How to Create the Best Facebook Cover Photo for Tour Operators

Facebook is still relevant. It has reached approximately 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide as of 3rd quarter 2020. In other words, one-third of the world population is using it.

That means, soon or later your Facebook Business Page will popup to a potential booker, and your cover photo will be the first thing to see there.

For that reason, having a relevant image is key to capture visitors’ attention. Furthermore, it has the power to pass your company message at a glance.

What you should know before creating a Facebook cover photo

There are some rules tour operators should follow when creating a cover photo for Facebook Business Page.

• Put your product in a highlighted position
• Avoid using a lot of text
• Have the audience in mind when choosing the right image
• Keep the message as simple and clear as possible

If you offer only one type of tour, it should be the main element on your cover photo. If you have more than one tour, you can segment the image in a way you can show them all.

In case you have lots of products, in order to not compromise the message, you can choose the 2 or 3 most relevant to feature your cover image.

How to choose the right photo for your Facebook cover

It is very important to have your ideal customer represented on your cover photo. Even better if you can show him or her enjoying your tour or activity.

Now you must be asking: “How can I know who is my ideal customer?”

Facebook has a tool called Audience Insights. With it, you can have an overview of your Facebook audience, including gender, relationship status, educational level, job position and location.

Use that information to build a profile of the person who will be the star of your cover photo.

For example, using the tool you can find out that the majority of your audience is formed by married women between the ages of 27–35 living in France.

In that case, consider incorporating a couple into your image with some element resembling France. Maybe a text in french.

The next question is: “How can I find the right photo?”

You can use user-generated content (UGC) for that purpose. Do that by asking past guests if they allow you to use one of their photos taken during your tour. Other options are, taking the photos by yourself or hiring a professional photographer.

Regardless of your choice, don’t use stock image photos. Hardly they will represent the feeling of experiencing one of your tours.

Check out a good example of a cover photo taken from Walks’s Facebook Business Page.

In the image, we can see their target audience enjoying one of their experiences. Below it, a booking now button invites the visitor to go to their website and book a tour.

We can see they have used a real image without any additional text. That is a simple and straight-to-the-point cover photo that tells visitors exactly who Walks are and what they do.

How to create your Facebook cover photo

After finding your target audience and choosing the right picture, now it’s time to create your Facebook cover photo.

To accomplish that task, you can use a template with pre-set dimensions. Canva is very popular and has a huge variety of templates.

Other options are PicMonkey, Visme, Snappa and Bannersnack.

If you don’t want to use a template, it’s important to pay attention to the dimensions of your image.

• Desktop: 820 pixels wide and 312 pixels tall
• Mobile: 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall
• Versatile (suitable for both screens): 820 pixels wide and 462 pixels tall

The minimum dimensions for a cover photo according to Facebook are, 400 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall.

Keep in mind that it is most likely that users will see your page through a mobile screen.

Once you have finished editing your cover photo, double-check if the file size is 100kb or less for better speed performance.

Before placing it on your page, make sure the image has a good quality. After seeing the final result, maybe you will need to crop and resize it for a better alignment of the elements.

What you’ve learned

Since Facebook is key for a digital marketing strategy, taking care of your business page is fundamental. That includes choosing carefully your cover image.

Find a high-quality photo that shows your target audience enjoying one of your tours, edit it, and place it on your page.

Make sure that the cover photo looks nice on both, desktop and mobile screens.

When you are happy with the final result, add a booking button on your Facebook Business Page. This is the final step to have your Facebook leads booking directly with you.

Originally published at https://www.orioly.com on December 1, 2020.