Skip to main content

Instagram Reels Custom Cover Image

Feature Request

Would love the ability to set a custom cover image for Instagram Reels—similar to how YouTube thumbnails already work via mediaItems[].thumbnail.url.

Why this matters:

  • Keeps branding consistent across platforms

  • Better click-through with a designed thumbnail vs. random frame

  • I already have YouTube thumbnails made—let me reuse them when cross-posting!

Suggested API Parameter:

json

{  "platforms": [{  "platform": "instagram",  "platformSpecificData": {  "cover_url": "https://example.com/thumbnail.jpg"  }  }] }

Or via instagramSettings:

json

{  "instagramSettings": {  "cover_url": "https://example.com/thumbnail.jpg"  } }

FYI: Instagram's Content Publishing API already supports cover_url for Reels, so this should be doable on your end.

Posted by Phillip Shepard ·
Status: Completed1 comment

Log in to comment and vote

Comments1

  • Miquel Palet López

    Team•

    Jul 13

    Good news, this is already supported!

    Set instagramThumbnail (or the alias reelCover) on the media item or in the Instagram platform data with a public JPG/PNG URL, and we pass it to Instagram as the reel's cover image, so your designed thumbnail shows instead of a random frame. You can alternatively use thumbOffset to pick a frame by millisecond; a cover URL takes priority.

    Reference here: docs.zernio.com/platforms/instagram#platform-specific-fields. Thanks for the request!