The most important thing when advertising your brand on any platform, whether it be social media, radio, television, or print, is to make sure you are seen. Whether it’s a 1 minute commercial or a full page advertisement, all brands are striving for longer and larger displays in front of their potential clients. This same rule applies to social media. Here are some examples:
Exhibit B is a twitter feed with 2.5 posts and images. As you can see in screenshot above, not only is there a big differentiating factor in the 1st tweet on the page because it includes an image, it also takes the space of 3 basic tweets put together. By adding an image, you increase the amount of real estate you take on a feed by 3X!. The image also allows a user to identify something that they might be interested in a lot easier when scrolling through a feed.
Facebook is a lot more flexible when it comes to posting options, but the same principles apply when trying to get your brand in front of followers.
These are the recommended size images to use for different social networks.
Twitter: 1024×512
Facebook: 1024×628
LinkedIn: 800×800