The Ultimate Guide to Creating GIPHY Stickers
I decided last year that I wanted to start making stickers specifically to use on Instagram. I was tired of searching for something and not having anything good show up in the results! I knew that there was a way for creators to get accounts that would allow for this, so I began the process. It’s been a really fun creative outlet, with a lot of success, and I’ve learned a ton in the process. Here are some of my top tips.
Applying For An Account
The first step is applying for a Giphy brand channel.
Show that you’re a brand - link to your website and/or Instagram so they can see your artwork/content/brand
Have at least 5 stickers (see tips below on creating) uploaded to the account before you apply. I had seen some people who applied saying that they needed 10, so I uploaded 10 just to be absolutely safe.
YOU CAN ONLY APPLY ONCE! So make sure to get it right the first time around. Otherwise your username won’t be usable as a brand account.
Giphy gives more detailed instructions here. Once you’re ready to apply, you can do so here.
My account took about 6 weeks to get verified. They say it only takes 2 on their website, so I’d lost hope after the 2 weeks, but eventually I did get an email that I’d been approved. By the time I was approved, a few of my stickers already had around 23 million views each! (More on views below)
Note: The account is created for your specific brand for a reason. If you upload content for other brands to your account, Giphy has been known to delete your account entirely! So even if you’re creating stickers for others, just make sure they you have them apply for their own account.
How to Make Instagram Stickers
This is where you get to be super creative and have fun. The main rules are that the sticker must consist of a transparent background that makes up at least 20% of the total sticker size, and that there’s some type of animation, even if it’s small. I like to use Procreate, Illustrator, and Photoshop, depending on my needs. Procreate has an incredibly easy-to-use GIF creation and export function.
Some other helpful tips:
Size: Giphy claims that they support whatever file size you provide, so you can upload a sticker with large dimensions and it’ll just resize for you. However, I found that the upload only accepts stickers below 4000x4000px.
Detail: Stickers with limited colours and details appear much cleaner after uploading. Try to use thicker lines where possible as thin ones tend to get more pixelated. The less "edges” to a sticker, the cleaner it will appear after uploading.
Quality: One thing I noticed straight away is that you can take a really high quality gif, upload it to Giphy, and it will immediately become pixelated. Something to keep in mind is that Giphy will only support 100% or 0% transparency pixels, nothing in between. Also, take a look at your settings when exporting. Giphy provided the following tips via email to help with quality:
1. Defringing the layers (Layer - Matting - Defringe). This is a little tedious since it's frame by frame, but can help a lot.
3. If working in Photoshop - Save for Web Legacy and set the Matte setting to None. This way it won't default to white edges, and will leave a more natural edge. It helps reduce the 'halo' effect.
4. If your sticker has a black outline set the Matte to black.
6. Focus on the largest resolution with the fewest amount of frames (obviously this depends on your animation style)
Play around and find what works best for your animation style!
How long does it take for stickers to show on Instagram search?
You’ll need to get approved for a brand channel before anything shows in search. Once you’re approved, all of the stickers you previously uploaded will be made available to use instantly. After that, each sticker is reviewed by giphy before it’s made searchable. Sometimes this takes a matter of hours, but mostly it’s within 24 hours of uploading it. In rare instances, it’s taken a couple of days, but these are usually the more specific ones.
Views + Insights
Giphy still remains relatively poor on this front. You can visit your dashboard to see an overview of how many gifs (stickers) you’ve uploaded, and how many total views they consist of. Views aren’t counted as how many times the gif is looped, but how many times the overall gif is seen.
So how many views does a sticker usually get? If it’s put on the trending page (the stickers that show before you search specific terms), they’ll usually get around 23-25 million views in one day. These are usually pretty generic so that many users can apply them to their content. For event-specific stickers that don’t make their way to the trending page, they usually get roughly 300,000-500,000 views in a week. For other, more specific stickers, they may only get 1,000-5,000 views over a couple of months.
Then, on your dashboard, you’ll be able to see your top 5 gifs and their number of views. All views can take a bit of time to update. I’ve found that when they are viewed quite a bit in one go (say, for example, the Super Bowl one that I did), it can take a few days to properly update and reflect the views the sticker actually has.
Your Dashboard has the option to show you these numbers for the past week, month, forever, or a timeframe of your choice.
Month:
Forever:
There is an option at the bottom of the dashboard to “Download full CSV” but this feature is broken and Giphy hasn’t spoken on the topic. You can, however, go to your own profile (www.giphy.com/YOURUSERNAME) and each individual sticker will have the views next to it.
Where are stickers usable?
You can view and use your stickers on:
Instagram stories
Snapchat
Tik Tok
iMessage
There’s integration on other messaging platforms for gifs, but not for stickers.
How to Email Giphy
If you’re setting up a brand channel, you may very well have questions for Giphy. They don’t respond on Twitter, and their contact page is a little difficult to find, so I’ve linked to it here for ease.
Do you have a question that I haven’t answered? Let me know in the comments below!
