Designing Social Media Pages
Consistent branding across all marketing channels is crucial to your site's success. Every touchpoint with your customers sends them messages (intentional or not) about your company's values, brand, and helps to develop a 'know, like, and trust' factor that enables them to confidently click Add to Cart. Take the time to plan your profiles for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in order to further your brand's image.
Contents
Overview
Having a cohesive look to all marketing channels ensures that the same message is being articulated in a planned way. Giving some thought and planning to your marketing channels will make sure that the message being communicated is one that you wish you send! Below you will find information regarding what you should be thinking about while designing your Social Media Pages and which elements can be controlled.
For more information on setting up a Facebook Fan Page and tips on best practices click here. Here are the elements that can and should be customized along with their restrictions for Facebook Fan Pages:
- Cover Photos - Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. Here are the restrictions on Cover Photos from Facebook, "All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can't be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else's copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include:
- price or purchase information, such as "40% off" or "Download it on socialmusic.com";
- contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page's "About" section;
- references to Facebook features or actions, such as "Like" or "Share" or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; or
- calls to action, such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends."
- Facebook Profile Photo - Profile photos can be up to 180 pixels wide and 540 pixels tall. This is the perfect place to include your company logo, contact information (including site url) and differentiating features like free shipping.
- Welcome Pages - Although Welcome Pages can no longer be the default landing tab they can be created and be one of three tabs below your cover photo so that they are still above the fold (visible without scrolling down). WSM can create a custom Welcome Page and Facebook Fan Page elements for you. Please contact us if interested.
For more information on setting up a Twitter profile and tips on best practices click here. Here are the elements that can and should be customized along with their restrictions for Twitter profiles:
- Avatar - Design your Avatar to be 300 pixels wide and 300 pixels tall. Consider your Avatar very carefully. This is an image that best represents your brand and may be a logo or a headshot. This image is not something you will want to change often to take your time chosing one that most effectively communicates your brand.
- Wallpaper/Background - Design your Wallpaper to be 2560 pixels wide and 1600 pixels tall to fill the largest monitors. Design the left side to a maximum of 200 pixels wide so that the information can still be visible to users with a 13 inch screen. Add your contact information and definining features to the left side area.
- Header Image - Once you have an image, you can move and scale it as you please. Original image size cannot exceed 1252 pixels wide and 626 pixels tall (with a max file size of 5MB). This image will appear behind your avatar and will look similar to Facebook Cover Photos.
YouTube
For more information on setting up a YouTube profile and tips on best practices click here. Here are the elements that can and should be customized along with their restrictions for YouTube Channel:
- Background - YouTube changes their background dimension requirements from time to time but currently the design should be around 1800 pixels wide and 2980 pixels tall. Choose graphics or images that compliment your website and branding message.
- Avatar - Design your Avatar to be 500 pixels wide and 500 pixels tall. Again, the avatar should be considered very carefully and should be an image that best represents your brand.
Summary
Take the time to plan all profiles to maintain a consistent look an feel where ever your customers find your brand. A branding message should be clear, concise, and unable to mistake. By removing any confusion about your branding message you will help encourage trust, and in turn, conversions.