Optimizing Your Logo for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus

Everyone is using social media these days, and that isn’t exactly a surprise. It is the number one way to increase visibility and engage with a target base. Especially as people from all over the world, of all ages, genders, income levels and other demographics are equally likely to have at least one profile. In many cases, they have a profile on all of the major social media sites, connecting them all.

You probably already have a plan in place for marketing yourself on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or all three. But little details really matter in this battle for viewers. One often ignored element is logo optimization.

Thanks to changes to sites in the last year, such as the wide implementation of Timeline on Facebook and the new features on Google+, this is more important than ever. So how do you make sure your logo is properly optimized for social media?

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1. Keep Things Nice and Simple

You have to resize your logo for each site. This means different dimensions, and so an overly complex logo will lose some of its effectiveness each time the size is changed. You might not be able to see those finer details or words, and it may actually make the entire thing unrecognizable. Make sure you adapt your logo to be something that will be connected to your original, and remove any unnecessary clutter. The simpler it is, the better.

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2. Balance Width and Height

You know that rule of thumb on aspect ratio that you have been ignoring for the sake of creativity and innovation? Yeah, you know…that one about logos not being too wide or tall, but instead being consistent all the way around. You should always make sure your dimensions are equal, and that your logo fits within them. The title of the company should fill the space. This might mean stacking it all on top of one another.

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3. Always Use The Same Image

Your logo is supposed to make your company immediately apparent when the viewer sees it. They will connect that image into their mind. Of course, logos adapt over time. But look at Google, or Firefox, or Apple. Sure, their designs have changed, but the central images, colors and recognizable elements have stayed the same. Keep your logo consistent with all of your services, so no matter which social media site it is on, it will be familiar.

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4. Keep Images and Text Separate

A logo can look really clever when the images are built into the text. The problem with this on social media sites is once more a dimensions issue. Whether it is on a page, in a sidebar ad or linked from someone else, that image will be resized multiple times. Too small – as will happen from time to time – and it will make it all mesh together. This appears messy and might not be easy to make out.

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5. Minimize What You Say

I hate seeing a logo that attempts to explain the point of the company along with naming it. That isn’t what a logo is for. Trying to shove details about what you do or sell, or trying to put pictures in to show it, is a big mistake. It looks unprofessional, and it won’t be viewable in a thumbnail anyway.

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6. The Tools and Cheatsheets

How do you know the proper protocol for creating social media friendly pictures? Dimensions and pixel size acceptance is different around the web, and so it can be a bit of a hassle to make sure you are following the rules. Especially for people who use their profiles for professional networking or visibility purposes.

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It is even more difficult with Timeline, the newest Facebook format that really shook up the look of profiles. The cover photo, profile image and accepted pictures are all different sizes. How do you keep them apart?

Here are four handy tools and resources for posting social media friendly images.

1. Internet Marketing Ninja Resizer

Once you know the dimensions, you may have to resize your photo. I usually do this in Paint or Photoshop, depending on the level of editing needed. But if you prefer to use an online program, this is a nice and simple online editing resizer. You just select whether you want to upload the image via URL or your computer, choose the file and then upload.

Once you do you just drag the crop box into place and resize it to your specifications, select the file type and hit Done Editing. Then save the image and use it as normal. The only downside is that it does not allow you to resize via entering the pixel or size percentage. For that, you are better using something like Paint.

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2. Custom Image SRC

It is really annoying when you are trying to share a link from your WP blog and the link creates its own image that is unrelated to the post. This is a quick plugin that lets you specify what image you want used with each link, so you can sync it up to the correct picture before posting.

Similar tip for Pinterest:

To make Pinterest pick the best image from your page (when people are using “Pin It” button), apply the undocumented nopin attribute to all images that you do NOT want to be pinned, leaving only those that you DO.

This image will be pinned:

<img src=”foo.jpg” />

… while this one won’t:

<img src=”bar.jpg” nopin=”nopin” />

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3. Facebook Image Cheatsheet

Keep this helpful cheatsheet around to remind you of the correct dimensions for different images around Facebook. It addresses cover photos, application icons, profile images, milestone picture sizes and more. It is the most thorough Facebook cheatsheet I have found so far, so I highly recommend it.

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4. Social Media Image Cheatsheet

I am a big fan of this infographic. It covers Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, effectively handling the four biggest social networks. Each one gives you the necessary dimensions for profile images, background images, cover photos and much more. This is a must save guide.

In the end, most images are easy enough to edit if you have the right guide for the right site. Do you know of any helpful tools or resources for making social media friendly images? Let us know in the comments!

Have a tip for optimizing logos for social media? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3.

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8 Infographics to Understand Social Media Etiquette

Who uses the internet, and for what? At what point does the age barrier begin to be clearly seen, and how can we use that to out advantage? It is an issue addressed in this interesting infographic from Business Week. The main positive of knowing the statistics of such questions is being armed with information, which can be applied to any number of areas. Such as understanding the etiquette of social media, and how to best behave on the many websites popping up all over the web.

I know what you are thinking: social media etiquette? Is there really such a thing? Yes, there is, and mostly it is common sense to the majority of us. But we all have that one person on our list that we know in real life, maybe who we went to school with or worked with at some point.

You know who I mean…the one constantly posting inappropriate rants, emo cries for attention or starting fights with their significant other in public. They are basically the equivalent of a couple screaming at one another in the middle of a grocery store parking lot.

Whether you are a professional or a casual user of social media, these eight infographics will help you work out how you should and should not act on these sites.

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1. What Is Social Spam?

Have you ever heard of social spam? It isn’t just posts unrelated to anything being posted on sites, like blog comments by bots. We are seeing an increasing amount of it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even Pinterest. The problem you might not know is that you could be contributing to the issue. This allows you to see the difference between self promotion and spamming, including for social users who might not realize their copy/paste responses to different pages could be violating the terms and service of some of these sites.

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2. Are You Spamming?

Maybe the problem isn’t your own actions; it could be the terms of service themselves. Social media sites have a very strict set of guidelines on what constitutes as spam, which has caused users quite a bit of trouble more than once. This chart gives a helpful rundown of most social media sites. From there, you can check and see what common posts are spam, and which you can get away with.

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3. Profile Of A Twitter User

What kind of Twitter user are you? This infographic alleges that most will fall into one of six users, but more importantly that the people you witness on the site will be one of the six. They range from the innocent and eager newbie, to the helpful and positive influence of the mensch. If nothing else, this is sure to make you laugh as you find yourself recognizing people on Twitter who match them.

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4. Why Facebook Users Friend & Unfriend

Have you ever wondered what motivates a user on Facebook to add or delete a friend from their list? This infographic explains, while breaking it down by gender. According to the chart, men are more likely to use social media for professional reasons, and women for creative. However, I would like to see a recent study on this fact and how it would be for other sites. Because I have certainly noticed just as many women professionally implementing social media.

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5. Modern Etiquette

Email, social media sites, message boards, instant messaging..this addresses all of them. It breaks down the proper way to address others through these platforms, with helpful tips that I know more than one person on my own list could use. Such as watching their spelling, turning off the caps lock button and searching out information before asking questions or posting things that might be incorrect.

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6. Twitter Manners

One of the golden rules of the web is: if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face or over the phone, don’t say it. People are emboldened and often less inhibited over the web because they feel it provides some protection. But this is one of many bad habits that are addressed on this infographic about the proper manners on Twitter.

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7. Proper Pin Etiquette

Not only is Pinterest a very new website, but it is a new social media format we haven’t really gotten used to yet. But there is already an etiquette emerging, and a general niceness that seems natural on the site. The problem usually falls to copyright infringement and original sources. Which is why it was some of what was spoken about in this infographic from the site itself.

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8. How To Identify An Internet Troll

Oh, trolls…they are all over the web now, aren’t they? Usually people who want nothing more than to hide behind a screen and insult people for their own amusement, trolling is more annoying than anything else. But the adage “Don’t feed the trolls” often goes ignored by people who jump to outrage without employing critical thinking to find out whether they really are serious or just trying to get a rise. This infographic tells you how to spot one of these online antagonists.

Do you know of any other infographics on social media etiquette that we missed? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to provide a link!

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