Twitter provides a great platform where businesses can connect with customers, share information about products, and even create fun posts that show personality. All types of businesses can take advantage of this social media platform—but they must be able to limit their posts to 140 characters! Unlike other social media sites that shorten your posts after a certain character limit, Twitter simply doesn’t let you post a message containing more than 140 characters. Though Twitter has recently announced that they’re testing out a new limit of 280-character Tweets, most users outside of a dedicated test pool are still working with 140. If you’re having a hard time staying within this limit while still getting your company’s message across, try some of these Tweet-shortening tips:
Shorten Your Link
One of the easiest ways to shorten a Tweet is to shorten the link included in the post. If you’re linking to a blog post, page on your website, or page on another website, then you can use a website like Bitly.com to shorten your link. Simply copy and paste the full URL you want to include in your Tweet into Bitly, press the “Shorten” button, and Bitly will give you a much shorter version of the link that will still bring your followers to the desired location. Not only will this help you stick to 140 characters, it also makes your link look much more attractive!
Shorten Your Words
Twitter is known for being quite casual, which is why it’s acceptable to shorten your words when composing Tweets. You’d never think of typing “w/” instead of “with” on your website, but you can use this shortcut on Twitter to make sure your message gets across in 140 characters or fewer. It’s easy to shorten your Tweets when you use text or internet slang, such as saying “B4” instead of “before.” This can be very helpful, but you should only turn to text or internet slang when you absolutely need to reduce the number of characters you have in your Tweet.
Add Text to an Image
Sometimes you really want to Tweet a message that is much longer than 140 characters—and other shortcut tricks change your message too much. Luckily, you can post images to Twitter, giving you an easy way to share longer messages. Place your message on an attractive and eye-catching image, and then Tweet the image along with a shorter message that includes 1 or 2 relevant hashtags. Not only will this allow you to share your message, it might also make that message more memorable. In fact, people remembered 65% of the information they learned when it was paired with an image, compared to remembering only 10% of information they learned that was presented on its own.
Use Shorter Synonyms
Sometimes, shortening your words doesn’t cut it. That’s when it’s time to consider using different words that mean the same thing. Finding shorter synonyms can be a great way to reduce the number of characters in your Tweet without changing the overall message. If you want to say something is “awesome,” say it’s “cool,” instead and you’ll save yourself 3 characters! Re-read your Tweet and try to find shorter words to use in place of the ones that you have. You can even use your computer’s thesaurus to find shorter synonyms, just be sure to re-read your Tweet after making any changes to make sure it still sounds natural.
Don’t Worry So Much About Grammar
While you might be concerned with spelling and grammar when it comes to your blog and pages on your website, you don’t need to be as concerned with grammar when it comes to your Twitter profile. Because this platform only allows users to create 140-character posts, Twitter users are used to keeping their messages short and sweet—and this often includes being a little less strict when it comes to grammar rules. If you’re running low on characters, consider taking out the comma or leaving the period off the end of your sentence.
Compose More Than One Tweet
For those times when you have a lot to say and can’t afford to shorten your Tweet using the other tricks, you can try posting more than one Tweet. A lot of Twitter users will post 2 or more Tweets in a row when they have a lot to say. You can make sure your Tweets stay connected by including “cont’d” at the end or by numbering them at the end, like putting “1/3” at the end of your first Tweet.
The more you Tweet, the easier it will become to keep your messages within the 140-character limit while still getting your point across to your followers. If you need help tackling Twitter or using other social media platforms for your business, contact Pennington Creative. We offer a variety of digital marketing services, including social media services that can help you connect to your current and new customers. Visit our website to learn more about our online marketing services.
