Social media platforms like Twitter make it easy for brands to connect with consumers without spending a fortune.

These days, you just need a few posts on Twitter to keep all of your existing and potential customers fully updated. 140 characters at a time was all it took to launch a new product or announce a store-wide sale — something that wasn’t so easy to do in the past using traditional marketing efforts.

The imposed character limit forces brands to provide short and sweet updates to all their followers, which results in a less cluttered feed than it could be.

But Twitter is planning on changing that.

Back in September of this year, Twitter announced through their official website that they’ve rolled out a raised character limit of 280 characters to some accounts for testing.

Can’t fit your Tweet into 140 characters? 🤔 We’re trying something new with a small group, and increasing the character limit to 280! Excited about the possibilities? Read our blog to find out how it all adds up. 👇https://t.co/C6hjsB9nbL — Twitter (@Twitter) September 26, 2017

They said that the change is intended to help users — both brands and consumers alike — express themselves better in a single post.

Will the raised character limit help brands improve their Twitter marketing strategy? Only time will tell. Until then, the best thing you can do is learn as much about the new tweeting protocols as possible. This will help you come up with a responsive strategy that will strengthen your current and future campaigns.

Raised Character Limit To Make Tweeting Great Again?

In July of this year, Twitter, Inc. struggled to prove to investors that their platform is capable of growth when its monthly active users flatlined at 328 million, the same as the previous quarter.

Along with the stagnant user base, Twitter also had a hard time reviving their dwindling ad revenue. In an attempt to make tweeting great again, Twitter announced back in September that they are testing a new character limit to a few test users.

According to their official blog, they found that many users — in the US in particular — were challenged by the imposed 140 character limit. Twitter found that many users max out the 140 character limit on their updates. They also found that many have to edit their tweets several times to fit the prescribed character limitation.

Twitter saw that language cramming affects a vast majority of their user base but not all. They discovered that tweets written in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese don’t reach the 140 character limit as often because they have fewer characters in the alphabet — and, therefore, require fewer characters to explain a complete thought.

Image credit: Twitter Blog

Twitter said that their plans to increase the character limit are only in the testing phase. They will be collecting information and data from test accounts to determine whether this change will help make tweeting better for all the users who would be affected.

What This Means For You

Part of what makes Twitter so appealing to a lot of users is the brevity of the posts and updates you see on the feed. Users go to Twitter to seek short and sweet updates from the accounts, brands, and fellow users they care about the most.

The raised character limit will urge users to create longer tweets, which will leave Twitter feeds more cluttered than before — even for users who are not affected by language cramming.

As a brand, this means you have to work twice as hard to get the attention of the right people. These days, longer posts don’t go over well with our generally shorter attention span. Whether the new rules of tweeting will work to your advantage or disadvantage ultimately depends on how you make use of them and your audience.

If your followers and the people you want to attract are fond of reading longer posts, the new raised character limit might be a blessing straight from the tweeting gods themselves. It will give you an opportunity to add more color to your messages and marketing stories.

But if your followers are all about information on the go, they might not even stop to read your novel-length 280-character tweets at all. Many people love the quick-and-easy nature of short tweets, and some won’t want to adjust.

The raised character limit is bound to change the Twitter marketing game forever. Whether it’s for the better (or for the worse) only time can tell.

If you’re nervous about the changes that are about to take place, consider strengthening your social proof on Twitter by purchasing high-quality Followers, Likes, and Retweets from a reputable provider.

Bought Twitter enhancements like these from a tried-and-tested provider will give your updates a seemingly buzzworthy status that will help you stay on the radar of your followers — despite their cluttered feeds.

How To Use the 280 Character Limit Properly

Don’t feel pressured to use all 280 characters in every tweet once the update is fully rolled out.

Once you have access to the extended space, experiment with the length of your posts. Evaluate how your followers react to longer updates from you before you rethink your entire strategy.

Some of the brands that were selected to test out Twitter’s new update have been poking some fun at Twitter with their newfound ability.

Denny’s said they would trade the extra 140 characters for beans, magic or not.

last night we received the 280 character count. we traded the extra 140 for beans. not even magic. — Denny's (@DennysDiner) September 27, 2017

Burger King didn’t get the update but showed what they would do if they did.

Imagine what we could do with 280 characters pic.twitter.com/oxyLqMF7wn — Burger King (@BurgerKing) September 27, 2017

And it took MoonPie 280 characters to say they would rather stay true to tradition and keep their tweets well under 140 characters.

This account has been asked to test Twitter's new 280 character limit, but as a 100-year-old brand, we believe our fans most enjoy traditional tweets with brevity, so we declined. We hope to continue to provide a fun, positive place to discuss MoonPies moving forward. Thank you. — MoonPie (@MoonPie) September 27, 2017

Twitter marketing is all about connecting with your followers so use every opportunity you get to do just that, no matter how many characters it takes.

Add Substance To Your Tweets

Now is the perfect time to revamp your strategy to adapt to the changes that are about to take place on Twitter.

Take this time to get to know your audience and how receptive they are to longer posts. You should also take this as an opportunity to further strengthen your social proof on the platform by purchasing a few thousand Followers and Retweets from a reputable provider.

Being as in tune with your followers as possible will help you make the most out of the new raised character limit on Twitter.

Focus on adding as much substance as you can to all of your updates, regardless of your limit. The best way to stand out is to consistently publish valuable tweets that are relevant to your audience — no matter how many characters it takes you.