Improving experiences for key stakeholders can drive platform growth

Social platforms help us communicate with our people, share our stories and perspectives with the world, and learn about the products and services that help us live and enjoy our lives. These platforms, however, are finding themselves in a crowded industry, fighting restrictive growth factors and competing for the time and dollars of several important stakeholders: users, creators, and advertisers. Industry leaders are cemented, and newcomers are growing at exponential speeds while stakeholders’ needs continue to evolve. For leaders and newcomers alike, growth is key. While platforms have differing ways of measuring and reporting what growth means to them, the notion of daily active users (DAUs) is a metric used in some capacity by all.

Our platform growth equation:

DAU growth is not a simple task, but it can be broken down into a function composed of two variables: direct growth drivers and indirect growth drivers. Both of these levers impact DAU growth by aligning platform offerings with the expectations of each stakeholder group.

• Direct growth drivers impact the user—The decisions a platform makes that elevates the user’s experience, the content shown to the user that makes the platform feel more personalized, and the experiences provided that make the platform feel community-oriented. Users want to have personalized experiences and see tailored content while having the opportunity to share their own stories with others. Users seek platforms that enable them to feel a part of a group that shares their passions—whether that be with friends down the street (or across the world), strangers who have similar interests, or creators who live and breathe these passions.
• Indirect growth drivers impact creators and advertisers—The decisions a platform makes that elevates creator and advertiser experiences in clear, simple, and measurable ways. Creators and advertisers expect transparency and adequate information that provide them the ability to understand their own performance and how their content reaches users over time, leading to insights that should help grow their success on the platform.

Leading platforms are enabling direct and indirect growth drivers

Social platforms across the marketplace are demonstrating the power of direct and indirect growth drivers to facilitate platform growth. Leading platforms are delivering engaging experiences and streamlining stakeholder connections to bring new communities of users together and facilitate direct interactions between all stakeholder groups. Hulu launched Watch Party, enabling users to simultaneously view TV shows and movies with up to eight friends regardless of geography.¹ Spotify introduced Countdown Pages and Clips, which build user excitement around new artist releases and give users the opportunity to dive deeper into an artist’s catalog via exclusive in-app short-form videos.²

Leading social platforms are also developing a range of tools and processes to extend creator lifetime value and deliver seamless shopping experiences that ultimately drive user growth and engagement. Twitch built its Guest Star feature to incentivize live engagement, build creator communities, and shorten the distance between streamer and viewer.³ Reddit introduced a Simple Create option into Reddit Ads to streamline the campaign setup process for the advertiser into three easy steps.⁴ Through delivering immersive user experiences and empowering creators and advertisers, social platforms can deliver upon stakeholder expectations and drive platform growth.

Continuing on the path to social platform growth

In the pursuit of DAU growth, social platforms must ask crucial questions around how to leverage both direct and indirect growth drivers to meet stakeholder expectations:

• How can social platforms elevate the experience for users with innovative content and technology?
• How can platforms protect and foster genuine connection and trust between users and creators?
• How can platforms ensure advertisers that they have their interests and growth in mind?

In thinking through the answers to these and many other questions, platforms should prioritize addressing the main issues for these key stakeholder groups. Deloitte has developed detailed growth plays that directly and indirectly drive growth by elevating users’, creators’, and advertisers’ experience on platforms.

Be on the lookout for future articles detailing these plays and how they can help your platform achieve its growth ambitions.

Endnotes

¹ Hulu, “Hulu Watch Party,” September 22, 2022.
² Sarah Maloy, “Countdown Pages get fans hyped for your new albums,” Spotify, March 8, 2023.
³ Melody Day, “Everything you need to know about Twitch Guest Star,” Net Influencer, October 15, 2022.
⁴ Andrew Hutchinson, “Reddit launches ‘Simple Create’ streamlined ad creation process,” Social Media Today, March 23, 2023.