The Learning Center

Facebook Pages are a great way for businesses to extend their branding strategy to social media and the online world. From connecting with customers to tracking analytics and engagement, it is a significant online marketing tool for businesses of all sizes.

However, many businesses forget that design plays a large role in the success of a Facebook page. A cover photo is an opportunity to use your branding strategy to your advantage and display your brand in a positive light for all to see. The first thing your fans and the general public will see on your page is the cover photo – make sure you use this prime real estate wisely.

But where do you begin? You cannot just slap a few pictures together in Microsoft Paint and call it a day. Please, never do that.

You need to decide what you want to achieve with your cover photo. Common goals include:

• Brand Awareness
• Audience Engagement
• Sales Leads
• Customer Contact

In addition to your cover photo, your entire social media strategy should have a plan and a goal.

Take a look at these five examples of stunning, strategic and creative covers photos by renowned brands.

Green Mountain Coffee

Throughout the entire Facebook page and cover photo design, Green Mountain Coffee incorporates the colors seen in their brand and their soothing and relaxing tone. In addition, the brand creatively used the profile picture area to extend their cover photo. If you scroll through several of their past profile and cover photos, you can see that they love to use this imagery tactic.

Coca-Cola

As we all know, Coca-Cola’s brand is classic and timeless. This past cover photo continues this representation through the extension of the brand colors and images of customers enjoying Coca-Cola in various settings and time periods. This cover photo is a great example of keeping it simple and within your branding efforts. If you scroll through previous cover photos on Coca-Cola’s page, you’ll notice a consistent theme and branding strategy associated with each of these photos. They are not trying to entice people to purchase the product, but rather connect with the brand as a whole.

BareMinerals by Bare Escentuals

In this instance, Bare Minerals by Bare Escentuals is highlighting their new product, BareSkin, in their cover photo. Their goal is clear – to entice fans to learn more about the new product and eventually try it on their own. Similar to the previous brand examples, Bare Escentuals leverages their branding and product colors to pull the cover photo together and provide fans with a fun image.

Microsoft

As a tech company, Microsoft is promoting the use of their software and technology for innovators with the hashtag, #ICreatedThis. Businesses will often include a hashtag in their cover photo as part of a current campaign, promotion or discount. This allows the company to connect all their online efforts across multiple mediums through one central hashtag. In addition, the sleek branding strategy that Microsoft boasts is visibly seen in their cover photo design and layout.

Nike

For readers who know the Nike brand, you will agree with me when I say, “Wow”. The ‘Just Do It’ tagline has been the driving factor in Nike’s branding and campaigns, and truly makes a statement in this cover photo. With the Nike logo and slogan paired together so perfectly, they are obviously accomplishing their goal of extending their brand and intriguing fans.

As you may have noticed, Nike’s cover photo design is not complex – at all. In fact, it’s ridiculously simple, and it works. Your cover photo does not have to be this magnificent work of art with multiple images, text in crazy fonts and other aspects. Simplicity is key!

Create Your Brand’s Stunning Cover Photo

So how can you make your cover photo as good (if not better) than these five well-known brands? With these 4 simple steps:

Define the goal of your cover photo. Are you informing fans about a promotion? Does your cover photo need to intrigue promising leads? Your goal should be in line with your current needs as a business. A quick tip – if you don’t have a specific promotion occurring, extend your brand awareness with a cover photo designed to your brand and website.

Brainstorm. What do you want your cover photo to portray or look like with regards to your ultimate goal? Try sketching some ideas out before designing it. Get some feedback on your ideas. Two heads (or more) are always better than one. Remember to always follow Facebook’s guidelines for cover photos when creating your cover photo idea:

• Your photo cannot deceive, mislead, or infringe on copyrights of fans or other companies.
• In addition, you cannot encourage or persuade others to upload your cover photo to their personal timeline.

Design. Now that you’ve solidified a specific layout, theme or idea, it’s time to get to work. If you have no design experience, back away from your computer and find someone who does! You want your brand image and business to be represented in a professional manner, and a graphic designer can assist with that effort.

Upload. Once you’ve completed your design, you can now present it to the world. It’s time to show off your brand and improve your online marketing efforts.

Remember, identify what you want your cover photo to accomplish, and you’ll have no trouble creating the ideal cover photo for your business.

If you need help designing your Facebook cover photo or managing your social media account, the team at Titan Web Marketing Solutions can help you along the way. Call our office today at 877-935-3796 or contact us online.