How long should social posts be? Try this social media character counter

Crafting a witty Tweet, optimizing your Instagram posts with hashtags or brainstorming copy for Facebook ads may all seem like completely different tasks. But they all have one thing in common – they each have a platform-specific character limit.

More importantly, you need to know the ideal character count for social media content. This could improve your chances of getting people to read or engage with your posts.

To make your job a little easier, we’ve put together a detailed guide on social media character limits and ideal post lengths. We’ve also included a free social media character counter to test the length of your social posts before you hit “Post.”

Facebook

Facebook ads character count

Facebook generally has the same character limit across all ad types, with the exception of carousel ads and in-stream video ads.

• Headline – 40 characters
• Body text – 125 characters
• Link descriptions – 30 characters (20 for carousel ads and in-stream video ads)

Pair these Facebook ad character counts with our Facebook ad size guide to create the perfect ad.

Facebook posts character count

Facebook is the perfect place to share long-form content, with the platform allowing up to 63,206 characters in regular posts. This gives you ample space to tell a detailed story or explain something in-depth.

Ideal Facebook post length

But just because you can post a lengthy status update on Facebook doesn’t mean you should. In fact, short posts tend to perform better even on Facebook.

According to a BuzzSumo analysis, the ideal Facebook post length is around 50 characters (or fewer), which tends to get the most engagement.

That said, what engages your audience will also vary depending on your industry. So we recommend testing out what works for you specifically and trying out different Facebook post lengths to find the ideal character count for you.

Facebook maximum character limits

Besides posts and ads, Facebook also has character limits for usernames, Page descriptions and comments:

• Username character limit – at least 5 characters and up to 50 characters
• Page description – 255 Characters
• Facebook comments – 8,000 Characters

Instagram

Instagram ads character limit

The character limit for Instagram ads is similar to that of Facebook.

• Headline – 40 characters
• Body text – 125 characters
• Link descriptions – 30 characters

For more specifics around Instagram ads, check out our Instagram ad size guide.

Instagram captions character count

The Instagram caption limit is 2,200 characters. So there’s sufficient space to add context to your posts through your captions. It’s also important to note that Instagram captions are truncated at 125 characters.

Ideal Instagram caption length

While 2,200 characters is abundant caption real estate, huge blocks of text may look messy and distract people from the main focus of the post, i.e., your photo or video. The ideal length is 1-50 characters, as Quintly found that these tend to drive more interactions in an analysis of 5.9 million posts.

However, you may also want to test longer captions to see how your audience responds and how engagement varies by post type. For instance, longer captions could work well with informative and educational posts. But fun and casual posts may need just a few words in the caption or even a few emojis.

Check out some of the best caption ideas we put together to make the most of this space.

Instagram Hashtags

Maximum Instagram hashtag limit

Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags per post. But stuffing your caption space with all the hashtags you can use isn’t always a good idea. In fact, using irrelevant hashtags could put your account at risk of getting shadowbanned.

Ideal Instagram hashtag limit

The same Quintly study found that fewer hashtags (between 1 and 10) tend to drive more interactions overall. For larger profiles with 10+ million followers, using zero hashtags worked even better. However, this doesn’t apply to smaller profiles (fewer than 1k followers) since their reach is more limited. For these profiles, using 10+ hashtags drove the most interactions.

Our Instagram hashtag guide has more tips and ideas on how to make the most of hashtags in your posts.

Maximum Instagram character limits

Instagram also sets a limit on how long your bio and username can be:

• Instagram bio character limit – 150 characters
• Instagram username character limit – 30 characters

Twitter

Tweet character count

Within the last few years, Twitter increased Tweet character counts from 140 to 280 characters.

Ideal Tweet length

Unlike with other social platforms, longer posts tend to perform better on Twitter, according to reports from Sotrender and the Chicago Tribune. The sweet spot is between 240 and 259 characters, which tend to get the most likes, replies, Retweets, impressions and link clicks on average.

Twitter maximum character limits

Twitter also puts a cap on how long your DMs, profile name, bio and handle can be:

• DMs – 10,000 characters
• Twitter handle – 15 characters
• Profile name – 50 characters
• Bio – 160 characters

Pinterest maximum character limits

Pinterest sets limits on the number of boards and Pins you can create to keep the platform running smoothly. Besides that, there are character limits to maintain in the text areas as well:

• Maximum number of Pinterest boards – 2,000
• Maximum number of Pins – 200,000
• Profile name – 30 characters
• Bio – 160 characters
• Username – 30 characters
• Board name – 50 characters
• Board description – 500 characters
• Pin title – 100 characters
• Pin description – 500 characters

While Pinterest has a pretty lenient allowance on descriptions, only the first 50 characters will show up when people initially click on your board or Pin.

If you’re just starting out on Pinterest or looking for ways to up your game, check out our guide on using Pinterest for businesses to make the most of this platform.

LinkedIn maximum character limits

LinkedIn offers plenty of areas for users to enter text, with each having its own character limit. Here’s a quick look at some of them:

• First name – 20 characters
• Last name – 40 characters
• Status update (personal profile) – 1,300 characters
• About us/Summary – 2,000 characters
• Company Page name – 100 characters
• Company update – 700 characters
• Company leaders headline – 150 characters
• Company leaders description – 150 characters
• Employee testimonials – 400 characters
• Title of custom module – 150 characters
• Body of custom module – 500 characters
• URL label for custom module – 70 characters
• Recommendation – 3,000 characters
• LinkedIn Publishing post headline – 100 characters
• LinkedIn Publishing content length – 110,000 characters

With LinkedIn offering a vast range of advertising options as well, the text character limit also varies depending on which ad type you’re running. Check out our comprehensive guide on LinkedIn ads to find out the specs for each ad type.

YouTube

While YouTube may solely be about video, it also has a few text fields. The platform puts a cap on how many characters you can use in these fields:

• Video title – 100 characters
• YouTube description – 5,000 characters
• Playlist titles – 150 characters
• YouTube tags – 500 characters total

Free social media character counter

Want to know if your social posts are making the cut in terms of character count? Paste your content into our social media character counter below and see if your posts fit the character limit.

The Sprout Social Compose box also comes with a built-in character counter, which will automatically keep track of your post length as you create them.

Make every word count

When you have such limited space to work with, you need to say more with less. That’s why it’s so crucial to know the character limit across all social media platforms so you can adapt your voice and approach accordingly. Make the most of this guide to craft the perfect social media post for your brand.

Want to make sure you create a compelling marketing message that’s within the social media character limits? Check out our guide on making sure your marketing message always hits the mark.