How to Change the Cover Photo on a LinkedIn Business Page

Your LinkedIn business page cover photo is one of the most valuable pieces of digital real estate you own. It's a large, attention-grabbing banner at the top of your profile that sets the first impression for potential customers, employees, and partners. This guide will walk you through exactly how to change your cover photo, but more importantly, it will give you the strategy and ideas to make sure your new image actually works for your brand.

Why Your LinkedIn Cover Photo Matters (More Than You Think)

Think of your cover photo not as a static background, but as a digital billboard. It's often the first visual element someone associates with your brand on the platform. A generic, low-quality, or outdated image can suggest a lack of attention to detail. On the other hand, a sharp, strategic cover photo immediately communicates professionalism and gives visitors a reason to stick around and learn more, contributing to an optimized LinkedIn profile.

A great cover photo can:

• Communicate Your Brand Identity: Are you innovative and tech-forward? Stable and traditional? Fun and creative? The right imagery and color scheme can tell this story in a glance.
• Showcase Your Value Proposition: You can literally spell out what you do for your customers with a clear, concise tagline.
• Humanize Your Company: Featuring photos of your team or satisfied customers can build an instant connection and foster trust.
• Promote Current Initiatives: It's the perfect place to advertise an upcoming webinar, a new product launch, a hiring push, or a report you've recently published.

Treating it as a dynamic part of your marketing strategy, rather than a set-it-and-forget-it graphic, is how you get the most out of your LinkedIn presence. This often involves planning your visuals as part of a larger social media content calendar.

The Technical Details: LinkedIn Cover Photo Size and Specs for 2024

Before you jump into design, getting the technical specifications right is essential to avoid blurry, awkwardly-cropped images. LinkedIn can be particular about its dimensions.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Recommended Dimensions: 1128 x 191 pixels (width x height).
• File Format: A JPG, PNG, or GIF will work just fine. For images with text or logos, PNG often gives the best results.
• Maximum File Size: 8MB. If your file is too large, use a free online tool to compress it without losing much quality.

The Most Important Tip: Mind the Mobile View

This is where most people go wrong. Your cover photo looks different on a desktop computer than it does on a mobile phone. On mobile, your company's profile picture and the top info bar (with your company name, follower count, and buttons) cover up more of the banner image.

On a desktop, your profile picture sits low and covers a small portion of the bottom-left of the banner. On a mobile, it's positioned higher and more centrally, blocking out a significant chunk. That means any critical information - like text, logos, or faces - placed in the lower or center-left area is likely to be obscured for a large portion of users.

The solution is to design with a "safe zone." Keep all of your most important content (logos, text, CTAs) in the upper-right portion of your image. This area is visible on virtually all devices. Treat the bottom and far-left sections as bonus space for background visuals that are nice to have but not essential to see.

How to Change Your LinkedIn Cover Photo: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready to make the switch? The process is straightforward once you know where to click. You’ll need to be a Super or Content admin of your page to make this change.

1. Go to Your Company Page: Log in to LinkedIn and navigate to your business page. You can usually find this by clicking on your “Me” icon in the top right and selecting your company page from the list under "Manage."
2. Enter Admin View: Make sure you are viewing the page as an admin. You should see an “Admin view” button or be in this mode by default. You'll know you're in the right place if you see editing options and pencil icons.
3. Click to Edit: Hover your mouse over the current cover photo. A small camera or pencil icon will appear in the top-right corner. Click it. A dropdown menu will appear.
4. Upload Your Image: From the menu, select “Upload cover image.” This will open a file dialog box, allowing you to select the new image from your computer.
5. Adjust and Reposition: Once uploaded, LinkedIn will show you a preview of your new cover photo. You can click and drag the image to reposition it until it’s perfectly centered. This is a good time to double-check that your profile picture isn't covering anything important.
6. Save Your Changes: When you're happy with the placement, click the “Apply” or “Save” button. Your new cover photo will be live for everyone to see!

7 Strategic Ideas for Your LinkedIn Cover Photo

Stuck on what to put in that wide horizontal space? Don't settle for a generic stock photo. Here are seven strategic ideas to get you started.

1. Showcase Your Product or Service in Context

If you have a tangible product, show it being used by a happy customer. If you offer a service or software, use a styled graphic that displays your UI on a device or an image that represents the end result of your service (e.g., a beautifully constructed building for an architecture firm).

2. Feature Your Team

People connect with people. A high-quality photo of your team - whether it’s a professional group shot or a more candid photo from a company event - can instantly make your brand feel more approachable and authentic. It’s also a fantastic tool for employer branding, showing potential hires what your company culture is like.

3. Promote an Event or Campaign

Use your cover photo as a free ad space. If you're hosting a webinar, launching a product, or attending a major conference, create a banner that includes the key details: event title, date, and a short call-to-action (CTA) like "Register Now." Just remember to change it once the event is over!

4. Highlight Social Proof with a Customer Quote

A few powerful words from a happy customer can be more persuasive than any marketing copy you write. Take your best testimonial and overlay it onto a clean, branded background. Add the customer's name and company (with their permission) to give it extra credibility.

5. Announce Your Value Proposition or Tagline

Sometimes, the simplest approach is the most effective. If your company has a strong, concise tagline that explains what you do, make it the centerpiece of your cover photo. Use your brand fonts and colors to create a simple, text-based image that gets straight to the point. Example: “Helping Small Businesses Simplify Their Accounting.”

6. Use Branded Graphics or an Abstract Image

Your cover photo doesn’t have to be a literal photograph. A custom graphic that uses your brand's colors, logo, and design elements can reinforce your visual identity. This approach aligns with best practices for designing social media posts, ensuring consistency across all your platforms. A high-quality, abstract photo that evokes the feeling of your brand (e.g., interconnected lines for a networking company, serene nature for a wellness brand) can also be highly effective.

7. Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

What do you want visitors to do next? While you can't embed a clickable link in the photo itself, you can use visuals to guide their eyes. For example, have text on the right side of the photo that says, “Get Your Free Trial,” paired with an arrow pointing down toward your page’s custom call-to-action button.

Common Cover Photo Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Before you hit save, do a quick check to make sure you’re not making one of these common mistakes:

• The Blurry Image: Always upload an image that meets the 1128 x 191 pixels recommendation. Anything smaller will get stretched and look pixelated and unprofessional.
• The Overstuffed Design: Less is more. A cover photo packed with too much text, multiple logos, and competing images just looks noisy and confusing. Stick to a single message and a simple visual.
• The Cut-Off Content: This goes back to the mobile view problem. Always check your page on your phone after uploading a new cover photo to make sure your profile picture isn’t blocking your tagline or logo.
• The Inconsistent Branding: Your LinkedIn cover photo should feel like it belongs to the same family as your website and other social profiles. Use consistent brand colors, fonts, and tone.
• The Stale Banner: A cover photo promoting a Christmas sale in July tells visitors you’re not actively managing your page. For comprehensive guidance on maintaining an effective presence, explore tips on how to manage your LinkedIn company page. Make a note in your calendar to review your cover photo quarterly to keep it fresh.

Final Thoughts

Changing your LinkedIn cover photo is technically easy, but creating an effective one requires a bit of strategic thought. By treating it as a dynamic billboard that communicates your brand’s value and current focus, you can transform a simple background image into a powerful marketing tool that captures attention and drives results.

Keeping visual elements like your cover photo and social media content fresh across all platforms is part of what makes for a great modern brand. We built Postbase to make that easier. With our visual calendar, you can map out your entire content plan at a glance, from the themed posts that align with your new cover photo to the day-to-day video content that keeps your audience engaged, all without the clunky interface of older tools.