Threads has experienced phenomenal growth since its launch, boasting over 175 million monthly active users as of July 2024. As a marketer, you want to be where your potential customers are, and this rapid adoption underscores the platform’s potential for brands. 

By combining the authenticity of UGC with Threads’ expansive reach, brands can foster deeper connections with their audience and drive meaningful engagement.

With TINT’s integration of Threads to its Community Powered Marketing platform, brands can now:

Mobilize advocates to share on Threads: Encourage passionate consumers on Threads to share their authentic experiences and content with your brand.

• Build a loyal community: Invite your most passionate customers to join an online brand community hub where they can participate in personalized activities like surveys, discussions, and contests.
• Identify key influential advocates: Use TINT’s audience segmentation powered by advanced zero party data collection to pinpoint connected Threads users and encourage them to share their experiences.
• Reward and recognize: Motivate advocates with points, badges, and exclusive rewards to foster deeper loyalty.

Streamline Threads content publishing: Plan, schedule, and publish engaging UGC to your brand’s Threads profile using TINT’s Social Publishing tools.

• Centralized content management: Easily connect your Threads account to TINT’s Social Publishing tool for efficient content planning and scheduling.
• Leverage existing UGC: Use TINT’s powerful UGC Studio to access, edit, and repurpose your owned content and rights-approved UGC from other platforms to optimize content for Threads.

By combining these powerful features, TINT helps brands unlock the full potential of Threads, driving brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty through authentic user-generated content.

Are you ready to elevate your Threads strategy? Let TINT be your partner in success – Request a demo

The post TINT + Threads Integration Unlocks the Power of UGC on Growing Platform appeared first on TINT.

Securing a Pipeline of Fresh Reviews for Brands

Within the dynamic arena of Ratings & Reviews, brands encounter a pressing dilemma: not merely securing reviews, but securing a continuous influx of up-to-date, high-caliber reviews on product display pages. TINT found that 63% of marketers wrestle with maintaining a pipeline of fresh reviews.

Traditional Ratings & Reviews strategies often suffer from a “leaky bucket” syndrome, where brands struggle to sustain a consistent stream of up-to-date reviews. 

What’s most concerning is that the leaky bucket approach of traditional Ratings & Reviews fails to capitalize on strengthening a brand’s relationship with the actual product reviewers, thereby missing out on unlocking significant long-term value.

TINT’s new Ratings & Reviews solution is an end-to-end solution for brands who seek full-suite review collection and display, but also look to elevate their connections with product reviewers – delivering a direct, emotional, and engaging community experience within the workflow of their Ratings & Reviews strategy. 

The Switch to TINT 

Jewelry Television (JTV), one of the largest jewelry retailers in the US, was among the first brands to implement TINT’s new Ratings & Reviews solution. Their website, JTV.com, powers the country’s largest non-bridal jewelry e-commerce platform.

Previously, JTV relied on another reviews provider but decided to switch to TINT for a more efficient and responsive solution. This strategic move involved migrating over a million reviews seamlessly to TINT, enhancing their ability to leverage customer feedback effectively.

Todd Trivette, VP of Technology at JTV, says “I’m very excited to recommend TINT’s new Ratings & Reviews solution! We switched to TINT from another provider and have been delighted by their expertise in both the design and technical implementation of our solution, including the migration of over a million reviews. They continue to be ultra responsive to questions and have demonstrated the ability to quickly react to issues with robust solutions that meet our needs. TINT has proven to be a valuable partner in providing both innovative solutions and best-in-class customer service to ensure that our review platform is the best it can be.”

What Makes TINT’s Ratings & Reviews Solution Powerful? 

Full-suite Ratings & Reviews Module: Collect, display, and fuel ongoing authentic reviews with customizable reviews forms, easy moderation tools, and enhanced zero-party data capture. 

Beyond-the-Review Engagement: Cultivate ongoing relationships with product reviewers through a brand-owned community experience within the review process.

New Product Launch Review Accelerator: Jumpstart reviews prior to product launches by mobilizing targeted brand advocates for genuine reviews and UGC accumulation.

This modern and more connected approach helps brands not only cultivate a community of loyal advocates as a fuel source for ongoing reviews in the future, but also increases customer retention and expansion with personalized engagement and community connection, all as a sustainable owned resource in a brand’s ecommerce toolkit. 

Check out the full press release. Ready to get started? Get a demo today

The post Introducing TINT Ratings & Reviews appeared first on TINT.

The Power of Brand Communities 

TINT helps you build your online community beyond just social media pages with a vibrant brand-owned hub for your most passionate supporters. These communities cultivate ongoing engagement, fuel customer acquisition and advocacy, and foster deep emotional loyalty.

Most notably, communities house a rich trove of zero and first-party data –  direct insights from your most engaged consumers. This data plays a critical role in today’s marketing landscape, where building strong customer relationships hinges on personalization and a deep understanding of your audience.

In today’s data-driven marketing landscape, understanding your audience is crucial for building strong relationships. This is where community data becomes a game-changer. It provides you with the information you need to personalize marketing efforts and deliver experiences that resonate with your customers.

Using Community for Richer Data Sets

Consumers are increasingly wary of sharing their data. They expect transparency and value in return. This is where brand communities excel. Unlike traditional engagement channels, communities create a trusted space for information exchange. In our State of Community Powered Marketing report, 93% of consumers reported feeling comfortable sharing data when they understand how it’s used.

The TINT and Epsilon PeopleCloud integration bridges the gap between your community and your marketing platforms and CDP. This allows you to:

• Deliver essential brand-owned data from your community and streamlined data management
• Engage your community into your overall personalization & marketing funnel
  
• Connect mapped fields of your community members to PeopleCloud for integrated marketing efforts
• Enhance your unified view of consumers and stay current of every life stage change

By integrating TINT and Epsilon PeopleCloud, you can further maximize the potential of your online community and efficiency across your marketing tech stack. This powerful combination fosters stronger consumer relationships through data-driven personalization and a unified experience across your entire marketing funnel.

Get Started Today

The post Connect Your Community Data with Epsilon PeopleCloud appeared first on TINT.

Recommendations from friends and family remain the most impactful form of brand endorsements, and their influence has only increased in the past ten years. In a new wave to its Social Recommendations Index, TINT, the leader in Community Powered Marketing, uncovered new insights in online brand advocacy tracked from 2013-2023.

Ninety-six percent of consumers say friends and family are the most trusted source for product recommendations, up from 86% in 2013. The impact of content creators has also increased to 62%, up from 39% in 2013 who were influenced by “bloggers” at the time.

The study found a recommendation from a friend who tried a product for free was still considered impactful and credible. However, the data indicated that trust in incentivized reviews by content creators has decreased. In 2023, 65% of consumers say they trust content creators who have received a free product to review, down from 76% in 2013 – reflecting a growing weariness of sponsored creator content.

“For brands looking to achieve authentic word-of-mouth online, the bread and butter will still be friends sharing with people they know,” says Sameer Kamat, CEO of TINT. “Consumers have only become more discerning about product recommendations with economic uncertainty on the horizon, and mobilizing and scaling everyday advocacy and reviews from real people is paramount to cut through the clutter and drive real conversion.”

Other findings from the survey include:

• 76% consider online communities influential in product recommendations
• Trust in product reviews shared on retail websites has increased 25% in the past ten years, from 63% in 2013 to 88% in 2023
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• Baby/Child is one of the top categories where reviews/recommendations are most influential
  .
• 96% of consumers say they conduct research after they discover a new product for the first time
  .

Methodology:
Research was conducted via an online survey issued to the peer influencer community, Smiley360, by 4,045 U.S. respondents between December 14, 2022 – February 28, 2023.

Need to boost your word-of-mouth advocacy, Ratings & Reviews and user-generated content? TINT’s Community Powered Marketing platform makes it easy to harness your community of fans and consumers to share their brand love with friends and family.

Schedule a demo today.

The post [STUDY] Word-of-Mouth Greater Impact on Purchase Decisions appeared first on TINT.

Community Growth Tool Kit – Drive community signups on any digital channel 

TINT Communities, bolstered by our acquisition of Vesta last year, empowers brands to effortlessly create vibrant branded online community hubs for building lasting relationships with brand advocates and creating an always-on fuel source for UGC and social advocacy.

With robust personalized engagement tools, you can:

• Increase customer lifetime value and retention with dozens of digital engagements
• Activate advocates to try, share, review, and refer your brand
• Gain always-on access for co-creation, crowdsource ideas, and glean audience insights

According to TINT’s State of Community Powered Marketing, 69% of marketers plan to invest in community-building strategies in the next two years, emphasizing its critical role in retention. It’s a true competitive advantage.

Recently we launched embeddable community signup forms and community opt-in checkboxes to drive signups across any of your digital channels.

With these new capabilities you can: 

• Launched embeddable signup forms for instant community account creation  
• Create forms on sweepstakes, landing pages, and your website with community opt-in checkboxes 
• Offer a personalized hub of digital offers, discussions, and rewards

Explore six more ways to grow your community with TINT.

Enhancements to customizable forms for zero-party data collection

Zero-party data is essential for brands to collect in order to deliver personalized engagement and foster long-term relationships with consumers. TINT recently introduced its zero-party data form builder, where brands can create no-code customizable forms and embed them on any digital property.

You can now create, launch, and collect important zero party data, with a dozen data collection elements to choose from.

We’ve recently rolled out new data collection options, such as:

• Allowing consumers to use a thumbs-up and smiley scale
• Select from multiple choices or single-choice options 
• Select specific dates from a date picker 

Here are some additional strategies for leveraging zero-party data to benefit your brand.

Accessibility updates – making communities more inclusive 

At TINT, we’re committed to making our communities more inclusive and aim to ensure that all consumers can engage with your brand community seamlessly, regardless of their abilities.

These enhancements encompass features like keyboard navigation, image alt text, clearer links, and improved color contrast.

Add shoppable UGC galleries in your community to inspire product discovery 

Grow your share of wallet and fuel new product discovery with Shoppable UGC galleries, now available in your brand community. Turn your community into an even bigger revenue channel, enticing a primed buyer audience to purchase new products. 

Brands can now increase engagement and emotional loyalty through: 

• A dynamic UGC gallery on your community dashboard and discussion forum 
• Make UGC shoppable for community members to discover and purchase new products
• Foster a sense of belonging where consumers can “see and be seen” browsing photos and videos of other community members. 

And with the power of TINT’s full AI-fueled UGC solution, you can scale your community UGC across brand channels such as your website, ecommerce product pages, social, events, and more to drive purchase and new community engagement. 

We invite you to explore these new enhancements and discover how they can elevate your brand’s digital presence and foster meaningful connections with your audience. With TINT, the future of Community Powered Marketing is brighter than ever. Let’s shape it together.

Schedule a demo today.

The post TINT’s Latest Updates and Features: Growing Community, Enhanced Data Collection, Accessibility, and Shoppable UGC appeared first on TINT.

Close to 70% of marketers acknowledge the importance of community-building in customer retention, and research shows a community member can yield 13 times more customer lifetime value than general market consumers. 

A robust brand community serves as a dynamic conduit, connecting passionate brand advocates. It fosters two-way and personalized communication, encouraging user-generated content (UGC) that nurtures lasting emotional loyalty.

Many brands choose to create a designated brand-owned community hub that places consumers at the forefront, creating an environment where people feel heard, valued, and engaged.

After establishing a community, brand teams often grapple with questions like, 

“How can we expand our community of brand advocates effectively?

“What strategies can we employ to attract new customers and engage existing passionate consumers through our community? “

And, equally important, “How do we ensure sustained long-term growth and engagement?”

We’ve helped brand teams grapple with these challenges. And now we’re able to make it faster and easier than ever to grow an online brand community with TINT’s Community Growth Toolkit – a suite of features available in TINT’s Community Powered Marketing platform.

Let’s explore how you can use TINT to enhance engagement with existing consumers, captivate new audiences, and seamlessly integrate community into the entire consumer journey, ultimately amplifying overall marketing effectiveness.

1. Turn Website Visitors into Engaged Community Members Instantly

TINT’s newest Instant Community Signup feature enables you to seamlessly embed a community opt-in on any digital property. Rise above traditional email newsletter opt-ins that result in one-way communication; today’s consumers seek an experience beyond the ordinary, anticipating VIP treatment. 

Instead of a generic email signup, imagine extending a personal invitation to an interactive online hub where they can enjoy personalized offers, share feedback and co-create with you, actively participate in lively discussions, browse shoppable UGC, and connect with like-minded consumers.

Our Community Signup form can be embedded into any digital property including your brand’s website, landing pages, and ecommerce pages. When your consumer opts-in to your brand community, they can instantly access a personalized dashboard of offers, activities, and discussions. 

2. Invite Your Social Following to a Brand-Owned Community Through TINT’s Social Publishing Tool

Another effective way to grow your online brand community hub is elevating connections on existing channels. While social media serves as an initial platform for community-building, brands often encounter limitations and dead-ends long-term, primarily associated with a lack of ownership, increasingly limited reach, platform instability, and loss of engagement. 

In fact, our recent State of Community Powered Marketing report highlights that nearly 70% of marketers express concerns about potential loss of brand fans due to algorithm changes on social platforms.

TINT’s Social Publishing Tool addresses these challenges by streamlining the scheduling, publishing, and measurement of social posts, ensuring not only a steady online presence but also fostering a pathway for community growth. And with direct access to TINT’s UGC Studio, it grants access to a diverse array of high-quality UGC from your community of consumers. 

This collaborative approach transforms social media from a passive conduit into an active catalyst for community growth, inspiring consumers to actively contribute to the vibrant brand community.

3. Foster Community Growth by Featuring Community UGC Galleries

The significance of UGC extends beyond mere visuals; it serves as a powerful testament to the authenticity of your brand. By showcasing real-life moments of your community, UGC becomes a driving force in capturing the interest of new and existing consumers and encouraging them to join a collective where genuine experiences take precedence. It also helps establish a shared community identity, a crucial element in successful community-building. 

When websites feature UGC, they can see an increase of 29% in web conversions, a 20% increase in return visitors, and a 90% increase in time spent on-site.

A powerful part of our Community Growth Toolkit is making it easy to feature community-created UGC across your digital ecosystem. By displaying community UGC galleries of consumers using and loving your products, you can create a trust-building experience that encourages others to join the conversation.

4. Grow Community Relationships from Sweepstakes or Contests

Did you know that one-third of consumers who participate in a sweepstakes are open to receiving further information about the brand? Promotional campaigns are a great way to boost interest and engagement of your community. 

What makes this strategy noteworthy is not just its ability to enhance existing community participation but also its knack for drawing in new members, fostering organic growth within your community. 

TINT helps you create and launch a sweepstakes or contest in minutes as a means to organically expand and breathe new life into your community. 

With its seamless community connection, sweepstakes & contest entrants can become a part of your community with a click of a button. 

5. Invite Influential Online Voices to Your Brand Community Through AI-Powered UGC Curation & Collection

In the landscape of community-building, a strategic move involves identifying and extending invitations to influential voices within your niche to join your brand’s community. This deliberate step goes beyond mere numbers – it’s about fostering genuine connections with individuals who hold sway with your target consumer. 

TINT empowers brands to identify and invite these influential figures into your community fold to not only gain valuable content creators but also open avenues to organically expand your brand’s reach through its powerful AI UGC Curation & Collection. It’s a symbiotic relationship where their expertise enriches your community while your platform provides them with an authentic space to share insights to engage and grow their reach.

This approach serves as a ripple effect for organic growth, tapping into the established networks of these influential voices.

6.  Grow Community Membership Through a Refer-A-Friend Campaign

As existing members champion your community to their circles, the ripple effect becomes a force multiplier for growth. Deploying a refer-a-friend campaign to your community transforms community growth into a collaborative journey, where every new member isn’t just an addition but a valued connection fostered through trust and shared relationships. 

This not only bolsters your community numbers but also establishes a foundation where new members feel an immediate sense of belonging. It’s more than just a referral; it’s a testament to the interconnected and community-driven ethos that defines your brand.

Refer-a-Friend campaigns can be for a set period of time or can be evergreen, allowing for an always-on way for people to introduce your brand. 

Even More Strategies to Grow Your Community

Run a Social and Digital Ad Campaign Featuring Community UGC
Leverage the captivating content generated by your community in your social and digital ad campaigns. This not only attracts new members but also reinforces the value and vibrancy of your community to your existing audience.

Feature Your Community in Your Event Marketing
Showcase your community’s spirit and engagement. Use TINT’s live display capabilities to feature real-time UGC during events, creating a sense of involvement for both physical and virtual attendees.

Include Community Promotion as Part of Your Product Packaging In-Store or Online
Include a shoutout or QR code to your community on your product’s packaging or end cap display. For ecommerce brands, you can include a signup message in your ecommerce package with a QR code for instant signup.

Ready to embark on a journey of community growth? Unlock the full potential of your brand community with TINT. Your vibrant, engaged community awaits. Schedule a demo today.

The post 6 Ways to Grow a Vibrant Online Brand Community with TINT appeared first on TINT.

Meta recently announced it was going to cut off third-party access to Facebook Groups. This was a surprise announcement telling brands and developers they have 90 days before they are deprecating the ability to schedule and automate posts in Facebook Groups as well as engage with consumers through the Groups API. 

While newsfeed algorithm changes once dominated headlines, today all eyes are on API access, with platforms like X and Reddit imposing hefty charges. Let’s not forget all of this is unfolding against the backdrop of Google’s elimination of third-party cookies. Marketing is fun. 

Community managers and businesses are stating this new change is “devastating” and that “this is platform risk in real-time.” Developers are “shocked,” and one community manager said, “The removal of third-party access to Facebook Groups could significantly alter the digital landscape.”

What does Meta’s change mean for community-building on social networks?

Social media undeniably revolutionized how brands connect with their audience, catapulting many brands into stardom with viral moments. It’s tempting to equate your follower or group count with a thriving brand community. However, Meta’s recent moves serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of over-reliance on third-party platforms.

Today’s modern marketers know that community-building is what separates brands that last from those that fizzle. Actively cultivating connections with brand advocates and influential creators unleashes the power of word-of-mouth, generating authentic, ongoing UGC that translates into tangible sales.

While nurturing audiences on a social network is crucial, particularly for drawing in new brand enthusiasts, the issue arises when social media becomes your primary avenue for community-building. Once you try to scale that effort and create workflows around it (or even a whole business), you’re at danger of having the rug pulled out from under you.

In our State of Community Powered Marketing report, we found 60% of marketers are concerned they are one algorithm change away from losing access to their audience on social. This latest change heightens it as a real fear and risk. 

We’ve seen this film many times before. Meta enticing companies with seemingly unbridled free access, only to gradually tighten restrictions and alter the rules. These changes send shockwaves through organizations, forcing them to frantically adapt their strategies. 

The challenge for marketers in building communities on social media lies in sustaining long-term engagement. Once someone follows your page or joins your group, you must provide continuous and increasing value – and there’s a limited amount of depth you can achieve on social. Consumers have come to expect personalized communication, exclusive and captivating content, and to be treated like a VIP. 

The diversity of interaction on social is limited and ultimately, we are reminded again today that you do not own these relationships. You are simply renting a booth from the social networks. They can change the rules at any time without consulting you. You don’t develop years-long consumer relationships at a booth. 

Your community of consumers will always span various online channels, but having a centralized place for community engagement is paramount. Think of it as your brand’s community headquarters, where brand enthusiasts can connect, converse, and co-create with like-minded individuals.

So, what’s the takeaway? Facebook is teaching marketers another important lesson. Your Facebook Group or social media audience is a stepping stone to community-building. Making it the entire path will ultimately put your brand at increased risk. 

It’s time to take control of your community-building efforts and create a space where your brand can truly thrive. Remember, your brand’s community is more than just a number on a social media profile. It’s an evolving entity that deserves a home of its own. So, start building – on your own turf.

Ready to get started building your owned brand community? Learn how TINT powers community initiatives for the world’s largest brands. Schedule a demo today.

The post API and Algorithm Anxiety? Stop Building Your Brand’s Community On Someone Else’s Site appeared first on TINT.

Ambassador marketing goes beyond traditional advertising by leveraging the credibility and influence of consumers to reach a broader audience and drive brand awareness, engagement, and ultimately, sales.

In this post, we’ll dive into the world of ambassador marketing. We’ll explore what it is, how it works, and how you can get started with your own brand ambassador program.

What is ambassador marketing?

Ambassador marketing is a strategic approach used by brands to collaborate with individuals, AKA ambassadors, to promote their products or services. Brand ambassadors can be customers, fans, or experts within a particular niche or industry. They might even have a large following on social, but this isn’t a must have for effective ambassador marketing programs. Ambassadors should be true fans to endorse the brand, leveraging their credibility and influence to reach a broader audience and drive brand awareness and engagement.

Brand ambassador marketing works by finding consumers whose personal values align with the values and target audience of the partnering brand. Brands invite ambassadors into their community, providing them with resources, such as products, samples, exclusive offers, or insider access, to enhance their content creation and promote the brand to their followers and friends. These ambassadors spread the word and create content and social media posts that showcase the brand’s products or services, often sharing their personal experiences and stories. 

History of ambassador marketing

Ambassador marketing as we know it has roots dating back to the early 20th century when companies started using celebrities to endorse their products. One of the earliest examples is the use of sports stars like Babe Ruth to promote products like tobacco and sports equipment. However, the modern concept of ambassador marketing began to take shape in the 1980s with the rise of brand ambassadors in the fashion and beauty industries. Companies like Nike and PepsiCo were among the first to leverage athletes and celebrities as brand ambassadors, setting the stage for the evolution of ambassador marketing into what it is today.

Ambassador marketing is also known by other terms, including influencer marketing, brand advocacy, and brand ambassadorship. While these may have a different connotations, the relating factor is the practice of brands partnering with individuals who have influence over a specific audience to promote a brand or product. Micro-influencer marketing has also emerged as a popular variation of ambassador marketing, focusing on individuals with smaller, but highly engaged followings.

Any  fan or customer that talks about your brand through UGC or reviews can be an effective brand ambassador. In fact, Ninety-one percent of consumers agree that when brands they like and use re-share content by customers, they are more likely to share content about the brand or its products.

Who uses brand ambassadors?

Ambassador marketing is especially effective for companies in industries where personal recommendations and endorsements play a significant role in purchasing decisions. Examples include fashion, beauty, travel, and lifestyle. It’s also beneficial for brands seeking to build stronger connections with their target audience.

One of the key benefits of ambassador marketing is how it can humanize the brand and bridge genuine connections with consumers. This can help brands reach new audiences and demographics, improve brand loyalty and advocacy, and generate valuable user-generated content (UGC) that can be leveraged across marketing channels. Ambassadors serve as trusted advocates, which can significantly impact purchasing decisions through word of mouth.

For example, a clothing brand ambassador program would typically involve partnering with those that have a passion for fashion. These fashion brand ambassadors would be provided with opportunities to connect with the brand such as creating styled looks featuring the brand’s clothing, sharing discount codes or special offers, and attending events or product launches on behalf of the brand.

The program would also involve providing ambassadors with exclusive access to new collections or products, as well as personalized discounts or incentives to encourage them to promote the brand authentically. Additionally, brands may collaborate with ambassadors on co-branded content or campaigns, further leveraging their influence to reach a wider audience.

Potential pitfalls of ambassador marketing

While ambassador marketing can be a powerful strategy, there are some potential pitfalls to be aware of. One common challenge is ensuring that ambassadors align with the brand’s values and messaging consistently over time. Ambassadors are independent individuals, and their actions and opinions may not always align with the brand’s image or goals. It’s essential to establish clear guidelines and expectations to mitigate the risk of ambassadors that represent your brand from engaging in behavior that could damage reputation.

Another potential pitfall is the risk of audience fatigue. If consumers are exposed to unauthentic content, such as in the case where influencers with no affinity to the brand are used, they may become skeptical of the authenticity of the endorsements. Brands must strike a balance between leveraging ambassadors’ influence and ensuring that their messages resonate with their target audience.

Additionally, brands should regularly evaluate the performance of ambassador campaigns to ensure they are achieving the desired results and adjust their strategies accordingly.

Getting started with community

A brand community serves as a dynamic conduit, connecting passionate brand advocates and fostering two-way and personalized communication. This results in relationships that nurture lasting emotional loyalty. Here are a few steps to consider:

1. Set Clear Goals: Define what you want to achieve with your ambassador marketing campaign, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or generating user-generated content (UGC). 
2. Identify Your Target Audience: Understand who your ideal customers are and identify ambassadors who can effectively reach and influence them. 
3. Invite Ambassadors to Join Your Community: Look for individuals who align with your brand’s values, and have a genuine interest in your products or services. Start with your customers! Extend invitations to influential voices within your niche to join your brand’s ambassador marketing platform. This step goes beyond mere numbers – it’s about creating genuine connections with individuals who hold sway with your target consumer. 
4. Establish Relationships: Build relationships with your ambassadors based on trust and mutual benefit. Provide them with the resources and support they need to create authentic and compelling content.For example, personal care brand, hello products, needed a solution to create more brand ambassadors. They turned to TINT to help them create the hello friends community. The hello friends community generates thousands of pieces of UGC, reviews, photos and more across key online channels. Whether it’s a new product that needs a boost or general brand awareness, their community members are an army of ambassadors to activate and drive conversion on the brand’s website, key e-commerce channels, and social media outlets.
5. Define Expectations: Clearly communicate your expectations and guidelines to your ambassadors to ensure that their content aligns with your brand’s image and messaging.
6. Track and Measure Results: As existing members champion your community to their circles, the ripple effect becomes a force multiplier for growth. Monitor the performance of your ambassador campaigns to evaluate their effectiveness and make adjustments as needed.

For a marketing strategy to be effective, it’s crucial to invest time in building relationships with your customers, your ambassadors, and provide them with a way to feel connected. Focus on building long-term relationships with your customers based on mutual trust and respect. Align with ambassadors whose values and audience align with your brand, as authenticity is crucial and potential customers will immediately see through false/staged content.

TINT empowers brands to identify and invite brand ambassadors into your community fold to not only gain valuable content creators but also open avenues to organically expand your brand’s reach. It’s a relationship where their expertise enriches your community while your platform provides them with an authentic space to share insights to engage and grow their reach.

Ready to embark on a journey of community growth? Unlock the full potential of ambassador marketing with your own brand community. Schedule a demo today.

The post Unlocking the Power of Ambassador Marketing: Comprehensive Guide appeared first on TINT.

While you’re making your (email) lists and checking your templates twice for the holiday season, don’t miss one of the easiest and most effective ways to win sales over your competitors and maximize ROI. Enter Dynamic UGC Email Blocks, a powerful feature available in TINT.

Read on to learn four easy strategies you can implement today to enhance your email marketing with Dynamic UGC:

Insert Dynamic UGC in Your Automated and Trigger-Based Emails to Boost Conversion

In addition to traditional batch-and-blast emails, 45% of marketers utilize trigger-based emails, including automated emails such as Cart Abandonment, Welcome Emails, Re-engagement Campaigns, and Post-purchase Nurturing. 

These emails are incredibly important, boasting over 70% higher open rates and contributing up to 20% of your email marketing revenue. Including UGC in your emails has been shown to increase click-through rates by 73%, with 79% of consumers stating that UGC significantly influences their purchasing decisions.

With TINT’s Dynamic UGC Email Blocks, you can ensure all your email templates consistently feature relevant and fresh UGC at every touchpoint, whether through our AI-powered curation or a more hands-on approach. The best part? Once you’ve inserted a Dynamic UGC Email Block, TINT will automatically refresh content without the need for image re-uploads or code adjustments.

Improve Click-Through Rates and Product Discovery with Personalized UGC Recommendations 

Personalizing your email campaigns is critical for driving sales. Yet, only 30% of companies take advantage of the benefits of personalization. That might be because nearly 3 in 4 marketers feel overwhelmed by all the different personalization capabilities offered and don’t have the time to explore all of those capabilities.

In the hectic marketing chaos of the holiday season, you need simple and measurable ways to drive engagement. One quick win for marketers is to level up their product recommendations in email marketing. According to Salesforce, offering product recommendations can make up 26% of revenue and increase your average order value (AOV) by 10%.
Consumers rank authentic UGC as the most trustworthy content and 75% say it helps them search for and discover products, brands, and experiences. With TINT’s powerful filtering tools, you can easily pre-sort product-specific UGC to insert into your email nurturing campaigns.

Let’s say you’re a skincare brand with several product lines, and you want to recommend your serums to your moisturizer customers. What better way to drive product discovery than to show actual people using a related product recommendation? 

Over 80% of consumers prefer seeing photos of real customers, ensuring your product recommendations resonate authentically with your audience, and guiding them towards meaningful purchases.

Cultivate an Owned Brand Community at Purchase to Foster Loyalty and Always-On UGC Creation 

In today’s market, brands must invest resources into building customer relationships to ensure retention, brand loyalty, and advocacy for new acquisition. 

Consumers today want more from their relationship with brands. They are no longer satisfied with intrusive advertising and transactional loyalty programs. In fact, 77% of loyalty programs that use transactional rewards fail within the first two years. Fostering post-purchase relationships through Community Powered Marketing and featuring community-generated content in your holiday email marketing campaigns is a highly effective approach.

The importance of community engagement can’t be overstated. McKinsey predicts community-based marketing to be the defining trend of the 2020s. In a study of 400 marketers, 86% believe that a branded online community positively impacts core operations, with 85% recognizing its role in improving the customer journey and building trust. 

In an era where consumers prioritize emotional connection, personalized marketing, and shared values, featuring content from your brand’s community in emails not only fosters a sense of belonging with your audience but also drives new opt-ins and community growth.

Our research found that 59% of consumers are more likely to share photos and videos of a brand when they are part of a dedicated community. With TINT, you can mobilize your consumer community in a customizable community destination connected to your brand website, creating an always-on source of fresh UGC and post-purchase engagement that you can easily integrate across all your email templates.

Use Dynamic UGC to Get More Product Reviews and Leverage the Domino Effect of Social Sharing

In the world of social and UGC, sharing begets sharing. When you showcase UGC from satisfied customers in your holiday emails, you can help trigger a chain reaction of UGC creation. 

A happy customer seeing other fellow happy customers share their experience encourages them to add their story and participate in the conversation. And one of the most sought-after means of sharing in marketing is high-quality product reviews. 

This quick win leverages the social nature of the holiday season to enhance your brand’s reach and impact and is a powerful way to harness the influence of your existing customers during the holidays. 

By including Dynamic UGC Email Blocks, you not only express your appreciation for their purchase but also show that you value their feedback and experiences with your products. This is crucial because it enhances social proof from other customers enjoying the same products and inspires reviews and referrals, creating a thriving ecosystem of engaged customers who not only buy from you but actively advocate for your brand.

Wrap Up Success This Holiday Season With Dynamic UGC Email Blocks

Don’t wait for the gingerbread to cool – tis the season to sparkle and Dynamic UGC Email Blocks can make your email marketing shine, boosting your sales and supercharging your conversion. Get started today.

The post Make Your Holiday Email Marketing Bright With Dynamic UGC appeared first on TINT.

In the past few years, word-of-mouth has become more impactful than ever. Most of social media’s existence has been primarily used to connect with existing friends and family and to share entertaining and valuable content. While that is certainly still the case, the connections and relationships built from pure digital communities have become integral to our social lives. 

In our Big Online Brand Community Study of more than 4,900 consumers, we found 56% of consumers said their participation in online communities has increased in the past three years. This was clearly an outcome propelled by the pandemic, where online communities were a lifeline for creating connection and a sense of belonging.

With the rise of TikTok, swaths of internet strangers gathered together to connect and exchange stories and ideas. The brands we buy naturally became a part of the conversation. We’ve all experienced clicking with someone by saying, “oh I love that brand!” Now we can say that with millions of other consumers online, creating a powerhouse for building brand advocacy. 

This was happening so much on TikTok that the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt became a staple among users and today sits at 51.7 Billion views. 

There is no question that brands are a prominent backdrop for creating community connections. How can you maximize community-driven brand conversation to drive sales? Let’s talk about it. 

What is Community Commerce? 

TikTok defines community commerce as “creator-driven word-of-mouth marketing.” Community commerce sits at the intersection of community, shopping, and entertainment. The company denotes it as a subset of social commerce, citing the authenticity of community connection as a key differentiator. 

For brands looking to define it as a marketing practice, leveraging community commerce is a business strategy to harness the collective power of community-driven recommendations to generate awareness and conversion. 

On TikTok, anyone can become a content creator, and one viral post on the For You page can attract thousands of followers in just seconds. When one of those creators recommends your brand, it can break through significant clutter in a crowded advertising space. 

Furthermore, when your product or brand becomes part of an overall community trend, it can drive massive reach and sales. One of the most viral examples was the e.l.f. Cosmetics #eyelipsface challenge. This effort was later hailed as the “most influential campaign on TikTok” by Adweek and garnered 7 billion views and 5 million user-generated videos. 

Why is Community Commerce Important for Brands? 

Community commerce is often associated with product discovery – meaning consumers who find out about products and services for the first time and are convinced to purchase them because of community endorsements. It is an excellent tactic to drive new consumer acquisition, especially for securing successful product launches. 

• A study from GlobalWebIndex found that 70% of consumers say they have been driven to purchase on social media even though they didn’t look for anything specific to buy
• In our study, 1 in 3 consumers ranked “product recommendation from others” as one of the top benefits of an online brand community
• Nielsen’s Trust in Advertising study found 88% of people most trust recommendations from people they know
• TikTok’s study with WARC and Publicis found 85% of consumers have purchased a product or service after seeing it advertised or reviewed on social media

The power of community is unparalleled in its ability to move conversation into conversion. Community commerce also offers the intangible benefit of forming deeper consumer relationships that can boost emotional loyalty and retention.

Strategies for Community Commerce 

Create Entertainment Through Everyday Moments and Memes 

Memes are the digital secret handshake of online communities, and they are one of the biggest reasons why people love TikTok so much. TikTok became especially famous for its sound memes, and with its purposeful unpolished nature, brands can quickly jump into these trends.

An example is the “Everything is Cake” meme, where people created hyper-realistic versions of everyday objects that were later cut into and revealed as just cake. Adidas jumped in on the meme and made a limited edition edible Adidas cake that looked exactly like its Original ZX 2K Boost sneakers. The brand actually produced and sold the cake in London. 

Inserting your brand into a meme requires the right timing and relevance. Get those two parts right, and it can be the combustion engine of community commerce. It’s important brands don’t just jump onto any trend, as we saw many marketers do with “newsjacking” in the Twittersphere many years ago. It must make sense for your brand to participate. 

Shoppable Content to Encourage Trial and Speed to Checkout

Most advertising aims to achieve enough repetition and exposure with a potential buyer that your brand will be top of mind and ultimately drive conversion. 

With community commerce, when consumers are inspired by their digital community about a brand, they often want to buy the product right that second. Speed to cart is a critical part of community commerce. 

Shoppable content, especially shoppable videos, is a massive opportunity for brands. There is usually a gap for marketers between telling a compelling story and securing the final sale. Shoppable content is the perfect solution. For livestream shopping, conversion rates are hugely successful. McKinsey found them to be up to 10 times more than standard ecommerce.

An example of this is when QVC and Netflix partnered in 2022 for “Stranger Things Day” in a lifestream event for video commerce, enticing consumers to buy themed products, toys, and memorabilia as exclusives on QVC. 

TikTok widely promotes its partnership with Shopify and will likely grow its integrations with other ecommerce platforms in the future. Businesses can connect their TikTok account to Shopify to generate in-feed shoppable posts from videos. They can also engage in brand takeovers and branded effects like filters and stickers. 

Cultivate an Owned Online Brand Community Channel 

Brands can drive community commerce on third-party sites like TikTok and Instagram, but they also have a unique opportunity today to cultivate an owned channel of community commerce through an online brand community. 

With the right online community platform (think TINT), brands can create their own ecosystem of community commerce to achieve increased volume. Online brand communities can activate targeted consumers to share on third-party sites and boost social share of voice and advocacy. 

Our study found: 

• 78% of consumers say being a part of an online brand community makes them more likely to purchase new products/services from the brand 
• 74% of consumers say being a part of an online brand community makes them more likely to leave a review for the brand
• 88% say they share content and offers from online brand communities they are a part of
• Almost two-thirds (61%) of Gen Z consumers say they are more likely to create video content as part of an online brand community 

Hero Cosmetics, creator of the famed “Mighty Patch” acne product, partnered with TINT to mobilize its Hero Skin Squad community as a destination for loyal brand users to exchange product recommendations and offer helpful tips. The brand often uses personalized product sampling to spark conversation among the community. In just 100 days of launching their community, they saw over 400 product reviews. 

Final Thoughts

Community commerce has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to connect with their consumers. It has enabled even the smallest brands to reach a global audience and compete with more prominent players. As we move forward, it’s clear community commerce will only continue to grow in importance, providing new opportunities for brands to thrive and for consumers to discover unique products. 

How TINT Helps With You With Community Commerce 

TINT’s online brand community platform empowers you to amplify your community commerce efforts. Our solution helps you to mobilize your consumer community in a dedicated branded destination, cultivate lasting relationships, and drive sales velocity and awareness on key ecommerce channels. With more than 20+ engagement activities available to brands, consumers can be assigned a wealth of activities to participate in – including writing product reviews, creating user-generated photos and videos, completing surveys and polls, participating in discussions, and much more.

Using TINT, brands can drive new customer acquisition significantly, secure emotional and long-term brand loyalty, and “future proof” with agile insights and ongoing data collection. Get started today.

The post What is Community Commerce and Why Should Brands Care appeared first on TINT.