What does the jaw-dropping growth of Threads mean for marketers?

Users are flocking to the micro-blogging app Threads in their droves.

As of Tuesday, multiple news outlets named Threads the fastest-growing app in history, with a reported 100 million users signing up in just five days. Beyond this jaw-dropping statistic are a growing set of questions among marketers: 

What does this mean for us?
What does this mean for creators?
And, crucially, how can us marketers get an edge on the competition?

In speaking with multiple brands and agencies every day here at Studiospace, we have quickly gained a snapshot of how the marketing industry is responding and with Threads we’ve come across some interesting trends.

The short story is that now is the perfect opportunity for brands to test and learn about the app while it’s still new, but there are some pitfalls to be avoided. And in all this, I do not claim to be an expert, merely an interested observer.

I've noticed that lots of people are claiming to be experts in Threads, but it’s early days.

If someone says they are an expert in this area this is simply not the case—things are changing daily.

At the moment, Threads feels like a vicar's tea party. Everyone is playing nice, perhaps trying to avoid creating another negative echo chamber as some feel Twitter has become.

There is a major advantage with Threads, and the reason it’s ballooned so fast: you can easily replicate your Instagram following so you don’t have to build an audience from scratch. 

The best strategy we’ve seen is brands testing and learning, trying different types of content and seeing what works and what doesn’t. Be agile and start experimenting and growing now, while there are no ads, and you're likely to build an audience really quickly.

But the key is to work with the app. Many brands are using Threads like Instagram or simply reposting its Instagram content, and this doesn’t seem to be where most engagement is. Some are falling down the trap of the trend of posting 'motivational quotes'—it’s been done and it doesn’t come across as very authentic or genuine.

Many brands that have done very well on TikTok are doing well on Threads already.

For example, Ryanair, Netflix and Aldi. These brands are posting light-hearted content, mainly memes, and also reacting in the moment. Others are actually using social media to be social. This is the chance to connect with your audience and have lots of conversations as everyone is spending lots of time on this app.

Industry insiders are asking whether budgets will be moved over from Twitter to Threads once it's monetised. It’s yet to be seen whether budget is moved away from Twitter or just spread across Meta further. Among our network of brands and agencies, we haven’t got wind of brands reserving their ‘Twitter budget’ for Threads—so far. However, I do think Threads is incredibly likely to become another advertising platform.

It is such early days that, from what I’ve seen, brands are mostly waiting to see and tightening budgets all round with the economy, I don't think they'll be jumping to reallocate anything this soon, but who knows.

Watch this space.