GIF's are all the rage in the social media realm and aren't going anywhere anytime soon! But wait...“GIF” or “Jif”? The answer is whatever floats your boat babe. No need to get caught up in the semantics. The important thing: Now is the best time to catch up if you don't know what GIF's are!
This blog post is not only EASY to understand but written for the girlfriends that just want to have some fun using GIF's and the ones that want to dive right in and create some for their own small business!
First of all what in the heck are they?!
You know when you see those little images dancing on social media... especially stories (click here to learn what in the heck stories are 😉) Those are called GIF's.
GIF's are simply a series of images that will loop continuously but doesn’t require anyone to press play. Basically little soundless videos that you can use across all social media platforms!
Why should I even care about them?!
GIF's are here to stay in the world of social media. They are here to make you and your customers experience more fun on social media. Most of the time you are using GIF's made by all different creators and brands but you can also use GIF's from specific brands like Mary Kay, Sassy Stickers, and your favorite Universities!
How can I use them and have some fun on social media?
Okay so the big platforms that are the MOST fun to use GIF's on are Instagram and Facebook, specifically the stories. You can also use GIF's when making reels and tiktoks!
Speaking of tik tok... click on these images below to check out the quick video tutorials on how you can use gifs on these platforms!
I recommend using these when you are posting stories about the new holiday products (search sassy christmas) or when you are packaging and delivering orders (search sassy sticker). When you want to point something out search emphasis or arrows down. When you think something is funny search woman laughing. The options are endless!
If I want to create some for my small business how can I?!
Okay so this is the nitty gritty baby.
These are the websites that are crucial to some easy and amazing GIF creation.
1. Canva
Canva is a platform that makes design accessible to anyone and everyone. Whether you are a social media master or just starting out Canva makes design easy!
Click on the image below to start your FREE Canva Pro trial. This will give you access to all the amazing features to start designing your GIFs.
Since you just started your free trial or already have Canva lets create a design.
You can follow the images throughout but for my non-visual girls I will talk you through too!
In the top right corner you will find "Create a Design". Click on that and then select "custom size". The custom size that I have found best to work with is 3000 x 3000 px or pixels.
Click "Create new design" and it will take you to your new blank design. You want to pick the background color depending on what you are making into a GIF (Click on the background and pick your color on the left).
Since I am making a GIF out of my logo I am picking a contrasting color for the background. This will make sense later!
You can see here I picked the black background for the white logo. You can pick any color that isn't in the image or the logo you are making into a GIF.
Now in the top left corner you will see "Animate". Click there and play around with the animation that you love.
After I played around with a few, I picked Tumble. Make sure after you pick the animation that the time next to animate is set to 5 seconds. That is the default but it never hurts to confirm!
Now that you have picked the animation and are ready to download click on "share" in the top right corner. After the share window comes up click download > File type: GIF > and ensure you have just selected the one page you designed.
Now click download and let's head to phase 2!
This is where you are going to make the GIF transparent! This basically means that you have a GIF without a background. If you look at the "Sassy Sisters" GIF above you will notice that there is no black background like the GIF we have right now of our logo. This step will change that!
When you click on the pink title "Online GIF tools" or the image below you will go to this exact page.
Now what you want to do it drag and drop that GIF we just downloaded from Canva. You can also choose "import from file" and select that way.
After you upload your GIF this is what the page will look like. The before and after is the same so lets make some adjustments!
The contrasting color you selected for your background is going to be the color that you select for the "Transparent Regions color". Since this one is black it's going to be #000000 or (0,0,0).
Check out the bottom left graphic for the example with a different contrast color. All you have to do is get that 6 character HEX code (in this case the pink is #FD3396) and paste it into that box that the arrow is pointing to.
You can now see the logo on the right... transparent background! No black just the white text.
Now that the background is gone let's download it to go to our last step! Click "save as" and then "download" and now it's saved to your computer!
Off to the next step!
Before we get into GIPHY let me explain why we are using GIPHY. This is basically the Google of GIFs. In order to populate on the GIF search engine you have to upload here. This is where all the GIFs live and where the GIF searches pull from.*
Now it's time for the GIF fun! Click on the image below, if you don't have an account sign up for one and if you do, log in!
After you are logged in you will be taken to your profile page. Here is where you will see all your account details and in the settings (top right corner) you can change your profile image, connect people to your social media, and more! Take a bit to explore here.
Now that you have added a profile picture, your website, and social media lets upload our gorgeous GIF! Click upload in the top right corner as seen below.
Now that we have clicked upload, you are going to want to click "Choose File" under GIF like shown below.
Once here select your GIF that you downloaded with the transparent background in the last step and then end up here ↴
Here you have a lot of options. I would recommend adding tags, as said here "Tags help find your content later". You can see right above your uploaded GIF "Edit". Here you can edit the "length" of your GIF which can take out some of the time that your GIF is stagnant and not moving. You want to give people a chance to see your GIF and not have it move too much but also still have some fun with movement. 🛼
If you scroll down you can add the GIF to a collection and more but for simplicity you can just select "Upload to GIPHY" below.
Now that we have uploaded your AMAZING GIF is now a part of your profile!
*Now there is a little part B to this process.
To actually populate in these searches on Social Media you have to apply for a brand or creator account. This just verifies that you are not some crazy person uploading crazy things.
Don't fret! If you have made it this far this is easy peasy🍋.
Once you have uploaded 5 GIFs check out this page on the GIPHY Support page and take the ten minutes to apply!
After your application is approved (shouldn't be too much more than a day) you will show up in all the search results in social media when you search either by your "brand name/ username" or the keywords that you tagged in the upload process.
Congratulations!! 🥳🥳
By now you are either a GIF user pro or a master creator! Either way you go girl!!
For more Sassy tips check out the Sassy Blog!
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