By: Tara Ostromecky
Chances are that by now - you already heard about the launch of Threads, a Meta owned text sharing based app. If you know anything about Twitter - picture that, minus the blue bird, the drama, and quite a bit of features.
Why are People Gravitating Towards Threads Over Twitter?
In short, Threads gives a chance for people to express themselves in a more casual way than Instagram, and it’s like the opportunity that all the people that never quite understood Twitter have been waiting for.
Gen Zers on Threads
Let’s be real - Twitter was mostly dominated with millennials and quickly turned to being more of a news based platform than people sharing their random thoughts and updates. I personally never liked Twitter as a Gen Zer - because it didn’t bring much value to me.
I think a big part of that was because there weren’t that many people on it that I wanted to stay connected with - likely because it was first released when I was 5 years old, while Instagram came out later in 2010, and I first got an account in 2012 as it became more popular.
For some reason, I always gravitated towards Instagram. Something about sharing fun pictures with a caption rather than only my inner thoughts was more my style as a kid, and still is to this day.
What Social Media Platforms do Gen Zers Use Most?
So where’s all the Gen Z’ers at? Being part of the generation where all of our parents are on Facebook, Instagram has been the preferred platform for many of us.
It’s grown and evolved as we have grown up, and in recent years, it’s even become more preferred than TikTok since it has it all - picture content, short videos, live content and stories. I personally use my own Instagram as a life record of sorts, and sometimes I “stalk my own page” to relive memories. Now the real question is, why use Instagram and now Threads for business?
Using Instagram and Threads for Your Business
If you aren’t on Instagram with your business, chances are you only sell to an older demographic, or at least I hope. If your product or service is something that can be used by anyone, your best bet is to be on all of the platforms that you know you can put good content out on.
If you STILL aren’t on Instagram - let me convince you to get on it, and then to join Threads while you’re at it.
Instagram is a powerful platform, with 2.35 billion active users (as of March 2023). Even with an older demographic for your business, chances are that being on this platform wouldn’t hurt.
Why? Because that older demographic you’re trying to sell to likely has kids or grandkids on the app, that use it as a resource to discover cool things or to connect with businesses that they’re interested in. Those are the people that will see your posts, and then tell their family or friends in that older demographic about your business. How do you really get them to love you? Provide valuable content that they can use or something worth showing to others.
Alright - so enough about Instagram, and now about Threads. At this point - they feel like the same thing, since anyone who joins Threads will automatically be following the accounts or people that they already followed on Instagram.
What’s cool about this platform is that it’s not like you have to start from scratch. The community you built on Instagram will be the same community you have on Threads.
What are the Benefits of Joining Threads?
Well, for starters - you get assigned a number. It’s like a cool kids club. Once you make your Threads account, a number will appear on your Instagram profile, letting the world know how quick you were to get on the app.
Here’s an example:
Be one of the firsts to build your authority on the app
If you look at some of the most successful people on Instagram, Twitter or YouTube, most of the time, they were the “OG’s” and they have been on the platform since the early days. So if you join Threads now, you’ll be one of the firsts - which will make your account grow and might even help you grow your following beyond the people that carried over from Instagram.
Think of it as an experiment for your business
As of right now, we are all unsure of what the future holds for Threads. There have been so many new apps or features added to the ones that we know and love that turned out to be a flop.
There’s still a lot missing from Threads, such as hashtags, a following feed, messaging and graph syncing - which the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, says they are working on adding over time. My thought is that they didn’t want to put too much effort into it without seeing if people would like it first.
You can put as much or as little effort into Threads as you want at this point
My advice to business owners - if you don’t have the time, don’t spend too much on Threads. It’s important that you make your business have a presence there, but you don’t have to be making several posts a day.
One thing that’s great about Threads is that it’s more low-effort than Instagram, since you can just share a thought or something quick without an image to go with it. There’s not much known about the algorithm for Threads, as we are sure they are still developing how it will work, but platforms like Instagram and Facebook work better for your business if you are posting consistently.
You can add links to your Call to Actions on Threads
You can finally start adding links in your text, unlike Instagram, making this more useful for businesses when it comes to driving traffic with Call to Actions (CTAs). This is a great way to start getting your Instagram audience to your website. Make sure your website is up to date with lead generating landing pages so you can impress the people that may be new to your business or website.
Why Join Threads for Your business?
In conclusion - joining Threads won’t hurt your business, so you might as well join the cool kids club and be one of the first to use the app. If you need more social media advice or simply some help managing all five thousand different platforms you might need for your business, book your Discovery Call with us today.
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