The growth of Meta’s Threads over the past few months has been impressive to say the least. There are now over 130 million registered users on the site. And while it hasn’t quite overtaken X (formerly Twitter) yet, it is making strides. By the end of 2023, Threads is forecasted to have 23.7 million active users worldwide.
As Threads continues to grow and evolve, it’s going to become an even more important social media marketing tool for restaurants. Here’s what restaurants should know and how they should make the most of Threads as a part of their restaurant marketing plan.
New Threads Features
First, let’s talk a little bit about what’s been going on with Threads. It’s important for individuals and businesses to understand the available features on the platform to be able to best craft their Threads strategy.
At its initial rollout, Threads was bare bones: It lacked many of the most popular features of other social media platforms and to be frank, was pretty limited in its capabilities. But over the past few months, Meta has been steadily improving its newest platform, adding features and options to improve the user experience.
Here are a few of the additions and improvements Meta has made to Threads over the past couple months:
- A desktop version of Threads was launched, so marketers can access the platform on a computer
- A Following feed was added, so users can specifically browse content only from the people they’re following if they’d like
- A Search feature was added so users can seek out other users or specific content they’re interested in
- Meta introduced the ability for users to share Threads directly in Instagram DMs
How Restaurants Can Use Threads
With these new features in mind, let’s dive into the ways restaurants can make use of Threads for their hospitality marketing this season.
Overall, restaurants should focus on community building and brand awareness on Threads. The platform is set up to be a digital town square of sorts: A place for people to connect, share ideas, and start conversations about topics they care about. Even more than many other social media sites, the focus of Threads is very conversational and community-centric. Your restaurant marketing on Threads should include questions and conversation starters to engage one-on-one with your fans.
Since it is such a young platform, people are using Threads primarily for entertainment. Without the commerce or advertising features that other social media platforms have, Threads is not yet a great place to be focusing on conversions or lead generation. Your efforts on Threads should focus on increasing awareness for your brand. Let people know who you are, what food you serve, and get them excited about your offerings. Use Threads as a way to keep your restaurant front of mind for people in your community.
Threads For Business Tips
Now let’s get a little more specific. How can you build a community and increase your brand awareness on Threads? Here are some ways to make the most of Meta’s newest social platform:
- Share upcoming sales, daily specials, limited-time offers, and upcoming events in your posts. This is the type of information users are coming to Threads for
- Make use of the repost and quote post functions to increase your presence on Threads. These allow you to engage with your followers’ content in a lighthearted and easy way
- While Threads is less image-centric than Instagram, visuals are still helpful on the platform! Add GIFs, short videos, or single images to your posts to capture users’ attention
This fall, make sure your restaurant is adding a Threads strategy to your restaurant marketing plan. While there are still important features missing from Threads, like hashtags and the ability to search for trending topics, it is a force to reckoned with in the digital marketing space. As Threads continues to attract more and more active users, establish a presence for your restaurant to make the most of it
And if you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you don’t have the time, hiring a great restaurant marketing agency can help. Let the experts optimize your Threads presence while you focus on serving great food and providing customers with the best experience in your restaurant!
