Using Your Brand Effectively on Social Media

Many business owners don’t realise that squeezing their full logotype into their social media profile picture can actually hurt their brand.

On social media platforms, your company name appears clearly beside every post, comment, and thread — so people already know who you are. You don’t actually need to put your logo into that spot for identification purposes. And if it doesn’t fit and isn't readable, what is that actually communicating? Usually, it says you haven’t thought about how it looks and haven’t considered better options for your valuable digital identity. 

Social media profile pictures appear very small — especially on mobile devices where most people see them. Most logos include type which quickly becomes unreadable at that size.

This common mistake makes a business look unprofessional, even if the logo looks great on websites, signage, or print.

Why full logotypes don’t work well as social media profile pictures

• Designed for faces. Social media profile pics were originally meant for people’s faces, which our brains can recognise even at small sizes through general shape and colour.
  
  
• Tiny display size. Profile pictures are usually shown as small circles, often less than 50 pixels across on mobile feeds and comments.
  
  
• Logos often include text and detail. Text gets illegible, and detailed shapes lose clarity when shrunk down. Type afterall, is linear by design and the profile space is round. It is often like trying to shove a rectangle into a circle
  
  
• Company names beside posts. The business name is always displayed near posts and on pages — so including it inside the profile pic is redundant.
  
  

So what other options are there?

Some brands already have a dedicated brand-mark — a clean, bold symbol without text, like Apple’s apple or Nike’s swoosh — these are perfect for a profile image. Others can mine their existing logo for something distinctive: a letter shape, a graphic element, or another part of their wider identity that works well on its own. And if neither of those applies, you can think outside the box. A bike shop could use a wheel icon, a coffee roaster could use a stylised bean — anything that communicates what you are about is better than a logo which doesn't fit. 

The digital world is only growing in importance, so having a dedicated brand-mark created is a smart investment. A well-designed mark makes your business look clear, professional and instantly recognisable everywhere it appears. If you don’t have a dedicated brand-mark, now is the time to consider one. We're here to help!

Example 1

Paws Daycare – In the example on the left, the full logotype has been squeezed into the profile picture. Even though it technically “fits,” it still looks cramped, is unreadable beside posts, and is redundant because the business name already appears next to every piece of content. On the right, they used the playful brandmark that we created as part of their identity. It fits the profile space perfectly and reinforces their brand with every post.

Example 2

Battle Axe Throwing. — We designed their full logo, but didn’t stop there. If we had, their social media might have ended up like the example on the left — repetitive, cramped, and unreadable at small sizes. Instead, we created a distinctive brandmark pattern of Viking axe shapes, along with themed graphics for use across materials (seen here in the banner) and their tagline, “Valhalla Awaits.” Combined with their logotype, these elements work together to create far more impact and brand power on social platforms.

Example 3

Central Harvest — They have a great-looking logotype, but it doesn’t suit the tiny profile picture space. Another common mistake is placing the logo too large in the banner area — often because it’s uploaded “as big as possible” on a desktop, without realising that on mobile, parts of it may be cropped, as shown on the left. On the right you can see how a unique brandmark can be made using the “C” from their logotype, which works perfectly in the profile space and keeps the overall branding clean and professional across devices.

Remember: Most of the time people will ONLY see your posts in their social feed unless they're specifically visiting your page. So that tiny little circle is more important than you might expect. (Notice that our own AD mark can be clearly seen in the comment area of the posts.)

Why all this matters

Your profile picture is a tiny space, but it’s seen everywhere your brand shows up online. Using it well builds recognition, trust, and professionalism. Using it poorly signals you don’t really understand branding on socials — and that’s not the impression you want to give.