How to Design a Facebook Cover Image

We’re not going to preach about the importance of Facebook when it comes to getting your brand out there, as we’re sure that’s no surprise to you! But it’s not enough to simply activate your business page and roll with it, as you need to make sure that your social presence is slick, professional, and effectively represents your brand. Displaying a high-quality Facebook image or Facebook video in your cover photo is one simple way to achieve just that, while showing that you mean business.

Read on for Facebook cover photo design tips and advice, as well as info about the best ways to create one for yourself, even if you don’t have any design experience.

Whether on desktop or mobile, your brand’s cover photo is the first thing a user will see when they visit your page. It’s larger in size than the profile picture and offers an opportunity to display an eye-catching image that sums up what your business is all about.

By using a video cover photo, this UK-based retailer quickly brings its product catalogue to life. The video, complete with music, depicts women wearing different outfits in various outdoor locations in a way that’s much more compelling than a static image catalogue.

This controversial spread has made the most of its Facebook cover photo by using it as a gamification technique. Changing the cover photos daily, during a competition period, the brand asked users to guess what new product was hidden under a sheet. The act sparked plenty of lively conversation, showing what can happen when you use the cover photo in an innovative way.

Making the most of the prominent position of the cover photo, this football club uses it to keep fans updated about upcoming matches. It’s a good way to improve user experience by allowing people to find important information quickly, without having to scroll through the page’s content.

You have to be careful with your Facebook cover photo dimensions as content displays differently on desktop and mobile. To be uploaded, a Facebook cover photo must be at least 400 pixels wide by 150 pixels tall, and images are displayed at the following sizes:

820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall

640 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall

We’d recommend adding any branding or text to the center of the image to reduce the risk of it not being visible on mobile.

Facebook says video dimensions should be at least 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall, with the recommended size being 820 pixels wide by 462 pixels tall. Content can be between 20 and 90 seconds long, and can loop in any way.

The great thing about cover photos and videos is that you don’t have to choose just one and stick with it. Regularly updating your banner is a good way of keeping your page fresh, and you can see which format generates the highest engagement rate from your followers. One thing to be aware of is that Facebook cover videos are only available for pages, not individuals, so this can be a good way to catch people’s attention.

39% of users like or follow a Facebook page in order to receive a special offer, so give your fans what they want by using your cover image to update them on sales and promotions. Clothing brand White Stuff used this tactic when promoting a summer sale on their Facebook header.

Remembering to avoid using text around the edges of the image (you don’t want to lose any copy for mobile viewers), you can use your Facebook cover photos or videos to display a quote or tagline. Look at Nike’s monochrome cover photo, which simply uses its ‘Just do it’ motto.

With a study finding that Facebook is the primary influencer of purchasing decisions, above any other social network, it’s important not to underestimate its power in converting clicks into sales. Treat your cover image like a billboard to display your latest products or services, and remember to update it as product lines evolve. The singer Adele uses her cover image to promote her latest album.

These days you don’t need years of graphic design experience under your belt to create the best Facebook cover photos. With Placeit’s Facebook cover maker, you can scroll through loads of templates that can be customized based on the message you want to portray. The best thing about this Facebook cover photo maker is that you don’t need expensive software to create the templates; instead, just download them to your desktop and you’re good to go.

Recommended for people with some design experience, another way you can create good Facebook cover photos is by downloading templates through Envato Market, which can then be edited in Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator as required. If you have an Envato Elements subscription, you can download new templates as and when you need to.