HOW TO CREATE FUN GIFs FOR INSTAGRAM OR WEBSITE

“HOW TO TURN LITERALLY ANYTHING YOU WANT INTO A GIF”

Before I share this we all first need to understand what a GIF is most people mistake this for stop motion; in a way they are both similar but still different.

What are Giphys (Popularly known as GIFs)

A GIF (with the file extension, .gif) is basically an image file format that is animated by combining several other images or frames into a single file. This single file is encoded as graphics interchange format (better known as GIF). 

WHY USE A GIF ?
GIFs are easily shareable.
GIFs show that you’re paying attention to trends.
GIFs display your fun side.
GIFs can add more context or emotion in a much shorter message.

– Wix Blog

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE CREATING A GIF

• An idea: The only thing stunting your creativity is the idea, knowing what you want to create, how do you want it to look like? Have an inspiration? Did you come across a Gif you like ? Follow accounts you love to fuel your mind, for me thats what I do and when I see it? I save to a ‘Collection’ on my IG.

• Break down the process: You have an idea? It’s time to break down the process; how can I achieve this ? What Apps would I have to use? For example: 

How do you think this was achieved ? 

1. Go to your App for Graphics; Mine’s “OVER” 
2. Add your text & enlarge to preferred size as seen above 
3. There are two text involved “NEW” & “POST”
4. The two texts are coming from both ends i.e. the left and right side of the image
5. Use your hand to move both text out from the left and right corners, do this in a straight line
6. For every time you move both texts out “Click the Save button”
7. Repeat this step till you have created all the graphics you need to achieve the GIF (In this example: till the texts “New” and “Post” meet each other in the middle.
8. Open “IMGPLAY” select all the graphics created
9. Play around with the speed
10. Tap the arrow at the bottom left of the IMGPLAY app to change it to “Back & forth”
11. Click Save, select the video format in high quality (of courseee) also select how long you want the video to play.
12. If using GIF on your website/newsletter; Click Save, select GIF format in high quality.

(FOR VISUAL EXPLANATION)

WATCH VIDEO BELOW TO FIND OUT HOW TO ACHIEVE THE ABOVE GIF

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Press Play to listen 💫 The two main Apps used? 1. Over: For creating graphics 2. IMGPLAY: For creating GIFs . For more on turning your videos & pictures to GIFs 👇🏽 . CLICK LINK IN BIO —-> SWIPE LEFT —> CLICK “BLOG” . Thisthingcalledfashionn.com👑

A post shared by Nonye| BLOGGER (@thisthingcalledfashionn) on May 27, 2019 at 1:13pm PDT

• The right App: There are honestly several apps you can use. When I first started out I was using Momento (still a good option) but as time goes by new things come and a friend recommended “IMGPLAY” to me and now I’m HOOKED on it, very easy to use with a lot of features compared to other Giphy Apps. You can turn your pictures or videos into GIFs, change the FPS (frames per second), save in your preferred format, use filters if you wish, Add text or your signature on your GIF, Crop your pictures/videos to fit the frame you want.

• The best format: If you are posting your GIF to Instagram its best you save it as a video from the App I’ve highlighted above but if you’ll be adding this GIF to your blog or newsletter feel free to save as a GIF format and not a video format.

GIF IDEAS YOU CAN CREATE FOR YOUR BRAND

• Record a process: Trying to show off how to use a product? or unbox a package? A fun way to do it is via GIFs you can go as far as animating the way you display products on your website for people to buy.

• Show off your products: The animation allows for a great opportunity to highlight a key function or feature of your product. (via wix blog)

• Provide visual instructions: If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many is a GIF worth? For how-to’s, step-by-step tutorials or recipes, they are a great way to instruct your audience. Since they loop forever, your audience can watch as many times as they need to fully understand (via wix blog)

• Animate your data : This is an awesome way to depict your data in a much more digestible form. Make use of GIFs to add some color and motion to normally-dull statistics (via wix blog)

• Take an action: Need your audience to check out a new product on your website? or Click the link in your bio to read a new post? Animate it into a GIF to grab their attention.

• Provide a sneak peek :Want to build excitement for a future product or your next post? GIFS are perfect for a bite-sized teaser (via wix blog)

• Share content that makes you smile :GIFs, much like other social posts, don’t always have to be about conversion or sales. We suggest you share some cool stuff sometimes just to entertain your audience. This is really a good practice to stay connected with your visitors and boost engagement (via wix blog)

• Turning videos to GIF’s: As stated all you need to do is:

1. Open the “IMGPLAY” App
2. Click the arrow on top in the middle with ‘Photos’ written beside it
3. Once you tap it, a drop down menu would come out.
4. Select videos
5. Click on any video you have on your phone
6. You have your GIF, so play around with the speed, add filter or text etc.
7. Click Save, If using GIF on Instagram then select the video format in high quality (of courseee) also select how long you want the video to play. If using GIF on your website/newsletter; Click Save, select GIF format and save in high quality.

(FOR VISUAL EXPLANATION)

WATCH VIDEO BELOW TO FIND OUT HOW TO ACHIEVE THE ABOVE GIF

|Thanks for reading|

Did you enjoy this post? Would you be trying out GIFs? Have any questions? Do you use GIFs ? Do let us know by leaving a comment below 🙂