“Is Threads right for your business? Probably …
In today's digital landscape, social media is a vital tool for small businesses to connect with their target audiences, build brand awareness, and drive growth. With the ever-evolving social media ecosystem, it's crucial for businesses to understand the unique characteristics of each platform and tailor their content strategy accordingly.
Enter “Threads” - Meta’s challenge to Twitter with a feed of largely text-based posts — although users can also post photos and videos — where people can have real-time conversations. It’s off to a strong start - with over 30 MILLION sign ups as of this morning (07/06/23) according to Meta (parent of Facebook and Instagram). So now do you need to rush to “Threads” and manage one more social media channel?
You can easily overcomplicate this, but it really comes down to three things:
1. Where is your audience?
2. Can you generate content that will engage it?
3. Do you have the bandwidth to manage that engagement?
Legendary Snowsports Marketer Pat Bridges of Snowboarder Magazine offered some advice a dozen years ago. If you’re going to add a new social media platform, make sure you add a position to manage it. Essentially, if you’re not managing that outlet the way the users want, you’re wasting time and losing business.
I would expect that “Threads” will have a very similar audience to your Facebook followers (with some Instagramers thrown in). And there may be a flight from Twitter, due to dissatisfaction, to “Threads” for those looking for an experience they are familiar with. “Threaders” may want to have an ongoing conversation, similar to Facebook Messenger or Twitter, so you’d better be prepared for that dialogue.
I’ve been able to use Twitter as an effective conduit to reach media outlets, pairing a Twitter post to a media release and a link to a blog to further amplify the messaging. I’m pretty sure every media outlet has already set up their “Threads” account (all four Portland TV stations and the Oregonian are already there). Now I just need to get them to follow me.
And to answer the question above - even if you aren’t planning on managing your Threads account, you should still claim it - before someone else does.
Conclusion:
Choosing the right social media platform for your small business requires a deep understanding of the audience demographics and your capability to create content that resonates with those audiences. While each platform offers distinct advantages, by analyzing the audience demographics and aligning them with your business goals and content capabilities, you can make informed decisions to maximize your social media impact and achieve meaningful growth.
I asked AI to compare these platforms and received this result. The overall users are pretty close when cross checking them against other sources (a good practice when using AI).
| Platform | User Age Demographics | U.S. Users (approx.) | Primary Advantages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threads | Who knows? Probably similar to Facebook and Twitter | 10 million | Exclusive community, targeted engagement, conversations |
| Broad range, with a significant presence of users aged 25-54 | 200 million | Extensive reach, robust advertising options, community building | |
| Predominantly 18-34 | 140 million | Visual platform, high engagement, hashtag discovery | |
| Broad range, with a significant presence of users aged 18-49 | 70 million | Real-time conversations, influencer connections, conversations | |
| YouTube | Broad range | 2 billion | Video content, global reach, search engine visibility |
| Snapchat | Primarily 13-34 | 100 million | Authentic, ephemeral content, AR features, strong engagement |
| TikTok | Primarily 16-24 | 100 million | Short-form video, viral potential, influencer marketing |
Here are some articles I reviewed for reference in preparing this post:
CNN: Instagram threads app explained
MixBloom: Top 8 growing social media platforms in the US
