When Pokémon Go was first released, some clever store owners thought to create “lures” at their store that would encourage users to visit in hopes of scoring some of their favorite creatures. This ploy worked extremely well. Users would stop by, catch some Pokemon, and probably also buy something in the process - all for the small price of the lure.

Kuende presents an opportunity for business owners, both local and international, to catch this same lightning in a bottle. First, I’ll discuss user privacy because that to me is one of the most important parts of Kuende, and it ties in to how Kuende builds strong businesses. Next, I’ll discuss the different opportunities Kuende presents for businesses, as well as for blockchain companies.

How Kuende Treats User Privacy

Kuende users can opt out of receiving advertising completely. This might sound funny - wouldn’t everyone just do that, then? I suppose that I should remind you of how high the click through rates are on Google Adwords and Google Shopping ads are. These are people who are actively searching for something, so ads are useful to them to help them quickly find a product. I’ll talk about this in the Business section more, but on a basic level, advertising is entirely interest-based. Therefore, businesses can rest assured that they are likely to have better conversion rates from Kuende users who do opt in to advertising.

Designed For Security From The Ground Up

Kuende was designed to be a true maverick on the social media space. This value of going against the grain is present in all aspects of our platform, including privacy. There is a saying that on social media, you are the product. We do not agree with that, and we actively take a stance against it. Every person is unique, with their own experiences, struggles, and stories. Because Kuende is handling a lot of user data, we have designed our system to have the highest level of security possible. Your data is your personal property, and we respect that. For this same reason, Kuende’s GDPR compliance was a seamless implementation.

Closing The Marketing Loop For Local Businesses

The marketing loop is a concept wherein you are able to discover the source of someone purchasing your product. Think of old radio commercials where they would say, “mention this commercial at checkout for 25% off”.

Nowadays, famous bloggers and influencers will refer to special URLs that contain discounts. The idea behind these codes and referrals is that businesses will know what advertising is working, and what advertising isn’t. Once businesses discover what kind of advertising works, they can then start creating more advertising that works like that. So, the first part of the loop is the advertisement - the “closing” of the loop is when you discover the source. Kuende is uniquely positioned to help local businesses understand what advertising is working.

Types of Business Engagement

Kuende offers a lot of different types of user engagement for local businesses. We plan on offering traditional advertising, the main attraction of challenges, as well as digital shops. Furthermore, I want to emphasize that users can opt out of receiving advertising.

Sponsored Challenges

I want to focus on challenges because they are the core of Kuende, and businesses can also take part! To pique your curiosity, imagine a challenge to get people to go to a theater with a special speaker, a scavenger hunt at a museum. Perhaps the challenge is to get a signature from a local author or a musician on tour. The possibilities are almost endless, and all have the same end result: increased engagement. You’ll notice that some of these don’t even need to be local.

I strongly believe that events, in particular, festivals, stand a lot to gain from Kuende. One of the biggest struggles for festivals is that some stages are more popular than others. What if there was a challenge to see an artist at every single stage, and post pictures of all of the different stages? You can tell that I’m just scratching the surface, yet I have no doubt that you can see the potential behind how challenges can get users more involved.

Plus, business will immediately know that customers are coming there from Kuende - the marketing loop has been closed!

Challenge rewards for users who take part can be just about anything. Discounts could be the most common, but so could shirts or other memorabilia. The sky’s the limit! The plus side of challenge rewards is that you could combine them with normal promotions such as a happy hour or another discount for showing up, providing extra value for the Kuende users that take part.

Kuende will become a service for blockchain-based businesses that can be used to challenge their audiences and to have access to all the communication and social media features, without companies having to develop their own platform. As rewards, blockchain-based businesses can distribute their own token to the participants.

Traditional Advertising

Advertising on Kuende is native by design. This means no popups, no distracting banner ads, or anything that takes over your screen. The thought process for any business wishing to advertise is that it needs to first provide value for Kuende users. We encourage blog posts, videos with helpful information, and anything else that improves the life and well-being of users.

In many ways, brands are like people, and they should have their own voice. Brands should interact with people in a more natural way. Our hope is that this approach will encourage people to opt-in to the cool things that brands have to offer them! And at the same time, that brands will act more ethically and treat potential customers as more than just numbers or interests.

Digital Shops

Although not yet part of Kuende, digital shops are going to be one other way for people to get involved with brands. You can sell branded stickers, digital downloads, and more.

Let’s take it a step further - you run a challenge that encourages people to meet at the library to check out a book and they earn a certain amount of Kuende Points. Then at your Kuende digital shop, you run a promotion where people can pay Kuende Points to get a discount at your coffee shop.

Kuende For Blockchain

We believe that we are better, together! What better than a blockchain-based social media for blockchain businesses to engage with their customers? Challenges present an incredibly opportunity. ICOs can run their bounty campaigns on Kuende through gamified activities, and offer their tokens as a reward. All this is made possible by the Cosmos Hub project, the first blockchain in the Cosmos Network. Their Tendermint based solution allows transferring tokens from one blockchain (also called Zones) to another securely and quickly without the need for a trusted 3rd party or a liquid exchange.

We already have a ton of great partnerships with other blockchain companies - Sirin Labs, STOX, IPSX, or Civic to name a few - that are already using Kuende as the social media platform where they engage with the blockchain communities and will be among the very first to showcase the Kuende Challenges.

No, Kuende is not yet another Facebook wannabe. Kuende is already becoming the ecosystem that brings not only people together, but the blockchain projects as well!

Conclusion

Kuende is committed to user privacy with its emphasis on users controlling what data is and isn’t shared. Your data is your personal privacy, and we uphold that through our GDPR compliance. In addition, Kuende is built to help local businesses through its challenges, traditional advertising, and digital shops that encourage engagement. Our challenges model helps businesses understand what advertising is working. We also help blockchain based businesses reach out to their customers, run real-life bounty campaigns through challenges, and strengthen the community as a whole.