Creating social media images isn’t a one-size-fits-all task.
Images are the best way to grab your audience’s attention. So having the right images on your social media shares is vital. It’s not enough just to create one image and use it for all your social media sharing. Each social network requires different image sizes and each social media site crops and optimizes uploaded images differently. So it’s important to size and determine how to position product and wording in/on your images so that they present the best visual.
If time won’t allow you to can’t create images specifically for each social media, you need to have a minimum of two images (landscape and portrait) for every blog post. However, I recommend you have a minimum of three images for all of your posts. One of each: square, portrait, and landscape.
The most popular sizes that work for most social media are:
- Landscape (horizontal): 1200 x 628 pixels (1.91:1 aspect ratio) or 1024 x 512 pixels (2:1 aspect ratio)
- Portrait (vertical): 800 x 1200 pixels (1:2 aspect ratio)
- Square 1080 x 1080 pixels (1:1 aspect ratio)
For the best visually, eye-catching bang, images should be specific for the social media that you are posting on. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn are all recommending 1200 x 628 pixels, which is 1.91:1 aspect ratio. You need to include this size image on every blog post!
Facebook: 1200 x 628 pixels
- Square photos, no matter what size you upload them, will be displayed as 476 x 476 pixels. If you upload an image that is less than 400 pixels, it will appear blurry.
- Landscape (horizontal) photos will be scaled to 476 pixels wide, with the height adjusted accordingly.
- Portrait (vertical) photos will be scaled to 476 pixels wide, with the height adjusted accordingly—but only to a maximum of 714 pixels.
There are two different layouts when you share a link on Facebook:
- A smaller square image to the left of the link (text on the right). This requires a minimum of 154 square pixels on the feed and 116 square pixels for the page.
- A larger image underneath a snippet of text. This requires an image with at least 470 x 246 for the feed and 484 x 252 for the page.
The recommended image size is 1200 x 628 pixels. Which, is almost the same as what they recommend you use when sharing an image on the site.
Twitter: 1200 x 675 pixels
Images appear as a minimum of 440 x 220 pixels a 2:1 aspect ratio. Any ratio that is between 2:1 and 1:1 will work well. On a desktop, images appear as a minimum of 506 x 253 pixels, while 1200 x 675 pixels a 16:9 aspect ratio is the ideal image size to display your image fully on mobile (which also works great for desktop).
If you have an image that is smaller than 506 x 253 pixels, Twitter won’t stretch the image to fit. Instead, there will be whitespace.
Uploading 2-4 images:
- When you upload four images, each image will be scaled to 379 pixels tall and cropped to 379 pixels wide, with an aspect ratio of 2:1 for all images (when displayed on mobile). They will all appear as square images with the first one larger than the other 3 on desktops.
- If you’re uploading three images, each will be scaled to 337 pixels tall and cropped to 337 pixels wide, with an aspect ratio of 7:8 for the first (and largest) image, and 4:7 for the other two images (when displayed on mobile).
- If you’re uploading two images, each will be scaled to 252 pixels tall and cropped to 252 pixels wide, with an aspect ratio of 7:8 for both images (when displayed on mobile).
Instagram 1080 x 1080 pixels
Instagram used to be all about the square photo but has now made room for both landscape and portrait photographs.
Square images are best at 1080 square pixels, although Instagram scales these down to 612 square pixels. The best size for landscape images is 1080 x 566 pixels and the optimum resolution for portrait images is 1080 x 1350 pixels. To be effective, ensure that photos maintain an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 4:5.
For Instagram Stories, images have a 16:9 aspect ratio. The ideal resolution is 1080 x 1920 pixels, and the minimum resolution is 600 x 1067 pixels. Instagram has a maximum file size of 4MB for every photo uploaded to the platform.
Pinterest 600 x 1260 pixels
Previously, on the feed and in boards, pins are limited to a width of 236 pixels with no height limit. Now, Pinterest has verified that Pins taller than 2.1 times their width will be cropped in the feed. My recommend 600 x 1260 pixels has this 1:2.1 aspect ratio and are some of the best performers for me. Pins taller than this will be seen in full when clicked.
Pinterest’s recommended image aspect ratio is 2:3 to 1.3:5 and their recommended sizes are 600 x 600, 600 x 900, and 600 x 1260. However, Pinterest says 600 x 900 pixels or any 2:3 size is optimal.
LinkedIn 1200 x 628 pixels
LinkedIn blog post link shares match Facebook’s, 1200 x 628 pixels. The image appears as 552 x 368 pixels. LinkedIn does crop the sides of landscape images to fit the 368-pixel height and it crops the bottom of the image exceeding the 552-pixel height if you upload a portrait or square image. You can still view the whole image when you click on it. NEW! The optimal image size for individual profile updates posts is 1800 x 1200 pixels for both updates with links and without links to web pages.
If you have an image that isn’t one of these standard sizes, you can use this handy calculator tool to find the aspect ratio of your image.
Much of my image work is done in PSP, however, I use several different free online image editors for quick sizing, editing, and optimization tasks. Do you have a favorite free online image editor? My go-to because I’ve used it for several years and it is the one that I am most familiar with is Web Resizer. Recently, I was introduced to two awesome sites, Canva and Canvas Prints. I love the speed at which images upload to both of these sites. These are the most simplified photo editors that you will come across. Thanks to all the features, another favorite of mine is LunaPic. With this free easy to use online photo editor you can make art instantly with their filters and effects. Give one or all of them a try to help you step up your sharing game.
