social-commerce-product-imageslisted

# Product Images for Social A listing image is judged against a spec. A social image is judged against everything else in the feed — and a clean catalogue shot loses to a photograph of a person's kitchen every time. The whole discipline is producing something that looks like content rather than like a product photo. ## Feed images vs listing images | | Listing image | Social image | |---|---|---| | Background | Pure white, mandated | A real place | | Job | Identification | **Stop the scroll** | | Polish | Clean, neutral | Often deliberately less | | Text | Prohibited on main | Encouraged, overlaid | | Product size in frame | 85%+ | Can be small, in context | | Ratio | 1:1 | 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 — several | | Judged | Against a spec | Against the feed | **Don't post the listing image to social.** It's the most common mistake and it's immediately identifiable as a product photo, which is the signal to scroll past. ## Ratios: generate native, several of them Social needs multiple ratios and cropping loses the composition. | Placement | Ratio | Notes | |---|---|---| | Instagram feed | **3:4** (closest to 4:5) | Taller = more feed height | | Instagram carousel | 1:1 | Safest across the set | | Instagram grid tile | 1:1 | The crop of your feed post | | Story / Reels still | **9:16** | Middle third clear for text | | Facebook feed | 1:1 or 3:4 | | | Pinterest | **3:4 or 9:16** | Tall performs strongly | | TikTok Shop | 9:16 | | | Paid social | 1:1 **and** 3:4 | Generate both nativ