Converse signed up to Threads within the first 12 hours of its launch. The brief for appearing on Threads was a quick text exchange between the company’s CMO Sejal Shah Miller and her social media team: Keep it organic and playful, and maintain the Converse-vibe.

Despite its 1 million Twitter followers, the brand stopped posting on the platform in October last year. Yet already the footwear brand boasts half a million followers on Threads, which continues to grow but is comparatively less than its 10.8 million followers on Instagram.  

Despite receiving a record breaking number of sign ups in its week of launch, Threads lost its top ranking in the Top Overall charts on Google Play last Thursday and on Apple’s App Store earlier this week (it’s still number one in the Social Networking category on iOS), according to app intelligence provider Appfigures. Regardless of this stuttering growth, brands like Converse still manage to maintain uphill engagement on the app. 

Converse is testing Threads to hone in on cultural moments and closely monitor user interaction. However, unlike its presence on other platforms like Instagram, the brand is not actively seeking to directly link these efforts back to sales. To that, the brand’s social media team of six works closely to shape the brand’s voice on this platform.

Converse’s social media strategy lies in each platform playing a role in effectively interacting with its audiences in different ways. The shoe brand isn’t using Threads as a space to talk about product launches or run campaigns. Instead, the social media team convenes to discuss cultural moments and approach the platform with a conversational and humorous brand voice, which it attributes to increasing audience interaction on Threads.

For example, playing on its customizable feature, Converse By You, the brand invited its Threads followers to interact in its shoe-making process, choosing the laces, logo patch, threads and soles to co-create a Converse shoe.

The idea is to drive brand audience interaction and provide its followers with an opportunity to comment and share photos, which the brand considers a success metric. To that, Converse cross-pollinates what resonates on Threads, like the shoe co-creation, across more established platforms such as TikTok, where it has nearly 832,000 followers.

The brand doesn’t have a daily post limit. However, the cadence of posting varies on what’s trending on Threads and whether it’s participating resonates with the brand voice. In the audience shoe co-creation moment, the brand posted 19 Threads. The brand values customer engagement over followers and like count. 

Although driving sales via Threads is not on Converse’s immediate plan, new shopping and e-commerce features on the platform alongside performance tools will let the brand establish its sales strategy and spend on the platform.