Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are commonly seen as nothing more than digital art. However, the utility of NFTs has the potential to go far beyond that single-use case. They can completely redefine customer experience, community engagement, and loyalty.
As a result, a new era of social interactions and commercial use cases will likely emerge in the next few years. Blockchain technology offers an efficient way to create networks, memberships, private clubs, fan bases, customer bases, and much more.
We’re Still Early
Private groups, fan clubs, and communities have been around a lot longer than crypto and Web3, but there is still room for improvement. Also, traditional membership services and security can benefit from what NFTs bring to the table, despite having found success on the internet we know and use today.
But just like the wheel fostered a new wave of possibilities in transportation, NFTs also present new, more efficient ways of doing things. So, how are NFTs making communities more efficient and what are some clear examples?
Immutable Communities
Understanding that NFT collections typically have their own smart contract is critical.
These smart contracts are public and immutable. They are the decentralized mechanism used to house a community, create an experience, and/or deliver access to a piece of content.
NFT holders can use their token(s) as access keys to whatever the NFT project or community has agreed to provide them. With NFTs, you can create unique experiences for holders of a collection, both online and off. This is where a new kid on the block, SENTR3, can help.
SENTR3 is a blockchain-agnostic platform that lets any creator or organization easily put together NFT-gated communities and experiences, whether online or in the physical world.
Full Control
When an NFT is your proof of belonging to a community, you have full control over it.
Contrary to traditional memberships, NFTs are the sole possession of the holder.
They are free to be resold without the approval of any third party at whatever price the owner decides. Creators of these NFT collections can also build custom royalty structures into their collections to power new ways of monetizing their community or project.
The Community is King
When a community is tokenized via an NFT collection, the token holders can directly control the project's governance. This, in turn, increases said community’s engagement and loyalty to the project. They have skin in the game!
As Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt mentioned in a recent tweet:
“It’s not only about gating. It’s all about ownership and governance.”
Even if the initial team behind a collection stops working on it, holders of the NFT can easily take over the project. This could lead to a reinvented utility for it, showing the beauty of decentralized smart contracts. It's on the blockchain, immutable, and completely in the hands of the community members.
The use cases around community experiences and NFTs are still in the early days and many more are to come. However, some are already here such as access to gated content (educational, pre-released), NFT-based memberships, and NFT ticketing.
Ticketing as an Example
An increasingly popular use case for NFTs is event ticketing. The obvious question is: why not use traditional ticketing? Well, this is where the NFT showcases its power and flexibility.
Through a social infrastructure, like the one at SENTR3, it is possible to issue tickets for an event as NFTs and create a token-gated community ecosystem for the attendees/holders. This provides added value before, during, and after the event.
In addition to gating the physical events, such as a concert, sporting event, or private club, users can connect to a “holders only zone” where they can
- access exclusive content,
- purchase merchandise that is for NFT holders only
- find informational content about the event
- participate in a raffle
- chat 1-on-1 with other holders, celebrities, or industry experts via the holders’ discussion channels.
- join a gated live stream of the event.
All this without leaving the NFT-branded ecosystem.
The Future is Bright Indeed
NFTs made a big splash in the crypto world; this is just the tip of the iceberg for this new technology. They can also be used to create various communities, from private clubs to sporting events.
What makes NFTs superior for this is their open and immutable nature. The holder of an NFT used in this manner gets more value from whatever community they’ve joined, and has full control over the membership.
Ticketing for public events is one great example of how we see this in action. The ticket for the venue is an NFT, which the holder can do as they please. And, depending on the tier of the NFT they purchased, they may get access to exclusive content that can be accessed online or in the real world before, during, and after the event.