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Social Media: What’s the Ideal Length for Contents and Posts?

Updated: Dec 5, 2023

Over 2.7 billion monthly active Facebook users[1].


Over 1 billion monthly active Instagram users[2].


Over 2 billion logged-in users each month[3].


Over 330 million monthly active Twitter users[4].


Over 400 million monthly active Pinterest users[5].

Whether you’re a fitness coach, a podcaster, a business coach – or whatever type of business you have – you have to be on social media.


social media help from a virtual assistant

With billions of people using social media platforms, it has become the most important and influential virtual space today. Now, social media platforms aren’t just used for social networking, but is also a great way of digitally advertising your brand and your services or products.


However, simply posting long and rambling content or technical descriptions of your products or services aren’t enough. Moreover, posting overly long posts may do you more harm than good.


When posting on social media, getting the right length is very important.


Ideal Content Sizes and Lengths on Social Media


So, what’s the ideal length of posts on social media?


Here’s what the experts say:


  • Facebook

A study from Jeff Bullas found that FB posts with 80 characters (or less) get 88% more engagement[6].


Further, AdEspresso found that Facebook ads did best when contents are kept short and concise. Every Facebook ad requires three types of content – a headline, main text, and description. Here’s the ideal length for each[7]:


o  Headline: 5 words

o  Main Text: 14 words

o  Description: 18 words


  • Twitter

For years, Twitter only allowed users to posts up to 140 characters per Tweet. But in 2017, Twitter decided to double that number, allowing users to post up to 280 characters per Tweet. However, just because you can use all 280 characters doesn’t mean that you should.


If you’re looking to grab someone’s attention, keep your tweet to somewhere between 71 – to 100 characters. According to Buddy Media, tweets with 100 characters (or less) obtain 17% higher engagement rates compared to longer tweets[8].


  • Instagram

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is primarily intended for visual content. However, the right combination of captions will provide some context to your posts, and promote engagement.

On Instagram, captions can be up to 2,200 characters long – but you’ll only require a fraction of that limit. Remember, most people scroll through their feeds quickly, so make sure to keep your captions short and clear. Instagram recommends keeping captions under 125 characters.


Also, while Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, avoid this temptation. Statistics show that 9 hashtags receive the most engagement[9].


  • YouTube

If you’re going to market your business on YouTube, you have to do it right. One of the most important factors that you need to remember is retention. How long can you keep your audience’s attention? How do you ensure that they finish your video? The trick is getting your video length just right.


According to ReelSEO, the top 50 videos on YouTube are, on average, around 2 minutes and 54 seconds[10]. Aside from the video length itself, you should also take note of the length of your captions and descriptions. Ideally, your captions should only be up to 70 characters, while your descriptions should be under 150.


  • Pinterest

When it comes to Pinterest, image size matters. According to Pinterest, the best ratio for images is 2:3, with a minimum of 600 pixels[11]. As for the best length of a Pinterest description, statistics show that posts that get the most pins are those with 200-character descriptions[12].


The Bottom Line


Hopefully, you’ve found some good insights from this post. Use this data as a starting point for your own posts. But remember, these ‘ideal’ content lengths are only suggestions. Every audience is different – some may prefer longer or shorter text. You have to experiment to find out what resonates the most with your audience.


social media marketing with our virtual assistant team

New to social media marketing? Don’t worry! Our virtual assistant team has your back! As an experienced virtual assistant for online coaches, fitness coaches, business coaches, and others, we can write compelling content – with just the right length – to keep your target audience engaged.


Sources:
1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ 
2. https://www.statista.com/statistics/325587/instagram-global-age-group/
3. https://www.youtube.com/about/press/ 
4. https://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-twitter-users/ 
5. https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-tops-400-million-monthly-active-users-with-gen-z-men-and-millennials-driving-growth 
6.  https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-character-counter/ 
7.  https://blog.hootsuite.com/ideal-social-media-post-length/
8.  https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-character-counter/ 
9. https://trackmaven.com/blog/how-to-use-hashtags/ 
10. http://tubularinsights.com/length-youtube-video/ 
11. https://s.pinimg.com/sub/business/guides/how-to-make-great-pins-guide-en.pdf 
12. http://danzarrella.com/infographic-how-to-get-more-pins-and-repins-on-pinterest.html# 




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