Twitter has announced plans to double its character limit from 140 characters to 280 characters, to a mixed response on social media. Although some will undoubtedly enjoy the fact that they have more space to play around with, many argue that this marks the end of one of Twitter’s unique founding features. But what does it mean for your business?
More room to play with
It’s often difficult to get meaningful messages into 140 characters, with some users choosing to share screenshots of text instead. If you’re marketing a business, then having more flexibility and room to promote your messages will be welcome news. Now, you can share relevant news and go into more detail about your new product launches without multiple tweets.
A chance to get creative
The 140-character limit is, arguably, one of Twitter’s most well-known features, and it can test your patience and creativity. 280 characters may give you more space, but it’s still a hard limit that you have to follow, so you’ll be able to get creative with new marketing content.
You could share poems, introductions to your blog posts, more hashtags or even start discussions with customers on the future of your products and services.
Increased competition
Before Twitter introduced its 280-character limit, the average tweet was just 28 characters long. While we’re not suggesting that every tweet in the future will be longer, there is a chance that you’ll see longer-form content on the platform, meaning you’ll have to work even harder to compete.
You may decide to post long-form content (well, long-form by Twitter’s standards) because it resonates with your audience, or you could choose to keep your posts short and snappy to save your users time and help them get the message.
Opportunity for experimentation
Twitter doubling its character count will no doubt have an impact on engagement rates and click-through rates, so it’s your chance to experiment with new formats and see what works for your business. Be sure to play around when the new feature launches.
Twitter is rolling out its new count within the coming months, with a beta group currently testing the feature. There’s no guarantee this change will have an impact on your social media marketing, but it’s important to be aware of it nonetheless. After all, social media is one of the best ways to promote your business, so you should use it to your advantage.