Threads by Instagram took the social media world by surprise after its launch on the 5th of July, 2023.
It already had 2 million downloads just a few hours after becoming available to anyone with an Instagram account. There were 70 million people on the platform two days after launch. It broke the record for the shortest amount of time for any app to reach 100 million users—it only took 5 days.
That beats ChatGPT’s previous record by almost 2 months.
Threads is a simple app at its core. Anyone who’s used Twitter before will have an easy time getting around after they log in.
And it poses a huge opportunity for attorneys who want to try something new with their social media marketing.
Attorneys who are willing to experiment with Threads will benefit from the app’s powerful organic reach potential. Here’s what lawyers need to know about marketing on Meta’s “Twitter Killer.”
Should Lawyers Jump on the Threads Bandwagon?
Yes. Right now is a great time for attorneys who use social media to try their hand at reaching their audience on Threads.
The goal for any new social media app is to get as many people as possible on the platform. New apps offer early adopters massive organic reach to keep people engaged and interested. The platform is hungry for content, and it needs posters to feel like they’re getting value by being seen and heard.
What you post on Threads during this early phase will get a lot of eyeballs, while Meta focuses on bringing in more people.
The organic reach of a platform has an impact on the engagement rate.
Social media apps, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, have all shown a decrease in reach and engagement over time. The only outlier to this trend right now is TikTok, which is still trying to get new people on board.
Taking a wait-and-see approach with Threads means you’ll miss out on taking this advantage. The algorithm will change over time. The number of unique people seeing each of your posts will decline as it becomes saturated with people and Meta turns on advertising.
Becoming an early adopter lets you grow your following on Threads now instead of fighting an uphill battle later.
Lawyers who use social media for their marketing should take advantage of the reach Threads offers now.
Lawyers on Twitter have the biggest advantage here. The posting format and tactics are similar, so posting on both platforms is easy. Lawyers on Instagram also have an advantage because of the integration between that platform and Threads.
<div class="callout callout-info"><p class="p_margin-small"><strong>One other huge point:</strong> some of the biggest names in the legal industry are still sleeping on Threads. The audience is there, but some attorneys haven’t made the jump yet. This is another opportunity for firms with a small presence on other platforms to take the lead.</p></div>
Getting Started with Threads
The only thing that you need to open a new Threads account is an existing Instagram profile.
Here’s how to get started:
- Download the app by searching for it in your phone’s app store or by following these links for iPhone or Android devices
- Log in with your Instagram account
- Choose whether you want to import your bio and link from your Instagram account
- Choose who you want to follow on Threads based on the accounts you follow on Instagram
Or you can follow along with this interactive guide:
And that’s it. You’re ready to explore the app and start posting.
Meta reserves the handle you use on Instagram for your Threads account, so you won’t have to worry about someone else claiming it.
One downside is that you can’t import your Instagram followers to Threads. The people who follow you over there will need to choose to follow you on the new app.
How Often Should You Post?
Post like you would on Twitter, but be ready to experiment when the algorithm changes.
Our recommended posting frequency on Twitter is 5 to 7 posts per day or 1 large thread. Trying the same thing on Threads makes sense because of the similarity between the 2 platforms.
But Threads is still new, and the algorithm may change as the Instagram team experiments with it.
That means you’ll need to roll with the punches. Threads isn’t likely to start limiting reach any time soon. But you will want to experiment with posting more or less every day as the platform matures.
Another thing is that you will need to do all of your posting manually for now.
Threads does not have a post scheduler yet. It also doesn’t have an open API, so there aren’t any 3rd party scheduling tools like there are for other platforms.
What Should Attorneys Post?
Attorneys should post engaging, entertaining, and educational content while throwing in mentions of what they do and who they help. The best way to reach your ideal clients is by focusing on creating the type of content that appeals to them while showcasing how you help.
This advice is true of any new social media application.
There are two different schools of thought when it comes to posting on social media:
- Going after mass appeal and adding occasional mentions of what you do and who you help
- Growing your following by marketing your category
The mass appeal method involves creating content that many people find interesting but isn’t always about the law or your practice area. You get attention and grow a following by putting out relatable content. Then you add in the occasional post about your practice.
Here’s an example from personal injury attorney Darryl Isaacs:
You can see an example on the left of Darryl posting about supporting the Humane Society. A lot of the social media content Isaacs & Isaacs posts are relatable things like this. They post about supporting the community, and Darryl talks about things like exercise and healthy eating.
On the right, you can see something that Isaacs & Isaacs don’t post as often as the broad appeal content. The firm will squeeze in legal tips every few posts. This helps remind their audience what Isaacs & Isaacs does and who they can help.
The broad content gets the eyeballs and the following. The legal content reinforces the firm’s identity as helpful attorneys.
Attorneys who do this can grow a huge audience, but there’s a cost. All of the other content will dilute your message as a law firm.
Marketing your category is the alternative to the mass appeal method. The goal here is to talk about what you do often enough that your name (or your firm’s name) is synonymous with the type of services you provide.
Here’s an example of this method from attorney Mike Rafi:
Talking about your services sounds simple, but there’s an art to it. Many attorneys try to market the category by framing it around themselves. They say things like “I fight for you” or “I do whatever it takes to win.
Marketing the category the right way involves making your content about the client.
They still see how much you care about winning even when you make them the hero of the story.
In the example above, Mike Rafi tells a story about a particular case. The way he tells the story is interesting to the average person. And it also showcases his real-life experience in the law, all without resorting to an appeal to his own authority.
Mike’s social media accounts are full of him telling stories about his cases. His content is educational and engaging for regular people. He’s associated himself with personal injury as a category.
This ensures that if one of his followers gets hurt, he’s the first person they think of.
The risk of marketing the category is the opposite of the mass appeal method. You will become strongly associated with your field of law, but you will have a smaller audience.
If you want to learn more about marketing your category, check out the book Snow Leopard by Category Pirates. It’s full of advice for growing your following and becoming associated with your services.
We recommend combining these 2 approaches in Threads since it offers people such high organic reach rates. You can grow a following fast by creating content with mass appeal and spicing it up with occasional mentions of your work. You can choose to switch over to just marketing the category at any time.
There are 3 tips to keep in mind no matter what route you choose to go with Threads:
- Create the content you care about
- Repurpose your best-performing content
- Don’t sweat the small stuff
Create Content You Care About
People can smell inauthenticity from a mile away.
If you create content that you enjoy, people will take it seriously. They will sense it if you create content just because you feel like you need to.
Find something that you care about—like the outdoors, sports, health— and find a way to weave it into your posts. You’ll reach more people by being a real person than you will by being just another lawyer.
Repurpose Your Best-Performing Content
Some of your content that worked well on other platforms will perform well on Threads.
Don’t be afraid to repost or reformat your older posts for Threads. You already know that it resonated with people. Now you can use that same message to reach a new audience.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Posting on social media is stressful. You’re putting your thoughts and ideas out into the world for everyone to see. It’s easy to get lost in analysis paralysis over the wording of each post.
But the truth is people have short attention spans.
You should try to make every post valuable to your audience. But if one post isn’t a hit, that’s okay. There’s always another idea you can try.
Does Threads Have a Permanent Place in Law Firm Marketing?
Threads will have staying power as a marketing tool for your law firm if your audience adopts it.
The best places to market yourself online are the ones where your audience likes to hang out. You should be on Threads if the people you want as clients migrate to it.
Threads has all the signs of an app that will be around for a while.
Meta controls some of the most popular social media platforms today. They know what their doing with an app like Threads. It also broke the record for the fastest download rate of any platform in history.
And its biggest rival, Twitter, is at its most controversial since being bought by Elon Musk.
Threads isn’t a Twitter killer. But it does offer people the Twitter experience without the decisions that some people are not happy with. Parts of your audience may decide to move to Threads to get a similar experience on a platform they like more.
Another way Threads will cement itself as a tool for attorney marketing is when Meta decides to turn on ads.
Facebook and Instagram ads use the same ad platform. There’s no reason to believe Threads will not be a part of that, too. Meta’s advertising platform is exceptional at helping law firms reach their ideal clients with targeted ads.
There aren’t ads on the platform right now. But when they’re available, you’ll be able to control paid ads for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads from one place. That means you can coordinate paid ads across 3 different platforms alongside your organic posting efforts.
Following the Thread: Is This New Social App Right for Your Law Firm?
The new Threads app from Meta is a big opportunity for many lawyers looking to market themselves online.
Now is a great time to get in on the ground floor and take advantage of the organic reach that a new platform can offer. Lawyers have the chance to build out a large audience and spread their firm’s message.
Getting started with the platform is easy—especially if your firm already uses Instagram or Twitter. Lawyers don’t have anything to lose by trying out this platform. Early adopters will win a big following if their audiences end up adopting Threads as a favorite online hangout.
If you’re interested in growing your law firm’s online presence through social media marketing, we have put together plenty of resources for you.
Check out our Personal Injury Mastermind podcast episode on Threads for more ideas about using the app. Many of the tactics that work on Twitter apply to Threads, so we recommend checking out this guide to law firm marketing on Twitter. And if you’re interested in social media but haven’t made the leap yet, try our crash course on social media for lawyers.
