Not all social networks play well with images of the same size. If you’re marketing on networks or just want your posts to look their best, it helps to know the ideal image size for the social network you’re using. This way you can prevent your images from being cropped in inappropriate places or resized to lose their effect. This article will outline these ideal image sizes for social media posts.
Social networks each have their own mechanism for resizing images for posts, but we know they don’t work perfectly. They tend to use a rather unsophisticated crop tool with limited functionality that will crop your image in the worst way possible. It is much better to do this yourself in advance. This way you can resize the image beforehand and render it without losing its effect.
Here are the image sizes you need to know.
Ideal image sizes for Facebook
As the world’s largest social network, most marketers will use Facebook. Despite the bad press and negative headlines, this social network rules them all for now, so it’s prime real estate for marketing.
Ideal image sizes for Facebook are 1,200 x 628 pixels for sharing and 1,080 x 1,920 pixels for Stories and event images.
Ideal image sizes for Twitter
Twitter is still number one for social media marketing and while it’s mostly text-based, there’s also a lot of potential for images. With more than 300 million daily users, Twitter is indispensable for marketing no matter what industry you are in.
Ideal image sizes for Twitter are 1,200 x 675 pixels for main posts and 800 x 418 pixels for posts with links. Profile pictures should be 400 x 400 pixels.
Ideal image sizes for Instagram
Instagram is the social network where images are shared, so it’s a prime candidate for any image marketing campaign. With over 600 million users, it has similar access to other networks and is designed specifically for display.
Ideal image sizes for Instagram are 1,080 x 1,080 pixels for square images, 1,080 x 566 pixels for landscape images, 1,080 x 1,350 pixels for portrait images, and 1,080 x 1,920 pixels for Stories.
Ideal image sizes for LinkedIn
LinkedIn is also a social network, but we tend to view it differently from Facebook or Twitter. It may have a completely different purpose and target market, but it’s still a social network and worth considering in any marketing campaign.
Ideal image sizes for LinkedIn are 1,104 x 736 pixels for company page or profile pictures, and 1,200 x 628 pixels for post images.
Ideal image sizes for Pinterest
Pinterest is also a social network but acts more as a feeder or funnel than a direct marketing method. With 90% of Pins leading to external links, it’s an ideal place to feed into a landing page or company website or blog.
Ideal image sizes for Pinterest are 800 x 1200 pixels for all image types.
Ideal image sizes for Snapchat
Snapchat is another social network that is ideal for images and has a largely younger demographic, making it fertile ground for marketing to a younger audience. With hundreds of millions of regular users, it’s definitely a network to consider if you’re targeting under 25.
Ideal image sizes for Snapchat are 1,080 x 1,920 pixels for all image types.
Ideal image sizes for YouTube
With over a billion regular users, YouTube should definitely be used for social media marketing when appropriate. While the predominant medium is video, you will need profile or channel pictures to promote the creator.
The ideal image sizes for YouTube are 800 x 800 pixels for profile pictures and 2,560 x 1,440 pixels for channel pictures. Videos should ideally be in HD quality and run at 1,280 x 720 pixels.
Ideal image sizes for Tumblr
While Tumblr doesn’t have the full profile of these other social networks, it does have a large user base, mostly young users between the ages of 15 and 25. If that’s your market, Tumblr is a good place to add extra marketing reach.
Ideal image sizes for Tumblr are 128 x 128 for profile pictures and 500 x 750 for post images.
It is very important to resize your images before posting. Since these images play such a powerful role in marketing, crop and resize them so that the subject is still front and center and the context of the image remains intact. If you bookmark this page, you will always know the ideal image sizes for social media posts!
