Going Pro: Making a background image
Why are background images so important? Well it’s all about the branding opportunities. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, business or an individual they let you communicate your personality, as well as information such as your URLs to other sites.
Even though mobile users won’t see these backgrounds many people still use Twitter.com, so it’s important to make sure you have a good background! Having one sets you apart from the crowd and undoubtedly creates the image of you as a professional and as someone to be taken seriously.
Step 1. Alignment
Twitter backgrounds are left aligned so keep important background content on the left of the screen. Don’t worry about your content as it’s still centred on the page.
Step 2. Know your real estate measurements
To reach most users, use between 66px – 194px wide for the left side of your Profile background. Twitter.com’s content has a fixed width of: 865px, leaving the rest for backgrounds. Here’s how many pixels wide you can use on the left of the page to reach X% of Twitter.com visitors:
- 66px for 99% of visitors (1024px wide resolutions)
- 194px for 82% of visitors (1280px wide resolutions)
- 238px for 56.1% of visitors (1366px wide resolutions)
- Up to 520px for 42.3% of visitors with resolutions wider than 1366px.
Source: W3Schools, as of January 2011.
3) Keep branding consistent
The easiest way to do this is by using your branding palette, headshots or logos in your background. Doing this creates trust as clear, consistent branding will let your followers and visitors quickly associate your Twitter account with your other online platforms e.g. website/s, Facebook, You Tube, Pinterest and Linkedin. Remember to keep your background text to a minimum, as it will distract from the text on your profile.
5) Save your background images as .PNG
Saving and using a .JPG image format will mean sacrificing picture quality. Using .PNG files will be a larger file format, but will keep your details intact; which is VERY important if you’ll be using small text in your background.
6) Upload your creation and review it
You’ll only be able to see how good your background is once you upload it and review it If you don’t want to make changes on your account until the background is final, create a new Twitter test account and upload your background there first.
Here are some of my favourite Twitter background sites:
In the comments below, tell me how you're doing with your social media branding and what your biggest frustration or challenge is with social media. Let me know if you have any more top tips for creating a Twitter background and what action you'll take as a result of reading this post too. I'd love to hear.
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With love and gratitude – as always,
