I think this is becoming like some sort of series - two weeks ago I talked about the power of storytelling and how brands can to harness it; a week after that I shared a piece focusing more on the art of storytelling, i.e. creating content and what the perfect social posts look like. Today we are going to tackle another important content creation element that you are required to consider too - length.

Great storytelling is not just about picking the right words, it's also about making the right choice regarding the number of words you use. When writing, be it for personal or professional reasons, there are people who tend to get carried away (I myself do so sometimes). Being able to send a message in a short, quick and up-to-the-point way is an art that can be learned by practice and with the help of some scientifically backed-up data such as this from Kevan Lee at Buffer.

Lee has gathered some serious research findings and developed a guide to the perfect length of every online content. Of course, that's not a one-size-fits-all solution, but those are some great points to consider whenever you're writing your next tweet, email, post or headline.

You can head over and read Kevan's extensive article, it's a great piece. I've gathered for you here the most important facts and what you need to know to create highly optimised content that allows your storytelling to stand out.

As explained in my last piece, capturing and sustaining people's attention in our fast-paced, brave new world of massive social media adoption and information overload has never been more important and more difficult for brands.

Having an active presence on social platforms doesn't necessarily mean that your followers are engaging with your messages, many are probably even ignoring them. This is why creating perfect social posts and tailoring them for each of your networks is crucial if you want to win the battle for attention and maximise the effectiveness of your social media activities.

However, it's not just about the content though; the network of choice matters too. You may want to communicate the same message on all of your channels, but you need to adapt it to the requirements of those networks. You cannot simply post the exact same thing on Facebook and then on Tumblr for example, slight adaptation (sometimes more than slight) is absolutely necessary because of the way your audiences on those channels actually use them. Simply put, that way is different and unique for each platform: your audiences expect one thing from you when they are congregating on Instagram and a completely different on Twitter.

Knowing how to approach each channel and how to craft the perfect content is a mix of science and art - science, because you need to understand your audiences so that you know what content they would like, need and engage with across social; art, because you have to be creative so that your content can stand out and be seen.

Did you know that 350 million photos are being shared on Facebook each day? On Instagram that number is 55 million photos. That’s more than 400 million images on just two sites every single day! Welcome to the world of the visual web. It is not a fad. It is here to stay.

Just look at the rapid growth of social networks such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr – people are on them and they are really active!

Visuals and photos are being facebooked, instagrammed, pinned, tweeted, tumbled and flickered every second of every day.

The rise of the visual web for business is undeniable too. The major social media players have completely redesigned their platforms to make them purposefully more visual – consider Facebook (including the new ad formats), Google+, and even Twitter.

Why did they do that? Because people love visuals.

They are easy on the eyes and the mind to comprehend, understand the information and then share this data with a simple click without having to add any further explanations.

For businesses this means that they now need to adapt their communications and leverage the power of the visual in order to reach and engage their audiences.

Not convinced?

Exciting news! The fourth annual Social Media Sustainability Index 2013 is now out! Having written my second BA dissertation and my first book on the topic of social media for sustainability communications, you can assume how eager I was to go through the report and see if anything has changed after I had done my own research in the area less than a year ago. So, this is what I am going to talk about today - the research findings.

The team at Sustainly, led by Matthew Yeomans, analysed how 475 major companies from various industries use social media to communicate sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and actions all over the world. They looked at more than 4000 corporate social media channels to identify companies with real commitment to social media sustainability communications. They then selected the top 100 for the Social Media Sustainability Index and further investigated best practice communication and storytelling.

The main finding was "an explosion in the number of companies committed to talking about sustainability", however very few of those "seem to have a good idea who they are talking to and what stories they should be telling." But, storytelling plays an essential role for sustainability because "good social media communications is based on having a compelling story to tell and being able to back it up."

With the massive adoption of image-based social media networks such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, visual storytelling has become a powerful content marketing tool. Creating compelling visuals is now an art that brands should master to enhance their communications on the social web. To make the most of them though, it’s recommended that your visuals comply with the sizing requirements of each network. Here’s where this sizing chart comes in handy.

The infographic below offers an overview of the designated size parameters of all visual components for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. It’s based on the image requirements for 2014 so it’s pretty useful for graphic designers and community managers.

What I like about the chart is that with it you simply have everything in one place, meaning you are not required to google every time you need the size of a specific visual component of one of the networks. How many times have you searched for the Facebook profile or cover pic size? Quite a few, I’d presume :)

You can print it out, place it on your desk or save it on your desktop and whenever you need a specific image parameter just have a quick look. Pretty neat, right?

Enjoy the social media sizing cheat!