Social media cover photos are so that it will show more of your business’s personality or maybe further put it up for sale. Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn allow business owners to display cover photos on their profile pages. Unfortunately, each of them has a further requirement.
Here are requirements and best practices for social media cover photos on Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.
Facebook recently changed its policy on calls-to-action in cover photos. Now, cover photos can include calls-to-action, purchasing information, and phone information — provided not one of the information is fake, deceptive, misleading, or infringing upon others’ intellectual property.
Target’s Facebook cover photo including a decision-to-action.
Requirements. Facebook’s 20 percent rule remains to be in effect for all advertising images, including cover photos acting as ads. This rule limits text at the photo to not more than 20 percent of the photo’s area. Facebook added a grid tool to assist determine whether the photo meets the 20 percent requirement. Non-advertisement cover photos are usually not subject to the 20 percent rule, but Facebook recommends it as a best practice.
Facebook’s grid tool for determining if advertisements adhere to the 20 percent rule.
Dimension. Facebook cover photos display at a minimum dimension of 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall. Any image smaller than these dimensions may be stretched and skewed to fill the gap — but you can’t upload a picture smaller than 399 x 150.
Recommendations. For crisp looking cover photos, use images which are a minimum of 851 x 315 to bypass pixilation and skewing. Benefit from the screen real estate by means of compelling photography or colorful designs that accurately represent your enterprise. Think about using the distance for a promotion or call-to-action to love your page. You can also use the quilt photo to indicate to different links for your page. Remember the fact that your profile picture is displayed on top of your cover photo; avoid placing important information where it will become covered by your profile picture.
Livestrong’s cover photo.
Google+
Google+ increased the scale of its cover photos in March 2013 to house a much wider range of photographs. By default, only the ground part of the quilt photo is displayed when first loading a Google+ page, requiring visitors to scroll as much as see the whole image. On mobile devices, a scaled version of the duvet photo is shown in full, with the profile picture centered on the bottom.
Google+ displays the complete cover photos on mobile devices, as on this example from Mashable.
Requirements. Google+ hasn’t ever had restrictions against purchase information, contact information, or calls-to-actions featured in its cover photos. However, Google+ does have a policy for all content published at the Google+ network, including cover photos. Additionally, Google+ doesn’t allow contests, sweepstakes, or promotions that directly require Google+ features or functionality. As an instance, businesses cannot run contests requiring entrants to “+1” a Google+ post.
Dimensions. Google+ requires a minimum cover photo dimension of 480 pixels wide by 270 pixels tall. However, Google+ recommends using images which are 2120 x 1192. Google+ also asks for images with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
There is a workaround to the 16:9 aspect ratio for users who desire a smaller cover photo. Uploading a whole resolution cover photo and using Google’s built-in crop tool means that you can resize your cover photo to circumvent the 16:9 aspect ratio. This guide by AutoRevo shows you the way.
Because Google+ dynamically rescales cover photos, you don’t have to worry about uploading a photograph it really is too large. Using a bigger image will accommodate users with high-resolution displays.
Recommendations. Use a big cover photo and let Google+ dynamically rescale it for you — whether you’re cropping the photo to realize a further aspect ratio or not.
One important thing to think of when making a cover photo is that Google+ adds a shadow gradient on the bottom of the photo to make the account information more readable. Therefore, avoid putting important content on the bottom of your cover photo if the shadow will make it difficult to read.
Google+ adds a shadow to the ground of canopy images.
Calls-to-action may well be less effective with Google+ cover photos viewed on desktops and laptops because only the base of the picture is initially displayed. However, consider mobile specific calls-to-action as those users see the entire image. Watch out to not place important information anywhere in an effort to be covered up by the profile picture.
LinkedIn updated its company pages in September of 2012, adding cover photos, or “home page images.” Businesses can use this space so as to add a photograph. Unlike Facebook and Google+, the duvet photo isn’t very obscured whatsoever by the LinkedIn profile picture.
Adobe’s LinkedIn home page image both represents its corporate culture and promotes its Creative Cloud software.
Requirements. LinkedIn has no requirements for home page images. It instead expects users to accurately represent and promote their businesses.
Dimensions. LinkedIn requires its home page images to be no less than 646 pixels wide by 220 pixels tall. File formats could be PNG, JPEG, or GIF and the utmost file size is two MB.
Recommendations. Keep your audience in mind both when building a LinkedIn company page and adding a house page image. Your LinkedIn audience is probably going going to be different than on Facebook or Google+. Adjust your LinkedIn home page image accordingly.