Most advice about Facebook posts is built on engagement studies, and most engagement studies are correlational readings of a feed that has since been rebuilt. The previous version of this article passed on one of the best-travelled examples: that the ideal Facebook post is 40 characters. That figure comes from a small analysis published over a decade ago, has been recycled ever since, and describes a ranking system that no longer exists.
What has not changed is the underlying mechanic, and it is worth understanding because everything useful follows from it.
The feed ranks predicted response, not quality
Facebook decides what to show by estimating how likely a given person is to respond to a given post — and it weights meaningful responses far above passive ones. A comment or a share signals more than a like; a like signals more than a scroll past.
Two consequences follow. First, a post that provokes a reply outperforms a better-written one that does not. Second, reach is not a property of your post at all — it is a property of the match between your post and each person. Which is why identical posts perform differently on different pages, and why chasing another page’s formula rarely transfers.
What reliably helps
Ask something answerable. The most common failure is a question nobody can answer without effort. “What are your thoughts on our new range?” requires composing an opinion. “Which of these two would you actually order?” requires typing one word. The second gets replies.
Put the point first. The feed truncates, and the decision to expand happens on the first line. Anything that reads as a wind-up is spent before the point arrives.
Post one idea. A post doing three jobs invites no particular response to any of them.
Use native formats. Video uploaded to Facebook, images sized for the feed, text that stands alone — anything that behaves like a foreign object performs worse than the same content posted natively.
Reply to comments, quickly. Early replies extend a conversation, and a conversation is the strongest signal available. This is the highest-return habit on the list and the one most often skipped.
What to be sceptical of
| Common claim | The problem with it |
|---|---|
| An exact ideal post length | Derived from old data on a different feed; short does tend to beat long, but the number is fiction |
| A universal best time to post | Depends entirely on when your audience is present. Your own analytics answer it; a blog post cannot |
| “Links are penalised” | Folklore. Link posts often engage less because a link invites leaving, not because of a penalty |
| Engage-bait tactics | Explicitly demoted. Asking for likes and shares is a named target of Facebook’s own policy |
| A fixed posting frequency | Posting more only helps while quality holds; the feed does not reward volume for its own sake |
Test against your own page, not a study
Your Page’s own insights are worth more than any published benchmark, because they describe your audience rather than an aggregate. The useful discipline is to change one variable at a time and give it enough posts to mean something — a single post proves nothing either way.
Watch the ratio of comments to reach rather than raw numbers, since reach fluctuates for reasons outside your control. And treat your own best-performing posts as the benchmark to beat. That is the only comparison that accounts for your audience, your subject and the current feed simultaneously.
The thing most pages get wrong
Not the copy, the cadence. Pages post to a schedule, then disappear when replies arrive. A post is the beginning of the interaction rather than the end of the task, and the twenty minutes after publishing is when your presence does the most work.
Frequently asked questions
What is the ideal length for a Facebook post?
There is no reliable number. Shorter generally does better because the feed truncates, but the widely-quoted 40-character figure comes from an old study of a system that has since been rebuilt.
When is the best time to post on Facebook?
When your audience is online, which your own Page insights will tell you. Published best times are averages across audiences unlike yours.
Does Facebook penalise posts with links?
There is no penalty as such. Link posts often see less engagement because a link invites people to leave, and the feed weights on-platform response.
Do hashtags help on Facebook?
Far less than on other platforms. A couple of relevant ones do no harm; strings of them read as spam and help nothing.
Should I ask people to like and share?
No. Explicitly soliciting engagement is a named target for demotion. Ask a question worth answering instead.
How many times a day should a page post?
As often as you have something worth posting. Frequency helps only while quality holds, and the feed does not reward volume by itself.
Related reading
See also how to pin a post on a Facebook Page or group.
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