The 5th Place: Extracting Value from Social Communities

Nearly a year ago, Marshall Manson, Managing Director of Social@Ogilvy EAME, published the article Facebook Zero: Considering Life After the Demise of Organic Reach.  More recently, Marshall and James Whatley, Social Media Director at Ogilvy & Mather UK, released their 2015 social media trend predictions, one being the demise of organic reach on Twitter.

The downtrend of organic reach on key social media platforms has raised many questions for brands and advertisers alike:  What role should social media play in our communications strategy going forward? How do we most effectively maintain engagement with our audiences? How do we extract value from the communities we’ve built?

First, social media should not only be seen as a promotional channel or generic news feed. The focus, rather, should be on building genuine two-way relationships of trust and developing loyal brand advocates. For a better understanding what drives brand advocacy, refer to our Global Brand Advocacy Study.

Secondly, it’s essential to create a space that delivers a value exchange, rewarding consumers for giving data to the brand. This space is known as the 5th place, an environment that leverages both open and closed graph data rich in customer insights and drives personalized engagement into greater purchase, loyalty, and advocacy.

The 5th place combines the best practices of CRM with the collaborative possibilities of social media, giving us Social CRM. The following provides a deeper look at the 5th place and the future strategy for brands in a world with minimal organic reach.