Threads for marketing purposes

The launch of Threads has caused as much excitement as when the jelly and ice cream gets brought out at a kids' party. The frictionless launch method has ensured a huge volume of take-up, and that alone has others with FOMO signing up to take a look. You need an Instagram account to have a Threads account, so the lack of a complete standalone for the app means the audience is very Insta-centric, which might become a further growth barrier down the line. As a ‘vibe’, Insta-folk are totally different people to those who hang out on Twitter, so I have already seen things getting pretty tribal over on Twitter. At the moment it’s a happy place without all the grumblers and the ‘angries’ and it’s quite the novelty. We shall have to see if it goes the way of Clubhouse and BeReal once the dust has settled. As a big PS: beware signing up and changing your mind. You can’t delete the account without also deactivating your Instagram account. Once you have it, you have it. You're stuck with Zuck.

Beware the Threads ‘experts’. Nobody has got a clue right now, and anyone who is giving you strategic advice on how to use a platform that’s just a few days old is talking total nonsense. We’re all figuring it out together, so businesses should be careful before they part with money to work with someone who claims to know more than the rest of us. Because they almost certainly don't.

Threads is going to be one of those platforms where you not only need to be posting on the platform, but you also need to be engaging with people on the platform to increase discoverability. Whilst this may seem like it is copying another certain platform (*cough cough* Twitter), Threads shouldn’t be treated as a stand-alone platform, it should be treated as an extension of Instagram. With this connectivity, businesses and charities should consider how they can make these platforms work in tandem. For example, they could start a conversation on Threads and share this on their Instagram story to encourage others to get involved. It will be a place where brands and individuals can build communities and have conversations. Whilst it is still very much in its infancy, with no searches and no hashtags, keep at it and keep posting and importantly replying to threads to find them again. We will see new features coming out in the next few months I'm sure but when will paid advertising land?

It's easy to get seduced by the novelty of a shiny new social media platform, especially in these early days, when engagement is high, and it's possible to build a significant follower count rapidly. However, the principles of marketing still apply: you can't buy bread or milk with likes and comments. Throwing enough spaghetti at the wall and hoping that some of it will stick is not a good marketing strategy. Build genuine relationships with your customers, clients and prospects, rather than posting for arbitrary engagement metrics. Marketing is not a numbers game, it's a relationships game.

The lack of paid advertising features means that brands, for now at least, will be unable to reach their audiences with promoted content. So a brand should think about how it engages its audience with other organic content, and try that initially. I have seen a mix of text, image and video content, and it's clear video content seems to be getting the most cut-through. It's not an important platform for digital marketing purposes at the moment due to the relatively small audience and inability to target your messages. So if a marketing manager is already busy, put it on the "to watch" pile. It's important to consider that new Threads users automatically follow the people they follow on Instagram, which are likely very different to the people they follow on Twitter. Will this disconnect mean that Threads is used differently?

Threads is still very new and many companies and professional social media managers are trying to determine the right tone of voice for the platform. No one really knows yet what actually works and what doesn't. On the first day, we've seen lots of Twitter memes and memes about social media managers' struggles with managing yet another platform. Modern consumers, especially younger generations, have been yearning for more genuine connections from the brands they interact with. During the past few years, social media has been becoming social again — welcome back to the MySpace era — and that's what Threads is all about. Direct marketing is frowned upon and should be avoided for now. For now, have fun, join conversations and build genuine connections with your new audience by offering value through your content and comments. Play it by ear and most of all, have fun.

Threads, Meta's new social media app, presents a promising opportunity for businesses to enhance their marketing strategies. To maximise their success on Threads, they should approach the platform much like Twitter, focusing on sparking communication and conversations to build a strong community. Unlike simply posting pictures and links, active engagement with your audience is key. By nurturing conversations and participating in discussions, businesses and charities can forge meaningful connections and establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective industries.
One notable advantage of Threads is its seamless integration with Instagram. When setting up an account, users can easily follow the accounts they already follow on Instagram, and vice versa, allowing them to leverage their existing followings. As a digital marketing agency, we are excited about the release of Threads and eagerly anticipate its growth.

I have been learning the ropes as I set up accounts for myself and my clients, which range from charities and non-profits to government and SMEs. I think the platform has been built for an influencer audience tired of Twitter's antics, or who have never used Twitter, but Meta hasn't completely thought through UX or CX. They are building the rocket mid-flight but I think the community is here for it. My tips are: when creating multiple accounts, log out and log in using a new profile; have all of your content, assets and copy ready to go and promote your Threads account on your other channels; remember your brand platform when publishing content. The basics are it's 500 words max, no hashtags, and when if/you want to delete your account, you must delete your IG account but you can always make Threads a private account. Good luck, have fun and be authentic. That's what everyone wants anyway.