When you think of Instagram, do you think of animation? Well, animated instagram visuals are becoming very popular. So, I did a little research.

Instagram now accepts 3 to 60 seconds long videos. You can upload your video from your phone's library or from your computer via a third party app such as iGallery. Most of the animations that I found on Instragram are in the square format (1080 x 1080 pixels) but you can also use a horizontal or vertical layout.

Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when creating your own animated Instagram visuals.

1. Branding - Don't forget to include your branding in these animated visuals. Using your brand colors and/or placing a text or graphic logo over the first frame of the animation is a great way to include your branding.
   
   
2. Demo Shorts and Text Overlays - Instagram animated visuals are great for demonstrating how to use your company's products. You can use a video or a slide show of images. When adding informational text, think of the text as bullet points on a webpage. Don't forget the call to action at the end.
   
   
3. Promos, Specials, Announcements - Some of these Instagram animations are like mini commercials and some are animated text over a colored or graphic background. For example, the familiar "20% off this week" type of promo.
   
   
4. SEO - Just like on YouTube, you will want to give some thought into the title, descriptions and hashtags for search engine optimization.
   
   
5. Thumbnail Image - Another YouTube tip that will carry over to Instagram is the importance of the thumbnail image. Just as on YouTube, the thumbnail image needs to grab your audience's attention so that they will click to view the visual.
   
   
6. Humanizing Your Brand - Use Instagram video shorts to humanize your company and brand by sharing behind the scenes and company messages.
   
   
7. Repurpose Your Lookbook - If your company uses PDF lookbooks to display a seasonal or other collection of your products, use an Instagram animation to bring that lookbook to life, as a slideshow of several pages from the lookbook.
   
   

During my research, I found some great examples of animated Instagram posts by some great businesses. Below are some of my favorites.

Michaels Stores
Michaels Stores has always used YouTube videos to demonstrate how to use many of their products. For Instagram, Micheals simplifies these how-to videos to showcase just the major steps from the more detailed original video. This is a great way to repurpose your visual content. Of course, Michales also uses the basic static Instagram graphic post, multiple graphics slide show posts and animated gifs to feature products.

JoAnn Stores
JoAnn Stores is another business that has always used YouTube marketing. Some examples of JoAnn on Instagram are a slide show announcement about JoAnn partnering with the St. Jude Research Hospital in their fight against childhood cancer. JoAnn also uses many animated gifs to show before and after shots of craft projects made from their products.

Ben and Jerrys
Ben and Jerrys has a How To Make series of animated visuals of simple recipes using their products. They do a great job of including branding and text overlays to get their message to their viewers.

Kmart
On Instagram, Kmart announces their sales using simple graphic animations. They also have a nice animated Thanksgiving message, which reminds me of those animated ecards that were so popular a few years ago.

McDonalds
McDonalds has several great cinemagraphs. Cinemagraphs are still photos with only a small area of the photo animated. My favorite is a photo of a McCafe Peppermint Mocha. As in most cinemagraphs, the small area of the image that is animated is the disappearing mocha in the cup. McDonalds also has mini commercials on Instagram, such as the Bring Your Grandma to McDonald's Day series.