1. Install the fonts
Download Font Awesome 7, unzip, and install every .otf file in the otfs folder. Restart Premiere Pro / After Effects.

2. Pick an icon
Browse free icons at fontawesome.com/search. Click an icon and copy its glyph. Note whether it's a brand logo — brand logos live in a separate font from the rest of the icons.

3. Paste the glyph
Paste it into the Font Awesome text input in Animation Composer, or into the icon text layer in After Effects.

4. If the glyph doesn't show, change the font
Set the text layer's font to:

• Brand logo → Font Awesome 7 Brands
• Any other icon → Font Awesome 7 Free

Font Awesome Free is open source, free to use in commercial videos. Learn more.

Using other icon fonts
This workflow isn't limited to Font Awesome — any icon font you can find on the internet works the same way. Install the font, copy the glyph from the foundry's website (or character map), paste it into the text input, and set the text layer's font to the one you installed. Make sure the font's license allows the use you have in mind.