You have started your business, and you’re ready to set up your social media pages and let the world know you are here- and you are ready to ROCK!! As you begin to open business accounts on common social media platforms, you realize that every site requires different size images! Now you have to make these images over and over for each platform—what a hassle! Worry not, my happy little entrepreneur, because we’re here to make it a bit easier for you.

This article has a checklist of ALL of the image sizes you will need for the most common social media platforms, PLUS a handy template to download so you can just do a quick resize, save, and upload to each website! Even better- our template will help you add a powerful CALL TO ACTION to your header images. 

What images will I need for my social media (such as Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram) account pages?

There are two main parts that all of the platforms have in common:

1. A header image – usually a wide strip that goes across the top of your profile.

2. An icon/logo image – a circle or square image to showcase who you are.

When you set up your business profiles, these are the two things that customers or clients will see first- and a great opportunity to get to know WHO you are and WHAT you do.

That said, you’ll want these images to be mainly the same on each platform you decide to use- because consistent branding is strong branding! (If you haven’t read our other branding articles, check them out here.)

You will need to know the size that each platform requires for each of these images.

We’ve put together a reference table below for you to see which sizes you’ll need, so you can get them all done at once and save yourself a valuable chunk of time.

How do I know what sizes to make for each image on each social media platform?

This table breaks down the size of the headers and icons for each of the social media platforms that your business might be on. (For the most effective and professional branding, your business should be on at least one of these sites.)

What is a CALL TO ACTION and why do I need one?

When people say ‘call to action’ they are usually talking about a button that invites the viewer to DO something. This could be something as simple as clicking the ‘Follow’ button to follow your page, or it could even be to sign up for or purchase something. 

For social media pages, a CALL TO ACTION button is usually to like, follow and/or subscribe. Every time you like someone’s Facebook post, for example, you’re clicking a CALL TO ACTION button. 

Using CALL TO ACTION buttons increases the number of times people interact with our page. We get more likes, more follows, more subscribers and even more customers or clients by encouraging others to click them. 

And since OWLLytics is all about making things as easy as possible for you, our favorite small business owners and entrepreneurs, we’ve created our image templates to INCLUDE call to action prompts that will make it EASIER for viewers to see these buttons and click them. (Cool, right?)

Pinterest

Pinterest is a very valuable platform for e-commerce businesses, bloggers, and service entrepreneurs. The FOLLOW button is towards the middle right of the screen just below the header.

NOTE: The Pinterest header is a little bit of tricky thing to work with and get right, because Pinterest allows your header to adjust slightly with your image. It’s okay to tinker with the layout until you like the way it looks. 

YouTube

YouTube is a powerful platform where everyone is fighting to get you to subscribe to their channel. Because YouTube is made to fit as many devices as possible, the header can change sizes depending on the device the user is watching the channel. Engagement is literally YouTube’s game- there is a SUBSCRIBE button, plus you can click to LIKE the video and click a little bell (alarm) button to get NOTIFIED of the channel’s new videos.

While the CALL TO ACTION on YouTube’s header seems to only really work on the desktop view, it’s still a feature most of the big channels make sure they include.

What is the EASIEST and FASTEST way to create my social media images?

Now that we’ve bombarded you with the sizes and call-to-action information for each of the main platforms, you get to do the FUN part of actually creating your images!

Your profile image will essentially be the same for every platform, but the headers are all unique sizes with their own feature areas.

The fastest and easiest way to create your header images is to download our simple Adobe Photoshop template.

It includes a layer that shows the boundaries of ALL of the platforms mentioned above- and has a shaded area where you can add your wording for your CALL TO ACTION. *wink wink*

So you can open the file in Photoshop, create your header, and then size it to fit into the white space for each platform and save each file as you go. (Don’t forget to hide the template layer so you can have a crisp, clean image.)

Another option is to use Canva, which has templates for each of these headers already in their system for free. They don’t all include the CALL TO ACTION information, but with a little experimenting you can get it in there just fine.

Or you can use the information we’ve given you above to create your own images in the design software of your choice.

It’s really that easy!

So now that we’ve (hopefully) made things a bit easier, you can kick back, relax, watch another YouTube video (btw… have you seen our new YT channel?!) and enjoy the extra time!

Congrats! You just took another step forward in building a POWERFUL brand!

Hey, thanks for reading! 

Got a question? Comment below! I’d love to help! 🙂

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