Best Tips for Social Media Visual Content

Written By Shifat Jaman

Posted On May 10, 2021

For all those who have an interest in visuals for social networks, how to create them, what dimensions they should be, and what tools would be best to use for these purposes, we have tried to answer all these questions in this text.

Here are some fun facts about the topic that we will elaborate on in the continuation of the article. Did you know that the brain processes a photo 60,000 times faster than text? Or, that social network accounts with photos have 94 % more visits than those that do not publish them and that 40 % of people react better to visual information than to plain text?

No matter how you look at things, using visuals on social networks is very useful. And when it comes to creating content, visuals themselves are also content and you should pay equal attention to them as you do to the text you write. By that, we mean in a sense what is that you want to say, what message to convey, and, in combination with that, who you are addressing and on which network. We will write about all this in this text, starting from the first basic thing, and that is – what are the best photo formats for posting on social networks?

Let’s enjoy “Best Tips for Social Media Visual Content.”

Visuals for Social Networks – What Are the Perfect Dimensions?

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In addition to being a rule of good practice, by using adequate dimensions for social networks you show that you are a professional and respect the people you address on those social networks. Below, you will see that even photos that contain URL (e.g. the one leading to either online presentation of yourself or your business) and are intended for social networks must have proper dimensions to produce a powerful effect. In case you asked yourself how to build a website, professional programmers or ready-made templates, which you can configure for your needs, can be found.

Additionally, what you do looks far better than using the ‘one for all’ option. In this regard, here are the best photo dimensions for those networks that are most used today. And when we say the best dimensions, we mean the ones recommended (in pixels) by the networks themselves in question.

Recommended Dimensions for Visuals for Facebook

Profile photo: 180 x 180
Cover photo: 820 x 462
Photo with URL: 1200 x 630
Video size: 1280 x 720
Maximum video length: 240 minutes
Ad size: 1640 x 922
Story ad dimensions: 1080 x 1920
Messenger photo dimensions: 1200 x 628
Cover photo for the group: 1640 x 922

Recommended Dimensions for Visuals for Instagram

Profile photo: 110 x 110

Photo dimensions for posts:

1080 x 1080 cube
1080 x 566 landscape
1080 x 1350 portrait
Story dimensions: 1080 x 1920

Minimum video size:

600 x 600 square
600 x 315 landscape
600 x 750 portrait
600 x 700 carousel
Maximum video length to post: 60 seconds
Ad dimensions: 1080 x 566 (landscape), 1080 x 1080 (square)
IGTV video dimension: 1080 x 1920

Recommended Dimensions for Visuals for Twitter

Profile photo: 400 x 400
Cover photo: 1500 x 500
Photo size for posts: 1024 x 512
Video dimensions: 720 x 720 (square), 1280 x 720 (landscape), 720 x 1280 (portrait)
Maximum video length for feed: 140 seconds
Ad size: 800 x 428

What Kind of Visuals Should You Make For Social Networks?

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This can be talked about widely but we will summarize it in the following way. It solely depends on you what you will publish on social networks, that is, what type of content you will prepare and create. From event announcements, through promotional visuals that accompany blog posts, part of the atmosphere from the event or from the company’s premises, photos of products used and how they are used, current thoughts, behind-the-scenes moments, your employees or yourself, a story about services you offer, tips, useful quotes, survey results, case studies, not so demanding infographics, tutorials…

Depending on the purpose of your presence on a particular network and content marketing strategy, you should plan and make posts. A variety of free annual content calendars that you can download or even create yourself can help you with that. Simply, as in the case of researching topics and keywords, make a plan, write down all the ideas that come to you, and explore how they could be transformed into useful visuals. And, of course, adapt the visuals to each type of network you plan to post to. Don’t be lazy doing ‘one for all’ but make sure that the dimensions and context, and the text itself, correspond to the platform on which you are posting. So, how to create visuals?

Tools for Creating Visuals for Social Networks

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Whether you do not have the money to hire a professional designer or you may not want to work with them at the moment, we recommend that you try some of the following tools, which, to a large extent, do a solid job and meet your needs for quality visuals. Even more than that.

Canva

A tool that we would jokingly describe, many like not to like. What is characteristic of intolerance towards Canva is, as we have concluded, that a large number of people do not use this very useful tool to its full potential.

Canva is a graphic design platform that comes with predefined themes and templates for social networks, but also all those other design solutions that can come to mind. And this is exactly the root of the ‘problem’ because many people do not adapt these themes and templates to their needs, but use them as they are, so many posts look alike. However, once you learn how and what works, Canva soon becomes your right-hand and ‘on the go’ designer for all occasions.

The free version is more than enough to meet your needs for creating various types of posts for social networks: from quotes, through announcements, ads, all the way to adding filters to photos. It is available for both desktop computers and mobile phones.

Adobe Spark

This is a great and fast application for creating professional-looking design solutions. Like Canva, Adobe Spark also comes with a large selection of predefined templates, free photos, the ability to add text to photos and videos, and can be used on both PCs and mobile devices.

Snapseed

It is, at least for us, one of the favorite photo editing apps. It is literally like Photoshop and Lightroom in one, and if that is not enough for you, know that you can also use it to play with text and different shapes – all for free.

Unfold

This is a favorite tool of all Instagrammers. It is an application for creating great Instagram stories that comes with over 200 predefined templates. The free version is more than enough for all purposes, while the premium (priced at $ 2.99/month) comes with advanced options to play with and additional story enrichment, as well as even more choices for the themes and templates themselves and some additional elements.

StoryArt

Here comes another great app for Instagram stories, but also for creating highlights on your profile, which comes with over 2,500 predefined themes and templates. There are free and premium options in each of the categories, depending on your needs. Premium usage costs you $ 5 per month or you can opt for the Forever VIP option which will cost you $ 26. It is definitely worth the investment.

Final Word

Finally, we would like to add that it is advisable to put through the visuals what is typical for you and yourself. By this, we mean branding in the form of a color palette, the logo itself, the typography, and filters.

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