Meta, the company that owns Instagram, recently launched a new social media app called Threads.

According to the company, Threads is for ‘sharing text updates and joining public conversations’ and is widely believed to be designed as a rival to Twitter.

So, for businesses already using various social media platforms for marketing, is it worth getting on board?

Luke Ashmore-Delaney, head of performance at Indago Digital, says the first thing to understand is that while other platforms like TikTok took off through word of mouth, the launch of Threads has been “inorganic”.

“It started from an advantage because the prompts to join and everything came through Instagram. People clicked on it, and it took them to the Threads app, which automatically used their existing log in to sign them in. Originally it had this massive spike in users and then it lost half of them within a couple of weeks,” he explains.

What’s the downside?

While it’s early days for the platform, are there any potential downsides in giving it a go?

Ashmore-Delaney explains the audience on Threads is still not clearly defined, and as there’s currently no advertising, there’s not much data available to measure the performance of your campaigns – unlike other platforms.

“The difficulty with Threads is that we don't really know who's on there in terms of users. There was the boom and then the shrink – we don't really know who's left,” he says.

And while this is not necessarily damaging, it’s a consideration for businesses in terms of deciding if it’s worth the time and investment involved in setting up and maintaining another social media account.

“Until there are clear circles or communities within Threads, you’re firing blind trying to work out who you’re talking to,” he says.

Also, he said that it’s worthwhile noting that once you’ve set up a Threads account, you can’t fully delete it without also deleting your Instagram (although you can deactivate). The company has said they are working on this, though.

How to use Threads

If you do decide to use Threads in your business, Ashmore-Delaney says to make sure to put thought into the type of content that you post. A good rule of thumb is to post the same kind of content you’d post on Twitter.

“It’s all organic posting on there at the moment, so you don’t want to go on there and act like a brand. You’re trying to speak one-on-one to people in a natural way. If you try to post content that’s basically image or text-based ads, then people aren’t going to engage with you,” he says.

Instead, he suggests going into Threads and working out who is on there that’s relevant to your business and engaging with them directly. For example, if you’re a tradie you could look for little communities around home improvement and try to add to the discussion.

Have a social media policy

And finally, remember that just like any other social media platform, you need to manage how it is used in the workplace. Have a clear social media policy, like this one available on My Business Workplace, and ensure employees understand and comply with it whenever they’re on Threads or any other platform.