I've Become Obsessed With Threads
All about my new favorite social media platform and how wineries should use it (if they want to)
I talk a lot on here about how much I love Instagram. As a consumer, business owner, and marketing consultant for wineries, I believe it has something for everyone. But lately, another social media platform has taken hold of me: Threads.
For the uninitiated, Threads is, for all intents and purposes, Meta’s version of the platform formerly known as Twitter. And listen, I know I shouldn't be doom-scrolling while I'm breastfeeding at 2 AM, but I need to stay awake, and keeping a low-stim environment is v. important, so the lights aren't bright enough to read or cross stitch by, blah blah blah, let me just have this one thing, okay?
So, anyway, here I am mainlining Threads every night.
What I love about Threads
The energy on Threads is a bit hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it, but I’ll do my best: It’s a bit like a giant group chat with millions of people who are being really, really silly together. It’s like we are all in on the same several inside jokes. If you ever get into Threads, you’ll likely get dropped off into some new Threads Lore that will at first confuse and then delight. As of writing this, here are some of my favorite Threads Lore:
The $50 Cheesecake
The Raptor
Bro Cruise
"Denim skirts are ugly"
"Richard is dead"
Crab Rangoon
Hopital
“That doesn't sound very dental."
There's also the concept of "paying your taxes." If you mention your dog, cat, plant, or other pet without showing a picture of them, you are evading your taxes, and the community will call you out accordingly. This is law.
What I love most, though, is how Threads handles conversations. When the Artemis II mission was happening, we all watched it together on Threads and talked about it in real time in a way that isn't really possible—or at least isn't as fun—on other platforms. Instagram and TikTok are visuals first, conversations second (if at all). On Threads, it's conversations first, and visuals are just there to lend flavor. The difference is kind of like watching a game alone versus watching it in a bar full of people who care as much as you do.
The algorithm is also scarily good. I’m not only getting served wine and photography content, but also conversations that relate to the current phase of postpartum I am in (side note, a lot of people like to say they prefer a chronological timeline for their social media, but in practice, having an algorithm show you the most relevant content first is way more fun… we can talk a bit more about this in a future post).
I didn’t really get onto Twitter during its heyday. I was too enamored of Instagram, and by the time I showed up, it had already become a hostile and exhausting place to be. But from what I can tell, Threads right now is what Twitter used to be before Elon fucked it up.
What This Means for Your Wine Brand
A lot of brands do really well on Threads, but not by doing the same shit they do on other platforms. Threads isn’t a promotional platform. If you show up only to push sales on folks, you’ll be ignored, which is counterproductive to what you want on social media. The culture there has a very low tolerance for brands that over-promote.
In fact, my advice for brands on Threads is to socialize more than you post, even if you aren’t doing promotional posts (that’s actually a good rule of thumb for all of social media). Your job there is to participate. Have fun, be weird, share your opinions, get in on the Threads Lore while it’s hot!
Is Threads Right for Your Brand?
When thinking about this post, I wanted to write about who I think Threads works for and who it doesn’t. Here are my thoughts:
Threads is a good fit for you if:
Your brand has a distinct personality
You (or someone on your team) can write conversationally (and ideally with humor)
You’re willing to spend at least fifteen minutes per day engaging
Your target customer is probably under 50 and spends a decent amount of time online
You prefer written content to photo and video content
Threads probably isn’t right for you if:
You can only show up to announce promotions and releases (note: you can cross-post from Instagram if you wish, which doesn’t necessarily hurt, but it likely won’t give you any traction unless what you’re cross-posting from Instagram is unhinged)
You don’t have the bandwidth to actually participate in conversations
Your brand voice is very formal or corporate
You’re already stretched thin and struggling to maintain your existing platforms consistently
That last part is really important btw. You know I always recommend creating a sustainable marketing plan for yourself, so I’m not saying you need to drop everything and add Threads to your plan if it’s not something you can reasonably add to your plate.
All of this said, I think it’s worth exploring. It’s a fun place to be and one of the more human-feeling corners of the internet right now. There’s a real opportunity for wine brands who are willing to loosen their bones a bit and get a little weird. Also, I should note that you don’t have to be weird all the time (or at all) but still be conversational.
What do you post on Threads?
As I said above, Threads is more of a place to have conversations, and I recommend participating more than you post, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also start conversations. Here are some things that I’ve seen do well on Threads:
News/Updates: Harvest updates and industry or local news do well here.
Foxen used Threads to update on tasting room hours in response to weather and fire events. Asking for opinions or sharing your own opinion: This is where Threads can really shine. Ask for folks’ opinions on screwcaps or share a spicy take on something. (Tip: If you highlight a portion of the text on a post and tap “Mark Spoiler,” you can make it so that part of the post is hidden until people tap on it. It’s a great way to encourage engagement and increase people’s curiosity.")
Also worth combining updates with opinions like this one from Foxen. 
This was Foxen’s first post on Threads and got five replies which isn’t too shabby. Promotions: As mentioned earlier, be scant with promotions. People aren’t on Threads to be sold to. Be more conversational about it vs. announcing your promos; the idea is to invite people to respond. An example could be framing a wine club offer as "we're opening five spots, who's been on the fence?" rather than "join our wine club." Also, don’t be afraid to be a bit silly with it.
One way I could have made this post better for Brave & Maiden was to add the booking link in a connected thread. Give a Photo Prompt: People like sharing their own photos. Give a specific prompt like “Show us your dog sleeping in a weird place,” and don’t forget to pay the photo tax.
Tip: It’s okay to share some of the same things you’re sharing on Instagram to Threads, but I recommend tailoring the post to fit Threads better:
Cut down on photos and video: If your Instagram post has a carousel of eight photos, pare it way back. On Threads, excess imagery doesn’t (always) land well. Only include visuals that help lend context.
Lead with text: A strong first line will always outperform a photo dump on Threads. If you do want to include images, consider making your opening post text-only (or text plus one image) and adding additional photos further down the thread, where they can lend context.
Rewrite the caption: Threads captions can only be a max of 500 characters including spaces, so brevity is your friend. If the caption needs to be longer, you’ll need to split it up into a thread (heyoooo), but ask yourself if the caption really needs to be that long and if people will want to keep clicking in to see longer threards. Note: there is an option for an expandable text attachment which can be much longer, but I don’t really see that being a very useful tool. If you need to use the text attachement, you might as well just have a blog/start a substack.
Lose the hashtags: Hashtags aren’t really a thing on Threads. As long as you have strong keywords in your Thread, your post will find the right people. You CAN add your Thread to a shared Topic
I’m still learning how to use Threads for my clients, but as a consumer, I really enjoy it. We talk a lot here about how wine succeeds when it is shared in community, so it makes sense to me that a platform that thrives in community might be a great place for wineries to be. What do you think? Will your winery show up in my feed during my 2 AM nursing sessions?
Want to help fuel me through the next several posts? Buy me a beverage! Writing is thirsty work after all!