More is not always better for tweets

Just because you have double the characters to market your recruitment business doesn’t mean you need them all.

This advice from recruitment marketing experts follows an announcement in a blog from Twitter that it has doubled the number of characters on tweets to 280 for a small group of users.

But social media recruitment experts Recruiter has spoken to claim recruiters benefiting from the additional allocation of characters should use it sparingly when marketing their services.

“It needs to be remembered that 280 characters is a limit, not a target,” Robert Woodford, founder & principal consultant at The Marketing Junction told Recruiter.

“Recruiters aren’t renowned for being succinct. The benefit of the 140 characters was that it forced them to be brief and as a result there are some really good accounts out there. If all the doubling of characters achieves is an increase in the amount of waffle, then it will be of limited value.

“People are likely to become more discerning about who they follow with a doubling of characters as their feeds could double in size, and so it is important that any recruiter thinks carefully about what they post and makes it relevant to their audience. That way they will ensure better engagement and a more targeted following.”

However, Woodford adds one benefit of the 280 limit is that it provides an opportunity to increase the number of hashtags and also reduces the need to abbreviate words and phrases.  

“This not only helps in terms of findability, but it also makes for a better reading experience. It does also give the opportunity to expand on some thoughts.

“One additional benefit is where the Twitter account is linked with a LinkedIn account. All too often the 140 character limit meant that the LinkedIn post did not transfer well onto twitter. This now has the opportunity to do the opposite.

“As with all things, the proof will be in the trial data. But is it a revolution for the recruitment industry? I very much doubt it, but if it makes more recruiters take advantage of this social media then it will be a good thing.”

For Scott Brerton, founder of RecruitmentMarketingExpert.co.uk, brevity should remain the watchword for recruiters.

He told Recruiter: “The beauty of Twitter for recruitment agency marketing is its brevity. Whilst the increase may be good news for those who understand the platform and utilise it correctly, the fact is if you can’t express your agency’s brand, message and values in 140 characters, chances are you aren’t going to be able to do it effectively in 280 characters.”

And according to Sophie Perryer, head of social at 777 Group, recruiters need to remember pictures can speak a thousand words.

“Twitter is definitely a platform where ‘short and sweet’ are the buzzwords, so if you’re doubling your character count to 280, chances are you’re not actually doubling the value of your content. Recruiters should focus more on engaging customers via images and video – it’s a great way to get across a sense of your company culture and you’ll get a greater return on what you post that way too.”

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