What’s the Ideal Social Media Post Length?

Social media post length is a definitive factor is deciding the impact of your social media content on its viewers. Any post that is wordsmithed to fit character limits will fully display your social media content to your fans, without obscuring any information. And that is integral to earning social media engagement. With the knowledge of ideal post lengths (mentioned below) and a reliable social media management tool, you can post optimized social media posts consistently.

This blog post is a curation of research concerning post length on various social networks. Let’s begin with the biggest and most popular social media platform – Facebook.

Note – This post discusses 2 numbers –
1. The ideal length of social media posts (recommended for optimum engagement), and
2. The maximum character limits that different social platforms allow
 

The ideal Facebook post length

There are different types of posts that you can publish on Facebook – organic, paid and video. Each of those types has its own layout on Facebook and ideal post length. Here’s a short summary of posts types and their optimal lengths.

Organic posts – Between 40 and 80 characters. According to MarketingProfs, Facebook posts that are under 40 characters get 86% engagement. Jeff Bullas corroborates that research but extends the ideal character limit by stating that Facebook posts with 80 characters or less get 88% more engagement.

Paid posts – Paid posts can be broken down into a headline, a body and a link description. Here are the ideal lengths for each of those elements, according to an Adespresso study.

Ideal length of Facebook ads

• Headline – 5 words
• Text – 14 words
• Link description – 18 words

Facebook paid posts are about taking action, which is why it’s natural for copywriters to craft shorter headlines and descriptions. However, you should pay attention to copy on organic posts as well, keeping them crisp and action-prompting where possible.

If you’d like to learn more about copywriting for social media posts, here’s a useful read – 3 Secrets of Top Copywriters That Can Transform Your Content Marketing.

Facebook Character Limits or Maximum Character Lengths

If you wished to, you could publish a Facebook status that was 63,206 characters long! But that length is far from ideal. Here are a few other maximum character lengths that are noteworthy.

• Facebook username character limit – 50 characters
• Facebook Page Description – 155 Characters
• Facebook Comments – 8,000 Characters

Facebook image ads –

• Headline – 40 characters
• Text – 90 characters
• Link description – 20 characters

Facebook canvas ads –

• Text – 500 characters
• Button Text – 30 characters

Facebook lead generation ads –

• Context card headline – 45 characters
• Benefits text – 5 bullets with 80 characters each
• Button text – 25 characters
• Custom question text – 50 characters
• Privacy policy link text – 100 characters
• Custom disclaimer title – 60 characters

Facebook collection ads –

• Headline – 25 characters

The ideal length of Facebook Videos 

Facebook support video upload of upto 120 minutes, but it’s advisable to steer clear from publishing anything that long unless it’s a Facebook exclusive feature film. 44% of 30-60 sec videos are viewed completely, according to a study conducted by Kinetic Social. Plus, 33% Facebook users prefer shorter videos that are between 30-50 secs long.

The ideal length of Facebook video ads –

• Text – 90 characters
• Headline – 25 characters
• Link description – 30 characters

 

The ideal Twitter post length

In 2017, Twitter increase the character limit of tweets to 280 characters. Since then, Twitterati have become more active on the social network claims product manager Aliza Rosen. This is probably because 280 characters allows more room for Twitter users to share their thoughts. But this added space doesn’t mean that other Twitter users want to see longer tweets.

According to a study conducted by Buddy Media, the ideal tweet is less than a 100 characters long. The study finds that such tweets receive 17% more engagement. So yet again, shorter content is better received by social media users. This is partly because shorter tweets are easier to read and comprehend, but also because shorter tweets give retweeters extra room to add their thoughts.

The ideal hashtag length

According to Vanessa Doctor from hashtag.org, hashtags that are 6 characters or one word long perform better. Once again, comprehension is the concern. Hashtags don’t allow spaces and exceptionally long hashtags are hard to read and comprehend.

Twitter character limits or maximum character length for Twitter posts

• Tweets – 280 characters
• DMs (Direct Messages) – 10,000 characters
• Handle – 15 characters
• Profile name – 20 characters

In short, concise content performs better on Twitter. Note that the character limits for Twitter have been extended to allow more content, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that longform content will ever be well received on the microblogging social network.

The ideal LinkedIn post length

At 500 million users and 10 million job postings, LinkedIn is a fairly noisy social media platform. As the social network grows its user base, social media marketers will find it tougher to earn organic attention via LinkedIn posts. Marketers should continue to optimize the quality, timing and delivery of LinkedIn posts so they can make the most of their brand’s LinkedIn presence.

There isn’t much research on ideal length of LinkedIn posts, so we have to rely on how posts appear on LinkedIn to decide ideal post length. For instance, if your LinkedIn status update is longer than a 100 characters, the excess text gets cut off and a Show More button appears. So it makes sense to keep your LinkedIn status updates under a 100 characters or 25 words.

• LinkedIn status update – 50-100 characters ( organic and paid)
• LinkedIn post titles – 40-49 characters (according to OkDork)
• Number of images – 8 (Source – OkDork)
• LinkedIn articles – 1900 to 2000 words (Source – OkDork)
• Article subheads – 5 per post (Source – OkDork)
• LinkedIn videos – under 30 seconds (Source – LinkedIn)

LinkedIn character limits or maximum character length for LinkedIn posts

• LinkedIn Publishing post headline – 150 characters
• LinkedIn Publishing content length ~ 120,000 characters *
• Company update – 700 characters
• Company name – 100 characters
• About us (Summary) – 2,000 characters
• Page name – 50 characters
• Company leaders headline – 150 characters
• Company leaders description – 150 characters
• Employee testimonials – 400 characters
• Custom module title – 150 characters
• Custom module body – 500 characters
• Custom module URL label – 70 characters
• First name – 20 characters
• Last name – 40 characters
• Recommendation – 3,000 characters

* As per SproutSocial’s experiment, LinkedIn cuts you off once you reach 120,000 characters on LinkedIn articles.

The ideal Instagram post length

Unlike the other social networks on this post, Instagram was built to promote visual content. However, the right combination of words and hashtags can help your Instagram posts maximum engagement, which can earn them the top position on users’ feeds.

• Instagram captions – 138 -150 characters
• Instagram ad captions – 125 characters
• Number of hashtags for captions – 5 -10

However, it’s not a great idea to add irrelevant hashtags to your posts, just to increase its visibility. That may result in your shadowban on the social network. According to TrackMaven, posts with exactly 9 hashtags receive the most engagement.

• Number of characters in a hashtag – 24 or less

If you notice the captions added by top brands on Instagram, you’ll notice that most captions run short. Most captions that perform well also create context, showcase the brand and prompt viewers to take action.

Instagram character limits or maximum character length for Instagram posts

• Instagram caption – 2,200 characters
• Bio – 150 characters
• Username – 30 characters

Wrap

Social media post length is an important factor in deciding your social media engagement. WIth an optimally worded social media post, you can make an impact on your target audience on different social media platforms. Use the info shared on this post to decide what lengths of captions and post descriptions to incorporate in your social media content.

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How to Build an Email List from Scratch: 10 Incredibly Effective Strategies

Did you know it costs five times more to attract a new customer, than to keep an existing one?

Focusing on customer retention is a valuable long-term solution for increased revenue and sustainable growth, but it’s not always easy to cultivate that kind of loyalty.

Click here to download our free beginner's guide to email marketing.

When I think about the brands I like best, like J. Crew, Spotify, and SoulCycle, I know I’m not a loyal brand advocate because of their products alone. I can get cheaper clothes, music, and groceries from plenty of other places. Ultimately, I’m a brand advocate because I believe in what they promote and I feel invested in their stories, like SoulCycle’s: “We aspire to inspire. We inhale intention and exhale expectation.” I relate to their brand messaging.

One of the ways J. Crew, Spotify, and SoulCycle cultivate customer loyalty is through valuable content. While there are many ways to do this, email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to reach your target audience -- if done correctly.

I subscribe to J. Crew’s email list to get their “Flash Sale: Midnight” offers. I subscribe to Spotify’s newsletter to receive special promotions. And I subscribe to SoulCycle’s emails to hear about unique classes happening near me.

In short, I subscribe to their emails to get value.

If you’re starting from zero, building an impressive email list can feel like an impossible feat. Here, we'll cover some high-quality strategies to build an email list from scratch. Best of all, these strategies are designed to cultivate a loyal email subscriber base, so you can use your emails to attract better long-term customers.

How to Build an Email List From Scratch

1. Create a personalized CTA (call-to-action) for each blog or landing page.

HubSpot has found personalized calls-to-action have a 42% higher view-to-submission rate than calls-to-action that are the same for all visitors -- that’s almost double your potential email subscribers.

It makes sense: the people who visit your blog post or web page are looking for something specific, so your CTA needs to meet those unique needs. For instance, if you’ve got a ton of traffic visiting your “List-Building Strategy” blog article, why not entice those people to subscribe to your email list by including a simple CTA like this: “Click here to download a free list-building toolkit.”

Of course, personalized CTAs only work if you have the resources to create that quality content in the first place, but that process doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. Instead of a toolkit, you could also offer an e-book, a fun quiz, or an exclusive article from your CEO on list-building strategies.

If you offer content directly related to your visitor’s needs, your email newsletter won’t feel like a gimmicky advertisement. Instead, it will feel helpful and valuable -- key principles for a long-term customer retention plan.

2. Create a pop-up or slide-in for each page of your site.

A pop-up might sound initially bothersome, but I’m not talking about those early 2000 pop-up’s that promised you’d “Become a Model NOW”.

Instead, I’m talking about timed pop-up ads or onsite retargeting. After a user spends a certain amount of time on your page, she can receive a pop-up relevant to the content on that page, or to her behavior. Examples include exit pop-ups, which appear when a user tries to leave the page, or scroll pop-ups, which appear after the user scrolls a certain percentage down the page.

Digital Marketer conducted a case study to determine the value of onsite retargeting. For one experiment in particular, Digital Marketer introduced a pop-up ad to returning visitors only, which appeared after a visitor spent 15 seconds on their site:

Digital Marketer ensured this pop-up didn’t show up if someone came to the page from the newsletter (in which case, they were already signed up), and also didn’t pop-up on a sales page (which could interrupt someone’s purchasing decision).

As you can see, Digital Marketer also took the time to offer meaningful content, a digital marketing toolbox, in their pop-up ad. With an impressive offer, your pop-up is no longer obtrusive or interruptive -- it’s simply helpful.

Ultimately, their campaign generated 2,689 leads in two weeks, and increased their average time on page by 54%. Pop-ups aren’t always gimmicky, and if done right, you’re able to appeal to your visitor with quality content when and where they need it.

3. Create a timed pop-up survey.

Most people don’t visit a new website and think, “Huh, so where’s the email sign-up form?” Often times, you need your viewers to feel invested in your content before you present them with a request for their emails.

To build your email list, you might want to reach out to visitors on specific pages with surveys related to that content. I’m more willing to answer an “A or B” survey question if I’m already invested in the content -- it feels like a fairer trade-off.

For instance, University of Alberta’s email subscriber list grew almost 500% in one year alone, thanks to a timed pop-up survey they implemented:

The University of Alberta’s pop-up survey only appears after a visitor remains on a news’ page for 10 seconds. At that point, the viewers’ seen some value from the content, so ideally they’re more inclined to sign up for emails from the source.

The University of Alberta’s survey pop-up is also one of the easiest forms I’ve ever seen. You enter your email and you’re done. People are often deterred from signing up when the form is too long and they don’t have the time, so a simple yes or no question might be your best bet for growing your email list.

4. Use humor or sarcasm in your CTA’s “no, thanks” copy.

We’re so infiltrated with “Yes or No” web offers on a daily basis, we barely see them anymore. To increase your email lists, you might want to try injecting some personality into your CTA copy.

I always pause and laugh when I see a CTA with a small, “No thanks, I don’t want to lose weight,” button underneath a prominent “Yes, sign me up!” link. It reminds me there’s a person behind the button, and, while it’s meant to be a joke, it also incentivizes me to hesitate before clicking “no, thanks”. It’s easy to click “no” when the CTA is “sign up for more emails!”, but it’s a little harder to say no to losing weight or getting richer.

I was reading an Optimonk blog post recently, and this CTA popped up:

I was all set to click “No” without another thought, when I read the “my business isn’t important” part. It gave me pause, made me laugh, and, most importantly, made me reconsider my almost immediate decision to exit the offer.

5. Describe value in your CTA.

We’ve talked a lot about different formatting you might use in your CTA’s (including pop-up ads or personalized offers embedded in blog posts), but what about the language in the CTA itself? You can rely on more than humor and sarcasm to get clicks.

To optimize sign-ups, ironically, you don’t want to use the words “sign up.” Who wants to “sign up” or “subscribe” to more junk emails? Instead, you want to outline the value you can offer upfront, using language like, “Download,” “Featured”, “Exclusive,” “Access.”

For instance, you might write, “Download our exclusive e-book now,” and include an email subscription form, or, you might say, “Access all our exclusive offers.” Both of these CTAs make clear the value you’ll gain from providing your email address.

Your web viewers need to hear how your emails can offer unique and exclusive content that isn’t already available on your website. They want to believe your company is offering something special via email, or what’s the point?

6. Pitch your email newsletter on your social media accounts and email signature.

You might not have a long list of email subscribers, but that doesn’t mean you don't have a network. If you have a following on Twitter, a fan base on Facebook, or businesses you communicate with via email, why not use those firm and loyal connections to build an email list?

You might try pitching an email newsletter on your business’s Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts. The people who follow you on those sites already know they like you, but they aren’t necessarily the same people who receive your newsletter. Give them the option.

If you’re uncomfortable pitching your email newsletter on social media, or if you don’t have a large following on any of your accounts, you could also include a link in your email signature -- that link could go directly to your email newsletter, or it could be a link to a blog post or landing page with email subscription CTA’s.

You communicate daily with a diverse group of people via email, and when they get value from your personal emails, they might want the option to click a link and explore your company in more depth.

7. Create more landing pages.

HubSpot conducted research and found companies see a 55% increase in leads when you increase the number of landing pages from 10 to 15.

It makes sense: individual and personalized landing pages allow you to appeal to a wider demographic. Every person who visits your site needs something different, so the more landing pages you can create to answer each person’s individual concerns, the more sign-ups you’ll gain.

It’s like a restaurant menu. The more you can offer to cater for specific demographics, the more customers you’ll bring in. Someone could be looking for the best gluten-free pizza, while someone else might just want some good sushi.

8. Encourage everyone to sign up immediately.

You want to strategically place personalized CTAs where it counts -- on landing pages and blog posts. But what about the rare, but real, visitors who want to sign up immediately?

If your newsletter primarily centers around one or two topics, it’s relatively easy to create a personalized CTA -- simply write a CTA that mirrors your newsletter’s purpose, such as, “Want free SEO hacks? Sign up for our newsletter!”

9. Include a CTA on your About Us page.

Your About Us page is one of the most potent pages in terms of conversion potential. Think about it -- how often do you visit About Us pages for businesses you don’t care about?

Ideally, your About Us page will prime visitors to want more from your business, but it might not be enough to convince them to purchase. A CTA that encourages them to sign up for a newsletter is easier to concede to than a “buy now” plea.

10. Try a scroll box.

Timing is everything. Your call-to-action works best if you catch visitors when they are, in fact, ready to take action.

Figuring out when your visitor is ready to convert depends on your website viewers’ behavior, so you’ll want to conduct A/B testing to determine where you need to place your CTA. Does it work best towards the bottom of a blog page, when it slides out to the right, or does it get higher conversions at the beginning of the page, sliding out from the left?

Ultimately, it will vary depending on your page’s content and your viewers, but a scroll box is a subtle and useful option to help you catch your viewers when they’re most ready to convert.

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