My First Thoughts On How To Use Instagram Threads For Business

In just 48 hours, 70 million accounts signed up for Instagram threads, which is wild, right? That's more than TikTok and ChatGPT, and it's just mind blowing how quickly Instagram's audience has adopted the platform.

But, before you totally freak out and go, oh my gosh. Another platform to learn, give Instagram threads a go. Because if you are an early adopter, like the people signing up now are, you are at a huge advantage.

So let's start at the start. Why has Instagram threads just totally blown up?

#1 Instagram has made it easier than ever for you to create an account on threads.

You simply download the app, log in with your Instagram details and wish you're bombarded with a whole lot of new followers and people that you can connect with and conversations you can start.

Now Instagram threads has been compared to Twitter, and one of the main reasons why I never got on board with Twitter was because I didn't know who to follow. 

You can also simply copy and paste your bio and your links and your profile photo from your Instagram account so you don't need to bother with all those sort of annoying setup details.

And once you've set up your Instagram Threads account, you will have a little link inside your Instagram bio, so any of your existing followers to can just click that link and they'll be transported straight to your new profile on Instagram threads.

#2 There's a focus on conversation starters rather than aesthetics

All the visual content, reels and trends make Instagram quite a complicated and time consuming platform to create content on. I've noticed way more personality from the accounts that I follow than I've seen on Instagram in the years that I've followed them in just a few short days on Instagram threads.

This is allowing me to get to know some of the business owners I follow on a much deeper level.

#3 Creating content here is easy.

You have 500 characters to play with, so you can say what you're wanting to say without having to edit it down like you would for Twitter. Plus, you don't have to add images or videos or anything like that. You can whack in a gif and show a bit of personality.

But in saying that you can share images like in a carousel format or as individual images or videos or links, which is pretty impressive. personally, I've seen a lot of meme sharing, which I'm totally here for.

#4 A lot of content creators and business owners are feeling burnt out.

It's harder than ever to get organic reach on Instagram at the moment. You're spending hours and hours creating content for your posts, and then it's only reaching a few hundred followers.

Which has been really disappointing for a lot of creators. So that's why I think people are loving this fresh take on the Instagram platform.

#5 It's nostalgic AF

A lot of people are comparing it to the good old days. Back when MSN was a thing, if you're a millennial, you know what I mean? Personally, I remember coming home from school and jumping on MSN as soon as I got home, until I went to bed every single day.

People are also comparing it to the olden days of Twitter when things were a lot more simpler on the platform as well as the original Facebook statuses where you could just have a one-liner about what you're up to.

It's putting the social back into social media and people are totally here for it.

#6 Threads is a space for fun, witty conversations, not just selling your stuff.

In fact, I've seen people state on the platform, if you post anything salesy, you will be reported. Now, I know these are comments that are just made in jest, but it is the sentiment overall that this isn't just a place for you to promote and spam people.

So how does this affect you as a business owner wanting to leverage the platform?

If you're not able to just promote your stuff, how can you use it to its full potential?

🧵 Be an early adopter. Seriously, jump on this platform now and give it a go.

🧵 When you start a thread, think of it as a conversation starter rather than a way to promote what it is that you do.

🧵 You can add links to your threads, unlike your Instagram posts, but I'd really focus on sharing value packed pieces of content rather than just selling what it is you do.

🧵 Share your first thread to your Instagram stories, so this will build that link between your Instagram followers and your thread audience.

🧵 Think of it as a micro blog where you can share tips, strategies, opinions, things that are really valuable to your ideal client that are going to change their life, change their business, and really something they can relate to and start a conversation about.

🧵 Just keep posting, even if you get zero engagement and nobody's responding, keep trying and testing new ways to engage with your audience.

At this point in time, Instagram threads isn't even a week old, so it's still growing. There's still more people coming to the platform and more trialing and testing how best to communicate on there.

It'll be interesting to see how it evolves and whether it stays that fun auntie that it's being positioned as at the moment, or whether it turns into more of a Twitter based comms.

Just because you've got a new platform to play with doesn't mean you should stop building your email list. Instagram still owns Threads and while it is an organic platform at the moment where there's a lot of engagement that may change in the future, once ads and algorithms and all that fun stuff come into play.

Prioritise building your email list now by downloading my FREE Email Marketing Guide.