Feature
The Gist
- Rapid ascent. Instagram's Threads outpaced OpenAI's ChatGPT record in just one week.
- Marketing maze. Selecting and using new platforms like Threads pose significant challenges for marketers.
- Pioneering platforms. Marketers are encouraged to test Threads for potential first-to-market benefits.
Within a week of its release, Instagram Threads, Meta’s text-based conversation app, has become the most rapidly expanding consumer application of all time — already amassing more than 100 million active accounts — a feat that took OpenAI’s ChatGPT two months to achieve.
Despite the rapid growth and potential of new platforms like Threads, marketers face considerable challenges when deciding to invest time and resources into these channels. The digital landscape is filled with a plethora of platforms, each with unique features, audience demographics and content strategies. Determining where their target audience is most active and receptive can be a difficult task. And balancing the potential returns from a new platform against the effort and resources required to effectively use it is a constant challenge — along with the uncertainty surrounding their longevity and continued growth.
For those looking to add Threads to their marketing arsenal, there are several considerations to contemplate.
Jittery Juggernauts: Meta-Musk Spat Adds Instability in Digital Landscape
After accusing Meta of illegal training using Twitter data in a now-deleted Tweet, Elon Musk said it was “Lawsuit time.” While no official suit against Meta has yet been filed — the threat looms. Further, Threads currently isn’t available in the European Union, including Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Ireland and Belgium, as Meta awaits additional direction for complying with regulations contained in the EU’s Digital Services Act.
Marketers are dealing with an increasingly unstable and overcrowded digital marketing landscape and adding yet another platform like Threads into the mix may add to the challenge. That’s why marketing professionals need to ensure that the payoff is significant enough to warrant the extra effort and resources required to manage content on this new platform.
Challin Baro, senior director of marketing at Avionos, believes Twitter was magnetic because it was real-time, succinct and had a great user base that cut across thought leaders, journalists and celebrities.
“If Threads can capture that magic, I think marketers would be happy to leave the unstable experience on Twitter,” Baro said. “But do we really need yet another platform to post to? There has to be a big payoff in order for already busy people to add it to their mix.”
Related Article: What Is Meta's Instagram Threads?
Spinning Yarns: Decoding Audience and Content Dynamics for Threads
Social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram offer marketers valuable tools for audience analysis and content assessment. Through demographic data, follower activity and audience interests, these platforms enable marketers to understand their audience deeply and tailor their content accordingly. Moreover, engagement metrics, reach and impression count and hashtag performance provide robust content assessment, allowing marketers to gauge content effectiveness, refine strategies and achieve better visibility and engagement.
“My recommendation for other marketers assessing if they should add Threads to the ever-expanding list of social media channels that they already have to manage would be to first analyze their Instagram audience and engagement data,” Baro said. “Since the Thread user base is created with the Instagram platform, marketers have a great starting point for demographic and engagement profiles for their audience.”
Baro said if a brand sees that the audience is worth curating further, step two is to do a content assessment to see which topics and assets would perform better visually and remain on Instagram or through content on Threads.
“Or how it can be cross-pollinated between the two as well as LinkedIn, owned channels like a blog and even traditional media,” Baro said. “It’s definitely worth testing, especially if their Instagram engagement data shows solid performance.”
Brian Brown, president and chief creative officer at Ingredient, thinks it’s likely that marketers will be much more willing to embrace Threads than they do Twitter, even before Musk’s ownership.
“Meta’s advertising platform allows for a much more granular targeting of consumers,” Brown said, “resulting in better ad performance and ROI.”
Related Article: With Threads, Meta Has Plenty of Opportunity and Underappreciated Risk
Monetization Mirage: Threads' Potential Gold Mine Awaits Exploration
In recent interviews, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said that Meta has no immediate monetization plans for Threads. Without any current opportunities to make money, marketers would need to carefully watch how the platform evolves.
But once monetization does arrive on Threads, Brown believes Threads platform will be much more appealing to brands, as opposed to what many view as Twitter’s free-for-all forum.
“Twitter’s main draw for advertisers was that its user base, while always much smaller than Facebook’s or Instagram’s, it was considered to be the most influential,” Brown said. “Brands ran promotions there in spite of the lack of advanced targeting capabilities. But as that cachet of influence wanes with more and more people (and their conversations) moving to Threads, it’s hard to see how Twitter will be able to woo top-tier brands to spend on its essentially unmoderated platform.”
Kolin Kleveno, SVP, of addressable media at Tinuiti, said that when advertising opportunities become available on the platform, it will likely focus on delivering ads that are closely related to the content the user is viewing or interacting with, increasing the chances of engagement and conversion.
“I'm sure contextual targeting will be at the forefront of the ads opportunities when they're released,” Kleveno said. “What will be interesting to see if Threads carries over the shopping capabilities (e.g., Checkout) being built out on Instagram.”
Kleveno said what makes Threads compelling is the apparent ease of use, unlike Mastodon with its technical hurdles.
“For example, people can post to their existing followers and don't need to start building followers from scratch,” he said. “With the growth of Instagram Reels and Stories, Threads adds to the arsenal of ways accounts can reach their followers.”
Navigating the Fine Line of Real-Time Content Monitoring
Real-time content monitoring serves a crucial role for both the platform administrators and marketers. By leveraging advanced algorithms and AI technologies, these platforms can promptly identify and mitigate harmful or inappropriate content, ensuring a safer, healthier online environment. And for marketers and brands, monitoring real-time engagement, understanding audience sentiment and responding promptly to evolving trends or potential crises allows for immediate strategy adjustments and improved customer relations.
“As always, content monitoring is a huge challenge especially when it's in real-time like this. There is a fine line between keeping a space safe and over-monitoring conversation so I imagine that will continue to be a challenge,” Natasha Blumenkron, VP of paid social at Tinuiti, said. “Hopefully, Threads gives everyone an opportunity to engage in an authentic manner, similar to what one may find on Twitter or Reddit.”
Ahead of the Curve: Harnessing New Platforms for Brand Relevance
With the ever-growing number of social media platforms, keeping up-to-date to remain relevant is another challenge that brands and influencers face, according to Blumenkron.
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“We're encouraging brands to test the platform out as there is always value to being first to market,” Blumenkron said. “This is a great time to tap into an uncrowded space and connect with users in a unique and what seems like, will be an authentic manner. “
She also recommends that clients keep a pulse on what other brands are doing and how consumers are responding and interacting, describing this stage as the “learning and vetting phase to identify if this platform is a good fit before investing too much time.”
First Impressions: Brands at the Dawn of Threads
Threads is still in its early stages and currently lacks some of the features marketers rely on, such as a follower feed, editing posts and direct messaging.
Crosby Noricks, the director of organic growth at Red Door Interactive, assumes these are in the works. And despite these limitations, brands like Anthropologie (which is offering a gift card for the best “thread pun”) and Sephora (which announced it is now in their “threads era”) are already taking advantage in various ways.
Noricks has some advice for navigating Threads in these early days — and reveals why marketers should resist the urge to promote anything right now.
“All in all, the fresh energy and lack of ads (Zuck has stated no plans to add advertising until the app has passed 1 billion users), means these first weeks are excellent for low-lift experimentation and re-centering (or rapidly developing) brand personality,” Noricks said. “Marketers should resist the urge to promote in lieu of establishing and reigniting personal relationships and participating in the evolving community, as it defines itself in the near future.”
As for what brands should be posting right now on Threads, Noricks offered his take:
- Introduce yourself and your brand. This is a great way to get started on Threads and to let your followers know who you are and what you do. You can also share your company's mission, values and products or services. You can also share a bit about your team and your culture.
- Share a behind-the-scenes look at your brand. This is a great way to give your followers a glimpse into your brand's work and to make them feel like they're part of the team. You can share photos and videos of your team at work, or you can share stories about your product development process.
- Ask your followers a question. This is a great way to start a conversation with your followers and to get to know them better. You can ask them about their interests, their favorite products, or their thoughts on your brand.
“As part of the first wave of early adopters to the platform, you'll discover a mix of hope and wariness, as marketers, influencers, celebrities, content creators and brands discuss and experiment with starting conversations, incorporating photos and video,” Noricks said. “And, as more than one social media marketer put it — remembering how to be funny again.”
