How To Craft The Best Social Media Image?

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Combining two of your performing tools (social media and imagery) is one of the best way to produce the best social media image campaign that’ll engage your visual oriented audience.

Unfortunately, while the idea is simple, the application can be quite challenging since the visual options seem to be endless. But, today we have good news! With the correct sizes, best colors, and awesome imagery types, you’ll be well on your way to a successful social media image that will extend far beyond its initial post life.

Are you ready to save hours of time!? Rather than designing custom images for each social network, simply use this Photoshop CC action that will size and save them all for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+! Not only that, but use the social media images infographic for every day reference, and enjoy these 14 images already sized for every single network!

The very first step to creating the best social media images is by producing the correct size for each social network. You’re only given a limited space to capture your audience’s attention, so you’ll want to use every pixel you’re given.

This can get quite tricky when each network has different ratios and proportions, but if you know the posting sizes for each one, you’ll be off to a great start!

Below you’ll find all of the recommended sizes for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+ with the preferred size for social posting. Here we go!

1. Facebook Image Sizes

Facebook is still the most popular social network today with over 1 billion users worldwide. With such a great audience, it’s essential to optimize every single post for top engagement. Facebook images are known to get 2.3 times more engagement than that of a normal post, which is a perfectly great reason to start using social images for every single post. Plus, they’ve found that 87% of a Facebook Page’s interaction comes solely from image posts. In recent news, Facebook now allows you to post several images for one post, appearing as an album. There’s been some discussion whether a single image or multiple images perform better, but according to Convince and Convert, using multiple images can increase clicks by 1,290%! Facebook’s Three Golden Rules:

  1. Use images in every single Facebook post and multiple images whenever possible.
  2. Use the 1200 x 630px image dimensions.
  3. Post on the weekends at 12–1 p.m. for best performance.

Facebook’s Recommended Image Sizes:

  • Profile Photo: 180 x 180px
  • Cover Photo: 851 x 215px
  • Shared Image: 1200 px 630px
  • Shared Link: 1200 x 630px
  • Highlighted Image: 1200 x 717px

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2. Twitter Image Sizes

Twitter, one of my personal favorite networks, sends out 500 million tweets per day. Adding images to your tweets not only gets you 18% more clicks, but also 89% more favorites, and 150% more retweets! Talk about an engagement boost! Plus, Twitter has kept their network posting consistent in size, so there’s no question that a 440px by 220px image is the best size to reach the most people. Twitter’s Three Golden Rules:

  1. Use images in every tweet.
  2. Use images that are 440 x 220px.
  3. Schedule your tweets for Wednesdays at 12–1 p.m. or 5–6 p.m.

Twitter’s Recommended Image Sizes:

  • Profile Photo: 400 x 400px
  • Header Photo: 1500 x 500px
  • In-Stream Photo: 440 x 220px

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3. LinkedIn Image Sizes

While LinkedIn is one of the older social networks, it has continued on throughout the years and thrives with its 414 million users. LinkedIn’s focus on business professionals creates a perfect space for business-specific content to be seen and viewed across the world. Although, post with caution. According to Jeff Bullas, being ‘too professional’ without first creating a relationship can actually be a common mistake when using LinkedIn. This idea seems to validate just how important using images can be for establishing that desired connection and relatability. LinkedIn’s Three Golden Rules:

  1. Make sure your images have a personal touch.
  2. Use images that are 531px wide.
  3. Schedule your posts midweek at or 5–6 p.m.

LinkedIn’s Recommended Image Sizes:

  • Banner Image: 646 x 220px
  • Standard Logo: 400 x 400px
  • Square Logo: 60 x 60px
  • Hero Photo: 974 x 330px
  • Profile Picture: 400 x 400px
  • Background Image: 1000 x 425px
  • Regular Post Image: 531px wide

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4. Pinterest Image Sizes

The average time spent on Pinterest per visit is 14.2 minutes! Multiply that by the 176 million registered users, and you’re looking at one very powerful source of information and inspiration. With all of that collective time spent on Pinterest, that also means it’s one of the fastest growing websites, creating the greatest opportunity for your business to grow along with it.

Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is highly visual, but rather with an emphasis in sharing content with strangers and friends alike. In order to have the best Pinterest images, avoid using faces, use red or orange, and rock a less distracting background.

Pinterest’s Three Golden Rules:

  1. Always link back to content on your blog or website where you can convert that traffic.
  2. Use images that are 600 x 1102px for highest engagement.
  3. Schedule your pins on Saturday from 8–11 p.m.

Pinterest’s Recommended Image Sizes:

  • Profile Picture: 165 x 165px
  • Pin Board Large Thumbnail: 222 x 150px
  • Pin Board Small Thumbnail: 55 x 55px
  • Pins On Main Page: 192px wide
  • Pins On Board: 222px wide
  • Pins Expanded: 600px wide
  • Pins Enlarged Pin: 500px wide

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5. Instagram Image Sizes

Instagram is unique in that it solely allows photo-based posts. With an imagery-focused platform, it draws visual connections that make both a memorable and human impression.

“Instagram’s per-follower engagement rate for top brands is 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter,” according to Forrester, which might be why 85% of top brands are adopting it to grow their business.

Just recently, Instagram opened their strict square ratio image size up to a variety of landscape and portrait options in addition to increasing their resolution to 1080px for top clarity!

Surely, Instagram is a great place for both connection and business.

Instagram’s Three Golden Rules:

  1. Always include a link back to your content in your bio.
  2. Use images that are 1080px wide for highest resolution.
  3. Schedule your Instagrams for Monday at 2–3 p.m. or 8–9 p.m.

Instagram’s Recommended Image Sizes:

  • Profile Picture: 110 x 110px
  • Photo Thumbnails: 161 x 161px
  • Photo Size in App: 1080 x 1080px

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6. Google+ Image Sizes

While Google+ may very well be slowly disappearing, it still has a lot to offer if used correctly. After all, its partner in crime, Google, is our greatest source of information across the internet, one of the highest sources of revenue for a lot of businesses, and one of the greatest companies worldwide.

Everyone knows and loves Google. For that reason alone, it’s no surprise that Google+ has 375 million active members. With that large of an audience, it’s best that your images are set up for optimal performance.

Google+’s Three Golden Rules:

  1. Use the .png image format rather than .jpg format for highest clarity.
  2. Use images that are 426 x 255px.
  3. Schedule your posts on workdays from 9–11 a.m.

Google+’s Recommended Image Sizes:

  • Profile Picture: 250 x 250px
  • Cover Image: 1080 x 608px
  • Shared Image: 426 x 255px wide
  • Shared Link Thumbnail: 150 x 150px

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There you have it! A complete guide to the best social image sizes, with the most important recommendations for each and every network. Find the size you’re looking for, and use that when you begin the creation process with your images. Simply choosing the correct size at the beginning, will save you so much time when you’re ready to save and export your images for the world to see!

Pictures courtesy of CoSchedule.