The power of community and why retention means growth – Advi Bishnoi (Social Plus)

Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

Questions Advi answered in this episode:

• What is Social Plus, and how do its in-app social features work?
• Why is retention ‘the new acquisition’ in 2025?
• What mistakes do marketers make when they think about retention?
• How do community features increase CLV across verticals like fitness, travel, and retail?
• How can first-party data from in-app communities transform marketing and personalization?
• Who inside a company should ‘own’ retention marketing, product, or success?
• How can loyalty programs be built on organic engagement instead of just promos?
• What is the ‘spaces model’ for understanding community ROI?
• How should marketers balance personalization with scale across millions of users?
• What metrics should marketers stop obsessing over, and which deserve more focus?
• What new revenue opportunities do brand partners unlock inside communities?

Timestamps:

• (0:00) – Intro; Advi’s background and Social Plus overview
• (1:38) – Micro-community examples: surf shops, fitness apps, Nike sneakerheads
• (7:03) – Why ‘retention is growth’ in 2025: CAC vs CLV
• (9:30) – Marketing silos and the ownership problem in retention
• (13:40) – Why promos and events are less effective than organic engagement
• (17:21) – First-party data: insights, sentiment analysis, and privacy advantages
• (20:00) – Loyalty vs. hypergrowth: why CLV is a long-term play
• (22:37) – Signals of churn, and how to intervene before users leave
• (25:41) – Balancing personalization and scale with AI-driven sentiment and clusters
• (28:20) – Metrics that marketers overvalue (CAC, ad spend) versus those they undervalue (LTV, frequency, order size)
• (31:00) – Brand partnerships inside communities: CPM rethink and new revenue models
• (33:32) – Rapid fire: food in Thailand vs Italy, habits, dream jobs, favorite brands

Selected quotes:

• (12:50) – “Promos and gamified events help, but organic engagement helps more. People join a 30-day fitness challenge not for the discount, but because others are posting daily and they want to participate.”
• (21:22) – “Customer acquisition is measurable and fast, which is why VCs love it. Retention is a long-term play, it’s demand gen, brand equity, and profitability over three to five years.”
• (28:30) – “Marketers need to stop obsessing over CAC. In my world, it’s 30% CAC, 70% retention and lifetime value.”
• (32:23) – “For sponsored posts in-community, we’ve seen brands charge $15 to $60 CPMs, because the audience is hyper-focused and conversion rates are so much higher.”

Mentioned in this episode:

• Social Plus (social.plus)
• Advi on Linkedin