Giffing it a go!
We thought we’d get with the programme and gif branded Instagram story stickers a go. ‘Gif’, ‘Give?’ Get it?
Giffing it a go!
Instagram Story Stickers Solved.
Designer
We thought we’d get with the programme and gif branded Instagram story stickers a go. ‘Gif’, ‘Give?’ Get it?
Yes, we know we know there is debate on the pronounciation ‘jif’ wouldn’t have made sense now, would it? Moving on! Instagram is the 2nd most engaged network after Facebook. With a billion monthly active users I think it is safe to say we need to showcase what can be done on the platform. What better way to do so than to show everyone our own branded Instagram stickers!
Some may question that the Instagram story content itself should be interesting enough? Why would you need to add to it, clutter or cloud the message with lots of added stickers? I’ll tell you why! Instagram story gifs can be useful for a few different reasons, they can help highlight important elements of the post or alert the viewer to action. For example the ‘sound on’ instruction. Most importantly they can increase brand awareness. This is something a brand can never overdo! If you can, why would you not shout about your brand? And I mean come on, who doesn’t love a sticker though? It’s a sticker book kid’s dream!
SOLD! So how would one go about getting branded Instagram stickers? I’ll show how in just 5 easy steps!
Before you begin, it is important to know at this point that not all accounts can upload to Giphy and get instant stickers on Instagram. Your account must be verified and not all brands will make the cut. Verified? What does that mean? Don’t worry you don’t have to take Giphy for dinner, buy them flowers or anything, just stay calm and follow the simple steps below.
Step 1 - Create a Giphy Brand Channel
You will need to create a Giphy brand channel as all Instagram story gifs are powered by Giphy. It’s simple, go to login, join and then fill out your details. Your brand channel must be intended for brand related gifs. If you are a creator or would like to post gifs for other brands or companies you will need to look into creating an Artist channel with Giphy.
Once created make sure your account is ‘public’ and fill out your brands details and links, the more links you have the better!
Step 2 - Upload Some Gifs!
Before you can submit your application to become a verified brand channel you must have uploaded a minimum of 5 gifs to your channel. Hit ‘create’ at the top of the web page and it’s as easy as dragging and dropping your branded gifs in.
For your gifs to work on Instagram they must be uploaded as stickers, not regular animated gifs. They need to have a transparent background. There is lots of information on the Giphy website to help you set up and create your stickers. It is suggest that they should be around 6 seconds in length and there is a limit at 15 seconds. A limit of 100MB, but again, recommended at 8MB or less. Giphy will resize and optimise your stickers when you upload them, so size isn’t a massive issue but if you set up with a length or width at 500px as a starter point and work from there based on your design and then your exporting file size. Promise it is easy!
Remember to keep your designs eye catching, bold and defined. If you are designing stickers for your followers (or anyone on Instagram) to use, think about how you would like them to be placed, how you would like them to work and how they will represent your brand. Just as there is lots of specification information on the Giphy website, there is also a lot of creative advice, if you fancied some further advice.
After each gif is uploaded you can fill in further information about each gif. It is important that you fill in the ‘tags’ section. This is how your branded stickers can be found on instagram when searched for.
Step 3 - Get Verified
Once you have your 5 gifs uploaded, your account all filled in and looking beautiful, its time to apply for that verification! The easiest way is to go to giphy.com/apply then all you have to do is select the ‘brand’ account and fill in all your details. Then you are good to go. Submit your application! Told you it was easy!
Step 4 - Wait
Your application could take a few days to be reviewed. So sit back, relax and wait. We heard back from the Giphy team in 24hrs and by the next morning our branded stickers were live, searchable and useable on Instagram! YAY!
Step 5 - You are Live!
Once you are verified and your branded gifs are live we would suggest testing them before shouting about them. Make sure they can be found when searched for and look how you would like them to look. Once you have checked everything is sound its time to celebrate! Shout about it! Use them all the time and then of course blog about them!
