, enlarged, moved.
  • Changes frame, shape when you click on the area in the image.
  • Drawings, inscriptions, various pictures are added to the finished photo. The sticker is created according to your desire.
  • Next, publish the result in the story of a social network, save it on your smartphone.

Instructions on how to make your own Instagram stickers work for all devices on different operating systems.

Attaching a picture to videos recorded with Boomerang

New update features allow you to attach sticks, selfie stickers to videos based on the Boomerang function. To do this, attach the stick to the roller, follow the further instructions:

  • Click on the image for a few seconds.
  • After the timing strip appears, attach the sticker at the desired points. Gradually, the icon will move around the Boomerang.

Done, now the selfie stick will be present on the Boomerang, moving according to your preferences. nine0003

Additional tips for working with stickers and managing them:

  • Stickers for Instagram Stories are attached to certain places, times in the video. After recording, add a stick by pressing and holding. Use the slider at the bottom of the screen to customize the function for yourself. Move the stick by clicking Attach when you're done.
  • To rotate the sticker, resize, move your fingers in and out.
  • To remove an unwanted stick, move it to the trash can symbol at the bottom of the monitor. nine0008

Gifs in private messages, where they are, what they are

A popular question asked by social network users is how to make your Instagram stickers using Gif. Gif - a looped picture with animation, a looping video without sound. Files were originally invented for the exchange of bitmap images. The format compresses frames without degrading the original quality.

Despite the fact that so far the social network does not provide the ability to share gifs with the audience, they are sent in private messages as stickers in instant messengers. Let's talk about how to attach a GIF to a story, make a personal sticker pack and what applications will help with this. nine0003

Working in the Instagram story editor

How to create your own sticker on Instagram using a GIF? Since 2017, the social network has been modernized - animated sticks have appeared. Since that year, dancing rabbits, sad dogs, and so on have appeared in photographs. Standard animated stickers are added according to the following instructions:

  • Launch the official social network application installed on your mobile device.
  • Log in to the messenger by entering your login and password. nine0008
  • Swipe to the right side to open the online story recording mode.
  • Select a photo from the mobile phone gallery, take a new one if necessary.
  • Complete the picture with filters, masks, if necessary.
  • Click on the sticker symbol in the image editor. Go to the bottom item "Gif".
  • Move the stick to the desired part of the publication, after selecting it from the popular ones or finding it in the search bar.
  • Click on the "Recipient" button by selecting the desired audience. Post content. nine0008

Interesting fact! A separate Giphy service is collaborating with the social network by delivering new animations. Stickers similar to me on Instagram are also added and created using this service.

Also read: Instagram removed views of other people's likes: when likes are removed - will it be canceled in Russia on instagram

Creating, uploading a personal sticker pack with GIF

If you do not like the initial sets provided by the social network, create personal animated stickers. Three ways to make animated Instagram stickers will help you in your work:

  • Recording a video in Boomerang in stories. A difficult way, for which you will need to work with the social network itself. Log in to Instagram, swipe right on the main page. In the window that opens, shoot a new story by selecting the “Boomerang” mode at the bottom of the screen. Record a video that is three seconds long. View the final version after processing by the messenger, add effects if necessary. Boomerang is the same GIF, just in a slightly different format.
  • Editing, creating animated pictures in video editors. Launch any of the video editors found when searching in the official app stores or download Adobe Photoshop on your personal computer. Go to the tab called "File", create a new document. Trim the unwanted details of the video recorded earlier. Click again on the "File" tab, select "Save for Web". Next, select the Gif format from the list by setting the dimensions in pixels. Number of repetitions, select "Constantly". Save the final result on your smartphone. nine0008
  • Adding stickers using the Giphy service. A simple way to work in a special editor. Download any animation you like, converting it using the editor. Register on the official Giphy service, click on the "Download" option. The content will go to the site, new stickers on Instagram in the story will appear in the editors of the social network in stickers.

Uploading own content to the social network

Let's move on to the main problem that users face - the stick is not uploaded to Instagram. Since the social network does not accept animated pictures in the desired form, you will first have to change the file formats. This is done in three different ways, depending on the operating systems of the mobile or desktop device. So, let's look at how to add stickers on Instagram to stories. nine0003

On personal computers

When working through desktop computers or laptops, use the desktop version of Instagram. The instruction will help with the work:

  • Log in to the Convertio service page, click on the icon in the form of a computer.
  • Select the required file from the memory of the stationary device.
  • Open the GIF, go to formats, click on Video.
  • The conversion will start after pressing the corresponding key. When the process is complete, save the file to your computer. nine0008
  • Post a video to a social network.

Instagram posts are published from a personal computer using delayed postings and emulators. Work with delayed hosting is carried out in the standard way - log in to the social network by attaching a video from the gallery, setting the right time.

Work on smartphones based on the Android operating system

It is easier for Android smartphone owners to create a video from a GIF. To work, follow this small instruction: