When you are building a social media presence, it can be hard to know what’s going to work best. And you rarely consider the technicalities of content creation beyond the colors and typography. But the truth is that it doesn’t matter if you are trying to sell a product or just promote an event — the size of your posts and ads affects how much engagement they get. Let’s dive deeper!
On social media, size matters… here’s why
Social media is a key ingredient for a successful content marketing campaign. And it is not just because it is free and easy to set up, but because it is also the best way to get in touch with your customers and prospects in real-time.
The more you engage with your audience, the more likely they are to return to your site or buy from you again in the future.
But if you are not using social media correctly, it can be a wasted opportunity for your business. When you are starting out on social media, there are a few things that can trip you up. One of them is the size of your posts and ads — how big should they be? What sizes work best for each platform?
These questions can seem daunting at first, but once you know what works best for each platform, it will become second nature.
You might be surprised at how many people don’t know how to size their content for social media posts and ads. After all, this is a crucial step in getting your content seen by as many people as possible. In fact, if you are not using the right sizes for your posts, then they may never reach their target audience!
Sizing your social media posts and ads correctly is important for two reasons. First, it helps you reach the right audience with the right message. Second, sizing your social media posts and ads properly is essential for making sure that you are getting the most out of your investment in creating an effective content marketing campaign.
Why consistency is important in social media branding
Consistency is a key element of your brand. It is what makes you unique and memorable, but it is also what differentiates you from your competitors.
If you want your customers to remember you, then consistency is the key to success. Consistent branding means that the same message comes across consistently across all channels so that regardless of the medium they are using, your customers know what they are getting when they interact with you.
For example, if you have a website that offers services in four different cities, your site can’t have a distinct look and feel for each of those locations. It can end up confusing the customer and lead to irregularities in your branding.
Similarly, uniformity in graphics is also an essential part of social media branding. It is as important as the content itself. You need to be consistent with your logo, colors, and typeface.
If you have a blog or website with multiple pages, you need to use the same visual brand guide for all of them. If you have an apparel business, you need to use the same color scheme for all your products.
If you sell products in multiple categories, such as accessories, shoes and handbags, jewelry and watches — etc., then they all need to have the same visuals. And that applies to social media, too!
The reason? The more consistent you are with your branding, the easier it is for people to recognize your brand in social media posts. In other words, correctly sized content gets promoted more because it provides your brand with a coherent image while improving the relevancy and shareability of your posts and ads.
Size guide to social media posts and ads
The social media world is a fragmented one. Each platform has a different audience, and they all have their own rules and regulations. As mentioned before, consistency is also about creating a visual brand that people can recognize, whether they are seeing it on a billboard or in an ad on Facebook or Instagram. People will notice if they are not getting the same branding with every post!
To make sure your social media campaigns are successful, you need to know how to size them correctly. This guide will help you create the right-sized posts and ads for your social media.
Size guide for Facebook posts and ads
Facebook is a great place to start your social media marketing efforts. The platform is used by businesses of all sizes, from small establishments with just a few employees to large corporations with thousands of employees, making it the most popular social media platform in the world with over 2 billion monthly active users.
Facebook’s ad platform allows you to create ads that are targeted toward specific groups of people who are interested in what you are selling or promoting. This makes it easier to increase sales and build brand awareness than ever before.
The platform recommends using a size of 1200 x 630 pixels with an aspect ratio of 1.91:1 to 1:1 for images for both individual posts and carousels. For Facebook Stories, the recommended size for ads and general uploads is limited to 1080 x 1920 with an aspect ratio of 9:16. You can upload your images in PNG and JPG formats.
For both formats, it is important to stick to 20% content and 80% white space if you wish to receive better engagement.
Alternatively, the aspect ratio for Facebook video posts and ads is set to 9:16 to 16:9 with a recommended content ratio of 20%.
Size guide for Instagram posts and ads
Instagram is the best social media platform for brands to showcase their products and services due to its graphics-first approach. It is a great way to get your brand in front of the right people at the right time given its high engagement rate.
The Facebook-acquired platform gives you plenty of options when it comes to designing your posts and ads. And although it is well-integrated with its parent company, there is still some difference between Facebook and Instagram’s size guide.
Instagram allows you to create posts and ads in static images, videos, and Stories formats.
Feed images: The recommended dimension for static Instagram images is 1080 x 1080 pixels in PNG and JPG formats. Similar to Facebook, if you are posting your images with text, it is best to maintain a 20% content ratio even on Instagram as this is primarily a visual platform although the caption space allows enough room for text.
Note that for a better user experience, Instagram compresses the size of your image uploads to 612 x 612 pixels, so ensure that you upload the recommended size for the best results.
Video ads and posts: The recommended dimension for video posts is 600 x 600 px with an aspect ratio of
1:1.Stories posts and ads: Our recommended dimensions for Stories ads are 1080 x 1920 pixels with an aspect ratio of 9:16 and 16:9 to 4:5.
Size guide for Twitter posts and ads
Twitter is a great way to share your content with a wide audience as it is an open global platform, which means anybody can find your brand if you upload high-quality content with the right hashtags.
The recommended size for a Twitter post or ad is 1200 x 628 pixels with an aspect ratio of 16:9. If you are sharing one image or multiple images, we recommend uploading them in PNG or JPEG format.
You can upload file sizes of up to 5 MB for images and it is the same for GIFs if you are using the mobile version of the platform. For the desktop version, you can upload GIFs of up to 15 MB.
Twitter will allow up to four photos on one tweet, but if you want more space for your content, you can always create a thread of content. But there’s a catch. Twitter scales down the size of your images to 700 x 800 pixels each if you upload more than one. Therefore, make sure you plan your content well before uploading it.
Size guide for Pinterest posts and ads
Pinterest is a social network built around visual content. It is an ideal place for businesses to get discovered, as it has over 459 million monthly active users. If you are a business catering to the female audience, Pinterest can be an excellent platform to reach them because more than 60% of its users are women.
The platform’s engagement is quite close to that of Facebook. The users are so active that they watch roughly 1 billion videos on Pinterest every day. If you decide to promote your business using Pinterest ads, you can potentially reach more than 200 million people.
Pinterest recommends an upload size of 1000 x 1500 pixels for images with an aspect ratio of 2:3 in PNG, GIF, and JPNG formats. For videos, the standard aspect ratio is 1:1 and the same applies to the carousel posts with a recommended size of 1000 x 1000 pixels.
What is the best and most efficient way to size your social media posts and ads?
Social media is all about getting your message out there, and the only way to do that is with a social media post. But what makes social media posts so effective is that they are not just one-size-fits-all. They need to be designed specifically for each platform, with relevant images and text that resonate with the audience.
That’s why we recommend using tools like Canva to automatically size your social media posts and ads. The free version of this online tool is enough to take care of all the hard work for you — which means you can focus on creating high-quality content instead of worrying about the technical side of things.
With a few simple steps, you can create beautiful images that look good on any device. And with Canva’s auto-size feature, you won’t have to worry about whether or not your posts and ads will look right across all platforms again.
How to get more engagement for your social media posts and ads
Social media marketing is a great way to grow your business, but it can be hard to know exactly where you should be focusing your energy and resources. Here are some key tips for creating posts and ads that get the most engagement, comments, and shares:
Use the right format: Upload content in the format that clicks with your audience. For example, if you are targeting female entrepreneurs, you should consider using sophisticated visuals. And if you are targeting millennials, consider using GIFs and memes.
Write about something people care about: Create content that resonates with your audience. If you create content that doesn’t have any value or relevance to them, it will be ignored by them and not shared on any social media platforms.
Use visuals: Images make posts more engaging because they make us pay attention to what we are seeing, which helps us understand better what’s being written about in each post/ad.
Add CTAs: Always include links or calls to action at the end of your post/ad so that people can easily find out more information about the topic you have shared with them in the first place (e.g., website address or landing pages).
To make your social media marketing even easier, we have created a quick, downloadable reference guide for sizing your social media posts across all platforms. Our guide will help you get seen by more people as well as increase your chances of getting more views, clicks, and conversions. Check it out!