August 17, 2021
OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnTribe, the CRM for User Generated Content, today announced it has secured $2.7M in seed funding from influential individuals within their private network of investors, including Michael Marks, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta Capital and former interim-CEO of Tesla.
Founded by GoPro’s former Head of Global Business Development & Content Acquisitions, EnTribe is one of the first SaaS platforms that flips the script on User Generated Content (“UGC”) and empowers brands to build communities that are driven by the people who use their products. EnTribe’s all-in-one platform simplifies community management and the process of acquiring UGC at scale, allowing brands to generate high-quality, brand-approved assets, while boosting customer loyalty and ecommerce sales.
“UGC has always been difficult for brands to implement at scale. It’s a time intensive project that requires vetting creators and their content, verifying the content is original, getting rights clearances, and the list goes on,” said Adam Dornbusch, Founder and CEO of EnTribe. “Most importantly, creators often require a bit of coaching before they can produce marketing-ready creative, and that creator management portion is missing from most UGC programs. Through my previous work building some of the earliest UGC programs for Current TV and then building one of the largest branded UGC programs at GoPro, it became clear that brands interested in creating a pipeline of customer content to feed their marketing programs must have an efficient, technology driven way to manage their community, generate content and turn it into legally usable marketing creative. EnTribe alleviates all of these existing inefficiencies, allowing companies to scale and automate labor intensive workflows that hinder a brand’s ability to connect with its customers through UGC.”
With the success of influencer marketing waning, the shrinking of out-of-home advertising’s reach as commuters permanently avoid offices, and the dilution of digital ads’ targeting efficacy, more brands will be turning to UGC to connect with their community in new, more compelling ways. Recent reports show that more than half (58%) of social media users have no intention of buying products from influencers in today’s world. Improved access to UGC will be important to brands looking to reignite their relationship with current customers and attract new ones.
The EnTribe platform increases collaboration between brands and their creators by providing advanced tools to support the creator management lifecycle. These tools ultimately produce tighter relationships that result in more UGC with higher quality narratives. Specifically, brands can use automated communication tools to provide direction on the type of content they’re looking for, guide consumers on where to share the content and reward them for content that has been received. Verified and collected content then populates on the EnTribe dashboard where brands can efficiently curate content into approved, campaign specific albums using advanced filters, multi-keyword search, AI hashtag recommendations, ownership verification, location tagging, and more. EnTribe instantly secures rights to content through custom clearances tracked with the content in a proprietary CMS. EnTribe is currently working with Fortune 100 companies in the technology, food and beverage, and higher education spaces, among others.
“EnTribe’s goal is to help brands grow and activate their communities to capture more meaningful content that will breathe authenticity into their marketing initiatives,” said Dornbusch. “We work directly with our clients to build their UGC strategies and elevate the quality of content their community creates. We plan to use the funds raised to continue building out our platform and add new features that further enhance UGC campaigns.”
“As influencer fatigue grows and advertising targeting is curtailed, more brands are looking for organic ways to engage with their target audiences to foster brand trust and loyalty. Instead of overpaying for influencers, brands can now generate authentic content from their organic network of creators, which resonates more with current and potential customers,” said Michael Marks, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta Capital and investor in EnTribe. “EnTribe allows brands to stay in control by telling their community exactly what they’re looking for, while still putting the customer’s voice front and center. I believe EnTribe is well positioned to lead the UGC space and help brands across industries rejuvenate their marketing initiatives.”
According to the Nielsen Trust Index, 92% of consumers trust user-generated content more than they trust traditional advertising, yet only 16% of brands have the tools to directly engage with content creators. EnTribe's software bridges this gap and provides a solution for brands who are looking to refresh their content and turn their followers into an army of micro-influencers.
