Designing an amazing cover/header for your social media brand (or personal) page can be a bit more involved than it appears. Typically, you’d need to start by researching the correct size and confirming that it’s correct. That usually involves reading a bunch of long articles before even starting to design. It turns out there’s also a lot misinformation when it comes to the correct social media image sizes.

Once you do figure out the proper size, you might realize that your audience can be viewing the cover/header on any wide range of devices such as a desktop computer, a mobile device, a tablet or even a TV. … Yikes … This usually leads to hunting for a template that has all the guides built-in. These are typically only available for software like Photoshop and can be very clunky to use. They include complicated layer groups and don’t even always ensure your image is visible on all devices.

That all changes today with new “Safe Areas” in Stencil! Now you can turn on/off overlays on the canvas that show you exactly where it’s safe to put graphics in your header/cover images, ensuring they won’t be cut off by profile photos or other changes between desktop/mobile/tablet/etc. This is now available for all Stencil plans (even free accounts, yay!) and is automatically enabled for the following cover/header images:

• Facebook Cover
• Twitter Header
• LinkedIn Company Cover
• LinkedIn Personal Cover
• YouTube Channel Art

Just select one of those from the canvas resizer and the “Safe Area” guides will appear. If the overlays ever get in your way, you can always turn the “Safe Area” on or off, using the social media icon to the right of the canvas:

We hope you find this new feature extremely useful and this will make creating header/cover photos a total breeze. Here’s a quick video showing the creation of a Facebook Cover image from start to finish, in less than a couple of minutes:

Let us know in the comments if this was helpful and saved you a ton of time!

The post Create Perfect Social Covers/Headers With New Safe Areas appeared first on Stencil.

The News on Facebook Cover Sizes

So here’s the deal, Facebook is accommodating more for mobile and video overall and it’s only a matter of time that covers or headers will be optimized appropriately. The Facebook cover size is slightly taller and we recommend not having any text close to the edges because depending on what devices are used it can be cut off. Facebook covers are great to advertise new deals and promotions, however, keep text closer to the middle of the image.

You would think that you can get the correct dimensions straight from the source, Facebook. However, the dimensions they offer fall short and can leave some covers looking inadequate. Who can we trust to have the most up-to-date Facebook information, the Queen of Facebook, Mari Smith of course!

While people were struggling to find the best cover sizes, she found the best Facebook cover size that’s perfect for all Facebook cover sizes with the best resolution (pages, profiles, and groups) is the almighty size of  1920 x 1080 pixels (16:9 ratio).

After we’ve tested the dimensions on our own personal group covers and profiles, we set the dimensions in Stencil under Headers so everyone can easily make an image without the hassle of searching out what Facebook Cover size will be best. Quick note – it’s best to download the image as PNG because it looks a bit better than a JPG.

Inspiring Examples of Facebook Covers

What makes an inspiring Facebook Cover? It has to evoke emotion and keep in line with branding elements.

Simple goes a long way for Hubspot!

Taking a photo and using emojis can be simple and on-brand.

Louise does an excellent job of keeping in line with her signature brand color and font with a promo text.

Yolanda kills it by promoting her book in the most delicious way.

Remember to use the set dimensions in Stencil under Headers and find Facebook Cover templates to help you get started.

The News on Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a huge part of marketing a business. Did you know that? You can use them to promote a new blog post, promotional product, or lead magnet for your email list. Using images that are cohesive with your brand and being able to add the stickers can jazz up the images with a bit more creativity. You can spin off from your blog post image and size it to the Instagram Story size, which by the way, we have it size all set in Stencil.

Of course, to get the nitty-gritty on marketing with Instagram, I always turn to Sue B. Zimmerman, the Instagram Expert. She provides all the cool updates Instagram constantly puts out to keep business professionals on top of their marketing game. She advises to do a video on Instagram Stories but what you can do is use static images in between video shots. Instagram Stories increases your exposure on Instagram. The more you do them Instagram will raise your reach.

It’s so important to use IG Stories for marketing. You can let people know you have a new blog post up and spruce up the image that you create in Stencil and add stickers and GIFS right on the image. The more creative the better as people will most likely click on your profile. Remember to include text on the IG Story with your Instagram handle because they’re clickable. Bringing people in from IG Stories to your profile to click the link in your bio is your main goal. You can also include your link to your website address on the IG story. The more followers you have the more features you’ll get to access on a business account.

The Social Pros Podcast has Sue B. Zimmerman on to chat about “Why Stories Is the Key to Company Instagram Success Today” and she gives so much valuable information that you can’t miss (you can hear details about IG stories at the 39:24 mark – but listen to the whole thing there are SO many great tips).

Here’s an example of one of our Instagram Story images to promote our Amazing Tips from Visual Marketing Experts blog post.

We simply used the blog post image and converted it to the IG Story vertical size. Moved the headshots around of our experts then we were able to add some IG stickers for some flair. Of course, we had to add crowns on all of the visual marketing queens. LOL, it’s fun to use those stickers! Tag people who are in the blog post on the Instagram Story so they can remember to share the post.

We’ve also added some Instagram Story templates in Stencil to get you started or if you already have an idea in mind just use the pre-set Instagram Story size (the size we use looks great on various devices). Download the image and place it on your camera roll for easy access to add to your Instagram Story.

Here are a couple of the new Instagram Story templates in Stencil:

All you need to do is change the colors or fonts to your branding. The rest of the fun happens on Instagram when you add tags, URLs, hashtags, stickers, and/or GIFs. Do something creative and memorable!

What are your plans for these new updates?

Are you going to give the Facebook cover size a whirl and create an amazing image for your business? Will you try using Instagram Story images to ask questions, promote a product, or introduce a new blog post? There are so many ways to market a business with Facebook covers and Instagram Story images!

Let us know what you plan to do in the comments.

The post Updates on Facebook Cover and Instagram Story Images (Sizes and Templates) appeared first on Stencil.

Optimizing your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Business Pages

1. Social Media Strategy

Pick a strategy for each platform. This may seem obvious, but don’t forget that each platform has its own nuances. A simple understanding of the difference between Facebook and Twitter can help you save time and energy. Twitter works best when using brief summaries in your post. Share a relevant source article by posting a summary of the article followed by a hashtag and a shortened URL link. Remember to visit the Home section in Twitter to engage with other people on their posts. Try being more conversational when posting on Facebook. For Instagram, use the heck out of those hashtags. Explore and engage with other posts with the same hashtags you use.

2. Know when to post

Try setting a schedule for your posts. Posting daily will help build your presence on your follower’s feeds. Every business is different so you can’t go with what others are doing on their social media posts. Some businesses may have most of their customers in New York and they’ll post during the evening hours at EST. However, another business may be posting to engage with followers in London in the morning hours. Here are our favorite posting tips for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

3. Customization

For Facebook specifically, this means tabs. Arrange your tabs in a way that helps your viewers quickly find the information that they need. Failure to do so will result in people moving on to the next page, thus less likes for your page. Make a call to action tab immediately accessible.

4. Company information

A full company profile is essential to any business branding. Take the time to dot your T’s and cross your I’s when it comes to Facebook. Users will quickly scan and move onto another page if they can’t find out more about your company. Ultimately, the way you treat this information will represent your business attitude.

5. Reinforce branding with profile and cover photos

Strong photos will reel viewers in and bring your company profile information full circle. This applies more specifically to Twitter and Facebook. Make sure your photos contain strong visual imagery that represents your brand identity and personality.

Recap for Optimizing for Social Media

Social marketing has the power to connect more directly than any other type of advertising. Take a few moments to make sure you’re optimizing your social platforms. Be subjective when considering a strategy for each of your social platforms. Then, pick a certain posting frequency for each one. Customize your pages, specifically with Facebook, by using your tabs efficiently. When applicable, be sure to fill in all the blanks for your company info. And lastly, use strong profile and cover photos to maintain a strong branding identity. 

The post 5 Ways to Optimize Social Platforms for Business appeared first on Stencil.