Facebook | John Cade

How to Create Better Images for Facebook Mobile

February 28, 2013 — Leave a comment

In addition to creating highly engaging images for your Facebook Timeline, it’s important to consider how those images will be displayed in a mobile setting. CNN recently reported that 157 million people access Facebook from their mobile phones every day. That’s a lot of people. As marketers, we need to pay attention to this growing audience. One way to cater to them is to optimize our Timeline images for mobile consumption.

The Nuances of Timeline Images on Facebook Mobile

As I blogged about previously, the ideal size for a Facebook image is 403 pixels tall x 403 pixels wide. This is the size that your image will appear on your Timeline regardless of how you create it. Using this size for images, you will avoid any cropping or blurring that may occur when Facebook displays your image.

Facebook Mobile, however, displays images slightly different on your Timeline than the desktop browser version does.

Let’s take a look at an example of an image on the full Timeline versus the Facebook Mobile Timeline:

The image on the left is from the desktop browser version of Facebook Timeline. The image on the right, which has the top and bottom cut off, is from a Facebook Mobile Timeline.

In this specific image, part of the text and the watermarked URL are invisible to the mobile viewer unless the user touches the screen to enlarge it. This isn’t ideal. So how can I fix it?

How to Optimize Facebook Mobile Images

The big question is exactly how much of my photo is actually chopped off? It appears that Facebook crops out the top and bottom 67 pixels while scaling the width to fit in the mobile browser. Remember, this is based on an image that is 403 pixels tall x 403 pixels wide.

Another way to look at it is that Facebook’s mobile site and apps show only 269 pixels of the horizontal center of the image from top to bottom.

It may seem smart at this point to say, “Great! I’ll tell my designer to leave 67 empty pixels on the top and bottom of my image and place the text in the horizontal center!”

Not so fast. Do you really want your text bumping up against the very edge of the viewable part of the image? Probably not. I recommend leaving no less than a 10 pixel buffer around all of your text. This means that you should have your designer leave 77 empty pixels at the top and bottom of any image placed on Facebook.

For visual learners, I created this image to help you understand. Please feel free to download this image as a template for your personal or business use.

Let’s Keep This in Perspective

Facebook does not crop images in the news feed, which is where the majority of people will see them. This means that it does not matter if your images are 403 pixels tall by 403 pixels wide. However, when a user visits your Timeline, whether it be from their desktop browser or mobile phone, they will potentially see a cropped version of what you originally shared if it is not these exact dimensions.

If you want to have a professional, clean Timeline both in the desktop browser and on mobile devices, then implement this method of creating images on Facebook.

In Facebook, Mobile, Social Media

10 Ideas For Your Next Status Update

February 25, 2013 — Leave a comment

Image credit: Marlon Bunday

Inspiration comes and goes. But one thing stays the same: you have a job to do.

The last thing a social media manager needs to get hung up on is ideas for status updates. Here are ten ideas you can use when you need inspiration.

Status Update Ideas for Your Business

1. Quotes

2. Publicly thank a fan / follower or share their content

3. Fill in the _______.

4. Ask a question

5. Behind the scenes information / picture / video

6. Coupons and promo codes

7. Share content from a partner or vendor

8. Job openings at your organization

9. Promote your other social media accounts

10. Recycle content that users engaged with in the past

A Question You Can Ask Yourself To Find Inspiration

Notice that most of the list above benefits your fans and followers rather than asks something of them. Another way to find inspiration is to ask yourself this simple question:

How can I help my community today?

Your answer will provide the inspiration you need.

In Facebook, Social Media, Twitter

3 Guaranteed Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement

This is a link to a post that I contributed to Social Media Today.

Are you going to settle for reaching only 12% of your Facebook audience? These three tips will help you beat the system to unleash a much larger audience than you are reaching today.

Posted on February 20, 2013 In Facebook, Social Media

The Anatomy Of An Engaging Facebook Image

A well-designed Facebook image:

has dimensions of 403px by 403px
is watermarked with your URL
has a brief caption with a link to related content
can stand alone without a status or link

The first three features are mechanical in nature. Alone, they will not make your image engaging. However, they are very important.

The dimensions are important because it’s the exact size that Facebook will display your photo on your Timeline, whether you create it with these dimensions size or not. If it’s bigger, Facebook with crop out what does not fit. If it’s smaller, the image will show up blurry.

The watermark is good practice regardless of where you post the photo. Though you create it for Facebook, someone can easily download the image and post it in a tweet or elsewhere. The watermark assures that your brand not only gets credit for the image but that social media users can find the source that created it.

Using a caption and a link is optional. However, if you create images that spread, then the caption and link will spread with it. This could provide a large number of visitors to your website.

The last feature, Can stand alone without a status or link, is the most important feature. We’ll explore why below.

An Example of an Engaging Facebook Image

Let’s take a look at a real-life example from a Facebook Page:

This image meets all of the criteria I stated above. But why is this approach so much better than simply sharing a a text update?

Why Images are Better Than Text Alone

First of all, an image takes up more space in the news feed than text alone, making it more noticeable to Facebook users.

Secondly, adding a visual element helps the user to understand what you are trying to communicate. The article I shared is titled “Conquer the clutter in your life.” The image clearly communicates that the content is about clutter.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the user has more reason to interact with it than if we posted a link by itself. In this scenario, the user may click through to the article and enjoy it, resulting in a ‘Share’ or ‘Like’. They may also appreciate the image and share or like it without reading the article. In the example above, there’s a question included in the image. This gives the audience a chance to engage with the post by commenting.

The image could be posted anywhere, with or without the link, and still make sense to the viewer. The user can also find the source that created the image. As marketers, we can meet our objectives (more unique visitors, page views and revenue), even when the image is taken from the original place it was uploaded!

How To Create Your Images

Find free images on Flickr or paid images on iStockPhoto (or another stock photography site)
Download a relevant image with plenty fo room for text
Open the image in Adobe Photoshop or a free online tool such as Pixlr Express
Crop the photo to 403px by 403px
Add your creative and engaging copy on top of the image
Add your watermark to the image (if you can’t add your logo, your URL is enough)
Save the image
Upload to Facebook with a caption and link to related content

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that you should experiment with images on your Facebook Page. Not every image will be a home run. Test, measure and refine over a long period of time. The more you experiment, the more you will understand what resonates with your audience.