Business Profile Photos
The first step in branding your social media channel(s) is the profile photo.
When selecting a photo or graphic for your business profile photo for social media, networking, podcasts, or video channels consider these tips:
1) LOGO vs PHOTO
Most of the time you should use your logo for your profile photo. Some logos do not present well in the business profile size requirements – if you have an icon in the logo consider using that.
Some business profiles are created for the sales staff and/or key management. In this case, it is appropriate to use your photograph as your profile photo. For example, realtors and financial consultants often conduct their own marketing and have their own business profile pages.
2) SQUARE vs CIRCULAR
Many businesses have rectangular logos. And most of the social media channels require a SQUARE shape profile image. And quite a few of the business profile photo areas are displayed in a circular format. They expect you to upload a square with an image/graphic that will appear in the circle.
When you place a rectangle in a square the result is often an extremely small logo (not optimal for branding) Often the square image will be uploaded into a circular display.
3) Image SIZE
Each social media channel has its own recommended minimum/maximum image sizes for profiles. In general, you can expect a 600pixel by 600pixel image to fit and display well on all of your channels.
In addition to size, image resolution is very important. If you upload a small-sized image or an image with a low-resolution image it will appear blurry.
If you don’t know how to crop or resize an image or graphic, you can set up a free canva.com account and there are many easy drag-and-drop solutions to size your profile photos.
4) CONSISTENCY
Keep a consistent look. Use the same or similar images on all your social media account profiles. This might sound obvious but social media accounts are often created over a period of time and different images/graphics are used.
After you select an image and upload it to your business profile … TEST IT! View it on a desktop, view it on a phone, and see how it looks on a post, tweet, or video.
FAQs about your business profile photos
What is a pixel? px = Pixels
Digital images are commonly sized by pixels (px). Most computers have built-in features to identify image sizes and resize images. However, the use of poor image sizes is the number #1 most common problem with branded materials. This is why photo editing companies such as www.canva.com have become so incredibly popular – they’ve created a drag
What to do if you have a landscape rectangular logo or no logo at all?
You can either find an image that represents your business, create an acronym/logo, or use the face of your recognizable brand (i.e. the owner, founder, chef…)
Photo vs Logo vs Image
If someone is on your website and they click to your social media pages, they will view your overall branding. They will see your photo/logo, banner art, and your posts, tweets, videos, etc. However, the business attraction to social media is the ability to expand your ready through virtual referral marketing. People will stumble across your posts and see a very, very small version of your profile photo. Below is a screenshot of an easily recognizable brand. Pepsi used the graphic aspect of their logo on their Facebook page, i.e. no wording. No wording necessary – this is an extremely popular and recognizable brand, and you see the company name to the right. The image used on social media should be identifiable on the smallest displays. The small profile photo is what people will before they go to your page and like, follow, etc.
Most businesses don’t have the marketing teams to develop a branding strategy like Pepsi. But small to medium size businesses can still make sure they have a name and an image that is recognizable.
A marketing company will develop a branding strategy for your business.
Some businesses can do-it-yourself with easy photo editing solutions like canva.com.
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