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As a blogger, Facebook is one of those necessary evils. It's a great way to get the word out, a great way to reach people who are into what you're into, but absolutely terrible if you want any type of consistency with the platform. (read more)

Every other social media platform is pretty straightforward. You upload a picture, you put in a link. People can click the link, easy peasy. 

But, with Facebook, if you want your link to be a picture, and you want it to be bigger than a 1" x 1" cube, you've got to do a little sleuthing to figure out how to make it happen.

And even then, it might not happen.

Case in point, me.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try and figure out why all of the links I posted on Facebook had a thumbnail large in debugger, but small in Facebook.

I was frustrated and had gotten to the point where I'd just put the link in the text and then upload the picture separately. 

Yes, this worked, but it didn't look like a website link, and I didn't really know how comfortable people would feel just clicking on a text link. 

I try to post things I'd feel comfortable clicking on, and a text link is not something I'd click on without some hesitation. All I wanted was a large facebook thumbnail.

If you're struggling with the same problem, I really hope I can help!

​Here are the steps you need to take in order to get those big thumbnails you're looking for. Start at #1 and work your way down. I'm going to try and help you get it done with the least amount of fuss.

I Recommend going at least 1200 x 600, but the template I use is actually 1600 x 900, and I leave a little padding on each side so it adjusts for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I make a separate picture for Pinterest, but since that's not what we're talking about, it's of no consequence.

​Just make sure your blog picture is large. If it's not, Facebook will automatically render it down to that 1" x 1" cube.

Once you've published your blog post, go over to the Facebook Debugger and paste your link into the text box, the click DEBUG:

If the picture that shows up isn't correct (and chances are it won't be), click the SCRAPE AGAIN button.

If you've used a big enough picture, this SHOULD show you the first picture you've put in your post. If it doesn't, that's okay. Try and post it on Facebook. If it shows up as a large picture instead of a small thumbnail you might still be able to click through and select the picture you want by hitting the arrow buttons in the top left corner.

For me, this let me post the link to my PERSONAL PAGE and get the large thumbnail. It was helpful since I was posting to my Author Page each day and sharing it to my personal page anyway, but it wasn't helpful because I really wanted that big thumbnail on my Author Page. 

For you, it might be that you want it on your business page, brand page, etc. 

​Either way, this worked for my personal page, but not my business page.

I say this because you're going to need to be an admin in order to follow the next step. It was this step that was the game changer for me.

If your blog post is showing up correctly on your personal page, just click the "share" button and share it to your business page. 

This was what did the trick for me. The post shared to my business page flawlessly, big thumbnail and all. Since I was an admin, it didn't even show up as a shared post. It just looked like I posted the link to my business page.

But it gets better!

Once I did this, the small thumbnails stopped showing up on my business page, no matter which link I posted. They were all big, yay!

Now, this is how it looks on my personal page AND my business page. 

It's so fantastic, and it was such a pain in the butt to figure out, so I really hope this helps solve some of your problems!!

If this doesn't work, or if it's not clear, let me go over it one more time.

1. Use at least a 1200 x 600 template as the first picture in your blog post.
2. Use the Facebook Debugger tool.
3. SCRAPE AGAIN
4. Make sure you are an admin on the business page you're posting to.
5. Share the BIG THUMBNAIL post from your personal page to your business page.

The post should share correctly, and if you're like me, all of your links will post with big thumbnails on your business page from there on out.

If not, share them from your personal page. Since you're an admin, it'll look just like you posted to the page.

I hope this helps!
​Ty