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As the digital landscape shifts dramatically, entrepreneurs need to understand that emerging platforms like Bluesky represent a new paradigm — one where authenticity trumps algorithms and community engagement outweighs content volume. With over 34.71 million users and 930% worldwide growth last year, this decentralized network offers fresh opportunities for brands willing to adapt their approach.
Adobe learned this lesson the hard way when their standard social media playbook backfired spectacularly on Bluesky. Their corporate introduction garnered just 37 likes against 1,200 mostly negative comments criticizing their policies, leading them to delete both post and account. This cautionary tale highlights why business owners can’t simply transfer their existing strategies to these new platforms, but with the right approach, you can avoid Adobe’s fate and capitalize on this growing audience.
Why are decentralized platforms like Bluesky gaining popularity?
The appeal of decentralized platforms like Bluesky Social or Mastodon is twofold. They are not governed by a centralized algorithm (Bluesky runs on the open AT protocol) to farm attention and engagement. And they are designed for user control over data and account portability. If a billionaire gets their hands on Bluesky, they only get one client of the network. If the company goes belly up, users can set up a new client or migrate to another host.
For those disenchanted with social media and a growing resentment against being boxed in by hyper-focused algorithms, Bluesky and similar new products is a fresh breath of air from highly processed social feeds saturated with AI and influencer content laden with ads. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is rumored to start its own social network as well.
Related: Over a Million People Have Recently Joined Bluesky, the Ad-Free X Alternative and Threads Competitor
Is it hard for brands to get started on apps like Bluesky?
What’s great for users isn’t necessarily the best for brands. Moreover, many brands are intimidated by having to start over from scratch. Without ads, leads, limited analytics and Bluesky’s emphasis on people-to-people communication and organic community-building, it can feel daunting to go from thousands of viewers to double digits on organic posts. Leveling your brand on Bluesky requires a fresh strategy.
Strategy 1. Transparency and community engagement
When the world seems to turn on its head every few days, the stack of corporate dos and don’ts can be incredibly cliché. Brands need a way to respond within the flux. And the best way to do that is to open up the floor for two-way communication. Talk with your customers, not at them.
Part of Bluesky’s meteoric rise is down to its decentralized nature. It’s a natural pull for users trying to get away from algorithm-driven content towards authenticity. When everything else feels fake or derived, transparency can be a superpower.
Leverage authenticity with friendly, open communication. Respond to questions and concerns in real time to foster trust. Be upfront about sponsorships, partnerships and sources. Build your content strategy around nurturing the community. You want to have a lion’s share of organic conversations supplemented by brand content.
Strategy 2: Allow choice for users, build custom feeds
Let your users decide how they wish to engage with you. Brands with a lot of products or services on offer can often suffer from a lack of product-centric specificity in their messaging — too many separate offerings or everything under one umbrella. Unlike monolithic social feeds, Bluesky allows for custom algorithmic feeds. This means your customers can curate what they want to see.
You could also niche down further and build your own curated feed for specific audience segments. If your content clicks, the organic reach gains momentum as followers share your content on other relevant feeds. This allows for more targeted messaging and longer shelf life for content with increased relevance and engagement.
Related: How to Make Social Media Marketing Effective for Your Brand
Strategy 3: Own your brand narrative
Bluesky reduces the primacy of the centralized algorithm in user feeds. Without a profit-motivated broker in between, brands have a larger stake in owning the relationship with its customers. You control how you choose to be seen and own the brand narrative.
Getting out of the gilded algorithmic cage means full visibility for each piece of content. But this also means that each piece must be of high quality. Fact-checked, high-value content with original insights is a requirement to stand out from the competition. Leveraging trusted faces and thought leaders in related fields/organizations to share your content or brand story is one way of instilling trust.
Start with a custom domain that your customers can easily recognize. Spend some time finding the exact industry-specific hashtags and keywords that will improve the discoverability of your content. Implement third-party tools to track mentions, likes, shares and comments. Keep a close eye on the tone of interactions and reiterate and pivot faster for better engagement. Even with a small following, you can use Bluesky as a sounding board to test content or do some fun like Wendy’s, or stream of consciousness posting like American Eagle.
Strategy 4: Experiment with thought leadership instead of ads
Paid promotions/ads don’t work on Bluesky yet. Instead, brands get an opportunity to build credibility with deep dives, research-backed insights and insider tracks on industry innovations and trends. With subscriptions and monetization on the way, this presents a whole new option for revenue generation through marketing as well.
You could also decide to host exclusive discussions between leaders, team members and key industry personnel on Bluesky to position your brand’s edge in thought leadership. Unique collaborations, valuable insights and meaningful engagement can serve as a true differentiator for your brand.
Strategy 5: Build your brand’s decentralized identity for a legacy of trust
Decentralized platforms are still very new. But they allow untapped potential for experimentation and growth, especially since they are free. Claim your custom domain, use self-hosted verification for authentication and most importantly, cross-promote your Bluesky and Mastodon identities on other platforms to ensure uniformity and credibility.
Individual accounts fare better on Bluesky. Brands like DC have found success just by building the profiles of their spokespersons/employees like James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios, with 262k followers.
Getting a head start on building your brand presence early on may help differentiate your brand as the networks gain momentum. It wouldn’t hurt to get a few media mentions as the brand with a strategic edge on a cool new platform.
Related: Why Gen Z is Ditching Old Online Platforms for More Control
Conclusion
Users are disengaging from traditional social channels. Platforms like Meta and X have grown increasingly less reliable as a traffic source for news publications, capitalizing on polarized user-generated content. Bluesky, on the other hand, is very open to working with publishers and news organizations, allows links and drives more traffic. Bluesky doesn’t de-rank links to other services and considers sports a top priority, driving traffic to broadcasters and teams.
Related: X Is Losing Users and Struggling to Attract Creators, According to New Data
Reach, impressions and likes aren’t going away anytime soon. But the next iteration of socials will be about building genuine trust with users. When uncertainties are on the rise, trust is the only currency worth spending. Entrepreneurs who are radical enough to lead with transparency, community engagement and strategic leverage of decentralized platforms will stay ahead of the game.
