What is "Threads"? How to use it? 4 Threads community strategies that marketers must know

"Are you Threads today?" has become a popular greeting among young people. Threads, an emerging social platform launched by Meta in 2023, has risen rapidly in Taiwan and has become the social media with the fastest growing users.

Through the "KEYPO Big Data Key Engine" public opinion analysis system survey, it can be clearly seen in the online voice trend chart of "Threads" in the past year that there was a peak when it was first launched in July, and then gradually decreased as the popularity , the online discussion began to drop significantly after mid-August.

At the beginning of 2024, "Threads" ushered in another new wave of craze due to the presidential election, and the relevant online volume is still continuing to rise. So far, the number of users worldwide has exceeded 190 million, including about 3.5 million users in Taiwan, mainly Generation Z aged 16 to 24. More than 63% of posts only use text, showing the popularity of simple and direct communication methods.

The Taiwan market also shows high activity, ranking second in the global usage rankings, accounting for 10% of global Threads traffic, second only to the United States with 25%.

Compared to traditional Facebook and Instagram, Threads has more potential to attract new customer groups.

Threads tracks users' past interactions on the platform and conducts precise footprint analysis based on their region, topic trends, and personal preferences. Currently, there is no advertising intervention, and it can push tailored content recommendations on the user's homepage. However, according to technology media, Meta plans to introduce advertising on Threads as early as January 2025. Whether it will affect the user experience or algorithm remains to be seen.

For example, if a user prefers food topics and interacts with and stays for a long time in restaurants, cuisine and other related posts, the algorithm will capture this point of interest and then push more food-related content, allowing users to immerse themselves in a powerful and  echo chamber experience.

Therefore, brands can effectively increase traffic and exposure through the emerging platform Threads, but at the same time, they may also cause some negative publicity due to the echo chamber effect. The clarion call of the marketing battlefield has already sounded. This article will share four practical strategies to help brands effectively use Threads to promote brand marketing and publicity.

How to operate the social platform Threads "Threads"? 4 skills that marketers must learn

1. Seize the trend and follow it to attract traffic

Hot topics and trends change very quickly on the Threads platform, making it a perfect opportunity to jump on the bandwagon, whether it's memes or other brands' marketing efforts.

For example, tickets for Jay Chou's concert were sold out instantly. Many fans who could not buy tickets launched nonsensical activities on Facebook such as "Listen to the concert in the sewers" and "Participate in the concert with the exhaust pipes". This is a good time for brand editors to take advantage of the situation and speak out, regardless of Whether it is a creative post or a message for interaction, you can get a lot of exposure.

For example, Shopee cleverly used its geographical advantage to launch a campaign of "Group a group and go to Shopee's office to listen to Jay Chou's concert". This post quickly accumulated more than 35,000 likes, fully demonstrating the powerful influence of topics on Threads. More than 50% of Threads users are under 30 years old. The content style must avoid being too serious. Even formal announcements or important promotions should be in line with the relaxed and humorous tone of the platform.

By using popular social terms or homophonic memes familiar to Taiwanese people to make the content more friendly and non-distanced, we can more effectively attract the attention of fans and achieve the best word-of-mouth effect.

Image Source: Threads/Shopee_tw

2. Take the initiative and emphasize interactivity

The core algorithm of Threads will give priority to recommending posts with high interaction volume, so when designing marketing copy, "high interactivity" should be the main axis.

Unlike Facebook and Instagram, which focus on product introduction, on Threads, brands should use a sincere attitude to get closer to fans. Don't just promote products blindly, but create word-of-mouth effects, use creativity to attract more people to watch, and then improve Brand voice and visibility.

For example, the hand-shaken brand "Hachiyo Tea" opened in Sanchong, New Taipei, is a successful case of Threads marketing. Hachiyo Tea updates one or two interesting posts that are close to daily life every day, attracting a lot of interactions, and thus receiving priority recommendations from the algorithm.

The built-in voting feature on Threads is a very effective interactive tool, not only getting users to participate, but also automatically notifying participants to view the results after the poll ends.

Take Netflix Taiwan as an example. They are good at using audio-visual and graphic materials, combined with voting interaction, to often create excellent publicity effects. In addition, "ask questions" on Threads are also very popular, attracting enthusiastic netizens to reply, which is an effective marketing method to create traffic for user-generated content.

Image Source: Threads/8yoptea

Image Source: Threads/netflixtw

3. Creative strategies to improve user retention time and interactive segmented content

Threads measures engagement based on how long users spend on a post, so keep users engaged in your brand's posts for as long as possible. In addition to encouraging comments and interactions, increasing the read time of your posts is also a great way to extend your stay.

Although long articles can indeed increase the retention time, the time for people to sit down and read text has become shorter and shorter, and they may not have the patience to finish it. Therefore, brands can try to present content in segments. For example, Internet Thermometer puts the image in the main post and puts the article URL at the top of the comment area, or posts that arouse curiosity and guides users to the comment area in the text. View details.

This method can effectively increase the chances of users clicking into the message area to interact, further extending their stay time and increasing the exposure of the post.

Image Source: Threads/dailyview.tw

4. Strengthen brand protection and control the double-edged sword of traffic and crisis

In the Threads platform, the number of comments on an article is the key to priority recommendation. Therefore, if you want to get a lot of attention, you must ensure that the post has an eye-catching effect, thereby triggering resonance and discussion.

"Traffic password" posts such as breaking news and public trials can often quickly ignite topics. This type of content satisfies Generation Z's habit of sharing "waste articles" casually. However, this also means that the brand has a higher risk of facing the challenge of "inflammation (online shaming)" or negative publicity.

Quickly grasping trends through the public opinion analysis system can help brands protect assets and avoid unnecessary disputes and losses. The "KEYPO Big Data Key Engine" public opinion analysis software provided by "KEYPO Suite" can monitor community reactions in real time, understand the trend of public opinion and emotional changes, help brands quickly respond to specific posts or events, and decide on appropriate social platforms to process. Using insights driven by data technology, brands can more accurately control crises and ensure optimal use of marketing resources.