In the early days of life online, the world was limited to text-only interactions. But the pace of technological advancement has been staggering in the last 30 years. Now many of us have computers in the palm of our hands that are far superior to early desktop units that squealed and screeched when connected to another computer via a landline phone.

Just a few years ago, watching a video online was frustrating, and posting a 30-second video required a thick manual, ritual sacrifice, and the luck of the gods. Well almost.

According to several studies, a plain text post now gets the least attention. For a post to grab attention, it must at least have an attached image. (A post no longer has to include text—it could just be a still image or even a video clip, but we’ll get there in a few minutes.) That’s why you might see a Facebook post about almost any topic, and attached to it will be a picture of a pet, a sunset, or a tree—something that has nothing to do with the topic of the post. If you can get a person to stop and look at your picture, there’s a chance they’ll also read the text of your post.

The image you add to your post does not have to be a photograph. It can be a graphic, perhaps clip art, with or without text on the image itself. It could also be all text, stylized in one or more interesting typefaces; you will often see those created for quotes. Regardless of the type of image you attach, try to make it directly related to your post. If you advertise that your business now sells blue widgets, please post an image of a blue widget. Now taking appointments for plumbing visits? Show your workers in their best uniforms smiling as they climb out of a truck with your company logo on the side.

Between the still image and a full-motion video is the “animated image,” often an image in the GIF (graphics interchange format) format. These are still images arranged in “loops” of a few seconds in length, where the subject is often funny and/or shocking. The use of GIFs has changed dramatically in recent years, and I could write an entire dissertation on their use in personal posts. For now, we’ll just say that Facebook considers GIFs as a still image category, and they’re attached the same way.

As I said a few minutes ago, your posts no longer need to include any text. If you have what I call a standalone image, with an image, explanatory text, and connection information, post it alone. FB also allows you to upload video clips, and the same goes for video posts. If you have raw footage that you’ve shot on your phone, you’ll probably want to add text that explains the context of the video and add any comments you feel are necessary. From you can post a fully produced video, complete with an intro, end credits, and background music. Producing video clips for your business is an entirely different matter. I address that in another series of articles.

The only type of media that FB does not currently allow in posts is standalone audio. So if you have an audio podcast, or an audio recording of a book or article you’ve written, you’ll need to convert it to a video clip in order to upload it. Again, the details of this are beyond the scope of this article, but “video” can be as simple as a single still image (or multiple linked images) occupying the image track, while the audio track plays. . You can find these types of videos on YouTube, often created by local fans for songs where there is no video recording of the artist.

Currently, the maximum file size for a video uploaded to Facebook is 1.75 GB, which in HD format is a running time of around 45 minutes. However, you should keep video posts as short as possible. You are pushing it with videos longer than 30 seconds. Only people who surf FB to relieve boredom will watch videos longer than a minute, and you better have completely unique content that people feel will change their lives if you post a video longer than 5 minutes.

Regardless of the media you use, any post you make on Facebook or anywhere else needs to have a specific intent – ​​a set goal that you want to achieve. The message should be crafted using the principles of immediacy and scarcity where appropriate. Every time your post tries to sell, or asks a question, provide the reader with the necessary contact information or link. In almost every post, you need to tell the reader exactly what you expect them to do once they’ve read the post, and give them the tools they need to do it.

The 11 Best Types of Business Posts, From Worst to Best

11) Text Only Post – Long

10) Text Only Post: Less Than 25 Words

9) Unrelated Still Image Text Post

8) Still Image Audio Post

7) Text Post with Related Still Image

6) Separate Image Text Post

5) Separate image, without text

4) Text post with raw video clip

3) Long video clip (more than 5 min) fully produced

2) Medium video clip (around 1 min) fully produced

1) Short video clip (30 seconds) fully produced