Cheat Sheet: Social media image sizes you need to know (2022)

Stop me if this seems familiar. You have just written the most epic blog post of your business career and you want to create amazing images to help you promote it. Knowing how things change in social media on a regular basis you fire up a Google search for “social media image sizes”. Maybe you even add in the current year to weed out old results. Perhaps you go one step further and search for “Facebook image sizes 2022”. No matter what you search for you still seem to find three different answers. And even if you find what you think is current info, there are so many different options listed for each network, you’re not sure which dimensions to use.

Fear not! I have compiled a list of the most commonly used social media image sizes. The sections below show only the images and dimensions you can easily control with your design (not every single image size you’ll see on the networks). Some of the images you see on Facebook, for example, are pulled in from other places and therefore we don’t really “design” for those spaces. Looking at some of the blogs about social media image sizes out there, you could get overwhelmed trying to decipher exactly which dimensions to use. Here we’ve used only the image sizes we think most small business owners need to be concerned with: Cover Photos, thumbnails, posts, and ads.

And the best news is you can get away with using some of these social media image sizes on multiple networks. For example, if you are designing a motivational quote, you can successfully post a 1080 x 1080 image on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram if you add wide margins around your text. You can also, generally, use a 1200 x 628 image for a Facebook Ad, Facebook Post, blog post linked to Facebook update, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts. So, while it’s nice to know all of the different social media image sizes you SHOULD be using to really make the networks work for you, there are a few shortcuts to save you time!

Here’s one more hot tip: If you’re using photos, not designed images, you can get every size you need just by uploading your photo to Biteable’s Free Image Resizer. Upload your photo and it will show you that photo in all the sizes available. You can even download all the new sizes instantly!

Facebook Image Sizes

Facebook is the most complicated network when it comes to image sizes because they can’t seem to make up their mind about one aspect ratio to use for all images. And even if you use the Facebook recommended size for some things, you might not be happy with the results.

Take, for example, the Facebook Business Page Cover. Facebook recommends a size that works on mobile, but doesn’t work on desktop! Yes, we need to be mobile-friendly, of course, but our Pages need to work for laptop users as well. So, my very smart graphic designer has laid out the two sizes and found you a safe zone. If you’re designing your cover photo in Canva, start with a canvas of 820 x 360 and make sure all of your text and main images show inside the safe zone box. This will ensure your image is cropped properly on both mobile and desktop.

If you’re trying to control the image that Facebook auto-populates for your blog post when it’s shared, be sure to use a 1200 x 630 image size and place that in your Yoast plugin social area to ensure Facebook knows which image to pull. This image can be different from the “Featured Image” of your blog and this image often doesn’t work for your blog if you put it in the Featured Image spot.

If you know this is something you’re going to use ALOT, sign up for my twice-monthly social media newsletter and get the printable version of this information to keep at your desk! You can also copy my Canva template into your own Canva account.

 

Twitter Image Sizes

Comparatively speaking Twitter is probably the easiest one to design images for now. Recently they introduced better cropping of images in posts, so you can use more common sizes and not worry about things being cropped weirdly when they show up in the newsfeed. 1200 x 630 is still a great size to use for Twitter, but you also have the option of 3:4 sizes if you need something taller.

Instagram Image Sizes

Instagram still seems to prefer square images for the newsfeed, but similar to Twitter, you can work with rectangles 4:3 or 16:9. The story size will work on Facebook Stories as well, which is nice considering most people auto post from IG Stories to Facebook Stories.

LinkedIn Image Sizes

LinkedIn is another network that seems to not want to pick one thing that can work across the board and has two completely different banner sizes for personal profiles and Company Pages. Luckily if you’re a solopreneur you probably don’t NEED to have a Company Page on LinkedIn (it’s always an option, just perhaps not a priority) and can just worry about your profile and the posts. And there’s that 1200 x 628 (interchangeable with 1200 x 630 on all networks using that size) that can work on Facebook and Twitter, too!

YouTube Banner Size

While YouTube deals mostly in videos, if you’re building your YouTube Channel you’ll want to have a custom designed banner image to set the tone. Like Facebook, there’s a size and a safe zone you need to work with. Start with the larger size and keep all the important stuff inside the safe zone.

Pinterest Image Size

Only two sizes to worry about with Pinterest, which makes it seem like the easy network! Pins are tall rentangles whether they are static images or “story pins” (basically short videos or gif style pins). And the only other Pinterest image size you need to worry about is your board covers if you want them to be branded. A simple square is what currently fits for the board covers.

TikTok Image Sizes

Yes, TikTok is mainly video and if you’re recording on your phone you’ll be fine. However, if you’re recording on another device you’ll need to set your video or photos to 9:16 ratio to fit properly on the TikTok screen. The good news is this is the Story size from FB and IG, so you can save some time by reusing those graphics/photos in your green screen videos if you’re doing that kind of thing.

 

 

There are two ways to ensure you’ve always got the up-to-date sizes with you…

1. Bookmark this page 🙂
2. Sign up for Social Media News You Can Use and get the printable version to keep at your desk!