With the recent launch of Meta’s new app Threads, the popular topic of the connection between social media and marketing reemerges once again.
Threads, an app that is said by Meta to allow users to join public conversations and share text updates, is now being seen as an alternative app to Twitter. The app has gained a lot of popularity despite only having been launched on July 6th, already amassing over 100 million users. Since then, I’ve seen multiple satirical and comedic Tik-Toks made by people working in the marketing industry about being sad that they have yet another social media platform to promote on. In today’s world, social media marketing is not only important, but pretty much vital to a brand as it helps them build their reputation and creates more brand interaction with consumers.
Compared to traditional methods of advertising and marketing, not only is using social media more efficient in communicating with newer generations but is also more cost-efficient. Using the algorithms of for-you pages, brands can reach target audience members that are interested in what the brand is selling without having to search directly for the brand themselves. Additionally, more and more social media platforms are adding sections where you can shop within the app itself, and unlike television ads, social media makes it easier to track profile traffic and see which products and campaigns are most liked by the public by looking at the number of likes.
Social media influencers have also become very influential in affecting a brand’s sales. When Dunkin Donuts collaborated with Charli D’Amelio (a famous TikTok star) to launch a drink called The Charli, her fans flocked to Dunkin Donuts stores to support her by purchasing the drink and even non-fans bought the drink purely out of curiosity due to the celebrity name associated with it. Drayton Martin -the VP of brand stewardship at Dunkin- said how the campaign sold hundreds of thousands of drinks within the first five days of launching.
However, the audience that these social media influencer-centered campaigns target are mostly members of the younger generations who make up the majority of active-users on these platforms. So while campaigns with social media influencers are known to potentially have a tremendous impact on sales, a brand needs to determine if the influencer they want to star in their campaign lines up with their target audience.
Social media marketing can only be used to its fullest potential if a brand knows who its customers are and thus follows the trends that their customers do. In recent times, many clothing brands, like Dior and Prada, have changed their logos to include a simpler font and design, following the rising style trend of dressing in a minimalist fashion.
So now let’s talk about how Threads’s connection to marketing is coming along. In a Forbes article -dated July 7th, just a day after the launch- Richard Kestenbaum writes about how “nine of the top ten retailers (according to the National Retail Federation) have all activated Threads accounts.” However, more interestingly, Kestenbaum also discusses how brands themselves seem more reluctant to join the social media platform. At the time, it seems that “of the top five most popular consumer brands (M&M, Band-Aid, Ziploc, Dawn, Reese’s, according to YouGov.com), only Reese’s has activated their Threads account.” Then, “of the ten most popular fashion brands (Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Nike, according to Google),” only Nike has activated an account.
Part of the reasoning behind this might have something to do with brands being more cautious amid the rise in cancel-culture in the past years, so many are waiting for more consumer feedback before engaging in the new platform. Even the retailers who have already joined Threads are not posting as much as they do on other social media platforms, seemingly waiting for this app to play out in the eyes of consumers a bit more.
However, if Threads keeps its upwards trajectory and installs a few more updates based on user feedback, we just might be looking at a new replacement for Twitter and a new social media platform for marketers to embrace to promote their company.
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