- Threads is the latest app to block social media.
- With over 150 million downloads, brands and marketers are looking at the platform.
- Insider Threads spoke to influential marketing experts and sponsored content creators.
The new Instagram Threads app may not have hashtags yet, but that hasn't stopped #ads from popping up all over the latest social media platform.
Within two days of the thread's launch on July 5, several brands and influencers began posting paid sponsored content.
The streaming platform has signed a deal through the influencer marketing firm of comedian Adam Rose, who has over 4 million followers on TikTok, and got early access to Threads. Meanwhile, economy-building startup Hashtag Pay Me has partnered with micro-influencer Kristen Bousquet.
The day after the app launched, Hashtag Pay Me offered Busca $200 to promote the company on Instagram Stories and feeds.
"After this partnership ended, I used it as an introduction to other brands I've worked with in the past," he told Insider. Since then he has posted more sponsored content in his threads.
Threads has seen record growth with over 150 million downloads. In the first two weeks. Brands quickly noticed its potential.
"Every time a new platform comes out, brands get excited about something," said Krishna Subramanian, founder of influencer marketing platform Captiv8. "One of them is the attention and the fact that you are a pioneer and you are doing something unique for this platform, which attracts a lot of attention. When you start moving forward, it depends on how you get results from this particular platform."
Affiliate links from platforms like LTK and Amazon are scattered throughout the feed.
"With a new platform like this, we always say to our existing creators, 'Listen, this is your chance to grow,'" said LTK Co-Founder and President Amber Weng Box. We see a new generation of creators taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move.
Its parent company, MetaKir, aims to be as user-friendly as its sister app, Instagram. A week after the app's launch, Axios said the company plans to launch branded content tools.
The tools have yet to launch, and even then, marketers will need objective metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of paid content. Several influential marketing experts told Insider that Threads is very new, and while it has basic metrics like likes, responses, and shares, it lacks important data like demographics, impressions, reach, and retention.
"As a marketer, you need data," says Alessandro Bollari, co-founder and CEO of Influencer Marketing Factory. "Without data, you have nothing."
Determining how much money to pay producers takes time, and some are lost.
"There's no standard on what creators should charge per thread, so it's like the Wild West right now," says Ayomi Samaraweera of Creative Startups.
Insider 14 spoke to. Influential marketing experts, innovators and startup founders discuss what the early days of brand deals are like. For some, new territory opens up new opportunities and broadens their horizons. Others are skeptical of the platform because of issues like data collection and their desire to keep their channels "ad-free."
Meta did not respond to an internal request for comment.
Threads are a new target for influencer marketing.
When Hulu first worked with Rose for the company's first Thread-sponsored post to promote the animated series Futurama, success was measured by the number of headlines measured by "creativity and buzz," said Brittany Mehsiz, vice president of social media and influencer partnerships.
A promotional message in the format "Which Futurama character are you?" With over 760 likes and over 140 replies, Rose turned to print to measure the success of Hull's campaign.
How many likes do you get compared to my regular posts? Rose said. "And, most importantly, with this Q&A-based content, how many responses are you going to get?"
For starters, thread sponsorships are less likely to be specific to apps, and brands can ask creators to post on other social media platforms discussing a particular collaboration. Busquets and Rose's agreement, for example, includes uploading on Instagram.
Many influencer marketers see great potential in the direct connection between Instagram and Threads.
"Platform sharing is very attractive," said Thomas Walters, European CEO and founder of Billion Dollar Channel. "It's easy to ask to create a program that offers such closely related applications."
In addition to sponsored posts, affiliate marketing also finds appeal in apps like Amazon Prime Day.
At the annual event, which took place a week after the theme's launch, creator Ajay Guyot posted a link to the screens for sale and found it more convenient than sharing a link in an Instagram story or directing people to a link in a bio.
"I tracked Amazon's storefront and dashboard to see how many times a link was clicked," says Guo. "And so far more than I have put in my history."
Threads are an attractive option for Twitter brands. After years of struggling with Twitter moderation and a lack of polarizing content, advertisers may find an advantage in the thread.
Brand safety has become more of a concern since Elon Musk took over, said Ryan Deter, founder and CEO of Influencer.
Some brands and users who have built much of their presence and business on Twitter are questioning whether to abandon or continue using Twitter, including social media consultant Matt Navarro, who has used Twitter as a primary platform for his business for years.
"There are a lot of people, and I would be one of them, who are looking for a real alternative to Twitter and a way to get off the Twitter platform now because of what's happening and the decisions that Elon Musk has made," Navara said.
While Meta has its own moderation issues, Instagram has become a major destination for advertisers, and threads may soon be added to their list of sponsored content platforms.
To advertise or not to advertise
While many brands are taking proactive steps to incorporate marketing into their marketing plans, some manufacturers are hesitant to move forward.
Some are watching the app closely as Meta makes good on its promise to soon introduce engagement analytics to Threads so brands and creators can track the performance of sponsored content.
Lifestyle creator Suraj Saxena says he's waiting for the platform to "mature a bit" before adding it to his toolkit.
"I want to do more analysis before I start," he said.
Others are concerned about how Thread collects user data . One video producer, who asked not to be named for this story, said he was concerned about how the platform stores data, uses cameras and microphones, etc.
"I use enough apps that track me, so I don't want to add another one to the list," the creator said.
Some manufacturers see threads as a clean slate that should be free from influencers.
Fashion and lifestyle designer Taryn Hicks told Insider, "I don't intend to monetize my threads. Never, ever. I don't want to see it. "As a creator, but also as someone who loves using apps, when you start running forums [and] ads, apps start to lose the fun and feel of chatting with my best friends. I don't have ads in group messages with close friends."
For this reason, some creators, like travel designer Jessica Ufuma, refuse requests for sponsored content from brands.
"Since distributions are relatively new, I will take a more cautious approach at first," Ufuma said. "Paid affiliate marketing can be boring now."
For these reasons and more, the app needs to release new features like hashtags, advanced search, trending, and more if it wants to keep up the momentum. If usage declines, brands won't have the money to spend on the platform.
