Right now, the biggest news in the world of social media marketing is that Twitter changed its character count limit from 140 to 280. At one point in time, tweets were only as long as this one sentence (not including media), which is pretty tiny from a marketing standpoint. Now, it is double that. Seems like a small change for those who haven’t tried to cram an intricate thought into this microblogging format before, but for copywriters, this may be one of the best updates in history.
How can marketers benefit from this? Let us count the ways!
1. Let me finish my thought.
Let’s face it – sometimes 140 characters just wasn’t enough. You can now share a better-composed message with your Twitter follows, just like you can with Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
2. Improved visibility.
I wouldn’t recommend using these extra characters to flood your tweet with excess hashtags, but by carefully using this prime real estate for optimized copy, complete with trending and relevant keywords, more people can find your content.
3. A new flock.
One of the biggest cons of Twitter was the 140 character gap. However now that that is gone, experts predict a significant spike in Twitter users.
4. You can still be short and sweet.
Some people are a bit concerned that Twitter will be flooded with longwinded rants. First off, the 140 limit never stopped rants, it merely forced writers to break it up into chunks, turning news feeds into confusing landscapes of half-written stories. Now, these rants can be contained into one tweet. However, you may still want to keep it short and sweet, and you should go for it! In fact, if you publish a melody of tweet sizes, it will draw new readers since it changes pace and rhythm.
5. Advertising, ahoy!
For a long time, Facebook had the advantage of being the better advertiser simply due to space. Now with 280 characters, you can send out a powerful message and promote it through paid advertisements.
It’s easy to see why the 280 character limit is actually a very good thing. Marketers will now be able to comfortably tell their brand’s story without getting hung up on one or two characters over the limit. Get started tweeting today!
