Should you really care about your Twitter banner size? Or for that matter about your banner sizes on other social media platforms like YouTube? Many businesses and entrepreneurs have this element in their minds only as an afterthought. After all, many think, you just get some content and images place them on any given platform, and off you go!
If only things were that simple! Sure, almost everybody involved in business these days realizes the importance of social media and social media marketing.
As Social Planner points out, social media marketing “has become one of the best ways to help modern companies grow. Marketing is one of the most important parts of running a successful business and using social media as a tool has proven very effective.” But, as with any other business tool, there is a right and a wrong way of using it. Social media like Twitter is no exception.
That is where visuals play one of the key parts of any social media campaign. But we don’t always know what sizes the images we use should be. There are so many platforms, all of them with their own rules. It’s very difficult to make your image post look good on all of them without the proper guidelines (above).
Twitter is certainly one of the key and most important social media platforms. Practically any type of business, big or small, has or should have a Twitter account that they use for their daily business activities.
So, it is no small matter whether your image or banner size is the right one for Twitter or not. It just might be the reason whether your company or business gets the right marketing traction from that platform or not.
Why you should care about Twitter
According to businessofapps.com, “Twitter is a real-time microblogging platform, publicly launched in July 2006. At launch, its defining features were the tight limits placed on each post, known as a tweet. Originally, users could only use 140 characters, although that was doubled to 280 in 2017.
Twitter grew out of its user base to reach over 300 million monthly active users. From there, it started added new features, like Twitter Spaces. But, for the most part, has retained the same look and feel of early Twitter.
So, what is the current state of Twitter? Here are some key statistics that show the importance of this social media platform, particularly for business and entrepreneurs:
- Twitter generated $3.7 billion revenue in 2020, an 8.8 percent increase year-on-year;
- 86 percent of Twitter’s revenue came from advertising in 2020;
- Twitter posted a net loss of $1.1 billion in 2020, which was the company’s first annual loss since 2017 (possibly due to Covid-19);
- Twitter has 186 million daily active users and 38 million users in the United States – the total number of users is 340 million.
Add to that that according to Statista, ad revenue from Twitter in the U.S. in 2020 was $1.62 billion.
Just looking at some of these basic facts gives a clear indication of what does presence on Twitter mean for any business or entrepreneur. Practically any company or prominent business figure has a Twitter profile.
But, as we mentioned above, just being present and having some content, images or a video on Twitter doesn’t mean you will get the right results. Taking into consideration elements like the right Twitter banner size does make a difference.
Twitter banner size – getting it right
Influencer Marketing Hub (IMH) explains the situation as follows. “What’s your Twitter banner situation? If you’re like most brands, you don’t pay nearly enough attention to what your Twitter banner actually looks like—you just throw an image in there and go about your life. But optimizing your Twitter profile by including the right Twitter banner size is a powerful yet often overlooked way to share your promotions and content with your followers. If your Twitter banner sizes are off, you look unprofessional. Plus, it’s just a waste of excellent space that could be used for marketing. “
According to Twitter itself, “the best banner size for the platform is 1500×500 pixels with an aspect ratio of 3:1.” Still, just respecting this official Twitter advice, will not do everything.
Creating a Twitter banner to these dimensions isn’t going to magically make your Twitter banner look good. You also have to account for the space taken up by your profile picture. Naturally, trying to build your Twitter banner around your profile picture isn’t exactly straightforward—the position of your profile image changes depending on the device you’re using and the available screen size (above).
“On a computer, your profile image will cover quite a large section of your Twitter banner. On mobile devices, you’ll be able to see more of your Twitter banner. You’ll need to leave enough space in the bottom left corner of your banner to keep your profile image from creeping into your banner design.
Not only that, but the space at the top and bottom of the banner tends to get cropped depending on the monitor size or browser being used. When you take the size of your Twitter profile image (400×400 px) into consideration, the “safe area” for your Twitter banner is only about 1500×360 px.”
More on getting it right
If you think that the above guidelines are just nitpicking, take into consideration some more numbers on Twitter usage from Statista (above). For example, 67% of all B2B businesses are using Twitter as a marketing tool and about 75% of all businesses have a presence on the platform. And, it’s no wonder why: 40% of Twitter users report purchasing something after seeing it on Twitter (Digital Marketing Institute). “That’s why it’s important to make sure that your Twitter banner looks great and is ready to help you generate leads and make sales.”
Your Twitter banner is the first thing your profile visitors are going to see when they check out your Twitter account. With a visually appealing and effective Twitter banner, you’ll be able to increase brand awareness and put some life behind your marketing campaigns (above).
Here are some of the examples of the manner in which big company names use their Twitter banners:
Dell
https://influencermarketinghub.com/twitter-banner-sizes/
Netflix
https://influencermarketinghub.com/twitter-banner-sizes/
Pampers
https://influencermarketinghub.com/twitter-banner-sizes/
For visitors to the Twitter profiles of these and other successful companies, the first thing they might notice is the high quality of the images they use for their Twitter banners.
But that is only the beginning of the story of what makes a good and successful Twitter banner. IMH (above) list four steps that will make any business-oriented Twitter banner work:
- Keeping it relevant to your brand – Your Twitter banner should be relevant to your brand and business. No matter what it is you’re promoting, your audience should be able to see your Twitter banner and know something about your brand. Bonus points if your Twitter banner supports your marketing message.
- Making an emotional appeal – Your Twitter banner should make an emotional appeal. Remember that old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words?” That holds true for your Twitter banner.
More Twitter banner size advice
- Keeping it simple and clean – It is vitally important to present a simple and clean Twitter banner that conveys your marketing message in a concise way while still generating interest and inspiring your visitors to take action.
Many brands opt to keep their Twitter banners limited to just images. If you’re going to use text, keep it simple and easy to read. Stick to standard fonts and high-contrast colors to make your Twitter banner accessible from any device. Remember that more than 80% of Twitter users visit the site via mobile devices so a detailed and cluttered Twitter banner isn’t going to have the effect you’re going for. - The interesting content should be in the middle – Since your Twitter banner will be cropped and stretched depending on the devices your visitors are using, make sure that you keep the more important aspects of your banner near the center. Use the rest of your space to draw visitors’ attention toward what you want them to see. And, make sure that your profile image doesn’t cover the important bits of your image no matter what device visitors are using.
Should it be an in-house project or should you leave it to the professionals?
No matter whether you’re a brand or influencer, your Twitter banner should look high-quality and professional. Here are the seven steps to take to create a Twitter banner that makes a great first impression (above).
- Consider brands personality. Choose images that bring to mind the traits you want your target audience to connect with your brand.
- Keep in mind the Twitter banner sizes guidelines. It’s important to make sure that your image doesn’t get stretched or cropped and ruin the look you’re going for.
- Showcase timely messages. If you’ve launched a new product or service, your Twitter head is a great place to mention it. You can also advertise events, webinars, online courses, contests, and much more.
- Brand-specific hashtag. If you have a branded hashtag you want people to know about and use, you can use your Twitter banner to share that information. This can be helpful if you’re trying to get more user-generated content.
- Personalization. Your Twitter banner should immediately make visitors think about your brand (remember our best practices).
- Use social proof. Social proof is a powerful marketing tool and your Twitter banner is a great place to show it off. If your brand is based on your professional credentials, share those credentials on your Twitter banner.
- Focus on quality – Your Twitter banner is the first impression your brand makes on visitors to your Twitter profile. If it looks messy, dirty, and generally unkempt, you’re going to discourage potential customers.
With all of the above in mind, you probably need to answer another serious question. Do you want to create your Twitter banner in-house or should you leave this to a professional designer? So what if the latter is the solution you opt for? BunnyStudio might be exactly the place! With us, you can enlist a quality, freelance designer to create exactly the Twitter banner you need!