Instagram has come a long way, from a 1:1 aspect ratio—aka the traditional square to several different ways to post, such as Stories, Reels, and more. And these options made Instagram more popular as one of the most photo-sharing social networks among users and social media marketing platforms for businesses.
However, the image sizes of social media marketing campaigns are crucial. To make sure your image on social media is easily viewable on any device, you must use the correct dimension and size. Doing so should help capture the attention of your target audience if the images are visually appealing and fit perfectly to the ratio required by Instagram.
In this handy guide, you would know which and when image size to use so you can make your social media marketing campaign for your company stand out from the rest.
8 Instagram Images & Their Sizes
1. Profile Picture
Since Instagram is about visuals, your Instagram bio should be identifiable by showcasing your brand identity. Doing so would help your customers find you a lot easier when they search or explore through Instagram.
That is why your profile picture should have at least 320 x 320 pixels as its image resolution. This dimension would make your brand stand out both on desktop and mobile modes. Also, all the elements of your profile picture should be in the centre so it would not get cropped when uploaded.
Here is an example of what the profile picture should look like on Instagram desktop mode once uploaded.
2. Photo Thumbnails
When your customers go to your Instagram account, they will see thumbnails of your social media marketing campaigns that you posted for the past few days or months. These thumbnails are the smaller versions of your actual posts. Here is what they look like on mobile mode.
If your customers click one of them, the thumbnail will expand. Once enlarged, your customers would be able to leave their comments and share your post with anyone, even on their other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
Keep in mind that each square in this picture is equivalent to one social media marketing campaign, and they have a display size of 161 x 161 pixels. However, the recommended uploaded dimensions are 1080 pixels wide.
3. Feed Photo
The feed photo is the actual image size of your social media marketing campaign. But did you know that before 2015, users were only allowed to upload the traditional square? Though, now it is different since there are more options for feed photos: square, landscape, and portrait.
Listed below are the recommended image sizes for feed photos:
Overall, the support aspect ratios for feed photos are anywhere between 1.91:1 and 4:5. That means the width of 1080 pixels remains the same, and the only difference between the three is the height, which can be either 566 and 1350 pixels, depending on if you opt for the landscape or portrait option.
4. Carousels
Carousels are feed photos that allow you to showcase up to 10 images. That means you can share more visuals in your social media marketing campaign. After all, your customers only need to swipe the image from left to right to see the rest of the images or until they no longer see the page with white dots.
Take this carousel post for an example.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU4FEsIt-hB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Nevertheless, the recommended image sizes for carousels are the same as the feed photos.
- Square: 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Landscape: 1080 x 566 pixels
- Portrait: 1080 x 1350 pixels
- Aspect ratio: landscape (1.91:1), square (1:1), vertical (4:5)
5. IG Stories
With more than 500 million people viewing Instagram stories daily, Instagram is the perfect place to showcase a glimpse of your products and services via images, video clips, or both.
However, you have to make sure your IG stories have the recommended resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels or at least the minimum size of 600 x 1067 pixels. Its aspect ratio is 9:16, and you can only share 15 seconds per IG Story.
6. IGTV
IGTV is also known as YouTube for Instagram, which took the heart of many people, including social media marketing experts. If you are also one of them and plan to promote your products or services by demonstrating them on IGTV, your output should have 1080 x 1920 pixels with a maximum duration of 15 minutes. Its aspect ratio is 9:16, while its ideal cover photo size is 420 x 654 pixels.
7. Reels
Even though Reels recently became available in Singapore, many brands have the opportunity to showcase their creativity with their social media marketing campaign for Instagram.
Take this GIF for an example. Different brands are already using Reels for promoting their products and services on Instagram.
8. Ads
Since the image format for Instagram ads is a bit more complex than organic Instagram marketing campaign posts, we listed down the points you need to know about Instagram ads. Here are the types, along with their dimensions.
- Instagram Image Ad for Landscape – 1080 x 566 pixels
- Instagram Image Ad for Square – 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Instagram Image Ad Minimum width – 320 pixels
- Instagram Image Ad Maximum width -1080 pixels
- Instagram Image Supported Aspect Ratios – Should be anywhere between 1.91:1 and 4:5
Image Sizes on Instagram Matters
You have to know that if the images of your social media marketing campaign are in the recommended dimension, they can further attract your follower’s attention.
However, if your followers notice the images have poor quality, like improper proportion, they would perceive your brand in the wrong direction. In other words, your social media marketing campaign can do more harm than good. That is why image sizes matter not only on Instagram but also on other social media platforms since they can make or break the impression of your customers.
For more social media marketing tips, get in touch with our digital marketing agency. Contact OOm at 6391-0930.
