Ever since Twitter made the exciting (and controversial) decision to expand their character limit from 140 characters to a whopping 280 characters, brands have been exploring new ways to make the most of the added space. Twitter implemented the change after discovering that nine percent of tweets in the English language hit the character limit.
“This reflects the challenge of fitting a thought into a tweet, often resulting in lots of time spent editing and even at times abandoning tweets before sending,” wrote Twitter Product Manager, Aliza Rosen in a blog post. With the expanded character count, that number plummeted to only one percent of tweets hitting the limit.
For businesses using Twitter as part of their marketing strategy, composing clever 280 character tweets provides an opportunity to communicate more effectively with your audience. Some brands have shown off their sense of humor by hitting the limit with jokes, others have used the longer tweets to express an impactful message. Here are some of the best ways businesses have deployed the 280 character tweets.
Sports brands boosting engagement with 280 character tweets
Chicago Bears
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Bears.— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 27, 2017
Borrowing from the beloved Saturday Night Live sketch, the Chicago Bears used all 280 characters to tweet out the signature tagline, “Daa-Bears” to all of their 1.6 million followers. Without the use of audio, the marketers behind the Chicago Bears cleverly conveyed the over-the-top Chicago accent parodied in the SNL sketch via tweet.
Their funny use of the famous catch-phrase paid off. The tweet received nearly 12,000 retweets and 53,000 likes. The catch-phrase is treasured by both fans of the team and fans of the classic sketch.
Da Bears thanked Twitter at the end for giving them extra characters with which to extend the catch-phrase beyond previously imposed limits. The effect? A shared laugh among Twitter users and more engagement for the franchise.
Seattle Mariners
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┻┳| •.•) This is a bad idea.
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┻┳|— Mariners (@Mariners) September 27, 2017
In true Seattle style, The Mariners created a sarcastic response to Twitter’s announcement of the 280 character tweet. Using punctuation to build a brick wall with an ornery-looking stick figure at the bottom, the Mariners did not mince words when they pronounced, “this is a bad idea” in their 280 characters tweet.
Drawing attention to the potential for misuse of the longer character limit, the marketers behind the team demonstrated how giving Twitter users 280 characters could be a poor choice. The team banked on the cynicism of their fan base to appreciate this vein of biting humor.
With 21,000 retweets and nearly 59,000 likes, the Mariners read their audience correctly and delivered on the joke.
NBA Referees
Now that we all have #280Characters, we expect your Twitter complaints about specific calls against your favorite teams to be calm, well-reasoned, and full of complete sentences. Thanks in advance for this positive step forward in basketball officiating-related discourse.”
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) November 7, 2017
The National Basketball Referees Association used the 280 character extension to make light of the cyber abuse directed at them by angry fans. Addressing the many complaints the association receives from the public over their judgement calls during games, the refs asserted that the unsolicited feedback should be written more thoughtfully now that Twitter users have access to a full 280 characters.
The tongue-in-cheek tweet earned 7,400 retweets and 24,000 likes. Turns out that the NBA Referees playful sense of humor was a slam dunk.
Media brands using 280 characters to connect with fans
National Geographic Wild
