Threads: hype or here to stay?
Did you join the Threads App? The user base grew quickly – likely in part by how easy Meta made it to join. The main question everyone is keen to answer is whether this app is here to stay or whether it will be yet another social media platform that enjoys a surge of popularity only to sail off into the sunset of obscurity.
Let’s be honest, only time will tell whether it will remain as popular as it was when it popped into our marketing lives. Remember Clubhouse? The app launched with an air of exclusivity, even limited at first to users of certain operating systems. Finally, when it opened up to the rest of the world it had a surge of users and then it seemingly died down and people were no longer as excited with the audio-only app.
Threads, however, has a lot of things going for it:
It’s easy to sign up.
It’s a Meta app – yes I realize this could be a pro and a con, depending on how you feel about security, but if you’re already on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll likely be a bit more lenient with this.
Twitter is still on it’s slow burn to implosion or a major pivot and many users are actively looking for a steady replacement.
It’s the golden child of social media apps right now. So, If we can’t answer what’s going to happen in the future, the question you SHOULD be asking is whether you should be on Threads for your business.
There are a number of pros and cons if you’re considering using Threads for your business. While every business’ marketing needs are unique, here are a few things to consider.
Pros
Trying something new can open new opportunities for you
Sure, the long-term effects of Threads are relatively unknown at this point, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it out. It’s OK to experiment with your marketing strategy – in fact, I would encourage it! However, you need to make sure that every decision you make is routed in strategy and not just on a whim because you feel like you’re going to miss out on something.
It’s easy to use
The app itself almost feels stripped down still as it doesn’t have any complicated features and it LOOKS uncomplicated and decluttered. It opens to a simple feed and it doesn’t have a bunch of bells and whistles – it doesn’t even have hashtags yet! Not only that, they make it so easy to sign up due to the integration with Instagram it almost feels criminal not to try it out. If you’re familiar with twitter and Instagram, it won’t take you very long to pick this up.
Ad-free… for now
Most of us dream of an ad-free space to share content and just engage with users with a focus on organic growth. It feels more personal and forces you to look at more traditional social media growth tactics. Overall, no ads makes it feel less cluttered and noisy. That being said, with so many brands joining for the sake of joining, posting without strategy can add to the noise too.
Cons
Adding a new social media platform will take time and resources
Many small business owners and marketers I have spoken with are already stretched thin when it come to time and budget. Adding another social media platform into the mix will only make lack of resources worse – and potentially lead to burnout. If you don’t have the time to do it right… don’t do it.
Threads is still in development
I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but it does mean that you need to be able to adapt on the fly as they add new features – like hashtags, direct messaging, etc. Yes, I called the lack of extra features a pro above, but keep in mind that as they very publicly develop the platform you may not like how it gets developed in the long run. Keep an open mind because if it doesn’t serve you and your goals, then it’s not a good fit anymore.
No Ads
Yes, this is both a pro and a con… Less clutter and noise is amazing. However, if your business thrives on paid social media strategies it’s going to be harder for you to adapt to a platform that doesn’t offer that as an option.
You can’t schedule posts yet on any scheduling platforms
The every day of running a business or marketing a brand can get a little hectic. Relying on your memory to post at the right time every day doesn’t work for most people because this often falls to the bottom of the priority list. Before you know it it’s 11 PM and you realize you forgot to post. That’s why I am a huge supporter of scheduling content in advance. While this will likely change, you can’t currently schedule Threads content.
What does it all mean for your strategy?
Threads grew up pretty fast and it’s in the awkward teen years where it’s just deciding what it’s going to do with its life. There are both pros and cons to using the app for your business (many more than are listed here, especially if you dig deeper into your unique business situation), but ultimately you have to decide what’s best for your business. Are you willing to invest the time and take a chance on something that might not be around for the long-term? Do you have the time and resources to invest in potential short-term gains in your marketing visibility?
If you DO decide to join the app, don’t be like a bunch of other businesses with recycled content that is copy and pasted to yet ANOTHER app. Try to switch things up a bit. Maybe reuse visuals, but spice up your captions a bit. Or try something completely different on this brand new platform.
Tell us in the comments. Have you joined Threads yet?