What are the Specs for Facebook Cover Photos and Profile Pictures?

Since Facebook’s transition to Timeline in early 2012, the social networking giant has embraced a much more visual layout. Cover photos, one of the most prominent features of Timeline, allow individual users to add a bit of personality to their online personas. This same feature was also extended to brands and businesses, although these pages do have some restrictions that come along with them.

For starters, it’s important to realize that cover photos are public. Anyone who visits your Facebook fan page, whether that person is a fan or not, is going to be able to see your cover photo. Next, it’s important to understand the intended use of cover photos is not to promote your contact information. That is, cover photos are supposed to display an image that represents your brand. This image cannot (or isn’t supposed to) contain more than 20% text, and formerly could not display contact information of any kind (per Facebook’s current terms of use as of July 2013, there is no longer mention of cover photos not being able to feature contact information, but it’s probably good practice to avoid images that include contact information just in case the rules revert back). Furthermore, brands are not allowed to encourage fans to upload and use brand cover photos on their own individual timelines.

At minimum, Facebook cover photos must be at least 399 pixels in width. Ideally though, specs for Facebook fan pages should measure 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall. Per Facebook, it is recommended that images are less than 100 kilobytes in file size in order to accommodate fastest load times, although it is also recommended that images in need of higher quality resolutions (such as logos and text) be saved as PNG files to preserve integrity.

From a marketing standpoint, cover photos allow brands to highlight their products, some aspect of their work, or can even offer a glimpse into the inner workings of the company. Cover photos can allow a brand to humanize itself, can play to the interests of its fans, or can even just be an interesting image that people will enjoy looking at. Regardless of which approach your brand or business takes, be sure to follow the rules to avoid potential page suspension or deletion. In particular, Facebook’s terms of use always seem to be changing, so regularly referring back to terms of use can help fan page administrators stay on top of new changes.

If you have questions about Facebook cover photos, the Facebook terms of use is the best resource for pertinent information. However, for more detailed information about marketing strategy and how Facebook can be incorporated into your brand’s advertising efforts, feel free to contact the Internet marketing team at SLS Consulting.