Covers
With Facebook’s Timeline, business pages have a unique opportunity to grab and engage their audiences. I thought I’d put together some thoughts, tips and guidelines on creating Facebook covers.
**Be aware that if you intend to create your own images you’ll need access to a basic photo editing programme.Basics of Facebook Cover Photos
Firstly, having the correct dimensions will ensure that your picture displays well within the Facebook frame. So here it is:
Facebook Cover Sizes and Elements.
Detailed measurements:
- Official Facebook cover photo size: 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall with minimum image dimension of 399 pixels wide
- To get the fastest load times for your Page, upload an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes. For images with your logo or text-based content, you may get a higher quality result by using a PNG file. (according to Facebook Help Files)
Important to know:
- If you upload an image that is smaller than the recommended size, Facebook will stretch it to fit automatically. Be cautious, because stretching the image will also deteriorate the image quality and you don’t want your audience to associate second-rate quality with your business brand.
- The Facebook frame cuts of the top pixel of your image, so in reality only the bottom 314 pixels will display. Niggly but important since you might want to check that you don’t lose the most important 1 pixel!
What to add and what to avoid
Facebook guidelines stipulate that the cover photo mustn’t be overly promotional in execution. In other words, it shouldn’t contain the following:
All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines.
Covers may not include:
i. images with more than 20% text;
ii. price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com”;
iii. contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section;
iv. references to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; or
v. calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”
So what can we do with our cover photo?
- Use imagery or design work that is yours to begin with. Grab your camera or iPhone and take pictures or ask a professional photographer to help capture your people, your brand and your products. You can have lots of creative fun with this!
- Remember to give credit if you use photos or visuals that aren’t yours!
- Use your business tagline and add it as text to your cover photo.
- Tag people who are in the photo. Be sure to ask their permission if they are associates or clients. If they are staff members, notify them! It is a frowned-upon tactic to tag random people in your cover to shamelessly promote your business.
- Get your employs and clients to submit their pictures to use for the cover.
Make sure that you use high-quality photos and visuals that are in-focus.
Getting the photo onto Facebook
A couple of clicks an you’ll be done.
- Log into your Facebook Page admin account.
- To replace an existing cover photo, mouse over your cover photo so that the “Change Cover” button appears in the lower right corner; click it.
- Select “Upload Photo,” find the image file on your computer, then click the “Save Changes” button.
- Then click on the photo to add a caption, tags, and location information.
Next time we’ll look into how to create GREAT Facebook Cover images!
Diva, over-and-out.
If all the pixels got you warped and confused, perhaps it’s time to call in some help :) junkies@adrinalinconcept.co.za ADRINALIN CONCEPT | Comprehensive Creative Design, Marketing, Communication, Social Media, Copy Writing & Change Management
** Useful site: http://www.copyblogger.com/timeline-cover-photo/
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