The holy grail of consumer engagement for most brands is navigating the complex world of social media. Competing brands seem to be intertwined in a UFC style cage match with their ambitious efforts to engage the end user. Let’s all wave a collective au revoir to touch points and bonjour to a more robust approach – relationship building.

Boston based startup, Scoopr, hopes to lead the emotional branding charge by allowing customers (via their app) to generate and share their own branded content. Layman terms: Businesses run promotions (called assignments) that incentivize the customer to generate their own content. The incentives range from everyone’s favorite – cold hard cash – to a close second – free food.

The primary benefits for the brand are clear: (1) consumer engagement, (2) brand recognition and (3) content, content, content. For consumers, they feel more connected to the brand in a way similar to a brand ambassador. Without question, the prospect of emotional branding, along with collected data analytics, could redefine brand loyalty. Scoopr co-founder, Jeremy Smith, says that the moment a social fan becomes an ambassador is a crowning of sorts that can pay enormous dividends. Brand ambassadors love to shop with brands that provide enjoyable moments, so they will evangelize them to their social circles.

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Currently, social media is akin to the wild, wild west with brands pushing the envelope in an effort to engage their customers more effectively. Some may remember the exchange between a representative at Netflix, Mike or Captain Mike, and a customer experience a challenge whilst watching the uber funny Parks & Recreation. Their banter – worthy of a Star Trek episode – went viral and Netflix responded with a hearty thank you on Twitter (not in klingon for those Trekkies).

There will be a number of new players in this space helping to facilitate and expand the relationship building process. And we are excited to see what’s next.

Images: Scoopr