There’s no such thing as too much engagement on social media.
Marketers can always use more likes, shares, video views, and comments. And integral to driving that engagement is nailing the length of your message. That’s what this article is about.
This article is a curation of research around ideal character counts (not to be confused with character limits) for posts and other types of content on:
Are you writing too much in your social media posts? Too little? Are your videos too long or not long enough? Optimize the length of your content and you’ll be more likely to engage and convert your audience.
Let’s go.
Bonus: Download a free guide to discover which hashtags to use to boost traffic and target customers on social media. And then learn how you can use Hootsuite to measure results.
The ideal length for Facebook posts
Shorter posts usually receive more likes, comments, and shares on Facebook. People like when a message makes its point quickly and concisely. It’s satisfying.
Organic posts: 1 to 80 characters
In 2016, BuzzSumo analyzed more than 800 million Facebook posts. Based on their findings, posts with less than 50 characters “were more engaging than long posts.” According to another, more precise study by Jeff Bullas, posts with 80 characters or less receive 66 percent higher engagement:
There are a couple reasons for this, including increased:
Barrier to entry: Facebook cuts off longer posts with an ellipsis, forcing users to click “See More” to expand the text and read the entire message. This extra step doesn’t seem like much, but it will drive down engagement. Every time you ask the audience to take action, a percentage of people will lose interest.
Barrier to comprehension: the longer a person reads, the harder his or her brain must work to process information. But people don’t like to think. We just want to get it, just like that. Content that demands less work—less cognitive energy—to consume and understand will enjoy higher engagement rates.
Paid posts: 5 to 18 words
Every Facebook ad needs three types of content: a Headline, Main Text, and a Description.
After analyzing 37,259 Facebook ads, AdEspresso found that ads did best when the copy in each element was clear and concise. According to the data, the ideal length for a:
- Headline, the first text people read, is 5 words.
- Main Text, the snippet above your image or video, is 14 words.
- Description, the text that lives directly below your headline, is 18 words.
Whether the post is organic or paid, brevity seems to drive engagement.
Capitalize on this by keeping your ad copy concise: don’t use two words when one will do. And keep it clear: omit adverbs, jargon, and the passive voice from your copy.
Learn more social media ad writing tips.
Videos: 30 to 60 seconds
With video, one of the primary measures of success is how long people watch, also known as your video retention rate.
In 2016, Kinetic Social tracked 2 billion social ad impressions and found that 44 percent of 30- to 60-second videos on Facebook were viewed to completion. Meanwhile, videos that ran under 30 seconds or over two minutes saw completion rates of 26 and 31 percent, respectively. A more recent poll, from 2018, showed that 33 percent of Facebook users preferred to watch shorter videos, from 30 to 50 seconds long.
Whenever possible, keep your videos tight.
Careful! Don’t go over the limit:
The ideal length for Twitter
In 2017, Twitter doubled its character limit to help make writing on the platform easier.
“Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people tweeting in English,” explains product manager, Aliza Rosen. “When people don’t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people Tweeting.”
But just because you have twice the room doesn’t mean people want to see you use it.
Organic and promoted tweets: 71 – 100 characters
Whether you’re running an ad or not, data from Buddy Media shows that tweets containing less than 100 characters receive, on average, 17 percent higher engagement than longer tweets.
This is, in part, because shorter tweets are easier to read and comprehend. Short tweets also give retweeters enough room to add their own message.
Research by Track Social corroborates these findings:
Twitter hashtags: 6 characters
“The best hashtags are those composed of a single word or a few letters,” writes Vanessa Doctor from Hashtags.org. “Twitter experts recommend keeping the keyword under 6 characters.”
Again, this length is about reader comprehension, especially since hashtags don’t support spaces.
Careful! Don’t go over the limit:
