Creating Gif that can be uploaded to Instagram is easy . . . once you get the hang of it. If you are like me, you love insta stories, and being able to add your own creative and branded content.

When I first went about having my own art added, I commissioned an artist who drew wonderful images of me designing flowers. They were, and still are fabulous. Each drawing cost me about $250 and a minimum of a months wait time. Totally worth it, but in this fast paced age of content creation and social media marketing, it was not something that was sustainable for me.

Enter, GIPHY DIY idea! When started exploring this, no one was really willing to share their insight and there were hours of trial, error, and frustration before I streamlined the process. So, I am going to do that for you. Here is everything I have learned so far about creating Gifs on GIPHY that can then be uploaded to your channel and searchable on Instagram.

Step 1: Get a PicsMonkey Account Pro. This is going to cost you about $120 for the year, but you need the pro tool to remove the background and make it transparent. You can try fooling around with other apps, and if you already have one you like and are proficient, go for it, but this was the one I found easiest, fastest, and worked!

Step 2: Make at least 5 gifts and download them as “ GIF Animated Image.” If you want to be able to use it on Instagram is must have some kind of motion to it.

Step 3: Create GIPHY account and upload your 5+ Gifs.

Step 4: Apply to be either an artist or brand. At the moment you will need to have an email address that matches the brand, for instance I used one that ended in @atelierashleyflowers.com . Note: If you are a brand or an artist, you are only allowed to upload your own content, you are not technically allowed to upload for friends or clients. You can create on behalf of others, however, they will need to sign up as an independent brand/artist using their own domain email. If you unintentionally violate this, GIPHY will send you a notice and ask you to remove the violating content or revoke your status.

Step 5: Once approved, you can then create “Stickers” and add them to your “channel.” From my experience, stickers are the only things that show up on Instagram. I am still relatively new though and may update this blog as I learn more.

Step 5: Upload your “STICKERS” to your channel and tag them. Tagging under your name brand is good, but will take up to 24 hours for them to be reviewed and uploaded. I also suggest tagging them under what they are ie “flowerarrangement,” “zigzagchair", “happypride” etc. If the category is too crowded, or if you are tagging another brand, it may not show up there, and you may also find yourself in GIPHY content policy violation . . .it is owned by Facebook after all.

Step 6: After a few hours have passed try searching for your tagged Gif in Giphy on Instagram. Click it, stick it, and have fun!

Step 7: Follow me at @atelierashleyflowers mostly for flower content, but also helpful social media or life hacks like this article. Thank you!