Using Instagram Story GIFs is all the rage; therefore, you must know how to create GIFs for Instagram stories.
There’s no denying that Instagram is the leading social media network when it comes to marketing, influencers, and showing a touch of personality to expand your business or brand reputation.
In fact, over 80% of internet users trust Instagram as a source to gage brad reputation and decide on which products and services they’re going to buy and support.
This should be on the top of every brand’s radar so that they can solidify their Instagram presence in an impactful way.
After all, who doesn’t want more clients, customers, supporters, followers, etc.?
One of the best ways to take off on Instagram and grow your reputation is to follow current trends on the platform to show that you’re professional and relevant.
Among the most popular trends is using Instagram Story GIFs.
This is not just on Instagram— on Twitter, using GIFs can increase your engagement by a whopping 55% and the go-to home of GIFs, Giphy.com, has over 300 million daily active users.
If you’re not familiar with what a GIF is, it’s a small moving picture that people use to express different ideas and opinions online.
GIFs can help you to spice up your content and make it more fun and enjoyable for users to view.
Instagram is the perfect place to use GIFs to help express your brand’s personality and connect with your followers on a more personal level.
You can get more engagement on Instagram when you use GIFs on Instagram, just like on Twitter, and they’re basically a must for Instagram stories.
You give yourself the chance to be seen as eye-catching, funny, and even socially and culturally relevant when you select the right GIFs.
You can even create your own Instagram GIFs, which is a great way to boost your brand’s reputation and cohesion.
In this article, we’ll explain all about GIFs, from how to use them on Instagram to how to create GIFs for Instagram stories. Let’s get started!
Why Do People Love GIFs in Instagram Stories?
GIFs are simple looped videos that have taken the internet by storm, and they’re so much more than what they are at face value.
They give people a true way to express themselves and show feelings and ideas that they really couldn’t put into words.
This is one of the main reasons why GIFs have become so popular on social media, and why brands, businesses, influencers, creators, and more have begun to use GIFs to captivate the attention of their audience.
It also helps to make a connection with their audience because GIFs are more relatable and personal.
When you can find ways to implement GIFs in your Instagram content, especially Instagram stories, your content will be much more effective.
Let’s find out how we can add GIFs to our Instagram content as well as how to create your own GIFs.
Then we can explore the benefits of GIFs and the results they can bring to your Instagram content.
Animated GIFs
Instagram is always adding new features and functionality to its platform, and in 2018 the ability to use GIFs directly from the app became possible.
Instagram partnered with Giphy to provide a library of GIFs for users to add to their Instagram stories.
Adapted from normal square format GIFs, Giphy also allows users to use a type of GIF sticker, meaning that the background of the GIF is integrated onto the image without the square shape, making them perfect for Instagram stories.
After all, it wouldn’t look so great to have a huge square photo covering your Instagram content. The GIF stickers are much better for posting social media content.
It’s a bit more complicated if you’re looking to create your own branded GIF, but it’s definitely possible and once you get the hang of it you can create your own in no time at all.
If you feel like it’s not for you, there are literally billions of GIFs to choose from, so you’re bound to find something that works for you.
You can add animated GIF stickers to both your photos and videos via Instagram stories.
How to Add GIFs to Instagram Stories in 2025
Before adding GIFs to your Instagram Stories, it’s a great idea to check and make sure that your Instagram is up to date with the latest version. That way, you have all available functionalities and GIFs.
Here’s how you can add an animated GIF sticker to your Instagram Story:
- Open Instagram, and on the homepage, tap Your Story icon, which is a circular icon with your profile image at the top left of your screen.
- Select a photo or video to add to your story from your gallery. You can also take a photo or video directly from Instagram stories to upload then and there.
- Once you’ve picked your content, there is a smiley face sticker icon at the top right of the screen.
- Select the GIF option from the menu
- Use the search bar to find GIFs that are related to your content, emotion, and more. You can type anything you want to find. Alternatively, you can choose from the trending section.
- Once you’ve found the GIF you want, tap it. It will then appear in the center of your Instagram story.
- Tap and hold the GIF to move it to your desired location.
- If you want to adjust size, you can pinch it and move your fingers in and out to resize. You can also rotate it using 2 fingers.
- Follow the same process to add additional GIFs to your Instagram story.
One thing that is a bit of a downside to GIFs is that you can only select them one by one, so if you want to use the same one multiple times, there’s no way to copy them; you have to search for them and select them for each time you want to use it.
We’re hoping that Instagram one day adds the option to copy them and paste the same GIF multiple times into your story! Keeping our fingers crossed.
How to Create GIFs for Instagram Stories in 2025
If you’re interested in adding your own personalized, branded Instagram Story GIF or even making yourself into a GIF, keep reading! Here’s how you can do exactly that.
Branded Instagram Story GIFs
When you add your own animated Instagram Story GIF, you can solidify your brand presence on Instagram and also portray a cohesive brand image on your own social media account.
What’s more, users can add them as well!
Instagram uses Giphy to supply their GIF library on Instagram stories, so you can use Giphy to upload your own animated GIF that can be used on your Instagram stories.
The first step in doing this is to open an account with Giphy. All you have to do is click the Join Giphy button and register as an artist or brand.
You’ll then be prompted to fill in your business and contact information to submit.You’ll get an email from Giphy informing you that they’ll be in contact with you.
Once you receive that email, you can begin to complete your Giphy profile.
Fill in your brand information, including any relevant lints to social media networks as well as your website (if applicable). Make sure that your Giphy account is set to public.
After you hear back from Giphy and your account gets approved and verified, you’ll then be able to being creating your GIFs.
You can do this yourself if you know how; if now, you can use Giphy artists or hire your own designer.
The key here is that you upload the GIFs as stickers, not regular, traditional GIFs.
This is so that you have a transparent background and not the standard square background for GIFs. This ensures that you can use them easily on IG stories.
All you have to do is switch off the background layer when you create your GIF; this will ensure it can be used as a GIF sticker.
When you upload your GIF, use your business name as tags in addition to other descriptive tags that accurately describe your GIFs so that people can find them.
Your GIF needs to have a minimum of 5 tags that way they can be easily found when people search in the GIF library on Instagram stories.
The awesome thing about this process is that Gifphy will show you your GIFs’ analytics which includes views and uploads; you can then see how popular your GIFs are amongst other users, giving you an idea of what other GIFs might perform well and raise brand awareness.
What Type of Instagram Story GIFs to Create
If you’re not sure about what kind of GIFs would be best to create, you should consider two things:
- Your target audience
- How other users can use and interact with your GIFs
This will help you to determine which kind of GIF would be most effective and worth your while to create.
For instance, if your brand is related to activewear, you should create GIFs that are related to the fitness industry or active lifestyles.
That way, people can use your branded GIFs for a variety of different reasons and apply the stickers to many different content types within this niche.
Technical Requirements for Instagram Story GIF Stickers
Another thing to consider when creating GIFs for Instagram is the tech specs provided by Gifphy, which are as follows:
- Size of 500×600 px, height and width must be even-numbered
- 20% transparent pixels when exporting
- No max file size, but does affect loading speed
- Stickers need to be uploaded as GIF file format
- RBG color
Once you’ve completed the upload process successfully, your animated GIFs will be visible on your Giphy profile page and available for use in Instagram stories.
Be sure to use them frequently and effectively in your own stories as well!
Why is an Instagram Story GIF Good for Engagement?
GIF stickers for Instagram stories may be small, but they are mighty and can impact your story performance in a big way. They’re fun, attention-grabbing, and personal.
You can use them in all types of content— launching new products or services, giving a BTS look at your brand or business, or even just documenting your day to day.
When you use them in many ways, it encourages your story viewers to use them as well.
Instagram has beat out Snapchat in this regard; Snapchat has limited stickers available for use while Instagram allows you to even create your own, which leads to a variety of business results.
GIFs Show Your Brand’s Personality
Using GIFs can help users to connect with your brand more and see the human side that exists behind the screen. It’s a true personal touch that adds value to your story.
Your Instagram followers and viewers can then get some insight into your creativity and can see you as a real person and not just a business looking to boost profit.
People want to see you and your brand’s authenticity, and that’s what GIF stickers in Instagram stories can help you to create.
GIFs Enhance Product Launches and Announcements
When you have a new product or service launch, or an announcement about your brand or business in general, Instagram GIF stickers help your story to stand out and draws the eye to important details in your Instagram story.
It’s not only more attention-grabbing, it’s also more creative and entertaining than simply telling people what’s going on.
Use your own branded GIFs in your story as well as other GIFs that are already out there when you search for things like new, happy, excited, check it out, and so many more.
GIFs Draw Attention to a Call to Action (CTA)
Are you trying to get your followers to do something specific? Do you want them to check out your new post in your feed or swipe up in the IG story? If so, you can get your followers engaged by using GIF stickers.
Using an animated GIF sticker can get people’s attention and direct them to the CTA that you want them to perform.
This includes responding to your Instagram story engagement posts like polls, surveys, quizzes, and more.
GiFs boost engagement on Instagram stories.
Instagram Story GIFs Help Promote Your Brand or Product
When you create your own branded GIF stickers for Instagram, your business gets a boost in promotion and you can also use content that others post as user-generated content, which helps you appear connected to your audience.
You can analyze the performance of your GIFs as well, which ultimately gives you feedback and market research without having to ask for it.
It doesn’t only have to be images— you can use animated text in GIF stickers which users also love to use.
GIFs Add Character to Your Stories
Can you imagine Instagram stories without GIF stickers? We can’t either! They would be so bland, tedious, and sometimes even motionless.
You can give your photos or videos on Instagram stories a whole new vibe and movement with GIF stickers.
This is true of both branded GIFs that you create as well as regular GIFs that already exist within the GIF library.
People will be more engaged with your story when they see moving GIF stickers and can also see more about who you are as a brand or business.
This makes you approachable and interesting, growing your follower count as well as your conversion rates.
GIFs Help You Stay Relevant on Instagram
As we mentioned earlier, Instagram is always adding and changing elements on their platform; this is a good representation of the ever-changing digital world that we live in.
Using fun and inventive GIFs will show that you’re constantly evolving with technology and that you stand out from other competitors in creativity and brand personality.
GIFs Save Time on Adding Branded Graphics
When you create a library of branded GIFs, you eliminate the need to create a new branded graphic every time you are posting Instagram content.
You don’t have to deal with creating each of these elements one by one.
You can also plan your Instagram stories using templates or graphics on an app like Canva or Easil, where you will have the possibility to create your images as well if you need additional branding or graphics.
It’s great to include graphics and GIFs, but make sure you use them with intention and strategically.
You don’t want it to look like the Giphy website threw up on your Instagram story.
If you’re looking to increase your competitive edge even further, you should also consider using hashtag stickers in your Instagram stories in addition to GIFs.
Hashtags are the way to get your Instagram stories seen as part of a hashtag feed and perhaps even featured.
This is important because if you’re looking to increase your Instagram presence you need to get your content seen by as many people as possible; this also will help increase your follower count.
If you’re not sure which hashtags will help you reach more targeted viewers, check out an Instagram hashtag tool.
Hashtag tools provide valuable insights and performance metrics on hashtags for any niche using the official business API of Instagram.
Final Thoughts: The Perfect GIFs for Your Instagram Stories
Since content creation is the most important part of Instagram success, you always have to find ways to be mroe creative and relevant on the platform.
Taking advantage of features like Instagram story GIF stickers can help do just that.
You’ll make a connection with your audience in new ways and they’ll get a close-up of who your brand is and how relatable it is.
This is vital in increasing your follower base as well as gaining more business results from your Instagram efforts.
One final tip: if you want to use GIFs in your Instagram feed content, you can first create it as a story, save it before posting, exit the story feature, and post it into your content feed instead.
That way, you can take advantage of GIFs in your Instagram content without a big hassle.
Happy GIFing!
Hope that now you know how to create GIFs for Instagram stories!
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