Ideal Social Media Posts Length: Facebook, X, Twitter

Most people know that there is a limit on the length of a tweet. Now it’s 280 characters, which was doubled some time ago. Other social media also limit the length of your social media posts, although these character limits may not be so expressed.

Besides social media limitations, there are other reasons to keep in mind social media posts’ length for Facebook, X, and Twitter. If you want to maximize the engagement and impact of your posts, you need to know the ideal social media posts’ length.

Don’t confuse posts’ length (character counts) with the allowed character limits.

Are you writing too much or too little in your social media posts? Is the length of your videos optimized, too long, or not long enough?

In this post, we look at the leading social media networks and present the research on the ideal social media posts length for Facebook, X, and Twitter.

Why do Character Counts Matter?

First, let’s be clear about how the characters of social media posts are counted. Character count denotes the total number of characters in your social media message, including letters, numbers, spaces, and even punctuation marks. Each keystroke to add is included in the total character count.

Every social media platform has its own character limit for posts. But it doesn’t mean that you have to use the maximal character limit. You may want to use the optimal character number to get the best results on social media.

Let’s delve deeper into the importance of character count in your social media marketing strategy. The character count is important for the following reasons:

• Attention span. In an era of information overload, users have increasingly shorter attention spans. Concise posts with the limited number of characters are more likely to capture and retain users’ attention amidst the constant stream of content on their feeds.
• Engagement. Posts with optimal character counts are more likely to prompt likes, comments, shares, and other forms of interaction. These responses to your social media posts increase engagement of your posts.
• Optimization for platform algorithms. Most algorithms of social media platforms consider post length to boost content visibility. By delivering an optimal character count, you can improve the score in the ranking system of the algorithms and increase the chances of posting your posts. As mentioned above, posts with optimal character counts increase user engagement. Social media algorithms often favor content that generates high levels of engagement shortly after being published. Thus, social media posts with the ideal length are more likely to appear in your audience’s feeds.
• Mobile optimization. Shorter posts are optimized for mobile viewing on the majority of social media. The majority of social media users access platforms via mobile devices thus this factor is important. Users scrolling through their feeds on smartphones appreciate content that is easy to read on smaller screens
• Enhancement of readability and message clarity. Shorter, concise posts with an optimal character count are easier to read and digest on all devices, not just mobile phones. When you want to write shorter messages, you have to be concise and clear in your messaging. Such posts are more likely to be read fully, enhancing your message’s impact.
• Encourages sharing. Posts that are concise and to the point are more shareable. They‘re easier for users to quote or repost, especially on platforms like X, where character limits are stricter.
• Cross-platform consistency. Different social media platforms have varying limits for posts length. Crafting content with appropriate character counts enables you for cross-platform sharing and ensures consistency across platforms. This helps to strengthen your brand’s style and maximizes the effectiveness of your messaging strategy.

In conclusion, social media posts’ length matters in social media because it enhances readability, encourages sharing and engagement, and increases the reach and perception of your message.

The Ideal Facebook Post Length

Facebook is one of the mostly used social media networks with a diverse user base and emphasis on meaningful interactions. In general, Facebook favors longer-form content that encourages discussion and engagement. In practice, shorter posts lead to better engagement. Content that demands less effort to understand will give higher engagement rates.

Facebook offers a generous character limit of 63,206. However, studies show that shorter posts perform better. The study of Express Writers shows that Facebook posts of 40-80 characters performed best. Jeff Bullas found similar results: their study shows that posts shorter than 80 characters performed best.

Thus, you should aim for 40-80 characters for text posts, that perform the best. A sentence or two said text posts’ length should be even shorter. AdEspresso found that ads with 5 to 19 words performed best.

According to their research, the ideal Facebook ad length should be:

• Headline: 5 words.
• Ad text, which appears above the ad: 19 words.
• Link description, which appears below the headline: 13 words.

Facebook allows a maximum of 240 minutes for most videos, excluding Stories and Reels. As in the case of text posts, more doesn’t mean better. No one wouldn’t watch a 240-minutes video all the way through. Facebook recommends using videos that are less than one minute or stories that are less than 20 seconds in length.

Some videos like episodic series, live streaming, or story development should be over three minutes. However, use these videos just occasionally.

Also, read our guide about what is the best time to post on Facebook.

The Ideal X Post Length

X prefers brevity and encourages users to use shorter posts.

Now X offers 280 characters for your tweets. However, if you want to get better engagement, you should use even fewer characters.

The Buddy Media research shows that the optimal tweets length is 71 – 100 characters.

Shorter tweets are easier to read and understand, thus, they will get more engagement.

X hashtag length should be around 6 characters, which is basically a single word. This length is due to better comprehension, especially for the fact that hashtags don’t support spaces.

It is recommended to use up to two hashtags to maintain readability. Hashtags should be related to the topics. Avoid general hashtags.

The maximum length for X videos is two minutes and 20 seconds. However, X videos that are under 60 seconds get the most engagement.

Also, read our guide about what is the best time to post on X.

The Ideal Instagram Post Length

Instagram is a visually driven platform, that thrives on high-quality images and encourages users to use concise captions that complement the visual content. Instagram’s algorithm places posts with the most likes and comments at the top of your followers’ feeds.

The Instagram caption limit is 2,200 characters. As in the case of Facebook and X, don’t use all of them. Most people scroll through their feeds quickly, so keep your captions concise to get better engagement.

It is recommended to use Instagram captions of up to 125 characters. Social Report study showed that this character length performed the best.

The same recommendation is valid for Instagram ads as for Instagram posts. Restrict your Instagram ad captions up to 125 characters.

Instagram differs from X in its philosophy of hashtag usage. Instagram allows to use of up to 30 hashtags in a post. However, 5-10 relevant Instagram hashtags per post would perform the best to expand your reach without overwhelming your audience.

While there’s no strict character limit for Instagram hashtags, the hashtag character number influences how the post performs. Surprisingly, studies showed that longer hashtags performed better, which is different from X or Facebook hashtags. Instagram hashtags of 21 – 24 characters give the most engagement.

Also, read our guide about what is the best time to post on Instagram.

Additional Tips for Success

By tailoring your content to the ideal post lengths for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you can maximize engagement, and thus, achieve your social media marketing goals. Besides post lengths, other factors also influence the engagement of your posts, namely posting time and frequency of posting.

Read our guides about what is the best time to post on Facebook, Instagram, and X, and how to use hashtags.

Besides these advices, consider the following tips for the success of your social media marketing:

• Visual content. Across all platforms, visual content such as images and videos significantly enhances engagement. Try to create high-quality, but concise images and videos that resonate with your audience.
• Call to action (CTA). Your social media posts should include clear CTAs, prompting users to like, share, comment, or click through to your website.
• Consistency. Get to know the best posting time and maintain a consistent posting schedule to keep your audience engaged and build a loyal base of followers.

Use Postus, the AI-powered social media posting tool for automated content delivery for Facebook, X, and Instagram. Postus allows you to prepare in advance and schedule your posts, manage the posting frequency, and deliver posts with the ideal social media post length.

Frequently Asked Questions