EXPERIENCE
THE REBIRTH OF SOCIAL COMMUNITIES WRIT TEN BY: ARNAUD VANHEMELRYCK,
GLOBAL SOCIAL DIRECTOR,
SOCIAL L AB
Approximately 10 years ago, social
As a result of the drastic changes in the
In this new Red Paper, we will explore
communities were considered the digital
social distribution algorithms, more and
what makes of an effective social
marketing Holy Grail. At that time, the
more social communities were progres-
community, why you should care, what
organic reach of social platforms was
sively ignored in favour of niche paid
you should learn from them, and, im-
still double-digit and it was uncommon
media targeting tactics, which ultimately
portantly the new business models of
that marketeers had to invest in paid
proved to perform better. This is mainly
community-focused platforms that are
media to reach their customers. If you
explained by the fact that many brands
emerging.
were a brand with an active community
were competing to attract customers
(read with a large chunk of followers), it
into their communities using tactics like
is likely that your page engagement and
Like Ads, easy contests or rewards, and,
interactions were extremely high.
as a result, unconsciously attracted a
Fast forward to 2021: organic reach is at its all-time low, page engagement hardly takes off despite smart content marketing plans, and media investment is becoming a no-brainer if you want to reach specific audience segments. Even
large number of ‘fans’ that had very little real connection with the brand. Paid media targeting offered the opportunity to reconquest quality customers and keep them engaged within the brand communications.
if you owned a large community in the
Social communities however still provide
2010s, today’s algorithms determining
added value to their members in a
organic reach prevents you addressing
crowded, mistrusted and sometimes
more than 1-5% of your followers (excep-
toxic social media environment. While
tion occurs).
communities may not be the answer to every short-term business objective, they can prove helpful in the long run and act as a useful addition to your digital marketing strategy.
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