Make Your Own Ministry GIF
Have you ever wondered how certain companies, ministries, and businesses manage to get their custom GIFs on Instagram? You know those fun, flashy, animated images that all the youths seem to be posting on their stories? Getting your GIFs on Instagram is easier than you thought, and I’m going to show you how to do it in 3 simple steps.
1. Create Your GIF
So this part seems pretty obvious. To put your GIF on Instagram, you need to have created your own GIF. But as you create your GIF, there is one important thing to keep in mind: your background needs to be transparent. Instagram only allows GIFs with transparent backgrounds to be searchable on their platform. Also, this pretty much goes without saying, but make sure to create and publish only original content.
PRO TIP: If you’re not sure how to create a GIF, check out this helpful tutorial: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-create-animated-gif-quick-tip-ht
2. Become a Brand Channel on Giphy
Instagram’s GIFs are all sourced from Giphy. This means that all GIFs posted to an approved Giphy Brand Channel are automatically searchable on the Instagram App. Simply creating an account will not allow your GIFs to be seen on Instagram, so it’s important that you become an actual Brand Channel.
To become an official Giphy Brand Channel, follow these steps:
- Apply to become a Brand Channel: http://giphy.com/join/apply/brand
- Create your account and wait for an email confirmation that you have been approved. It’s that simple!
PRO TIP: I recommend using an official business email when applying to become a Brand Channel. You should avoid anything ending in a generic address (example: yourname@gmail.com). I have attempted to create a few brand channels, and so far only the ones ending in an official business name have gotten approved.
3. Post and Tag Your GIFs
Once your brand channel is approved, it’s time to start uploading! Upload all of your transparent-background GIFs to your brand channel and tag them with unique and searchable words. It’s important you choose relevant words to both your GIF and your brand because your tags are what Instagram will use to help people find your content. For example, if you tag your GIF with “fish,” anyone who searches for “fish” on Instagram will find your GIF. I don’t know why you would be creating fish GIFs, but let’s just go with it.
PRO TIP: Use both generic and specific tags on your GIFs. Generic tags will allow a wider range of people to discover your GIFs, but specific tags will make it much easier on your audience to find your GIFs quickly.
And now you know how to make a GIPHY in a jiffy (Don’t worry, that pun made me cringe too HAHA).