What’s the best tweet length?

Plus: What’s the best hashtag length, word length and reading grade level for Twitter?

Sure, Twitter has a relatively new 280-character limit. But just because Twitter doubled its 140-character limit doesn’t mean you should use all of those characters.

So what’s the ideal length of a tweet? A hashtag? How else can you make your tweets more readable and engaging? Let’s look at the research:

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1. How long should tweets be?

So you’ve written your blog post, and now you want to get the word out on Twitter. How long should your tweet be? 190 characters? Longer than 140 characters?

Turns out medium length performs best.

Why?

• Retweets increase with length. You’ll get more retweets if your tweets are 71 to 100 words, according to a Track Social study of 100 well-known brands popular on Twitter.
• Engagement goes down with word count. Tweets shorter than 100 words get 17% higher engagement, according to research by Buddy Media.

The solution? Aim for about 100 characters.

100 characters on Twitter is the new black. Here’s what 100 characters looks like, including spaces.

2. How long should Twitter hashtags be?

What about hashtags? We’ve all seen social media writers use 140 characters to 280 on hashtags. So how long is too long?

Let’s look at the research:

• Use hashtags, according to research by Buffer Media. Tweets with hashtags get twice the engagement of tweets without them.
• But don’t overuse them. Tweets with one or two hashtags get 21% higher engagement than those without, Buffer found. But engagement drops when you add more.
• Make them short. Keep them to 6 characters or less, recommends Vanessa Doctor from Hashtags.org.

Get the best reading grade level & more for Twitter. >>>

Cut Through the Clutter in Content Marketing

You’ve read the studies: The less readable your content marketing pieces, the less sharing you’ll see. The more information you pack into your paragraphs, the less people will read. The longer your sentences get, the less your readers will understand.

Want more tips and techniques for writing readable blog posts and content marketing pieces that don’t overwhelm readers — even on their smartphones?

If so, please join me at Get Clicked, Liked & Shared — our 2-day content-writing workshop on Feb. 5-6 in Durham, North Carolina.

You’ll leave with a free paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of your piece to identify the best opportunities to radically increase readability.

Save $200 when you book by Dec. 31.
Plus: Get a free book if you’re one of the first 5 to register.