The Era of NFTs has Arrived – Embrace it. Despite misconceptions of being expensive JPEGs, NFTs represent a new technological infrastructure for the future of the internet. They offer valuable market insights while preserving privacy, foster communities, and provide the necessary data architecture to build the Web3 vision.
Companies with a futuristic vision are rapidly integrating NFTs into their technology systems. From the NBA to Coachella, NFT integrations by various brands are being observed. Some applications bring exciting opportunities for membership-based economies, while others fail to deliver the Web3 promise. As a professional working on NFT solutions, I suggest three ways for companies to genuinely integrate NFTs and move towards a community-focused future.
Membership is the Key Starting Point
Building a Community Through Memberships – Step One. Offer memberships and establish a community by issuing NFT membership tokens to loyal subscribers to provide access to exclusive content. Consider issuing NFTs to early supporters and enthusiasts, like the first 100 customers when launching a new product.
These memberships provide an avenue for your company to offer the most interested and enthusiastic parts of your audience early access to products, news, content, special features or anything else. Further, by identifying the inner circle of your users, you can gain important insights and feedback into what matters most to them.
Insider Memberships Strengthen User Loyalty and Advocacy. Insider memberships provide a means for companies to maintain and enhance user engagement and brand ambassadorships. By granting access to a peer-to-peer community space, using NFTs for memberships, companies can strengthen bonds with their most invested community and shape their business with user feedback. This transforms a business into a community-driven entity.
Provide Early or Exclusive Access to NFT Holders
NFT-based Memberships Open Up Opportunities – Grant Early or Exclusive Access. Implementing an NFT-based membership opens up a range of possibilities, such as granting early or exclusive access. Brands like Nike, for example, can offer subscription NFTs that provide members with early access to new sneaker releases. Members who purchase a specific shoe may even have the opportunity to participate in a meet-and-greet or ask-me-anything session with the designer.
Flexible and Platform-Agnostic NFTs Enable Seamless In-Person Experiences. The versatility of NFTs extends beyond online events, as they serve as platform-agnostic infrastructure that can facilitate smooth in-person community gatherings. The same NFT used to grant access to an exclusive AMA video call with a designer could also be used as a ticket for an in-person tour of the design lab.
Empower Members with a Voice
NFTs Empower Members with a Decision-Making Role. Companies can leverage NFTs to give members a voice in company decisions. For example, after granting early or exclusive access, Nike could offer members who have participated in multiple drops, as indicated by their NFTs, the opportunity to vote on potential designs in development. This strengthens engagement with a core community, offering members more access and influence while driving excitement and sales for the company.
Acknowledge Community Leaders
Grant Members Increasing Influence. Another way to deepen NFT integration is by granting members increasing influence on project direction. For example, the Nike membership NFT could keep track of members’ participation in drops and votes on styles, and members who meet specific involvement criteria could be granted access to discussions with product and design teams, strategy sessions, and more. This strengthens the alignment between the community and the company and acknowledges the contributions of key community members.
Another way for Nike to integrate NFTs is to provide various ways for members to increase their involvement with the company, based on their individual interests. For example, some members might enjoy having a say in design choices, while others might want to act as brand ambassadors. Regardless of their preference, active community members can be recognized and rewarded through the NFT they hold. The options are endless, and the NFT serves as the key to unlocking these opportunities.
Creating connections within various communities.
As NFT-based memberships become more common, companies have the opportunity to build engagement across communities through partnerships. This could include offering special promotions for NFT holders from other companies whose communities have similar interests. This type of community integration is more personal and less intrusive to users’ data compared to traditional customer acquisition methods and holds great potential.
The adoption of NFT-based membership models has the potential to be game-changing. While some businesses may adopt this approach gradually, others may opt for a fully decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) model where the community holds ownership and control. The versatility of NFT-based memberships allows companies to explore the extent of community involvement in their business and make modifications as necessary.
In my opinion, the personal touch has diminished greatly in many industries as trust in corporations has declined significantly in our society. NFT-based memberships provide a powerful solution to make companies more community-focused and change this trend. I view NFTs as a way to empower companies to achieve both economic growth and social responsibility, and I am excited to be contributing to the creation of this future.
-Julien Genestoux, Founder and CEO of Unlock Protocol
I’d like to find out more? I’d love to find out more details.
It’s really a great and helpful piece of info. I’m satisfied that
you simply shared this helpful info with us.
Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.