What We’re Up To
Thready or not, over 50 million people have already signed up for Meta’s new text-based app, Threads.
Politicians, celebrities, creators, brands and organizations are already claiming their profiles and excitedly (and sometimes serendipitously) building communities.
Taking a strategy-first approach to storytelling and brand building in this new app in the early days is important. If your brand already has an Instagram account, it’s worth claiming your same account name on Threads. Capture attention with these tips:
Experiment with content
While Threads is text-based, you can share photos, videos and links too. Start by testing content to drive engagement (likes, reposts) and conversation (replies) within the app rather than driving clicks away. Take your top-performing Twitter content and Instagram content and repackage it for Threads. In the early days, it’s worth building your initial Threads strategy by mixing and matching your Twitter and Instagram strategies. Your Twitter audience likely isn’t the same as your Instagram audience, who are likely your first followers on your Threads account.
Engage with people
Like with any social media platform, prioritize engaging with your community. Proactively leave replies within people and brand Threads that are relevant to your business or organization. By creating conversation on Threads, your organization can build a parasocial relationship with followers and expand your reach by getting in front of new users.
Listen and learn
Actively take time to observe how users, brands and organizations are using the app in your industry. Listen to what they are saying and how they are interacting with each other, you and competitors or like-minded organizations. Currently, Threads has a culture-driven feed with a playful vibe with many sharing GIFs and memes. The early days of any new social platform are ripe to iterate, optimize and update your approach.
Our recommendations will evolve as the app features and usage evolves. Threads is currently lacking many critical features. We’re keeping our eyes on the following:
While it can be overwhelming to have yet another social platform to consider as part of your marketing and communications ecosystem, Threads is an opportunity to meet your audiences where they are. Only time will tell if Threads has lasting power and the societal impact of Twitter.