If you have a Twitter account or manage a few for your clients, chances are you have already discovered your newfound fortune. Once limited to 140 characters, your blank canvas has doubled to 280. Think of the possibilities! Forget the abbreviations. Add a few hashtags. Have something to say? Don’t leave anything out.

Not so fast.

From a marketing standpoint, Twitter’s higher character limit certainly has its advantages, but with extra characters comes extra responsibility. Allow me to share a few thoughts on Twitter’s latest revelation.

Extra characters make it easier to respond to customers.

This is one of the first advantages I noticed with the increase in characters. Social media platforms like Twitter are increasingly becoming a way for you to reach potential customers, and vice versa. If someone contacts your company via Twitter with a question about your services, or even to voice a complaint, the increased character limit allows you to write clearer, more thorough responses. Better yet? The answer to one person’s question might be exactly what another person is looking for, and taking the time to craft detailed responses shows your dedication to customer service.

Extra characters let you create more meaningful content.

With 140 characters, you were essentially limited to one thought. Let’s say you’re sharing information about a new product. Ideally you would want to give a description of its features, pricing information, and where to buy it. But with the previous limited word count, you were often forced to limit what was shared or find some way to abbreviate it, compromising the message. Extra characters allow you to create more meaningful messages that can drive more conversions and fuel better outcomes.  

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

When I first started using Twitter, I saw the 140-character ticker as a goal more than a guideline. 10 characters left? You better believe I wasn’t letting them go to waste. A little older (and hopefully a little wiser), I have learned the error of my ways. While it’s tempting to use all 280 characters, it’s not worth sacrificing your message to do it. Clear and concise writing is still important. Even on social media.

And with that said, watch the hashtags.

Hashtags make it easier for people interested in your content to find it, but that doesn’t mean you should fill your extra space with extra hashtags using every word that could potentially be relevant to your post or industry. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Research done by Twitter shows that a good rule of thumb is two per post, with any more than that actually decreasing engagement. Want to add more characters to your message? Extra hashtags isn’t the way to do it.

More than ever, you need a content strategy.

If you’re going to take up twice as much space on the timelines of your followers and make them sift through twice as many characters, it better be relevant to their needs and support your own goals. Before Tweeting, sit down and consider what you’re looking to accomplish through social media—whether it’s increasing sales, awareness, improving company morale, or anything else. Include relevant links, photos, and videos that give users a chance to take the next step in their relationship with you. This is the type of content that can have an impact on your bottom line.

There is no doubt about it. The increase in characters is exciting for anyone who uses Twitter and could lead to more people following your brand. Need some help with a social media strategy of your own? Send us a Tweet to @Burns360com. After all, you’ve got a little more wiggle room to tell us what you need.