Before we get into the nitty gritty, let's quickly recap what Threads actually is. If you already know this, please skip ahead to the next section where we get into the healthcare conversation and use cases. 

Threads is a new app developed by the Meta team, which is positioned as Instagram’s text-based conversation app. According to Meta, the app aims to create a community where people can come together to discuss the topics they care about today and the trending topics of tomorrow. So, in a nutshell it’s a real time conversation app that is more like Twitter than it is like Instagram. 

The app has been quickly adopted by healthcare professionals (HCPs), who were already active social media users. But without the search function on Threads to be able to connect with other relevant healthcare conversations and hashtags, healthcare professionals are creating posts to seek out other HCPs on the platform so that they can follow each other. 

A positive of the lack of a search bar for topics or hashtags means that people can share information without the fear of content being seen by people who are not interested. So far this means it's a 'safer' space for community discussion that is less open to internet trolls than apps like Twitter. 

One of the features HCPs have come to love from Twitter is the ability to stay up-to-date  in their field, share research and engage in scientific discussions with their peers across geographical boundaries. We've seen clinicians and medical publishers / journals already take to Threads to share this type of information. But without more topic based search features in Threads, it will be hard for this app to replace the current role of Twitter for the HCP community. 

Healthcare professionals who typically use Instagram to share information with patients / the general public have taken to Threads to share this type of content. 

Many pharma companies have got onto the app to claim their handle, but few are posting yet. Amgen is one of the few companies in the industry who are actively posting. We're sure more will follow as time goes on. 

We also see patients take to the app to share about their condition, and connect with others, but due to not being able to search and discover by topics this is quite reliant on following other accounts. 

Threads is a predominantly text based app, with the ability to link out to external content, or to share visual content in the app. It seems it may have good option for healthcare brands to drive discussion, in a safer environment than Twitter. The strong connection with Instagram, means that if you have a big following it on this channel then it's possible you could drive good uptake with a Threads channel. 

The app has potential to grow audiences for patients or professional audiences but it's difficult to call at this stage exactly where it will be most popular.

It's early days and we don't know what the future of threads will look like, so we don't recommend replacing any channels in your existing mix yet. If you plan to add Threads to your channel mix then do this as an additional option for now. 

Whilst there are great gains that can be made from being first on the ground in a new social media app, we advise some caution before jumping in here. We don’t know whether the app's early popularity can really be sustained after the initial novelty and hype wears off. Since getting new social media channels approved in a healthcare organisation isn’t a quick or easy process, it may be best to wait and see how the platform evolves before diving in. It's still advisable to reserve your company / brand handle on Threads, so you can keep it just in case you want to launch here later.  A watch out here, you can deactivate your Threads account, but if you delete your Threads profile it will also delete your Instagram profile. There is likely a fix coming for this soon. 

You will also want to consider that this will be an additional social media channel to monitor for comments and adverse events. At this time, you cannot use external social media management tools to help with this. So this will be quite a manual task for your organisation or agency. 

There is currently no opportunity to run advertising on the platform, so you will need to be ready to invest in organic growth strategies which do take time and resource. With that being said, the organic potential of the app is at it's highest while the app is new. 

Resurface previously high performing posts. Look back at your Instagram and Twitter content to see what could be applicable for use on Threads. Then plan to post these over time on Threads. You will want to check with your compliance and medical teams whether these posts need to be reapproved for use on a new channel. These posts can't be scheduled so someone will need to manually post these on the channel. 

Follow the accounts you are already following on Instagram. This is a quick way to start building your presence on the channel. After this, you should start to strategically follow other relevant accounts. A good place to start is by identifying key accounts that you follow on Twitter and seeing if they are also on Threads.

Engage with content in the feed. This will help to grow awareness of your account. Be ready to share content from other accounts, or reply to posts from other accounts in your feed. All of this will help with your prominence in the feed.

Test and learn. As it's a new platform there isn't a best practice playbook. Have a strategy in place for what you think this channel can deliver for your business and the role in your marketing mix, then just get started and see what works and what doesn't for your business. To make the most of testing, keep a centralised record of key learns you gather throughout this process.