Instagram Stories are the place to be. Due to algorithmic changes and an oversaturation of posts in the news feed, posts simply aren’t seeing the play they used to. But have no fear, friend, engagement has not disappeared, it’s just moved from the feed to Stories. For this reason, interesting, engaging stories are more important than ever before. A really simple thing you can do to add visual interest and a whole lot of a personality to your Instagram Story is to add GIFs. The best part? It’s really really freaking easy.
Here’s a step by step guide to finding and adding the perfect GIF to your Instagram story today.
1. Click the camera icon in the upper left-hand corner to start your story.
- This can be a photo, video, or plain color screen.
2. Head to the upper right-hand corner.
- Here you’ll see “Aa” for adding texting, a marker for the drawing tool, and a happy face with a little corner flipped up – this one is for stickers.
3. Click the sticker button to be taken to the sticker menu.
- Here you’ve got tons of great options – geotags, temperature, hashtags, the time, polls and GIFs.
- GIFs are located in the second row in the far left column.
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4. After clicking the GIF icon, you’ll be taken to the GIF menu. Here, you’re automatically served up the days trending GIFs.
- To find a customized GIF, simply type your subject matter in the search bar running across the top of your screen.
5. Once you’ve selected your GIF, you can resize it by putting two fingers on the screen and moving them farther apart (to enlarge GIF) or closer together (to shrink GIF).
- You can change the rotation by putting two fingers on the screen and changing the tilt.
6. If you’d like to add an additional GIF, just repeat the steps listed out above.
There you have it! Super easy, right? GIFs are a great, quick, easy way to make an otherwise boring story full of life.
The Bottom Line:
GIFs are a great way to quickly whip together an Instagram Story that's chock full of personality and your audience will love.
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Have you used GIFs in your stories yet? Which are your faves? Tell me in the comments!
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