How to Create a Lead-Generating Facebook Cover Photo

Still trying to figure out how to effectively brand and market your business on Facebook? You’re not alone. Facebook is an ever-changing platform, adapting to new trends and changing for improved audience experience all the time. What that means for your business, though, is that a promising lead-generating strategy may have to be modified to fit current Facebook rules and algorithms. Even the Facebook marketing experts have to change their tactics and relearn how to navigate the platform in order to best reach their desired results.

When looking to generate more leads, it may be best to start with the very first thing your audience notices: your cover photo. A well-constructed cover photo can keep your audience’s attention long enough to stay on your page, spark enough interest to visit your website, and perhaps motivate your audience to click on a call-to-action button or link.

A quality cover photo may have more value than you think. When you are looking at what kind of cover photo you want to post, start with these tips of the trade for ideas on how to create a cover photo that will generate more leads.

Be Smart with How You Use Text and Visuals

A few years ago, Facebook implemented a rule that cover photos could only contain 20% of text. This rule has since been tossed, but remains a good guideline to follow, as long as you use your visuals and text wisely. Simple, but powerful images do better with audiences than cover photos trying to jam pack all their information into the image. Using negative (or open) space in a photograph can calm down the image. So can short snippets of text as opposed to large bodies of text. Both keep the viewer engaged in your photo long enough to consider who you are as a brand.

With a carefully-crafted cover photo, you can also draw your audience to specific call-to-action buttons just below the photo. They may pass by a “Learn More” or “Sign Up” button if their eye isn’t immediately drawn to it. Picking images where the focus is aligned to the right is one way to do this. You could also place your logo just above the button. Anything that doesn’t make the image too crowded and allows the audience’s eye to follow the image to the CTA button.

Advertise your Latest Offers or Upcoming Events

Changing your cover photo often can be smart when you brand shows up more frequently on your followers’ news feeds. Don’t overwhelm them with a new cover photo a day, but you can update your photo when something big is happening with your company, like a live event or limited sale.

You could also change your cover photo when you have a new product you are trying to promote. Don’t confuse your cover photo with a banner ad by making it too commercial. Remember, this is just something to show your audience what’s new or what you’re excited about as a company.

Keep it Consistent With Your Brand

People like consistency. They like to know that your brand is distinguishable from other brands while also being consistent over different platforms. This may be because audiences like knowing what to expect. Consistent fonts, color schemes, and similar images from your website should transfer over to your Facebook platform to build more trust in your audience. This is especially true for your cover photo because it is that branded image for your business, the poster child that people will associate with your name.

Include Links on the Photo or in Its Description

If you don’t want to include a link to your site as part of the text you include in the photo, you can still have a call-to-action link in the cover photo’s description. But having that shortened link attached somewhere to your cover photo is another good way for your audience to know what you are about. If the image interests them, you’ll want them to have the option of going directly to your site right from the cover photo itself.

Follow the Rules

If you try to skirt around a guideline that Facebook has put in place, it won’t bring the results you’re hoping for. Facebook is quick to catch people who aren’t following their rules, so it will save you more time and energy to just abide by them in the first place. They made those rules in the first place based on audience response. What Facebook has set up is what people consistently want when they come onto Facebook. So when you follow their guidelines, really you’re just appealing to your audience, opening up the doors for more audience engagement. More audience engagement means more outreach for your business, and more outreach means more leads.

Become acquainted with what Facebook allows and what they don’t, or brush up on them if you need a refresher. But never underestimate what an eye-catching, cleverly informative, and smart cover photo can do for you to generate more leads.

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