How To Approach Threads
Zuckerberg has officially launched a competitor to Twitter, dubbed “Twitter killer” – here are all the details…
Earlier this week, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, brought a new app onto the social-media scene, Threads. It broke the internet with 10 million downloads within the first 24 hours, and it’s also caused Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, to threaten Meta with a lawsuit. Whether you’re a business owner, freelancer or creator - you’re probably stressing about how to approach the new app. Since it’s only been out for about 10 days, we’re no experts, but we’ve collected everything we have observed so far and dropped it in this blog. You’re going to want to read it!
FIRST THINGS FIRST.. wHAT IS THREADS? 💭
Unless you’ve been living under a marketing rock, you’ve probably seen all the memes about threads in the past week. And it’s already off to an extremely strong start- it received 100 million sign-ups in less than a week, the app shows, including a large number of brands, celebrities, journalists and many other prominent accounts. It’s become the most rapidly downloaded app of all time.
According to Meta, is designed to be a space "where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favourite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world."
We can’t help but notice the similarity to Twitter, If you’re a regular Twitter user you’ll notice some pretty obvious similarities too. The newsfeed, the heart-shaped symbol allows users to ‘like’ your content, being able to repost. Some people are already calling the app “Twitter Killer”. So what does this mean for Twitter, for brands & marketers? 👀
I know we all feel like this right now…
What does this mean for Twitter?
The vibe on Threads on the week of its launch felt a bit like the first week of school, with early adopters rushing to try out the app, write their first posts and share their thoughts — and lots of discussions as to whether the app could end up being the “Twitter killer.”
Threads could pose a serious threat to Twitter, which has faced backlash since Elon Musk took over the platform in October 2022. But Twitter has become particularly vulnerable in recent days, angering users over a temporary limit on how much content users can view each day, as well as charging crazy amounts for verification. As for Meta, Threads could further expand its empire of popular apps and provide a new platform on which to sell ads. Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino said “We’re often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated,” she said.
Should you jump on Threads?
What does the launch of threads mean to brands and marketers? On the whole, its direct integration with Instagram means it’s super accessible and easy to set up. Your Instagram connections will be connected to threads as soon as you download it- making it super easy for brands and marketers to stay in their industry loops on socials. For marketers, it’s great as the app blends Instagram’s existing aesthetic and navigation system, and offers the ability to share posts from Threads directly to Instagram Stories (engagement win?!). Thread accounts can also be listed as public or private and verified Instagram accounts are automatically verified on Threads.
If you’re thinking of ditching your client’s Twitter strategy to jump on Threads - we’d suggest holding off. Our answer: carry on implementing your Twitter strategy and start experimenting with Threads. Threads is still in its early stages and this is a great time to get curious. This is a really exciting time for us marketers who enjoy following how digital platforms evolve and offer a unique opportunity to get curious with a new app and experiment and find what works for you and your clients.
Setting up your Threads account
You’ll notice a new button above users Instagram bio’s - with an @ sign followed by a number. This is a temporary badge to let your followers know that you’re on Threads and sends them to your profile if they have the app. If they don’t have the app yet, they will be redirected to download it.
Users sign up through their Instagram accounts and keep the same username, password and account name, although they can edit their bio to be unique to Threads. Users can also import the list of accounts they follow directly from Instagram, making it super easy to get up and running on the app. One crutch worth bearing in mind – if you download Threads and want to delete your account, you'll need to delete your whole Instagram account, too.
The link to your Threads page will now appear just above your Instagram bio, as a number. This is a temporary badge which is to be expected to change in the next few months!
SO.. WHAT’S THE STRATEGY?
First things first, don’t fall for anyone who tells you how to use the app, because it quite literally JUST came out. While we don’t have the answer for “how to grow” on the app - we can tell you what we’ve seen perform well, so you can take inspiration (*not copy*) and implement it to your own account.
Leveraging Community: You might have noticed that when you comment on other people’s posts on Threads, you actually show up MORE on people’s feeds. So emphasize community by engaging with new accounts, and leverage their community too. The good news here is, you don’t have to rely on posting 24/7 (yay). Here’s an example of a (viral) thread that brands and creators have been responding to…
So simple, but so viral!? And look at the casual, fun comments — this is the essence of Threads in our opinion. Super uncurated and unplanned — the literal opposite of it’s sister app, IG.
Emphasis on Authenticity: Threads is MEGA casual. Because of the similarity in the design of Twitter, a similar culture has also transferred over to the app. We’re noticing the one-liners and casual questions being posed, rather than super curated posts (like you would expect on Instagram). You can see this from the example above, as well as some of our favourites below…
Mosseri posting his candid thoughts about leaving London is a good example of “brain dump” type content that is popular on the app.
Joe and the Juice taking a TikTok trend over to the platform - also a great idea.
A place for image-based & video memes! Very “Twitter-style”…
A simple one-liner & candid comment seems to do the trick!
Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not all fun & games! Something inspirational & shareable also does well on the app!
Summary
There’s no doubt Threads has taken the marketing world by storm this week. Personally, we’re super excited and are up on Threads ourselves. The main takeaway is to stop focusing on a strategy and just think about being casual and authentic, which is as easy as writing your thoughts and posting them in a ✨thread✨ As for anything else… we’ll keep you updated! What do you think of this launch? Are you loving it so far, or still team Twitter? Let us know your thoughts 👀
