So, you’ve decided you want to make your brand visible on social media? Good call. Without a doubt, you’ve already done your research about the different social media platform, available to you for promoting your business on. You've probably also got an idea as to which platform has most of your target audience. But you want to promote your business on the others, regardless, am I right?
Be sure to use the proper dimensions on every social media platform.
But then you discover something which we all had to find out the hard way: not every social media platform has the same culture, the same touch-and-feel, the same type of audience. On top of that, each social media platform also has different requirements for the dimensions of photos and videos. A cover photo used on Facebook isn't necessarily the best fit for Twitter, and a profile picture on Instagram won’t look so good on LinkedIn.
Not only does each platform have different recommended image dimensions, but with the layout being different everywhere, you need to make sure that a vital part of your image isn’t covered by some popup element. And then there are the unforeseen changes that platforms will make to the location of their popup elements. So you're going to need to keep an eye on it, too.
In this article, we will have a look at some of the most prominent social media channels and discuss how to make images work well for you on each of them. ContentBASE will provide you with properly sized social media templates., which takes the hassle of having to do it yourself completely out of your hands. Go check them out, if you haven't already!
1. Facebook
Everybody knows Facebook. More than 1.5 billion users log in to Facebook every day, so you can be sure that it's not going away, anytime soon.
Here are the proper image dimensions for Facebook:
- Cover image: 820x312 (minimum 400x150)
- Profile image: ≥180x180
- Image for shared posts: 1200x630
- Image to preview shared links: 1200x628
- Event image: 1920x1080
Do note that images may look different on your own timeline than they might look for other users. So test pictures thoroughly, using several accounts. For instance, your profile picture (which has to be 180×180 or bigger) may show as a 170×170 on a resized desktop browser, or as a 32×32 thumbnail, when displayed next to your Facebook posts.
Make sure to use high quality photographs, as anything less than perfect might kill your image, making you look unprofessional and discouraging your prospects from interacting.
2. Twitter
Twitter might be the social media channel where interaction is the highest. Users can talk about you and mention you, thus inviting you to chip in. Users can also talk to you directly, either to ask questions, compliment you, or to complain about an issue they are having. Reputations have been built and destroyed on Twitter, but if you can successfully resolve a user's complaint in a friendly and satisfactory way, you can turn people into a real ambassador to your brand.
Over time, Twitter has gone through some changes, which also affect the best image dimensions you need to use. Currently, these are the recommended dimensions:
- Header image: 1500x500 | maximum 5 MB
- Profile image: 400x400 | maximum 2 MB
- In-stream image: 440x220
Please note that sometimes, images will be resized to fit on devices. So make sure the images also work well when they are resized to a smaller size.
3. Instagram
Instagram is about pictures, images, photographs and videos, too. It goes without saying that your pictures must be of the best possible quality here. Use a blurred image and people will not hesitate to poke fun at you in the comments. And with over 700 million users every day, it's probably best if you prevent looking bad at all costs.
As with the other platforms, Instagram may show images smaller than the dimensions required for uploads. Keep this in mind when uploading images with the following basic dimensions.
- Profile image: 110x110
- Image thumbnail: 161x161
- Shared photos: 1080x1080
- Shared videos: 1080 pixels wide
- Instagram Stories: 1080x1920 (minimum 600x1067) | maximum 4 GB
4. Pinterest
Pinterest is increasingly popular. Surprisingly, most of the content you will find on Interest will be external links. So it makes sense to look at Pinterest when you’re trying to build referral traffic. The following dimensions ensure that your visuals look attractive on Pinterest, increasing the likeliness of getting repinned.
- Profile image: 165x165 | maximum 10 MB
- Board cover image: 222x150 (minimum 55x55)
- Pinned image preview: 236 pixels wide
5. LinkedIn
Despite attempts to build a competing professional network site, LinkedIn is still the go-to social channel for professionals. Professionals use it to acquire assignments, to find a new job (or employee) and to network. LinkedIn is very effective when looking for suppliers or buyers in a B2B setting. Where there are professionals, you will find recruiters, as well.
No matter which type of LinkedIn user you are, it is essential you present yourself in the most professional manner you can.
- Banner image: 1584x396 | maximum 4 MB
- Profile image: 400x400 (minimum 200x200) | maximum 10 MB
- Company Cover image: 1536x768
- Image for sharing: 350 pixels wide
- Preview for a shared link: 180x110
- Company logo image: 300x300 | maximum 4 MB
- Company cover image: 1536x768 (minimum 1192x220) | maximum 4 MB
- Company page banner image: 646x220 | maximum 2 MB
- Square logo (appears in company searches): 60x60 | maximum 2 MB
6. YouTube
Visual content is the backbone of YouTube. And if you think it is important to look good for the 700 million Instagram users, then the 1 billion daily YouTube viewers should definitely make you want to look your best. More than on any other channel, you need to make sure that every single visual you use, matches your brand identity. Your video thumbnail will have to match the video, which will have to match your business brand.
If you are anything like us, you’ve used YouTube at your desktop at home, at your phone when waiting for a train, and yes…probably also at a laptop at work. YouTube forces you to use large images, as they can be shrunk to match a display of any size. That’s why you sometimes get those black bar areas when watching on your phone: the 2560×1440 image is optimalized for a television screen, but shrunk to 2650×423 on a phone. The bars appear as filler for a video that's been aspect ratio correctly resized.
- Channel cover images: 2560x1440 | maximum 4 MB
- Channel icon: 800x800
- Video thumbnail: 1280x720
7. SnapChat
Like Instagram and YouTube, SnapChat is known as a very visual network. Lucky for us, SnapChat is pretty straightforward. For SnapChat, thankfully, one size really does fit all.
- Geofilters, ads, and lenses: 1080x1920
8. Conclusion
Stick to the recommended image and video dimensions on every social media platform, and your users will thank you for it. Most of them want you to succeed, so take their interest seriously and show them that your business is a professional one.