Videos are quickly becoming one of the best ways to keep your followers interested and engaged in your content on Instagram. We’re here to tell you it’s simple to keep up with the growing trend when you use canva.com. If you’re not familiar with the term, GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It’s essentially images that move. You might be wondering what’s the difference between a video and a gif? Well animated GIFs and videos are the same concept, but they differ in implementation. GIF started out as a normal image, and the animation was tacked on later. An animated GIF is a series of frames. Also, no sound. A video, on the other hand, can use a large variety of formats with sound. Some video formats show only the pixels that have changed from frame to frame.
GIF videos are fun, interactive, and allow you to say a bit more to your audience online with just one post. You can choose to make an illustration look animated or make your GIF more text based! It’s up to you to decide how customized your post will be. Get creative with it!
“Sports Illustrated, People Magazine, and TIME have seen almost 90 to 100 percent increases in their video output from May 2016 to May 2017. When Instagram first launched video, there was a 15 second time limit. Now, Instagram videos can be as long as 60 seconds, giving publishers more time to make an impact.”
(https://www.newswhip.com/2017/06/photo-vs-video-on-instagram/)
If you have a Canva For Work account, you can choose to download your design as an animated GIF or movie. Keep reading to find out how you can make your first GIF for Instagram just like the pros.
Step 1: Select the social post format you’d prefer. In this case it’s Instagram!
Step 2: Upload the image you want to use for your background (it will be static in the back of your moving elements). There are some gorgeous free images on pexels.com or unsplash.com.
Step 3: Resize it to the size you’d prefer.
Step 4: A GIF is made up of multiple different layers. Click on the “elements” option – and then you can drag the corners of whatever shape you choose to resize it! You can also change the shapes color.
Step 5: Click on “text” next and play around with the various options. Remember to use the same font if you want your GIF to be consistent.
Step 6: When your graphic is done, click on download and make sure to select Animated GIF/Movie. This will convert your images from flat and static to an image that’s moving.
It’s important to preview your GIF to make sure it’s working to your liking. Download and get ready to convert your file for Instagram!
It’s simple with an app called GifLab. Click on GIF for Instagram once you’ve opened the app and select save and share on Instagram. It’s really that easy.