By now, you will know full well that social media plays a vital role in digital marketing and Social SEO strategy, to attract targeted audiences with quality content. So using images correctly for social networks is essential.
He thinks that human beings process images 60 thousand times faster than plain text, so images and videos tend to have a greater social impact.
For all these reasons, I have prepared an updated guide with the 2020 data on the proper use and measures that images should have on social networks.
Uses of images on the Internet
One of the main problems we encounter when using images on the Internet are legal restrictions.
“If you do not produce your own graphic or visual content, you need to know well the alternatives you have.”
You can choose to use royalty-free content or buy resources offered by others. However, what you should not do is take pictures of others without permission, but keep one of these 3 options:
1. Use image banks
Image and icon banks offer a large number of options where you will surely find what you are looking for. You can opt for the free, more limited versions, or contract a Premium service.
2. Perform advanced Google searches
You must select those tagged images for reuse. This means that the authors give their permission so that they can be freely shared, and even edited or modified without problem.
3. Use images for social networks that others have already shared
In this situation, the laws are more permissive, since it is understood that by sharing content on social networks, it is accepted that it can be redistributed publicly.
Of course, this permissiveness ends when a user or a fan page shares the content in a private or restricted way.
➽ Practical tips for using images on social networks
All social networks leave space for banners and other audiovisual content, whether in the form of videos or photos. In some cases, such as Instagram, Pinterest or Flickr, images are the center of activity.
For its part, YouTube is one of the most viewed social networks in the world and bases its content on videos. Others, such as Facebook or Twitter, give more and more prominence to photographs or video montages, with the possibility of even broadcasting live.
If so much importance is given to audiovisual content and images for social networks, it is because it works really well. Therefore, you must also give it to them.
Here I leave you a series of tips so that you can make optimal use of your images on social networks:
- Coherence: Transmits the same values and the same information that you transfer through other formats. Help yourself with techniques to apply a good copy on your social networks.
- Hierarchy: Start by publishing the images that contain the most important of what you want to publicize. Later, you can include other accessory photographs.
- Margins: It is not only the center of the image that is important. Take care of what appears in the background and in the margins to achieve a good composition.
- Colors: Users identify your brand with certain colors, which are what you expose with your corporate image. Try that your photographs follow the same color line, so they will be better identified.
- Simplicity: Less is more. In other words, try to send a clear message, without distractions or too many elements that overload.
- Trends: Fashions that fit your brand can help you bond with consumers and users. So follow them as long as they align with your values and those of your business.
- Opacity: Do not stop experimenting from time to time with the possibilities that photography and online editing tools like Visme provide you, as well as those provided by social networks themselves.
Measurements of images for social networks
Finding the right size for social media images including banners, headers, or profile photos requires constant updating as they often change.
“Every time they change the design of social profiles this usually affects the technical requirements of the images.”
Still, sizes are usually kept unchanged for quite a long time, so you can sign up for these measurements without fear (they are currently the official ones):
➽ Image size on Facebook
Facebook is the most popular social network, and the one that accepts the most types of content. If we focus on the images, the sizes are:
- Profile picture: 180 × 180 pixels
- Header image: 851 × 315 pixels
- Square post: 1200 × 1200 pixels
- Rectangular post: 1200 ×628 pixels
- Publication with link: 1200 × 628 pixels
- Story: 1080 × 1920 pixels
- Event image: 1920 × 1080 pixels
- Photo post: 1200 × 900 pixels
➽ Image size on Twitter
The microblogging network is not focused on visual content, although it allows the publication of an image to be accompanied. The sizes of its contents are:
- Profile picture: 400 × 400 pixels
- Header image: 1500 × 500 pixels
- Content of the tweets: 1024 × 512 pixels
- Twitter cards: 800 × 418 pixels
➽ Image size on Instagram
The measurements of all the images you may need for your Instagram profile are:
- Profile picture: 150 × 150 pixels
- Post feed: 1080 × 1080 pixels
- Vertical photo: 1350 × 1080 pixels
- Horizontal photo: 1080 × 566 pixels
- Story (photo): 1080 × 1920 pixels
- Video (feed): 640 × 640 pixels
- Video (story): 750 × 1334 pixels
- IGTV: vertical, max. 9:16 and min. 4: 5; horizontal, max. 16: 9 and min. 5: 4
- IGTV’s cover: 420 × 654 pixels
➽ Image size on YouTube
If we work on images for social networks, YouTube may not be the first thing we think about, since it is a network focused on video.
However, there are certain images that it does support:
- Profile picture: 800 × 800 pixels
- Cover image: 2560 × 1140 pixels
- Video cover (thumbnail): 1280 × 720 pixels
➽ Image size on Vimeo
Another social network focused on videos that also requires knowing the measurements of some images:
- Profile picture: 300x300x pixels
- 4: 3 video cover: 640 × 480 pixels
- Cover of the videos 16: 9: 640 × 360 pixels
- Video cover 720p HD Video: 1280 × 720 pixels
- 1080p HD video cover (Plus / PRO): 1920 × 1080 pixels
➽ Image size on Pinterest
On Pinterest images take special importance, and their measurements are:
- Profile picture: 165 × 165 pixels
- Pin: 600 pixel width and undefined height
- Board cover image: 220 × 150 pixels
- Thumbnail of each board cover: 100 × 100 pixels.
➽ Image size on LinkedIn
LinkedIn focuses on the CV of users or information about companies. All this must be accompanied by images that help to recognize the profiles.
The measures of LinkedIn are:
- Profile picture: 400 × 400 pixels
- Brand image: 130 × 130 pixels
- Header image: 1584 × 396 pixels
- Publications (image post): 520 × 320 pixels
- Publications (link post): 520 × 272 pixels
Remember that for profile and cover photos with your logo, you can get better results using a PNG file with a transparent background. Thus, it will fit perfectly to the profile.
In addition, and to finish, I recommend that you keep your graphic content always updated to give a professional image to your followers and potential customers.
What about you? Do you give images for social networks the importance they deserve?
Image (social networks): Shutterstock
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