Last week Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, sent out the following tweet as an image (which, currently, is the only way to send a long tweet). In essence, he announced that Twitter is working on a feature that will allow users to send tweets as long as 10,000 characters, rather than the current limit of 140 characters.
Well, so far Twitter hasn’t expanded to 10,000 characters, but it has expanded to 280 characters.
Now, personally, I’m not sure I want or need that many characters. I like Twitter the way it is: short and sweet. Easy to scan. Easy to like or respond. Easy to retweet.
If I want 10,000 characters, I write a blog post like this one. And then I share the blog post on Twitter and other social media.
BUT, here’s a marketing tip that does make sense (a tip I got from Gary Vaynerchuk): Some day soon, probably before the end of March, Twitter will announce that the 10,000 character feature is live. When that happens, there will be a lot of tech writers and bloggers who will want to show people what that looks like — and feature some tweets that show the real power of 10,000 characters.
Here’s the tip: Have a 10,000 character tweet ready to go so you can pop it into Twitter within the first few hours when this new feature goes live. That would give you a head start for the sweepstakes to be highlighted in tweets, news stories, and blog posts that first day. (Of course, it will help if you send out a news release or connect with some tech bloggers minutes after sending out your tweet.)
What should your 10,000 character tweet feature? Here are a few ideas:
- An excerpt from your novel
- A chapter from your nonfiction book
- A long poem
- One of your longer blog posts
- A news release about you or your book
- A manifesto
- A radical idea
- A short story
- A passionate plea to readers
- A call to action
- All of the above
When the Twitter announcement comes, I already have a blog post I want to share. You can read it here: http://myincrediblewebsite.com/the-god-bless-you-revolution. It’s only around 3,800 characters right now, so I will have to enhance the blog post with a story or two, some more tips, or a longer extended manifesto. A 10,000 character manifesto tweet!
P.S.—By the way, Gary Vaynerchuk also shared two other social media websites that are very useful for book authors looking to reach a wider audience: WattPad and Medium. I agree. Every author should have a presence on those two websites (WattPad is especially useful to novelists, poets, short story writers, and memoir writers).
I also recommend that every author have a Tumblr blog and a presence on The Book Marketing Network: http://www.thebookmarketingnetwork.com.
About John Kremer
John Kremer is author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, the Relationships Matter Marketing program, and many other books and reports on book marketing, Internet marketing, social media, and book publicity. -- John Kremer on Book Marketing.