It’s been a month since Meta’s text-based app Threads launched, and many brands are still testing the waters. So far, the approach that brands have been adopting on Threads can be described as a hybrid between the glamour of Instagram and the political savviness of Twitter (now X).
Brands have been spewing content more frequently on Threads than on any other social media platform as if competing to win the title of “most unhinged class clown”. Surely, there is more to Threads than seemingly snappy one-liners and banal self-promotion? No, there really isn’t, which is why in this article, you will learn how to write compelling copies and create stunning visuals that best fit the anodyne tone of Threads.
Here are two ways to post on Threads: Questions + Carousel
Asking questions that will prompt a response from your audience
The most effective way to increase your brand’s exposure is to attain a high engagement rate on your posts. This can be accomplished by harnessing the power of the question mark. But how do you write a question that warrants a high response rate that appears on the feeds of users who don’t already follow your brand?
Two questions appear most frequently on the app: Opinion + Situational.
Here are the different ways Starbucks have written their questions based on the aforementioned types:
1. Opinion
- What’s your go-to Starbucks order?
- What’s everyone drinking this morning?
- Mood: ☀️🧊☕
How are you feeling today? Drop an emoji. 👇
2. Situational (where users choose between concepts)
- Would you rather: Order the same Starbucks drink the rest of your life or never get the same drink twice?
- Which book character would you love to grab coffee with?
- Iced Coffee or Cold Brew?
It’s not just Starbucks following this formula. Other brands do it too.
But it’s important to remember not to regurgitate these questions. Rather, build off what’s already there with a unique twist to your brand. The twist would be catchy taglines and keywords that reflect your brand’s greater mission or purpose.
For example, Kit Kat coined the word “break” and uses it as a catch-all term for their chocolate. They also use the emoji “🍫” often in their copies so that the average person would think of Kit Kat chocolate at the sight of the emoji.
- KitKat: “Psstt… Wanna have a break? 🍫” generated 31 replies and 306 likes.
Post by @kitkatView on Threads
- KitKat: “Okay, everyone wants a break… comment below and we’ll send you a virtual one! 👉🍫” generated 26 replies and 62 likes.
Post by @kitkatView on Threads
- KitKat replying, “We love seeing your breaks! 🍫” generated 6 replies and 116 likes.
Post by @kitkatView on Threads
Following KitKat’s example, there are many ways in which you can make the questions, such as “What’s your favorite *blank*?” more interesting.
Below are two comedy writing techniques that will go a long way in helping your brand add a little flair to questions:
- Specificity
- Being more specific with your words makes them more powerful.
- “What’s your favorite Starbucks drink?” is not nearly as powerful as “What’s your favorite Starbucks drink to get on a Sunday morning?” or “You have three seconds to order; otherwise, you dissipate into thin air. What’s your order?”.
- The first alternative to the original question adds a specific situation to the prompt, that being Sunday morning;
- The second alternative takes the word “favorite” into different words, reinterpreting “favorite” as the first thing that comes to mind when under time pressure.
- Playing with expectations
- Before you draft a question, think about the potential responses.
- If you ask, “What do you do in your kitchen?” Most users would take the question at face value and respond with “making a cake” or “washing dishes”. These responses fail to subvert the expectation of what is normally done in a kitchen, which makes for unfunny, run-of-the-mill responses.
- But if you ask, “What do you do in your kitchen? Wrong answers only.” You’re directly instructing the audience to break the expectation of what is usually done in a kitchen. Thus, increasing the likelihood of the responses being funny or absurd.
Apply these two comedy writing techniques to the questions that were introduced earlier:
- Specificity
- What’s your go-to “I need an entertainment drink” Starbucks order?
- What’s a drink you can’t go without every Sunday morning?
- What’s the vibe today? Drop an emoji. 👇
- Would you rather: only be able to get hot Starbucks drinks in the summer or cold drinks in winter?
- Which fictional villain would you love to grab a *name of most recent drink* with?
- Imagine you’ve just finished a tour of the Amazon rainforest, and you see a Starbucks: Iced Coffee or Cold Brew?
- Playing with expectations
- What’s everyone drinking this morning? Wrong answers only.
- It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week! How are you feeling this fine Monday? Drop an emoji. 👇
- If a drink was made based on your current mood, what would it be called?
- Would you rather: Order the same Starbucks drink for the rest of your life or wrestle a hippo? / Would you rather: a barrister be your barista or a barista be your barrister?
- Which book character would you love to be on barista duty with?
- Iced Coffee or Iced Coffee?
Carousel – Post multiple images in one go to maximize the power of visuals
One unique thing about Threads is its clean, smooth UI for image carousel posts (officially called multi-image posts, according to Meta).
The minimal UI lets you swipe through multiple images much faster and more easily than on Instagram, making for a visually engaging experience. So, how do you optimize this feature to your brand’s advantage? Below are two great ways to use carousel posting to increase your engagement.
1. All images should follow a central theme in terms of visuals.
For Threads, it’s less about keeping up the aesthetic of individual photos in a carousel post than how each photo contributes to the overall image.
Since there is less waiting time swiping from one photo to the next, it’s easier for users to draw a connection between the photos, leaving them with a lasting, more vivid impression of the visuals posted. Hence, applying a coherent theme to the carousel photos helps reinforce your brand’s visual identity.
- Walmart: “Don’t mind us, just shopping the essentials.” generated 57 replies and 287 likes.
Post by @walmartView on Threads
- ESPN: “Which jersey would you get? 👀” generated 162 replies and 2,466 likes.
Post by @_say_nthsView on Threads
- Starbucks: “Just a bread thread.” generated 246 replies and 3,400 likes.
Post by @starbucksView on Threads
2. Show exclusive, behind-the-scenes content
Visual information increases your audience’s engagement. Feeding your audience more information than a single photo can, for example, showing multiple facets of an event or product increases intimacy between audience and brand. This fosters communication and discussions surrounding the otherwise inaccessible inner world of the brand — great for community-building.
- American retailer Anthropologie showing the office generated 35 replies and 295 likes.
Post by @anthropologieView on Threads
- Anthropologie showing their design studio generated 23 replies and 428 likes, followed by a question directed at the official Threads account, to which Threads responded.
Post by @anthropologieView on Threads
- Global streaming platform MUBI showing behind-the-scenes stills of “MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON, 2000” generated 3 replies and 294 likes.
Post by @mubiView on Threads
Is it too soon to tell if a long-term social strategy for Threads is worth investing in?
“If you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally, it would be awesome if all or even half of them stuck around. We’re not there yet,” Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said.
Although the lion’s share of the spotlight still goes to globally renowned brands, mid-tier brands with a smaller following, such as Sonic Drive-In (@sonicdrivein), OLIPOP (@drinkolipop), Crumbl Cookies (@crumblcookies), and e.l.f. Cosmetics (@elfcosmetics) have reaped the benefits of Threads’ friendly, brand-centric approach to putting their brand identity out there.
Whether Threads is here to stay or become another tempestuous stand-in for something more permanent, brands, big or small, should stick to one rule when it comes to using Threads — audience engagement is everything, and without it, your brand’s online presence would look something like a stale hamburger bun.
Key takeaways from this article:
- Ask your audience enticing questions
- Reply to your audience’s responses
- Deliver visually stimulating content that either informs, educates, or entertains
(Guest Article by Christie Lee)
