The world of digital marketing is ever-evolving, constantly offering new ways for brands to connect with their audience. And, in case you missed it, the latest buzz is all about Meta’s newest addition to the social media world: Threads.
Threads is a platform that lets users join conversations and share updates within a 500 character limit. Since its launch at the beginning of July, it has received impressive downloads, becoming the fastest app to hit 100 million users.
However, the excitement surrounding this app and its impressive reach is paired with an uncertainty of how to incorporate this Twitter-alternative into a brand’s marketing communications strategy.
The continuity of community
Unlike when other new social media apps have launched, Meta Threads provides the unique opportunity to seamlessly link your following from Instagram, meaning you aren’t building a community from scratch. It is an opportunity to reach new eyes while maintaining your existing connections (assuming you have an active Instagram account!) This makes the transition across to the new social media app less daunting than other platforms.
The connection between Instagram and Threads has sparked many discussions, as users have discovered that deleting your Threads account means deleting your Instagram too. However, there’s good news – recently it was announced that you can deactivate your Threads account without impacting your Instagram profile, simply hiding your Threads profile and content.
The opportunity with Threads
Meta Threads has quickly become a vibrant platform for engaging discussions. Users and brands are sharing their thoughts and experiences with their audiences without the time commitment of creating visual content. This creates an opportunity to share reactive and spontaneous content, defining the purpose of the platform – to showcase authenticity and transparency.
Threads is a work in progress
Currently, the Threads home page appears to be unpolished. Posts are lightly ranked to show recommendations from accounts you don’t follow. However, searching for post content or hashtags is not yet possible; only account searches are supported.
Thankfully, this is being worked on. Eight features are currently in the works: a following feed, post editing, multi-login, post search, hashtags, desktop version, likes list and translations. These developments will make significant improvements to the usability and accessibility of the platform.
No ads until a billion users
As a brand and marketing agency ourselves we, like many brands, are interested in the advertising potential of the platform to support our clients in achieving their goals. However, at present, the platform does not allow ads and it has been suggested that this will remain the case until there are one billion users. With a record-breaking number of users in the first week, this may not be too far down the line.
While it can’t be utilised for paid advertising yet, Meta Threads holds great promise in organically reaching and engaging with your existing audience and potential new customers. You can incorporate Threads into your marketing communications strategy to provide authenticity with sharable and valuable content as well as getting involved in conversations.
To join or not to join
As with any new social media app, brands should consider the time and resource investment of building a presence on the platform. Meta Threads does somewhat mitigate this by allowing the continuation of community from Instagram, however it remains important to dedicate time and resources to creating relevant and consistent content.
Before launching onto the platform, brands should understand what its purpose could be within their marketing communications strategy and what value it could bring.
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