Threads - Should wedding pros be on the new social platform?

It's a brand new platform even I don't really know what I'm doing. But today we're gonna have a discussion about threads. What I've so far, and what I think you should be doing on there. I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger, and you are listening to The Wedding Pros who are Ready to Grow podcast. I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.

If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love, then you're in the right place. Let's get going with today's episode. Threads. Threads. Threads. It is definitely the talk of the internet this week. If you're listening in real time, and if you're listening to this in the future, I'd love to know, is thread still a thing or has it already died a death?

Only time is going to tell, but if you're listening to this right now, in July, 2023, threads is the talk of the moment, and we need to have a, a think about it as wedding professionals. Now, as I said in the introduction, this is. Definitely no kind of masterclass. Anyone that's already trying to sell you some kind of how to get rich on threads or how to use threads Masterclass. Well, let's be a little bit careful about that because really no one knows what they're doing right now.

It's s brand new platform. People are testing it, people are trying it out, but no one is an expert. And if they're telling you that they are, well, I would probably take a step. Away. Right now Threads is brand new. We've been on it less than a week, and it's already got a lot of users and lots of people are asking questions about whether they should be on it, how it works, how to use it for business, and many other things.

So I just wanted to put out this episode this week to talk about it from our wedding industry perspective, to talk about what I've learned in my few days over on Threads, what's working, what's not working for me personally, and some thoughts for you guys as well. So let's start with what. Is Threads. Well, threads is right now less than a week old. It's a brand new app. You can download it in your app store. It's available in the US and the uk.

I know it's not available in all countries yet, but I think it will be coming. And it's owned by Meta. Meta Own Facebook and Instagram. And now they've launched. The Reds, and it seems like they're kind of marketing it as their answer to Twitter, although it's not exactly the same as Twitter, but that's kind of the market that it's falling into. For me, it gives me old Facebook vibes.

If anyone was on Facebook like I was in the early days, like when you could only join it when you're at university and all you could do was put status updates in the occasional picture. Well, for me, threads is like going full circle. I feel like, wow, this is like the days when I could just post It's raining today and. I'm enjoying it. You know, all those ridiculous status updates we see on Facebook all these years later, it feels like threads is a little bit like that.

It's like going back full circle and I think that's why the millennials like me are really enjoying it. It's a little bit retro, basically. If you've ever used Twitter before, it is very similar. You. Write short form messages up to 500 characters. You post 'em on there. You can use pictures and video content on there as well. But right now, most people are just typing out thoughts. There's no scheduling, so it's all real time. But what's interesting about threads is it's link to Instagram.

So how on earth do we go about setting threads up if you don't already have an account? Well, this is ridiculously easy, almost scarily easy because it's all linked to your Instagram account. So when you download the app and you go into it, as long as you're logged into your Instagram account, it will generally pick that up and ask you to log into your Instagram, and then basically it takes your information from Instagram and pops it onto threads in. Even more ways than once.

So not only does it set your account up for you, it also allows you to import your profile image from Instagram. It also allows you to copy over your bio and your links from Instagram and it lets you follow anyone that you are following on Instagram already, which is a really interesting feature because it means that you can end up following lots of people. And getting lots of followers very, very fast. But they're not new people. They're people who are already in your world over on Instagram.

So it's kind of bringing everyone over from Instagram into threads. Now, what I found interesting is because not everyone's doing threads and not everyone's vocal on threads. I'm seeing people that I haven't seen on Instagram for months and months and months suddenly popping up in my threads feed. And it's been nice to see some of these people reconnect and see what they're. Up to, because we all know that the Instagram algorithm just shows us the same people all the time.

So it has been refreshing to do that. Now obviously, if you're not happy with your Instagram audience at the moment and the people that you are following, well, you might not actually want to bring them over to threads with you. So what am I. Talking about here. Well, lots of you often say to me, my Instagram's just full of other wedding professionals. I wish I could start it again. I'd rather be following brides, et cetera.

If that is you and that's what you want on threads, then you don't have to bring your followers over. You can start fresh now. It is gonna take you longer to build up your account. Actually, that may be better for you in the long term. It's up to you. But yes, you've got that choice. You can either bring people over from Instagram or you don't have to, and you can start from fresh.

One of the questions and discussions I've seen coming up quite a lot over the last few days about threads is, should I be on there as a wedding professional in the first place? I'm busy, it's the middle of wedding season. I don't really have time. Should I be on threads? Should I have an account? Now, this of course, is the multimillion pound question because honestly, in your business, it's your business. You don't have to do anything. There is no have to do. It's totally your choice.

Now, one thing I've been saying to people is, if you're on Instagram, you might as well go ahead and grab your threads, username, get your account set over there, and maybe just put out one thread to say that you are there, but you're mostly hanging out on Instagram. So if anyone is looking over there for you, then at least you have a presence, but you don't have to do that.

Now, one thing that's quite interesting that's been coming up quite a lot over the first 24 hours that I was on threads is as always the conspiracy theory start. People start panicking and one thing that kept getting shared was that in the terms and conditions of threads, it said that you couldn't delete threads once you were in there, and if you did, it deleted your Instagram account. Now obviously this has caused some alarm bells.

I've had some questions about maybe I shouldn't have a threads account because I don't wanna. Set it up and then if I delete it, have to lose my Instagram account. So I wanted to just answer that head on to start with.

Now, what's really, really interesting on Threads is the actual guy who owns or runs Instagram, Adam Mosseri, dunno how you say it, Adam Mosseri , is actually on the platform and he's very, very vocal on the platform and he's been very involved in the launch of Threads, which means that he's actually been replying to some of these things. So I'm gonna read out what he put. About this very subject, cuz as I said, it was being all over the place on threads.

People asking this and this is what he said to clarify, you can deactivate your threads account, which will hide your threads, profile and content. You can also set your profile to private and you can delete individual threads, posts all without deleting your Instagram account. Right now, threads is powered by Instagram, so it's just one account, but we are looking into a way to delete your threads account set. So if that's what's making you panic about threads, then there we go.

You've heard it from then. Now, ultimately with Meta, all of our data is all linked together. Facebook, Instagram, everything. We know that they own everything and once you're in, it's quite hard to get out. But I don't really think that matters if you've already got a public presence on the platform. It doesn't really matter to me if you have a Threads account and then you make it private or don't post on it very much or hide it later down the line.

And I think there will be a way where you can deactivate your threads account. As well in the future without deactivating your Instagram account. And as I always say, sometimes it's good to be on these platforms. Just have your account have your name on there. Even if you just have one post that says, I'm not active on here, but if you're looking for me here, you can find me most active on. Instagram or wherever you are most active.

So if you have got audience, people looking for you there, at least they can find where you're hanging out rather than you having no presence on the platform. So I don't think, not wanting to give meta your information or linking your threads account to Instagram is a really good reason not to be on the platform. However, there may be some other reasons you may want to avoid the platform.

So, for example, If you already feel overwhelmed with your marketing, if you already feel overwhelmed with social media presence, if you feel like you've got too much going on in your business and you don't need another distraction, then you absolutely don't have to be active on threads. You don't need to go there. You can wait. You can see what happens. You can join it later down the line. I mean, I was a quite a late adopter to Instagram.

I really didn't understand Instagram at all, and I joined the party quite late. But I've grown my account fairly well. I've got a good following on there. I have good interaction on there now, so don't feel like just because you're not on it in the first week that you're missing out. Secondly, we are in the middle of a very busy wedding season for many people, and now might not be the time to start testing a new platform out. You've got clients to service. You've got.

Weddings to be at, and actually this may be more of a distraction than it is a help. So again, you do not need to do anything in your business. It's your choice. It doesn't matter if you don't join the party. However, if you are able to just get your account set up, like I said, and just have one post on there, then there's nothing to harm in that. Even if that feels too much, then you don't have to do it at all. So hopefully that answers your question.

There is no right or wrong to any of these things. You don't have to be on any platforms. It's your business. It's your choice. It's your freedom to do what you want. But if you wanna explore threads or if you wanna get your username set up, then go for it. Okay. Next then, who is on threads and can we find clients on there? Now, again, this is a really interesting question. It's very new, and so we don't really know what's gonna happen with the platform as of yet.

Right now, I would say that most of my threads is full of marketers and business owners and brands. So people like Aldi and Mark and Spencer's have all jumped on the threads bandwagon. Now, there's a couple of reasons that this is happening. Number one, for me, I've pulled over my followers and following from Instagram, and it tends to be wedding pros, businesses and marketers that I'm following on Instagram.

So obviously that's who is now coming up in my Threads account, and that's gonna be the same for you if you pull over your followers from Instagram. If you already had a lot of wedding pros following you or you following them, then that's what's going to be pulled across over to threads as well. The Instagram is just coming across from there, which is why you might wanna start with a fresh start.

The other thing is I think that in general, and this is a generalization, I think in general business owners, marketers are more likely to be on these platforms as early adopters than the general public. Now, I said threads is everywhere for me, but that's because I'm in loads of business groups. I'm talking to wedding professionals, I'm talking to wedding business owners, and therefore it's part of the conversation.

But if I talk to the mums on the school run this morning, half of them probably are not interested, don't really know what threads. Is they're not going to be the first people on the platform. Will they arrive at a later date? Well, quite likely if it starts to grow that they will eventually come over.

But if I look at the people following me on Instagram who have come over to Threads, it's very few of my, what I would call normal friends, as in people who have not got businesses that are coming over to threads the moment. So that being said, I would say right now, There is a lot of other wedding business owners and brands on the platform. I'm not sure right now there's a lot of couples or engaged couples on the platform, although I guarantee there are some but not loads.

Now obviously sometimes those categories crossover, so you may have wedding business owners who are also getting married who may be on the platform as well. But right now, I would say business and brands are the early adopters, which means you really need to consider who you are talking to right now on your threads and who you want to be talking to on your threads. So I think there's two ways. As a wedding business owner, you can approach threads.

Way number one is that you're like, right, I'm just here for networking. A bit like you're in Facebook groups, I'm not here to reach clients. Although if that happens, great, but actually I'm here for business tips. I'm gonna follow people like Becca who are giving me marketing advice. I'm gonna be here for people talking about how to grow their Instagram.

I'm gonna be here for trend alerts and I'm gonna follow other businesses and connect with influencers in those fields in order to get that content. I'm gonna be using it for networking with other wedding professionals, so I'm gonna be talking in my copy to them. I'm gonna be asking questions of other wedding professionals. I'm gonna think about how I can network with people, how I can find people in my local area. So that is option one. Definitely possible with threads.

That's how I used to use Twitter back in the day when I used Twitter has been for a long time. It was much more of a networking tool rather than a sales tool. The second way that I think you can use threads is I think down the line, there definitely will be an opportunity to reach couples. On there. And I think there will be a gap in the market, and this is my prediction, my opinion, you may choose to ignore it.

There will be a gap in the market for people to be like the Mrs. Hinch of wedding planning on threads. So if you know Mrs. Hinch, she's on there, she's talking about cleaning tips and hacks and that kind of thing. I think there will be a place in the market for wedding professionals who become. Influencers in that sense of wedding planning advice on threads. I dunno who it's gonna be. I don't know when it's gonna be, but I do think there's a gap in the market for it.

So it may be that you want to take more of a risk. So that means that right now it may feel like, okay, everyone on here's a business. So I feel stupid talking to couples. However, if you start curating a feed of really helpful advice and being the florist that's giving really helpful small tips or, Funny comments, whatever it is designed for couples directly on threads. Eventually, as couples starts to join the platform, hopefully you'll be able to bring them over.

Hopefully people will be able to find you and you can grow in that way. Now, as I said, that's a bold decision that you have to make because. To start with, you will feel like you are talking to crickets, and you'll feel like no one is listening. However, if you start off this platform by growing it, talking to wedding business owners, that's all you are ever going to be using it for. So again, it may be a controversial opinion. We don't quite know where this is going yet, but.

Personally, I think you need to decide early on, are you gonna try and use this platform to network and grow your business and get business advice, or are you going to try and be the next influencer? Are you gonna try and be the person that couples want to follow on threads? Because from day one, you have been pumping out loads and loads of great short little bits of wedding planning advice. So when they get engaged, they wanna follow your account. There's no right or wrong.

We're all in a testing process, but right now, that's my personal opinion and it's worth you having a thinking about who is it that you want to speak about on there and who are you talking to and why are they going to listen? So, Yes, we can definitely be personal on there. We can definitely share a little bit about ourselves, what we're doing, but you also need to make sure you are sharing relevant information for whoever it is that you are talking to.

That's the only way that people are gonna wanna come back and keep visiting your threats. Okay. So in terms of wedding professionals, what is going on on threads right now that I think is good and helpful for you? What's good and what's not so good? So first up, one thing that I think's been really interesting on threads is how excited photographers are getting, particularly because you don't have your photos cropped on the platform. So if you've got those.

Gorgeous images, you can add them to threads and they do look stunning, especially if you've got these gorgeous portrait images that usually on Instagram would get cropped. They do look really nice on threads. However, one thing to say is at the moment what I'm seeing is that the threads that are doing really well are the ones that are more text-based rather than image based. Does that mean that that's not gonna change?

No. Not really, but you do need to think about what you are doing on there and what makes it different to what you're doing on Instagram. Remember, if you are bringing your followers over from Instagram, they're already seeing pictures on Instagram, so do you need to repeat pictures? Do you need to do the same content on threads as you do on Instagram? Probably not. Otherwise you're just repeating yourself on a different platform.

But it is exciting that you can have those big videos and photos with. Out them being cropped. So I know that that's been great for photographers, but again, think about the message you're putting out there. What makes it different to Instagram? What are you trying to create a conversation about? The other thing that is good on threads right now is you can have clickable links. So you can do calls to action, you can send people on clickable links somewhere else.

You don't have to say, go to the link in my bio, like you do on an Instagram post. You can add clickable links into your threads, threads. No one knows the terminology yet, so I dunno if I'm saying it right, but I'm calling them threads. When you create a new thread, you can in fact add a link to it. Again, I would probably wouldn't be doing this loads because right now it's much more of a conversational based platform rather than just people promoting themselves.

Especially if you're wanting to grow and you are generally talking to people who already know who you. Give a reason. If you're gonna share a link, maybe it's a new article, maybe it's something helpful. And yeah, think about it that way, but you definitely can share links on the platform. I think the big thing right now is it's a testing process. Nobody knows what's gonna work. Nobody really knows what the algorithm is. These are all my personal opinions from my own experience. I'm no expert.

I dunno what's gonna work on threads. You may have better ideas than I do at the moment. So it's all about testing and learning as you test, try different things. That's what I've been doing over the last few days. I've been trying to do a few different kinds of posts, seeing what works, seeing what people like, seeing what people reshare and then doing more of those things. So it's definitely a testing phase. It's definitely something you can be trying out.

You. Don't necessarily need to be following any kind of how-to guide, if it even exists, because nobody really knows. So just be brave on there. Be professional. Be in your brand voice, but give it a try. See what sticks. See what works. But remember back to what I was saying earlier, that if you go for this, I'm gonna try and talk to couples, then you may need to just do that even when you feel like no one's responding yet.

Because I think over time you'll start to see more traction on that side of things. When I'm talking about that as well, I'm not talking about like just promoting yourself. I'm talking about starting conversations, giving useful things. The thing that's really working on threads is when people have conversations, that's what it's all about. That I believe is what meta want people to be doing, is talking backwards and forwards.

So the threads that tend to show up in my newsfeed and my timeline, Are often ones that people have started replying to. So if you have a bit of a conversation with people, people talk to you, you reply to them, then it seems to show it to more people in the algorithm. Because that's what they want to do. So again, you need to think about asking questions. Think about asking for opinions. Think about asking, you know, do you prefer this or this?

Because then it gets people to reply to your thread, and then your thread gets seen by more people. Okay, that's some of the benefits of threads. Let's talk about some of the limitations. Now, it's a brand new platform and meta themselves have said that they're testing it and changing it and working out what people want from it. So I imagine it is gonna change and shift as of recording. Here are some of the limitations. Now, one thing you cannot do on threads at the moment is search.

There is no hashtags to search by. You can't search by topic either. The only way you can search is by people. Now, again, because we can't really. Search for things. It's hard to find conversations outside of those that either they're putting into your newsfeed, which sometimes can be a little bit random and possibly not really what you wanna be seeing. And obviously, people you are already following on Instagram that have come over.

So it is hard right now to reach people who aren't already in your world. Now, one of the ways you can do that is by trying to interact on other threads that with people maybe that you haven't interacted with before and trying to get people to see you that way.

The other way that's definitely been working for me is when you put out content that people like and then they repost it or rethread it, whatever the terminology is, they quote it and then that shows it to their Instagram followers, which obviously may be not the same as yours, and so therefore you can bring new people over to your threads page and they can follow you. That's definitely been working for me.

If you haven't had a look at my Threads account, what I've been doing with it and what I've been testing, Is putting out some wedding truth bombs, wedding marketing, truth bombs. So basically the idea is things that I often think or see, but maybe I'm a little bit shy about saying I wouldn't wanna say to someone because it's a little bit blunt or maybe isn't very, Encouraging, but I can kind of say it to large groups of people rather than it being aimed at someone directly.

So that's what I've been doing with it. It's a little bit different to things I've done on the other platforms. You can go and have a look if you are on threads and see the kind of things I've been doing. I've been creating it as a series, so each one starts with a number. The idea being that if someone comes across number 14, that they might think, oh, what? What came before 14? Go to my page and then start reading through some of the old threads as well, just to get a bit more engagement.

That's definitely been working. And what I've been finding is quite a lot of people are resharing or requoting what I said, because it resonates with them. They like what I'm saying. So one of my things was all about the fact that you should charge your worth or you shouldn't look at what your competitors are doing and people resonate with that and then share it with their audience, which then obviously brings me more people.

It's important to note that my audience is very different to the audience you might want, so I am looking to connect actively with other wedding professionals like you. So the fact there's loads of businesses on there is really beneficial to me. I'm trying to bring new people into my world, help new people with their marketing, bring new people into my programs. However, for you, that's not necessarily your objective.

As we talked about earlier, you may be trying to reach couples, so you don't necessarily want to copy what I'm doing because your objective may be different, and it may be you wanna do something similar, but going down the wedding planning advice or advice, mistakes that couples make to avoid or. All those kind of things, but getting re-quoted is definitely a way to be found and for more people to follow you.

Now again, if you wanna go down the route of finding new people to connect with on threads, you cannot search for them. If you wanna be finding, are there couples on threads right now? Then this is a little bit of a hack that I would go with. So I would follow or go and have a look at some of the big branded accounts for weddings. So some of the blogs, some of the places where, you know, couples hang out.

So places like Love My Dress, for example, here in the uk, or maybe Style Me Pretty in the us. Go and find their accounts. Look at what they're doing, see what questions they're asking. Are they speaking to couples? And then look at who's replying to them. Now, a lot of them are still just getting businesses replying to them. But I have seen that there are couples starting to filter through on them. So do go ahead and have a look and maybe follow some of those people.

If they don't have private accounts, you can just go ahead and follow them and maybe they'll follow you back. Now, I think one of the biggest limitations, and this is gonna be impactful for most of you that are listening to this, is because you can't search at the moment. I actually think it's really difficult to find people that are local to you. So you may be able to find couples on the platform. You may be able to find.

Other businesses to network with, but it's quite difficult to work out where they are or to make sure you're finding people locally that you can serve. So if you only work in a very small area, then it probably right now isn't the place for you to be finding clients. Because it's hard to differentiate where people are located and to find people who are located near to you.

Now again, this is fine for me because I can work with people on their wedding business in Australia, America, the uk, it doesn't matter cause everything I do is online. However, for you, if you're only trying to find other couples who are based down the road in Bedfordshire, well, it's quite tricky to do that on the platform right now. The other thing that's really bothering me right now with threads and is definitely a limitation, is you cannot edit.

So if you put out a thread, you write something, and like me, you constantly make typing errors. You can't go back in and edit that thread. Now I'm really used to doing that on Instagram or I post something, notice I've made a mistake with my grammar or spelling, and then just edit it and change it. You cannot at the moment, as I record this, Edit your thread. Now you can delete the thread immediately and then rethread it, and correct the mistake.

But if you notice the mistake after a little while then and you've already got some traction or engagement on that thread, then well, quite honestly, it's annoying cuz you can't go in and edit it. I'm hoping this is a feature they're gonna add in, but again, I'm like, let's not take ourselves too seriously. Does it matter if there's a bit of a spelling or grammar mistake right now? I mean, that's how I'm playing it. If anyone wants to call me out on my spelling or grammar, I'm gonna tell.

A walk by my account, I can't edit the threads. Obviously you wanna try and check what you're doing, but on the whole, I wouldn't stress too much about it. Don't not post because you can't. Frustrating. Before we end the episode, I asked in my free Facebook group, wedding Pros were ready to grow, what people wanted to know about threads, if people had questions or thoughts so far. So I'm gonna share some of those thoughts with you now and answer some of the questions again in the best way I can.

I'm no threads expert, just from my experience so far on the app. Here's what I'm thinking. So first of all, lots of people are saying that right now they're seeing more businesses than individuals on the platform. So it might not be where your customers are. I think we've covered that off already. Steph asks, do we think that Threads is gonna help with the algorithm on our Instagram page Now? I think this is really interesting.

I have definitely seen that people have followed me across from threads to Instagram. So it's an easy thing for people to do. Your Instagram bio is linked and therefore they can click on your profile and click straight through to your Instagram. I have definitely seen people coming from Threads who have found me on their over to my Instagram. It'd be interesting to know if you've seen the same, so yes, I do think it will grow my Instagram being on threads.

I think if you are gonna use that as a. Strategy. Again, it's important that you have a different tone or a different thing going on on threads than you do on Instagram. If you're just repeating everything, why is anyone gonna come across? So right now, for me, more of my in-depth content, more of my behind the scenes stuff is going on in Instagram. My video content, my reels, my threads is these wedding marketing truth bombs. I'm just telling people I know about marketing.

Here's some thoughts, and essentially, if you like me, come over and check out my other things, Instagram page, lead magnets, Facebook group, et cetera. So yes, I do think it will, interact with the Instagram and I do think you'll be able to bring followers over from Threads over to Instagram as well.

One thing that I saw over the first few days, which seems to have died down a little bit now, is that the accounts with the blue ticks from Instagram, your blue tick follows you from Instagram over to Threads. And to start with, I was only really seeing people with a blue tick coming up in my feed. So I don't know whether or not threads were prioritizing the blue ticks and showing those accounts to more people.

But then as I said, I've seen that a little bit less over the last few days, so I don't know, only time will tell whether the blue tick impacts you on threads as well. Okay, next thought is from Hannah. She said that she thinks threads is so much more relaxed and she's enjoying getting to know people's true personalities and thoughts. However, right now she thinks it'll be more of a supplier supply tool rather than supplier to customer. So again, we've covered that off, but I do think it's.

A nice place to let your personality shine. I posted on there that I'm enjoying threads because I don't have to find a picture on my computer to post, and I don't have to brush my hair. I, I can literally just share my thoughts without an image, without any beautiful filters on my face. I can just be myself and I can do it in literally 10 seconds. So it's definitely refreshing in that way. Rosie asks, how long do we think it's gonna be before they fill it full of ads?

No doubt there will be ads eventually. We are not stupid. We know Meta are creating this. It's another business platform. They will be testing it as with all things. It's always fun in the early stages, and then over time it becomes more and more monetized. And we've seen that with Facebook. We've seen it with Instagram. We will see it with threads, how long it's gonna take. I don't know. I think they've had more signups than they may be expected quickly, so that may speed things up a bit.

I'm sure there'll be a demand that people will want to start advertising on threads because of the numbers of people on there. And yeah, it will happen at some point, but right now there's no ads. So enjoy it while it lasts. Okay. Final question was from Jesse, and I think this kinda is how a lot of people are feeling, and I've noticed that a lot of wedding pros are on threads, but haven't necessarily posted anything yet. So Jesse said, I'm gonna really be honest. I have no idea what it's for.

Why should I use it? How should I be using it? How's it affecting the rest of my marketing? How much time should I invest? The typical kind of stuff. Now, we've covered off quite a lot of that already in the episode, Jesse, so I'm hoping that I've answered some of your questions. Again, time's gonna tell how it fits into our overall marketing strategy at the moment. For me, it's a fresh platform. It's a fresh place to be. It's a fresh place to find new people?

Where my stuff's actually showing up in the algorithm, is it gonna, last time? Will tell. In terms of what my content is like where right now for me, and this is for me personally, Facebook is where I copy my Instagram post, but mostly it's where I'm interacting in groups, in communities, in groups like mine, my members lounge in the wedding pros, who are ready to grow group in other business groups and chatting with people. Behind a closed wall, right?

If we put someone on threads, everyone can see what we've written. If we ask a question inside a a members group or inside a Facebook group, the outside world can't see that, and we can be more honest in the questions that we're asking. So that's Facebook for me, Instagram for me, I'm sticking with the same strategy. So it's a lot about me. It's my tips, it's my reels, it's my face, it's my portfolio. It's kind of my main source on social media.

And then threads I'm using as more of a, a funny thing. I'm using it more as a bit of a short form content. Just typed truths and tips engaging with people that haven't engaged with for ages in the way that because it's new then we might as well be using it for all it's worth right now cuz it's is working right now. Will I keep on using it at the same level? I don't know, but I think it's. Definitely for more short form, words based things.

I think there's a lot of room for witty banter in there if you're funny, but don't try to be funny if you're not funny. I think there's a lot of room in there for tips and ideas and things that people are going to repost and a place for your personality to shine exactly like Hannah said in the comment earlier. So for me, threads is that side of me, a bit of my personality coming out, bit of short form content, and with the aim of getting people over to my Instagram.

Have a look at what other accounts are doing, see what resonates with you. With any platform, you need to know why you're doing it and who you are speaking to and what the goal is. So if you don't know those things for threads yet, and this may change, as you explore the platform, I want you to take a bit of time and think, right, if I'm gonna use this for marketing, who am I talking to? Why am I using it? What's the business benefit and what is the outcome I'm trying to get?

So for me, my business use is I'm on there to. Explore and learn the platform so I can talk to you guys about it. I'm on there to try and connect with new wedding professionals that maybe haven't heard of me before. We've never met before, and then I'm gonna try and bring people across, onto my Instagram, into my Facebook groups and hopefully help them with their marketing. Maybe they'll start listen to the podcast. That's my why and what and what the plan is. What is it for you?

Why are you on there? Are you trying to be the next Mrs. Hinch? But in the wedding world, are you trying to be the place that the account that everyone wants to follow if they're getting married in order to grow your business? Or are you trying to make new connections with other people in the industry? And if that's what you're doing, what's the point of that? And what are you gonna do with those relationships? How are you gonna take them?

Offline, how are you going to turn them into actual money and actual work? If you haven't got that nailed down yet, that's okay, but you need to go there before you start spending hours and hours and hours just because the platform is new. Hopefully that helps. Okay. As we close, the final thing I wanna answer is will. Threads last again, this is the multimillion pound question. Nobody knows. We all remember Clubhouse. It was huge. Everyone was on it. Six months later, is anyone on it?

I haven't been on Clubhouse for ages. Did I love it while I was on it for that time? Yes, I did. Did I get business results from it? Yes, I did. I really enjoyed it. Am I still using it? No, I'm not. There was another one that popped up. I think it was called Vero. Vero, something like that. Am I still using that? No. I mean, quite honestly, I'm still not really using TikTok. I don't love TikTok. So is it gonna last? We don't really know.

It may just be a flash in the pan and then it disappears in six months. Like, Clubhouse, or maybe it's here to stay like Instagram. Now, one thing we do know is meta tends to be very successful and all those platforms are linked, so they have got a good track record of making things that work. However, only time will tell if people can be bothered to stick around with the platform, and it'll depend what happens.

We don't know the answer to that question, but not knowing the answer to that question isn't necessarily a reason not to be on there. As I said, I loved my time on Clubhouse. I got loads of business connections. I've definitely had work and opportunities come from my time on there. So why wouldn't I want to engage while this platform is fresh and new and exciting because I can see the business benefit for me.

If you can see the business benefit for you, then jump in and take advantage of the fresh algorithm, the fresh voice, the fresh perspective. However, if you are busy, if you are overwhelmed, if you don't have the time to put in and you wanna wait and see, that's okay too. You don't have to be on there. It's your business. It's your choice.

It'll be interesting to see where threads goes in the future, and if you're listening to this episode in the future, rather than right now in July, 2023, I would love you to just drop into my Facebook group Wedding Pros who are ready to grow or drop into my inbox. On Instagram at Becca Pountney and say, Hey, I'm just listening to your episode, and it's now 2024 and no one's on threads, or it's now 2024 and everyone's loving threads.

I'd absolutely love that because I think it's interesting for us to look back and see what happens. I hope this episode has been helpful for you. I hope it's answered some of your questions. As I said at the beginning, it's no means a masterclass. We're all new to the platform. We don't know where it's gonna go, how it's gonna work, and who it's going to reach.

But hopefully it's giving you a pause for thought about whether you should jump in and try it, give it a rest, or maybe try something new. I'll see you next time.