Quickest Social Media Image Guide 2020
COVID-19 has pressured the economy to slow down. The prolonged quarantine has left businesses in a standstill. Some have to make a way to tide themselves over the pandemic with reasonably lower resources due to budget cuts.
This is a straightforward guide to every steadfast small to medium business owner out there taking graphic design needs to their own hands.
The one thing you need to know about making social media graphics for your brand is it all starts by knowing what size dimension you need. Of course, design principles are important, but they won’t mean anything if you set up your design for doom from the start.
Better quality, improved loading speed, and the look of professionalism—you can get all of that by simply sizing your images right.
In the marketing age where platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn stand as a lead mine, businesses are stepping up their design game. Today, we’re talking about the most loved social media marketing channels today:
Bonus: We made things even easier for you. Head on over to the end of the article to save a free handy reference chart for offline use.
It should also be said that the recommended image formats for social media are JPG and PNG files. JPG is best used for situations where you need high-resolution images that take up relatively smaller space. PNG files are considered lossless due to better compression, but you pay for this by enduring bigger file sizes.
Martin Scorcese has a full movie explaining how Facebook came to be, but here’s the gist. This Harvard born app connects people from all over the world. Users access the platform to share activities and content with each other.
It has become a staple for every internet user since. The swelling community of users has even gotten the elderly on board, too.
Active Facebook users now amount to 1.62 billion which grants businesses a huge marketing opportunity. The platform offers tools such as targeted ads, events, pages, groups, and other plugins to boost campaign performance.
- Profile Picture: 180 x 180
- Cover Photo: 820 x 462
- Group Cover Image: 1640 x 922
- Link Image: 1200 x 630
- Image Post: 1200 x 630
- Event Image: 1920 x 1080
- Ads: 1200 x 628
Pro tip:
| On average, Wednesday and Thursday are considered the best days to post. These are the days with the most traffic during a week. Brands should post from 11 am to 2 pm as more people are on their phones during that midday window. |
Currently, Instagram is the second most downloaded app in Android history. This feat has brought good news to the app’s ad reach. Experts suggest that by 2020, over ¾ of business in the US will be on the app.
People have and continue to love this photo and video sharing social space since 2010.
- Profile picture: 110 x 110
- Photo Size:
- 1080 x 1080 (maximum)
- 612 x 612 (scaled)
- IG Story:
- 1080 x 1920 (maximum)
- 600 x 1067 (minimum)
- Landscape Ad:
- 1200 x 628 (recommended)
- Vertical Image Ad: 1080 x 1350 (recommended)
- Square Image Ad: 1080 x 1080 (recommended)
Microblogging today goes deeper than mundane photos of your morning coffee with a hashtag. Today’s microbloggers take to Twitter to publish statements within the confines of a 280 character limit.
Each account follows a minimum of five brand accounts on average. Companies establish a strong presence in the Twitterverse with different gimmicks. However, statistics have shown that the best way to gain engagement on the website is to accompany text posts with a good image.
Strong graphics give a tweet more chances to be retweeted.
- Profile Picture: 400 x 400
- Header Photo: 1500 x 1500
- In-Stream Photo:
- 1024 x 512 (maximum)
- 440 x 220 (minimum)
TikTok
Internet users see TikTok as the reincarnation of Vine. This is a short-form video content sharing app that offers basic editing functionality and augmented reality effects for creators.
You are bound to see endless videos that range from funny lip-syncing to hard-to-resist challenges. This China-based app currently has 500 million active users. They spend at least 52 minutes a day on the app which is impressive. TikTok has successfully trumped Facebook whose average visit duration is 43 minutes.
- Profile Picture: 180 x 180
- Video Post:
- Screen Size: 1080 x1930 (9:16)
- Length: 15 seconds maximum (60 seconds if combining multiple videos)
- File Size: 287.6 MB (IOS), 72 MB (Android)
- File Type: MOV, MP4
- Video Ad:
- Screen Size: 720 x 1280 (9:16), 640 x 640 (1:1), 1280 x 720 (16:9)
- Length: 5-60 seconds short video (9-15 seconds suggested)
- File Size: 500 MB
- File Type: MP4, MOVM MPEG, 3GP, AVI
YouTube
Get access to a 2 billion user base when you start marketing on this video sharing platform by Google. It’s the second most used social media channel in the world for a good reason.
Businesses now see YouTube as an integral part of their operations. 90% of users admit that this platform helps them discover new services and products. Of course, this is no silver bullet. Not all leads convert to sales, but it does wonders for brand awareness.
- Profile Picture: 800 x 800
- Channel cover: 2560 x 1440
- Video Thumbnail: 1280 x 720 (16:9)
- Story: 1080 x 1920
Users prefer accessing the platform through mobile compared to desktop. So make sure you optimize your content for mobile.
For B2B companies and the Human Resource world, LinkedIn is a top tier channel. Thanks to the 562 million profiles (30 million of which are companies) on the platform. The company has even claimed that their growing community includes top executives from the entire list of Fortune 500 companies.
It’s the place to virtually connect with industry news in the form of articles, videos, and images.
- Profile picture: 400 x 400
- Personal Background Image: 1500 x 1500
- Company Logo: 300 x 300
- Square Logo: 60 x 60
- Company Cover Image: 1536x 768
- Hero Image: 1128 x 376
- Company Page Banner Image: 646 x 220
- Shared Image or Link: 1104 x 736
Twitch
This is a video streaming platform for a variety of content creators from different categories such as crafting, music, ASMR, and more. The most popular and lucrative one, however, is game streaming. You’ll see a huge gap between the genres. But this should be no surprise. Gaming is a huge industry. It delivers hours of fun and play to gamers all around the world.
Tapping into Twitch marketing will forge connections with a predominantly male audience from ages 18-34. Naturally, gaming companies use the platform for their campaigns. But brands like Gillette, Adidas, and Wendy’s find value in launching campaigns on Twitch as well.
- Profile Picture: 256 x 256
- Profile Banner: 1200 x 1080
- Overlay: 1920 x 1080
- Panels: 320 x 100
Tumblr
This is a blogging platform commonly used by adults from ages 18-29. Users can share and discover images, writing, videos, and audio on the channel. The platform gets 376 million unique visits from nations all around the world monthly. Communities such as art, fitness, fandom, and students are among the leading groups that dominate Tumblr today.
Although the user base has never been the same since the company has removed adult content on the website, it provides value for brands trying to make a name for themselves.
- Profile Picture: 128 x 128
- Image post: 1280 x 1920 (maximum), 500 x 700 (minimum)
- Ads: 1280 x 1920
- Dashboard: 1280 X 1920
Marketing for Pinterest will let you speak to the key buying decision-makers. It is considered a lead magnet for businesses. The platform is often used by women from 25 years old to 54 years old. Plus, male users are getting fond of finding inspiration as well with 1 in 3 American dads using the platform for different projects.
As you know, this social media channel is a virtual corkboard for inspiration. People save posts they want by “pinning” them onto customizable folders. Popular verticals include crafting, food, drinks, art, and homemaking.
Mobile optimized content will get you far. A few years back, the company redesigned its website to appeal to its growing mobile user community. This mobile-first approach calls for more design readability and smarter use of space.
- Profile Picture: 165 x 165
- Cover Image: 217 x 146
- Pins: 1200 x 1800 (2:3), 236 x 600 (scaled)
- Thumbnails: 220 x 150 (large), 55 X 55 (small)
Google My Business
Improving your brand’s organic search performance can be done with a simple listing. Google My Business gives companies a credible image for free. Think of it as a business directory with search visibility that is particular to the leading search engine.
Sadly, over 56% of physical stores have not seized the opportunity GMB brings. What’s even sadder is some businesses claim theirs, but present their brand poorly with bad graphics.
- Profile Picture: 250 x 250
- Cover Photo: 1080 x 608
Conclusion
Don’t let your masterpiece go to waste with pixelation due to unoptimized image size. This is the enemy of any brand attempting to create a credible image. Be mindful of optimizing images according to the platform you are using.
Pro tip:
| As an alternative, you can check out our social media maker. It’s a subscription-based editor that lets you customize ready-to-post graphics to use for your marketing campaigns. Simply select which social media channel you’re planning to use the template on. You will be led to a gallery of ready-to-post graphics optimized for your post. We have designs for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. Our team of designers refreshes the gallery with new and seasonal designs each week. To experience pain-free graphics creation, all you need to do is get a logo from us. If you haven’t you can check our gallery of social media-worthy logos to get started. You can use our logo maker to add your own flair easily. Create a recession-proof marketing plan today. |
