Your Twitter cover photo is much more than a space to fill an image with; it is the first thing your online community will notice when landing on your page. Thus, it is important to display a Twitter cover photo that effectively represents your brand, and retains your online visitors’ attention. Think of your cover photo as the “welcome wagon” to your Twitter profile that gives users a snapshot of what your business is all about. Whether it’s artistic, humorous, educational or promotional, having a high-quality, on-brand cover photo will allow your profile to outshine the competition.
The first step in creating an effective Twitter cover photo is to ensure you adjust your photo to the correct dimensions. The suggested Twitter dimensions are stated as 1500 pixels in height by 500 pixels in width, leaving a large canvas for creativity. Furthermore, keep in mind that your image scale is 3:1, your maximum file size is 10MB and your image formats include JPG, GIF and PNG. Finally, it is important to ensure your photos are high-resolution to avoid any distorted, blurry or pixelated images, which could ultimately lead to poor brand perception.
Once you have the dimensions of your photo sorted, displaying a Twitter cover photo that speaks to your brand is the next step. Not only should your Twitter cover photo represent your brand, but it should be aligned with any existing design assets, such as colors and filters. Staying consistent in your branding will allow your business to stay top of mind for consumers.
In order to better understand best practices for Twitter cover photos, let’s take a look at a few accounts that are leading the pack.
5 Twitter Cover Photos Tips From 10 Brands
Tip #1: Stay relevant and design your Twitter cover photo for the season, holidays
Take advantage of seasons and holidays to highlight products that meet the needs of your customer. Allow your Twitter cover photo to show your brand’s awareness of the latest trends and stay relevant in your customer’s eyes.
Canada’s leading outdoor retailer, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) knows how to speak to their audience and has proven it with their Twitter cover photo. Not only are they using a high-quality image, but their ambassador speaks to the season, equipped with MEC winter-attire highlighted in red.
Future Shop stays relevant by showcasing products that would be of interest when starting off the new year. Not only does their Twitter cover photo take the time of year into consideration by explicitly addressing it in text, but Future Shop also uses the large canvas to showcase their diverse product line.
Tip #2: Utilize Twitter cover photos for current promotions
What better landscape to advertise your latest campaign than the Twitter cover photo? Since the Twitter cover photo is the first thing visitors see on your official account, take advantage of that space to educate customers on your mission, announce company updates and share a current campaign.
It’s hard to miss Taco Bell’s latest campaign to check out their app. Taco Bell effectively leverages their Twitter cover photo to promote their app with the hard to miss hashtag #onlyintheapp against a fun and celebratory backdrop.
ABC’s The Bachelor is going to make sure fans won’t miss an episode by effectively promoting the date, time and network it will be showing on. In addition, their Twitter cover photo is vibrant, high quality and ultimately eye-catching.
Tip #3: Use Twitter cover photos to showcase your product(s)
Whether it is a product or service, your business sells something. Why not take advantage of some free advertising real estate and showcase your product(s) with your Twitter cover photo.
This Twitter cover photo from Dr.Pepper showcases their product lineup strategically against a black background. It’s difficult not to pay attention to the crisp, vibrant Dr.Pepper cans.
Customer service solution software, Zendesk, demonstrates a perfect example of a Twitter cover photo staying aligned with the business design elements with hints of green found in both the profile picture and cover photo. In addition, Zendesk effectively uses their cover photo to visualize their product for desktop, iPad and mobile users.
Tip #4: Let your Twitter cover photo speak to your brand personality and lifestyle
Undoubtedly the main Nike customer persona is an athletic one, so it comes to no surprise that Nike’s Twitter cover photo is an image of a woman running. Nike continues to inspire their audience by placing this athlete running along a scenic path and cleverly branding their photo with the iconic Nike “swoosh.”
In their Twitter cover photo, Chevron connects to all types of people throughout the world, making a statement that their company is much than the product they provide. They include the people working for the company, as well as those who benefit from using Chevron’s products and services. Based on their Twitter cover photo, Chevron’s brand persona is a compassionate and global one that extends to all types of people.
Tip #5: Include your customers in your Twitter cover photo
Build long-lasting relationships with your customers by featuring their photos, comments and reviews on your Twitter cover photo. Not only will you be leaving an impression on your featured customers but you will have access to abundance of content, care of your fans and customers.
Reviews on TripAdvisor’s site come from the customer so what better way to acknowledge this by highlighting it on a Twitter cover photo? Not only is the TripAdvisor cover photo a scenic and desirable travel destination but it includes a review from one their customers.
In a new campaign to educate fans on the quality of their beef burgers, McDonald’s is including user generated content in their Twitter cover photo. What better way to stay connected with their fans by showcasing customer photos and giving credit by tagging the customer in the photo.
Do you have anymore Twitter cover photo tips? We’d love to hear them in the comments below.