Threads and marketers—how to post, get discovered and prepare for app evolution

As yet another new social media platform enters the chat, marketers find themselves asking the age-old question: How do we use this thing? Threads, from Instagram, is the latest addition to an already saturated social media space. Described in the app store as “Instagram’s text-based conversation app,” we can see exactly where Meta is going with this—and why. To begin prepping internal social strategies, there are some things to keep in mind to get the most bang for our nonexistent buck. Threads is extremely nascent and if anyone who tells you they know how to work the system it should immediately begin to raise red flags. But we do have baseline information and enough time on the app to see user behaviors to help guide some of our initial thinking: What content should you post? In order to answer this, you have to keep your audience in mind. If your company has an Instagram page, it will automatically be able to have that handle as its Threads handle, along with the ability to port over follower/following lists. Making this even easier, Meta on Tuesday launched a “following feed” option in its Threads app. This option—to see reverse chronological feeds of posts from only those accounts a user follows—was highly anticipated by Threads users. This is a massive difference between Threads and Twitter, recently rebranded as X. The top 25% of Twitter users make up 97% of all tweets; the two biggest barriers for users being they don’t know what to tweet about and don’t know how to get followers/who they should follow. In addition, most U.S. adults—regardless of tweet volume—receive relatively few likes and retweets. Threads made it so that users start with a built-in audience, primed and ready to consume content. Keep in mind that the audience your company will be speaking with on Threads is, at that moment, the exact same audience it has on Instagram. In order to keep things fresh, ensure that your content on Threads is different from your content on Instagram. If resources are tight, I recommend duplicating your Twitter strategy to get you started. This behavior should feel new to this Instagram-based audience, and you’ll have the opportunity to measure its effectiveness. Test, learn and iterate. Getting discovered Without a proper trending function and no paid media capabilities, the next question is: How do we get discovered? Looking at people I follow and those I don’t, I’m seeing a range of content without much rhyme or reason—with some exceptions. One noticeable algorithmic behavior is that Threads seems to show content from accounts a user has commented on. It’s safe to assume that Threads is attempting to show users accounts they might be interested in following. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here We can apply that finding to help companies get noticed by creating content with the specific goal of eliciting a response. Consider asking for your following’s opinion on a particular matter—the more relevant, the better—or simply ask them something related to your business. Since engagement is an important component in placing content in feeds, focus your content on generating engagement. Another strategic decision Threads made was to ease the pressure of having a certain follower/following ratio. By removing that element of status, there’s no reason why companies can’t find people who fit their demographics and follow them. This could open the door for a follow-back (remember follow-back Friday?), increasing the chances of your handle getting discovered. Let people know you exist! Prepare for app evolution It’s not too early to start planning for platform updates that we know will take place, including trending topics, improved search, DM capabilities and paid media promotion. Both Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been active in responding to feedback and discussing the features users can implement. A top priority for the Threads team is the ability to search and discover trending topics, something that I’d argue was the lifeblood of Twitter for some time. With this in mind, begin putting processes in place that will allow your team to create content on the fly based on what’s trending on the platform. Having plans already in place will allow your team to move swiftly and creatively, without getting bogged down in the process weeds. Finally, align with your paid media team to set aside a certain dollar budget for Threads paid efforts. Consider aligning this budget with an awareness campaign, the purpose of which will be to garner and retain more eyeballs on the platform. The introduction of Threads is something that’s part of the Zuckerberg playbook: Capitalize on an opportunity by copying the competition. It worked when he bought Instagram, it worked when Stories was introduced and it worked when Reels were created. Ultimately, I believe that the future of Threads lies more in the hands of Twitter instead of its own control. But either way, Threads is here to stay. It’s simply a matter of at what scale. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

Threads and marketers—how to post, get discovered and prepare for app evolution

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