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For online shop owners, it’s already Christmas. And you have much to do to serve your customers in the spirit of the season. The good news is that there are plenty of opportunities to easily add some sparkle and cheer to the customer experience via your social channels.
Think of your Facebook cover image as the virtual equivalent to a glittering display window for a local brick-and-mortar store; it’s a way to share some warmth and joy, and to delight passersby so much that they want to come inside (a.k.a. clicking the “like” button and commenting on your posts).
To make the “decorating process” easier for you, we’ve created:
- A blueprint with the required image sizing specs for your Facebook Page,
- Two tools to help with design in either Powerpoint or Photoshop,
- And for those of you who don’t have time to do design work yourself, we’ve got some shortcuts for you too!
A Blueprint of Facebook Photo Specs for Perfect Sizing
Firstly, you can find all the dimensions used by Facebook for images in different locations using this blueprint we’ve created for you. This will help you size your pictures so that they’ll look sharp!
Tools to Help You Create Your Facebook Images Using Powerpoint and Photoshop
Next, it’s time to create your images. Most of us non-traditional designers have evolved our design skills along with the ever-growing capabilities of Powerpoint. So here’s a template that you can use to create your cover photo with that application. To use it, download it below, open the file and head over to the second slide.
Here you can add images (insert -> picture) or text (insert -> textbox) and make your perfect cover photo. When you’re done, head over to ‘save as pictures’ (file -> save as pictures) and after the slides have been saved, your cover photo can be uploaded on Facebook.
Photoshop Files
For those of you who are more technically-oriented and prefer the nuanced design detail of Photoshop (.psd), no worries, we have created tools for you too! A set of Zip files can be downloaded to make sure you are using the exact dimensions for the cover photo, wall posts, highlights, profile picture and custom thumbnail. To use the file, open the .zip and double click on the file that you need. They have the dimension you need and when you’re done, just ‘save as...’ and choose .png from the dropdown.
Shortcuts (and FREE Images!) to Decorate Your Facebook Page
If you don’t have any time to shoot your own photography, we have some shortcuts that you can take to get your Facebook page ready for the holidays without much custom work.
Let’s start with stock photos. The crew at Hubspot has been on a free-photos-frenzy for the last month, and have a great treasure trove of 200+ holiday images that you can download and use. All you need to do is import them into our Powerpoint or Photoshop tools and voilà! Then you can add text or other design effects as you wish. Here’s a sampling of their offer:
Free Stockphotos by HubspotIf using the stock photos with our tools still sounds like too much to do with too little time, we have an even quicker solution for you. The team at Crazy Pixels have made 5 lovely cover photos for you to use, for free!
5 Free Facebook Covers by Crazy PixelsDon’t see what you are looking for there? You can also find more of these at Priceless Design Studio.
Free Cover Photos by Priceless Design StudioFor more ideas on how you can optimize your Facebook page for customer engagement this holiday season, check out this Success Story from one of our RetentionGrid customers, as well as some of the best guides that we could find for you:
- Social Media Examiner: Prepare Your Facebook Page for the Holidays
- Social Media Today: Facebook Holiday Marketing for Your Small Business
- Socially Stacked: 6 Ways to Customize Your Facebook Page for the Holidays
- Design Web Kit: 50 Facebook Timeline Covers For Christmas -- Enjoy!
