Bluesky dropped its invite-only approach in 2024, paving the way for brands and businesses to add the network to their marketing mix. With more companies experimenting with the Twitter-like competitor, we’re gaining more visibility into what works with Bluesky marketing and why it’s a platform you should use.
What started as a niche community has exploded into a powerful contender for social media marketing. Accounts on Bluesky have skyrocketed to over 33.8 million users, with more than half of its users in the United States.
Brands can tap into the growing interest in Bluesky and get in front of their target audience in a whole new way. Let’s dive into several effective marketing strategies that will help you grow your presence and build strong connections.
Contents:
Understanding Bluesky’s Important Features
Building and Engaging Your Community
Creating Effective Content for Bluesky
Leveraging Bluesky’s Features for Marketing
Measuring Success for Bluesky
Case Studies and Success Stories
Building Your Bluesky Strategy with Meltwater
Understanding Bluesky’s Important Features
Users liken Bluesky to Twitter/X. It thrives on rapid-fire quips and a similar interface. It’s intuitive by design, and since it feels familiar to Twitter users, brands can easily ramp up their posting and start using the platform right away.
But the platform isn’t a carbon copy of the OG microblogging platform. A few key features differentiate it from Twitter/X.
Post labels
Accounts can include their own labels and content warnings to help users avoid content they don’t want to see. For example, you might label a post with a sports team name or flag it as adult content. It’s a different take on the hashtag and may help you avoid offending users (while retaining them as loyal fans).
Reply controls
Users can choose who can reply to their posts, helping to moderate content and maintain respectful engagement. You can choose to allow everyone, only followers, or no one to comment on posts.
Starter packs
New to Bluesky? You can use a “starter pack” to quickly find lots of users with shared interests. Think of it as a curated collection of users with a common thread, and you can follow them all (or block them) with a single click. For brands, being part of a starter pack can help you quickly gain lots of new followers.
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Domains as user names
For an extra layer of branding, you can set your website domain as your Bluesky user name. This makes it easier for your audience to find you off the platform.
Customizable feeds
One of the biggest ways Bluesky is different from Twitter is its decentralized nature. This gives users more control over their experiences, including the types of content they see.
Users can sort their feeds and threads by most recent or most popular content, join other custom feeds, and hide posts they don’t want to see again. They can also set up notifications, such as alerts when they get new likes, shares, or followers.
Multimedia experiences
Bluesky includes an in-app music and video player. You can import content from Spotify or YouTube to support your Bluesky content and play it directly in the app.
“Likes” history
Users can navigate to the “Likes” tab to see all of the content they’ve liked. This makes it easier to find content they’ve engaged with and go back to it when the mood strikes.
User-driven content moderation
Being a decentralized platform, users gain more control over their experiences on Bluesky. This includes being able to moderate content themselves, such as hiding unwanted content, muting other accounts or content, or flagging content for review.
Building and Engaging Your Community
Starting from scratch on social media feels daunting. You have no audience (yet), which means your posts likely won’t gain much traction in the beginning.
Your objective is to create and engage a community, not just accumulate followers. Here, users value transparency, connection, and conversation. Algorithms take a backseat to user-driven control.
These strategies can help you build up a Bluesky presence that will sustain you for the long term.
Leverage hashtags to appear in users’ custom feeds
Hashtags are a common feature on social media channels, including Bluesky. They make content “searchable” so that users interested in a particular theme or topic can easily find more of the same.
Including hashtags in your content will allow your posts to show up in users’ feeds who are interested in those same hashtags. You can charge up your organic growth and have your content seen by relevant users.
Engage through DMs and comments
Consistent engagement on Bluesky is essential to building authenticity and maintaining connections. Make it a point to respond to comments and direct messages to show your audience you’re listening and welcome their feedback.
Collaborate with influencers and key opinion leaders
Working with influencers and established Bluesky accounts may help you gain quick visibility and start growing your following. Tools like Meltwater can help you identify and vet Bluesky influencers based on share of voice, content topics and types, and engagement rates.
Creating Effective Content for Bluesky
Content anchors every Bluesky social media strategy. It gives users a direct path to your brand by offering something to discover and engage with.
Creating effective content for Bluesky can take some fine-tuning. Use these tips to jumpstart your content calendar and find what works for you.
Explore the full range of Bluesky content types
Bluesky’s platform gives you multiple ways to create and share content within the platform:
- Text (300-character limit)
- GIFs
- Images
- Videos
- Content from Spotify and YouTube
Bluesky does not currently support:
- Polls
- Live streams
- Stories
- Image carousels
A new platform means new opportunities to experiment with content and see what your followers want and respond to. Even if you haven’t had much luck with certain formats in the past, Bluesky is wild west territory that’s worth exploring to all corners.
Create content that promotes conversation and engagement
Bluesky isn’t inundated with advertisements, promos, and shameless plugs. That’s a big part of its charm, and it’s something that users value.
This takes a different turn from traditional social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, which are heavily driven by ads and product discovery. To win on Bluesky, your content should inspire others. Create discussions, not sales pitches.
Focus on niche-specific content
Broad targeting is a no-go on Bluesky. Authentic connections are key, which means you need to know who you’re creating content for and ensure it speaks directly to them.
Add hashtags or tag relevant accounts or influencers to help expand your reach to the right people. Staying in your niche lane will contribute to an authentic image and help you become a go-to for your chosen topics.
Leveraging Bluesky’s Features for Marketing
Traditional social media management has a pretty straightforward process: Establish a profile, grow your audience, start running paid ads, and post content.
Bluesky has a different code to crack.
There’s no clear way to monetize your brand on Bluesky (yet). But the platform’s growing audience and reputation as a place for conversation make it a worthwhile marketing channel.
Here’s how you start marketing your business on Bluesky without ads.
Set up your custom Bluesky handle
You’ll want to claim your brand’s name as soon as you think you might use Bluesky, even if you’re not ready to go all in. This prevents others from claiming your brand handle before you do.
Choose a name that’s consistent with your brand identity. You can use your website domain name as your Bluesky handle, which helps users find you outside of the Bluesky platform.
Optimize your profile with branding and verification
As with other social media profiles, you want your Bluesky profile to be easily recognizable.
Once you set up your profile, start optimizing it with your brand’s imagery, colors, taglines, and other content. Add a clear description of your brand and what you do. Include a profile image, such as a branded logo, and your contact information.
Treat your profile as an extension of your brand so people can associate your content with your company.
Start posting conversational content
Content is at the center of your Bluesky marketing strategy. Your goal shouldn’t be to post content, but rather find out what topics your audience is talking about and how you can add to the conversation.
Post content that will encourage your audience to interact with you. This can take many forms, including:
- News-related stories
- A call for opinions
- Infographics and other helpful information
- Questions
- User-generated content
- Contests
- Anything that sparks a discussion
Engagement is key to winning on Bluesky. The more you can pull your audience in, the more you’ll be seen as a leading voice in your niche.
Measuring Success for Bluesky
The number of followers you gain on Bluesky isn’t the only indicator of success. This platform is still fairly new, and while a new user joins every second, it may take some time before they venture your way.
Instead of focusing only on size, you can measure your success on Bluesky by tracking these metrics:
- Number of replies and comments
- Mentions
- Shares
- DMs
- Qualitative feedback from your community
- Follower growth
- Posting consistency
Bluesky has several free and paid metrics integrations so you can check your stats and see how you’re making progress.
You can also use social media management tools like Meltwater that track metrics on your behalf. Meltwater can use these insights to help you optimize and schedule posts based on engagement rates.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Brands and businesses are finding ways to build brand awareness and connect with their audience on Bluesky. Use their experiences to inspire your own.
American Eagle
Fashion brand American Eagle might not have a huge following on Bluesky (92+ followers) like they do on Instagram (4 million followers). But the brand is using this to its advantage by experimenting with different content types and tones.
Take its feed during the Grammys, for example:
This stream of consciousness is reminiscent of what Twitter/X used to be. It captures micro moments in real time centered around topics people are already talking about. And while engagement might be low, testing what works and what doesn’t remains low risk.
TechCrunch
Technology news powerhouse TechCrunch is taking full advantage of Bluesky’s features, including its Starter Pack to help the brand generate more followers.
A user in the company created the TechCrunch Starter Pack, which lists several TechCrunch reporters, editors, and other staff members that users can follow with a single click. This allows users to tap into a niche of interest, plus it gives the brands potential sources for news tips or stories.
Building Your Bluesky Strategy with Meltwater
Getting started with any new social media platform can feel like a shot in the dark. But Bluesky’s explosive and ongoing growth, decentralized nature, customization features, and ad-free approach provide enough light to pull the trigger.
Meltwater empowers you with social listening insights that will shape your content strategy. Discover the top influencers on Bluesky, learn what people are talking about, and figure out the best content types and times that reach your audience. Because it’s powered by AI, you can let data do the heavy lifting and start growing an engaging presence on Bluesky.
Request a demo below to see how Meltwater's social intelligence suite can power your Bluesky marketing strategy.
