The introduction of Threads last year, Instagram's take on Twitter (or X rather), generated a lot of interest and excitement. However, it’s also sparked debates over its viability for businesses. As with all shiny new social media platforms, they can be tempting to jump on - but it’s important to consider how and if they can help you achieve your overall business goals.
But First, What Is Threads?
> Threads, developed by Meta in 2019, is a relatively new social media platform built for sharing short text, visual updates and joining public conversations.
> With an explosive start, the app hit 30 million downloads on day one, skyrocketing to 70 million in just a few days and reaching an impressive 100 million within a week. This success had everybody, including Elon Musk (new owner of X) take notice.
> With X recently seeing a significant drop in users and engagement after a change in account management practices and policies, many have taken to Threads as an alternative social platform.
> There is some controversy however over the similarities between Threads and X including the interface and function, but also around who should be using the platform and how it should be used…
With That Said, Let’s Explore Threads’ Suitability for B2C and B2B:
Threads for B2C
For B2C businesses focused on showcasing their personality and fostering customer relationships, Threads might be suitable for your social media strategy. At Website Success we have seen brands post some brilliant content including memes and pop culture references (which absolutely Thrive on Threads by the way!) to make emotional connections with their customers – which we all know is great for long-term engagement and loyalty.
With the ‘import all’ feature on Threads which allows accounts to carry over their details and following information, brands with a strong Instagram following should leverage Threads, especially considering the overall recent decline in Instagram activity. This unique feature could offer an opportunity for B2C businesses to maintain engagement and create more authentic connections with existing followers.
Threads for B2B
Threads however does present some challenges for B2B. The biggest being that the platform often displays content on your feed from accounts you don’t follow. We suspect the platform uses a similar algorithm to Instagram, taking a guess at what you’d like to see based on your actions and engagement. This can make it a little more difficult to stay in the loop with industry updates, engage in relevant discussions, network effectively or even reach your intended target audience. What makes this struggle even tougher, is that the platform currently lacks a post-search feature, although this is due to change soon. At the moment, you can only search for accounts on Threads, hindering our ability to find valuable content and conduct effective market research.
Threads also is not the place for direct selling. With no ad features yet either, the platform promotes a more personal and community-oriented environment, ideal for showing off who your business really is, maintaining connections and fostering relationships without relying on hard-sell tactics.
So, before you ask your social media management team to throw Threads into your online marketing mix, ask yourself if improving client relationships and brand perception aligns with your goals… If not, Threads probably isn’t for you right now.
“If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.”
One last and rather big factor B2C and B2B should consider before joining Threads is that, whilst the platform is in its early stages, there are no reporting and analytics tools. As you might expect, this prevents performance tracking, giving us little to no visibility over what we’re doing right, what we’re doing wrong, or anything at all… a marketeer’s worst nightmare! So be prepared to invest in an external analytics tool or monitor your content and engagement manually.
At Website Success we’re always interested and inspired by new players in the digital marketing game, but before implementing them in your strategy, assess how they will benefit your business and contribute towards meeting your goals.
If you need help discussing your online marketing strategy or you’re interested in our social media support services, call us on 01243 888555 or click here to book a chat in the diary.
