Category: News & Events

If there’s one thing about social media that will always be true it is that it is constantly evolving – and Instagram’s latest social media app, Threads, is reminding us exactly how constant that is.

In Meta’s most recent copycat scheme to get a hold of another tech company’s market share (cough, cough, Twitter), Threads launched on Wednesday, July 5th as a companion to Instagram, earning 10 million sign-ups just seven hours after launch.

As of Thursday morning, Threads was the top free app on Apple’s App Store and, ironically, a top trending topic on Twitter.

While the new app shares many similarities with Twitter, marketers everywhere are still experimenting and learning this brand-new platform. With that comes a rumor mill fired up of self-proclaimed experts, even though the app literally just came out.

As a full-service digital marketing agency, Champ knows the importance of staying ahead of the trends and becoming an early adopter of new social media platforms, especially when they’re backed by giants like Meta.

So, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about using Threads for marketing your business:

What is Threads?

Threads is positioned as an app where people can have real-time, public conversations with one another. The platform is described as a “text-based” social media network that is meant to be paired with Instagram.

According to the official announcement, “Posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.” You can easily share a Threads post to your Instagram story and/or feed, or share your post as a link on any other platform you choose.

The main feed looks similar to Twitter with virtually no fluffy graphics or images. With a chronological timeline of conversation threads, the mobile-only (for now) app sets the scene for back-and-forth conversations between users. 

How is Threads different from Instagram or Twitter?

Most people are wondering how Threads is different from Instagram. After all, if Threads is for text-based conversations, what happens to the Instagram comment section or your DMs? Does it all become obsolete?

Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri says, “It’s less about text versus photos and videos and more about what public conversations you want to have. Do you want to engage in more of a back-and-forth, Threads make sense. If not, great, probably Instagram…”

In this way, Threads is a great tool for community-based brands that want active buy-in and engagement from their audience. For instance, brands like Glossier which are known for taking in feedback from customers to make new products and understanding internet culture will see the most success from incorporating Threads into their social media strategy.

Threads is also a direct competitor to Twitter. In fact, the app is already being called the “Twitter Killer,” ramping up tensions between Elon Musk, who recently bought Twitter, and Mark Zuckerberg.

The launch comes at an opportune moment after Musk received major backlash from Twitter users for completely changing the experience, including an overhaul of the verification program (blue check marks), getting rid of content moderation practices, and more.

While Threads looks nearly identical to Twitter in many ways, it carries an entirely different spirit – for now. For instance, Instagram’s privacy policies will carry over, meaning you have a bit more control over the audience who can see what you post as compared to Twitter.

Additionally, at launch, Threads lacks many features that Twitter has developed over the years of its reign, such as hashtags, trending topics, editing posts, etc. However, it is only the beginning, so time will tell how Meta chooses to differentiate Threads from its competitors and other social platforms.

How to get started with Threads

Getting started with Threads is honestly too easy. Those interested in signing up for the new app are required to have an Instagram account. 

All you have to do is download the Threads app from your app store and then connect to your Instagram account. You will be prompted to set up your profile, with the option to simply import your Instagram bio and links with just one tap.

Of course, you still have the option to customize your profile specifically for Threads. However, for now, your username must be the same as your Instagram account.

Users can also import their entire following list directly from Instagram, making it super easy to get up and running on the app. This is great for brands and creators that have already built up an established following on Instagram, as many people are syncing their following lists between the two apps. 

Our Threads predictions

Considering Threads is basically a newborn in the world of social media, there isn’t really anyone that can claim to be some kind of super expert in the platform. 

Despite its similarities to other well-known apps, you should take this early adoption time to experiment freely. Social media strategy is, of course, important, but there’s a lot we’re still learning about Threads. 

Here are our predictions as to what we can expect from the new app: 

Threads will allow brands to hold space for their customers.

Unlike Instagram which will likely still retain a sense of “community building” for brands, Threads will spark more candid and unfiltered conversations between users. We predict that we’ll see more off-the-cuff posts with more personable content. 

As consumers continue to value transparency and authenticity from the brands they shop with, Threads will prove to be a powerful marketing tool, particularly for e-commerce and niche businesses. 

Threads will soon introduce advertising.

​​Although there are no ads on the platform just yet, Threads will likely become a supplement to Meta’s core advertising business, making it a great option for brands that want to be early adopters. You can possibly become first in line for beta testing and get on Meta’s good side when the time comes.

Moreover, when this feature comes out, it will be extremely simple for marketers to take advantage of. Since Meta already has an established social media advertising network, Threads will probably just end up being an additional check box in Ads Manager as a new placement. 

However, given the history of Twitter’s own advertising efforts, it is clear that the text-based format is unlikely to attract as many ad dollars as Meta’s other platforms.

Twitter won’t be replaced, but it will become a “boomer app”. 

As Gen Z ages into active consumers, conscious consumerism and authenticity are the name of the game. Brands are expected to speak with customers like real people. Stale copy, forced humor, and overly curated social media are losing traction with this generation, making Threads a great app for authentic, open, and lighthearted conversations.

Apps like BeReal, TikTok, and now Threads will likely take over as the main social media platforms for younger generations. As a result, Twitter will lose its sparkle, similar to Facebook, and become known as a “boomer app” – especially if they continue to struggle with technical issues and controversial policy changes.

Still, that doesn’t mean you need to delete your Twitter account and give up. Twitter can still be a powerful social media marketing tool for your business, particularly if your target audience happens to live on that platform. 

3 ways to use Threads for marketing your business

1. Start conversations.

Engagement is key in a text-based platform like this. Consider being more conversational, fun, and personality-forward on Threads. Most brands and creators are already seeing major success with this approach. 

We recommend thinking about relevant topics in your industry and framing them as questions, “hot takes,” or educational threads. 

2. Repurpose content.

Threads is a great place to repurpose your digital content and experiment with text-based posts that start conversations. Try repurposing:

• Past Tweets and Twitter threads
• Instagram captions
• Instagram carousel text 
• LinkedIn polls
• Facebook article shares

There is no need to reinvent the wheel when you likely already have a vault of pre-made content ready to work for you. Scroll down to some of your oldest posts and revamp them in a text-based format. 

Plus, now there’s AI marketing to make your life easier. 

3. Experiment with your content.

In the early days of an app like this, it will be important to observe your audience. See how they respond to different types of content. Do they prefer questions or informational threads? Are they engaging more regularly with personal and relatable content or branded promotional content?

Every brand’s audience will be different, so test out 5-7 styles of content on Threads before going all-in on the posts that seem to be making the most impact for your account. 

Get social media updates with CHAMP

Our Boston & Chicago-based team prides itself on staying up to date with the latest social media developments so you can be an early adopter of new platforms like Threads. 

Whether you choose to incorporate brand new platforms into your strategy or you simply want a team that can guide you through the decision, Champ is here to lead the way. Learn more about our social media management services today.

Want more updates like this? Stay up to date with digital marketing news by subscribing to our newsletter. 

In the words of author and political activist Angela Davis, “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist.”

The Black Lives Matter movement calls on everyone to take direct action in honor of the countless number of Black people who have been killed at the hands
of the police. It calls on each and every one of us to be actively anti-racist.

The killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have ultimately forced companies to look internally at their diversity and inclusion practices
and hold themselves truly accountable for any missteps in prioritizing these programs.

In recent weeks, major brands have posted public statements in solidarity with the Black community. However, consumers are paying close attention to both
the actions and the words of these companies and holding them accountable accordingly. They ultimately do not care for corporate solidarity through
lip service. They want donations. They want action. These corporate communications have had to be timely, direct, and actionable. Our team has picked out a few of the most effective communications strategies
by top well-known brands.

One brand doing it right with significant praise is Ben & Jerry’s. Since making an official statement, the company has been regularly posting educational
resources (even including a pop-up on their site) and spreading awareness through all their platforms.

Glossier is a beauty brand that has received recognition for its official statement on May 30 –much earlier than other major brands– which referenced “systemic racism, white supremacy, and historic oppression”, as well as donations to respected
community organizations. Since then, Glossier has launched a grant initiative for Black-owned beauty businesses.
The brand demonstrates a full understanding that companies and individuals alike can no longer make a simple statement to do better. Rather, they must
put money where their mouth is.

In addition to posting statements on social media and sharing resources on website blogs, companies have also been sending out email statements to their
subscribers. With a “no-BS approach”, companies have highlighted the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, like this email from TJX:

Social media, in particular, has been integral to the widespread reach of this movement. In fact, social media corporations like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok have all released statements on their social media channels voicing support and outlining steps
being taken to makes changes both internally and externally. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest even changed their social media profile
photos to black and white version of their logos to show solidarity.

Responding to current events like the Black Lives Matter movement involves a complex strategy to effectively communicate your brand’s stance and message.
As these major brands have shown, messaging should be consistent company-wide and backed with action to avoid coming off as lip service.

Contact us to handle all your brand communications on your digital marketing channels.

We hosted a panel discussion with the American Marketing Association’s Boston Chapter where speakers
from the world of medicinal marijuana, food, and medicine came together to discuss lessons learned, best practices and more. Atendees were treated
to a dynamic conversation they won’t soon forget and came away with new learnings that will change the way they currently reach their stakeholders
and influencers.

Our CEO, Seth Worby, was on the panel sharing insights on how big markets require big marketing moves.

This article was featured on IdeaMensch on February 27, 2019. You can read the full article here.

Take calculated risks. Be open to change. If you have big goals you need to take big steps to achieve them.

A natural entrepreneur since childhood, Seth Worby is the CEO of Newton, MA based digital marketing firm, Champ. Backed with a decade of experience in
the SEM and SEO fields, Seth founded Champ in 2009 as a sole-proprietorship run out of his home office. In a matter of months Champ grew to a handful
of employees and set up shop in their original office on Needham street. Two moves and several office expansions later, Champ is a thriving digital
marketing agency serving clients worldwide.

Seth’s background is in the world of Search Engine Optimization. He has dedicated his career to making websites perform better for the businesses that
own them. Prior to founding Champ, Seth worked at Verndale, one of Boston’s largest privately-owned web development firms. While there, he started
their search engine marketing department and worked within it as a senior strategist. He also worked at Catalyst Online, a WPP and GroupM company as
a project manager and SEO specialist. At this time Seth managed and developed SEO strategies for fortune 500 businesses including Pfizer, Proctor &
Gamble, Novartis, and more.

Seth earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a focus on E-Business Management from Champlain College in Burlington Vermont. The name
of his college, and Seth’s time in Burlington inspired the name of his business, Champ. In his spare time Seth loves to golf in the summer and snowboard
in the winter months. You can often find him at Fenway Park or Gillette Stadium cheering on his favorite Boston sports teams.

Where did the idea for your company come from?

The idea to start Champ was first sparked during a project I was completing for an online business course I was taking in college. I knew I wanted to own
my own business one day, and I wanted to see websites created with a more performance-based model. At the time, websites were really just becoming
a necessity rather than a nice-to-have feature for business. Too many businesses were putting up sites that lacked strategy and forethought, and thus,
didn’t adequately perform to serve their business needs.

I went on to work for other established agencies after college, but kept seeing the same problems cropping up, so in 2009 I ventured out on my own and
launched Champ Internet Solutions (now simply, Champ), a grown-up version of that dream I had in college years prior.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

As a CEO of a small business, there is no truly “typical” day. Wearing many hats is the name of the game and being able to switch gears quickly is important.
As a service business, Champ’s clients and their satisfaction is paramount to our success. So, I typically spend time each day checking with our leadership
team on high-level project statuses and client satisfaction metrics. I jump in on meetings where there is a high-priority item on the agenda that requires
my input. Otherwise I am usually focused on areas where we can grow. I’m either working on strategy with the sales team, recruitment goals with HR
or participating in networking and educational events as attendee or speaker where I can expand the reach of Champ’s influence.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Bringing ideas to life is all about having the right team for the job. Sometimes that means bringing in new people who have unique experiences, sometimes
it means recruiting the hardest workers from within to tackle a tough project. For an idea to come to fruition, you need to identify all of the required
moving parts, make sure you have the talent and knowledge to handle those parts, and invest the energy to see it through to fruition. I encourage all
members of a project team to take ownership of the task. It is essential for successful completion.

What’s one trend that excites you?

I love how advanced search algorithms have become. When I first ventured into the world of SEO the field was just getting started. There was smaller overlap
between what was needed to serve the users of a website and what was needed to make a website rank well in search. Even the cleanest white hat practices
did little to make a website more valuable to the people reading it. Now, Google has advanced the technology vastly. The name of the game in SEO is
creating the best quality website possible from design, to development, to content. Google rewards real quality and usefulness with better rankings.
This makes our job easier because we can just focus on creating really solid digital marketing and, done right, we will win on SEO and we will also
win on customer conversions for our clients.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I’m an excellent prioritizer. As an entrepreneur, there are always a whole lot of balls to keep in the air. Sometimes you have to know when to put one
down that isn’t a strong factor in the objective you are trying to reach. Being productive is about focusing your energy on the efforts with the most
important pay off and not wasting a lot of time on things that aren’t driving you toward your goals.

What advice would you give your younger self?

You can’t always be a buddy and a boss at the same time. When I was younger and first starting out, I wanted to be friends with everyone I worked with.
I’m a social guy and pretty laid back and I wanted my company to be fun. I realized in time that making your company fun and engaging to your employees
isn’t always about being friends with them (though sometimes it certainly can be). It’s less important to focus on being likable than it is to focus
on the things that will really make people like you as a boss: respecting your employees’ individuality and work/life balance, creating enough managed
structure in the workplace to sustain fairness, rewarding the effort and performance of your employees, and allowing your employees ownership and autonomy
in their work lives.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

It’s better to grab an opportunity you aren’t totally prepared for and figure it out as you go than to turn down opportunities that scare you in favor
of things you are already an expert at.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Take calculated risks. Be open to change. If you have big goals you need to take big steps to achieve them.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.

Relying on traditional networking. A funny answer for a tech guy, no? No matter how reliant on technology we all are today, people are still going to prefer
to hire someone familiar over someone who isn’t. And if you don’t know anyone with the skill you need you’re going to hire someone your friend or colleague
knows. It’s true for me. Many of my best hires were people who were former colleagues of my current employees.

As a way to promote this idea I also have a significant referral rewards program for my clients who refer in other clients. As a result, I tend to get
fantastic clients, and they get a great reward.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

In the past I have allowed people to stay on my team for too long who were not a good fit. As I noted above in the advice to my younger self, I viewed
them too much as friends. You don’t want to fire your friends, right? When a person isn’t pulling their weight at a company the work flow is not the
only thing that suffers, its bad for morale and harms the people who are your superstars. I have learned to let people go when there doesn’t appear
to be a good mutual benefit. I’ve incorporated better metrics to help me keep an objective view of human resource issues and also have the benefit
of growing my business large enough to have a human resource department and leadership team to help me. Luckily these issues are rare, but I know how
to recognize them and address them quickly these days.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Create the ultimate online marketing platform. There are many Content Marketing Systems that work fine, but they don’t offer everything that a small to
mid-sized business needs in order to drive successful digital marketing campaigns. I would love to build a CMS that incorporates SEO, ecommerce and
marketing automation that makes it super easy for anyone to utilize. The ultimate goal is to give people the premium tools they need to build a high-quality
website at an economical price.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I recently took a group of Champ employees on a fun outing to a Boston Harbor Island. I think it’s important for solid teamwork to allow employees to kick
back and do something non work-related together from time to time. It helps people develop a sense of responsibility to one another and reminds everyone
that its not always about the work all the time.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

We love Basecamp at Champ. It has really helped us to scale our business rapidly while easily keeping tabs on every moving part of each project. We make
sure action steps in all projects have an entry in basecamp and a specific person assigned to it. This allows us to track our projects easily and helps
all of our employees manage their time and priorities effectively each day.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Do the KIND Thing: Think Boundlessly, Work Purposefully, Live Passionately.
An autobiography by Daniel Lubetzky, the Founder and CEO of KIND.

His three mottos really resonated with me, and as an entrepreneur his advice was extremely helpful. One of the main things I got out of the book was that
it’s always good to be noticed (for the right reasons) and to think big. Any company looking to up its focus on delivering an excellent product, do-good
mission, and building a thoughtful culture should look to KIND as a shining star. This book highlights how to achieve success in business, and life,
while making the world a better place. I gleaned much of what Champ has become from this book. I highly recommend it.

What is your favorite quote?

“Begin with the end in mind” – Dr. Stephen Covey This is the second habit listed in Dr. Covey’s world-renowned book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
This idea has really resonated with me as I’ve moved through my professional career. If you don’t know where you are trying to go, its very hard to
get there. By having an ultimate, clearly defined goal in place, it makes it easier to break it down into actionable parts and end up where you meant
to be headed.

Key learnings:

• SEO success is much more about quality than anything else these days. If you are looking to have success online make sure that you are providing clear,
  easy to understand content that solves your target audience’s problems and answers their questions. Add to this a well structured and designed
  website and you are going to do well. If you need help consult an expert. 
• Respect your employees’ individual needs and talents and allow them to play to their strengths. If someone’s strengths aren’t a fit for your business
  have enough respect for them to let them go. 
• Know where you are heading with your business. Set clear goals and have a well-defined mission. Focus your energy on the things that best serve this
  overall vision.