Creating a social media marketing calendar for your law firm can certainly be challenging! There’s so much to consider when deciding how best to adapt your content for each social media channel: engaging topics, appropriate content formats, posting schedules, and the best times to post on each platform.
If all that weren’t enough, each social media network has its own set of specifications and maximum character limits, which seem to change on a weekly basis. That’s why we’ve put together the latest, most up-to-date social media specs in this comprehensive guide. We’ve also included the best (and worst!) days and times to post, according to Sprout Social, a leading social media software company. Read on to learn more about the specifications for each platform, along with some advice about best practices.
Google Business Profile (Formerly known as Google My Business)
Specs
- Title: 58 characters max
- Post: 1,500 characters max, no minimum
- Images 750 x 750
- Videos: 720P resolution or higher, 30 seconds or shorter
Best Practices
- Posts can be up to 1,500 characters, but only the first 100 words are visible. The rest can be seen once the post is clicked on, but it’s not very intuitive.
- According to Google, the ideal length of a GMB post is between 150 – 300 characters.
- Posts that include a phone number in the description may be rejected.
- Posts are visible for 7 days in Knowledge Panel
- Content should be of high quality, so check your spelling and only include links to websites you trust, such as your own.
Specs
- Username: 50 characters max
- Page Description: 155 characters max
- Posts: 63,206 characters max
- Images: 30 MB max file upload
- Videos: MP4 format recommended, 240 minutes max, up to 10 GB
Best Practices
- Just because Facebook allows 63K+ characters doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. The chances of visitors reading an entire post of that length are slim. Social media experts, including marketing giant Hubspot, consider 40 – 50 characters to be the ideal length for a post.
- Best times to post: Monday through Friday at 2 a.m., Tuesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Best days to post: Tuesday through Friday
- Worst days to post: Saturday
Specs
- Tweets: 280 characters max
- Direct Messages: 10,000 characters max
- Images: 1500 x 1500 pixels, 5 MB max upload size
Best Practices
- Although Twitter has increased the character limits from 140 to 280 characters, shorter tweets get more engagement. Studies show that tweets that are 71 – 100 characters in length are liked and retweeted more than longer posts.
- @ mentions, gifs, and images don’t take away from a tweet’s character limits, but links do, though they’ll be shortened to 23 characters.
- Best times to post: Tuesday from noon to 2 p.m.
- Best days to post: Wednesday and Thursday
- Worst days to post: Saturday and Sunday
Specs
- Status: 700 characters max
- Articles: 120,000 characters max
- Group Discussions: 2,000 characters max
Best Practices
- The ideal length for a LinkedIn status is around 100 characters. The “See More” button cuts off messages at about 140 characters. For articles, the recommendation is 3,000 characters.
- Best times to post: Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Best days to post: Wednesday and Thursday
- Worst days to post: Saturday and Sunday
Specs
- Caption: 2,20 characters max
- Bio: 150 characters max
- Username: 30 characters max
- Hashtags: 30 hashtags max
- Images: 30 MB max
- Videos: 60 seconds max, 4 GB max upload
Best Practices
- The character limit is probably more than you want to use. Using the full 2,200 characters means your visitor will need to click on the “See more” button to view your entire post, so it’s better to shorten your captions. Under 125 characters is recommended so that your entire caption is visible in the Instagram feed.
- Best times to post: Monday at noon, Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday and Fridays from 11 a.m. to noon
- Best days to post: Tuesday and Wednesday
- Worst days to post: Sunday
YouTube
Specs
- Video Title: 100 characters max
- Description: 5,000 characters max
- Videos: Up to 12 hours
Best Practices
- Your video title will likely cut off at 70 characters in most search results, so it’s best to keep your titles short and include your most important keywords at the beginning of the title.
- The video description is the one place you should make full use of the allotted characters. YouTube is the third most popular search engine, following Google Search and Google Images, so including important keywords in your video description is a good way to improve your rankings in search results.
Capturing social media audience’s attention is a constant challenge for law firms, made more difficult by the constantly changing rules and regulations. Bookmark this cheat sheet to quickly refer back to the info you need for a successful social media marketing plan and don’t forget to also review our Online Marketing Images Cheat Sheet.
Rita Chaires
Director of Web and Online Marketing Services
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com
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