How NFTs can revolutionise social commerce

How to Integrate NFTs

There are seven steps to consider for integrating NFTs successfully into a business.

1. Identify the NFT use case
First and foremost, work out how you will use NFTs as this will affect how you design it. It could be collectibles, art, gaming, experiences or another use case totally new to your business.

2. Determine the appropriate blockchain
Selecting the appropriate blockchain means you need to analyse across multiple dimensions such as throughput or transaction cost. While a business may start creating NFTs on one blockchain, they may want to create NFTs on multiple blockchains in future and should keep this in mind.

The ideal infrastructure partner would support multiple blockchains and enable interoperability of assets between blockchains.

3. Mint the NFTs
After determining what content to use, the NFT needs to be created, or minted. To mint an NFT, a cryptographic key is used to create a token on the blockchain that includes characteristics, like the name, description, and the edition size. Once an NFT is minted, it is immortalized on the blockchain.

There are several platforms that can help with minting NFTs. In creating NFTs, companies should find providers who will mint NFTs according to custom smart contracts so that companies have as much control as possible over the parameters of the NFT.

4. Store digital assets sustainably
NFTs are minted either to contain the digital content file itself or to contain a reference to the digital content. Accordingly, it is important to understand how this digital content is being stored, whether on decentralized or centralized storage methods.

5. Store and access NFTs securely and easily
Similar to cryptocurrencies, NFTs are stored in a crypto wallet – the digital equivalent to an address. There are many crypto wallets available, and it is important for NFTs to be able to integrate with many of these wallets, so that they can be delivered to a maximum number of digital addresses.

There are two primary models for wallets – ‘custodial’ or ‘non-custodial’. Consumers that interact with crypto often prefer the ‘non-custodial’ model, as it gives them full control over their assets. By contrast, including a custodial solution, from a trusted brand with strong security, can help provide a broader audience easy access to a business’ platform.

6. Distribution
Another important consideration is which marketplace to distribute NFTs. Factors for evaluating NFT marketplaces include: whether the marketplace allows users to purchase NFTs with fiat currency (dollars) or requires users to use cryptocurrency for purchases (for mainstream appeal, it is important to accept card payments); and the general audience of the NFT marketplace.

 

7. Identify additional opportunities
Today, selling art and collectibles is the primary use case for NFTs. While these use cases can generate revenue, there are untapped strategic opportunities that may be realized. For example, one exciting aspect of NFTs is their composability. As the ecosystem develops, NFTs can be designed in a way that spans multiple use cases, which could ultimately create more valuable NFTs that generate additional revenue on secondary sales or auctions. This area is rich for potential and can span multiple phases of the customer experience:

• Loyalty and Gamification: NFTs can be used as a reward to incentivize certain behavior.
• Utility Across Metaverses: NFTs could be used across different applications within multiple metaverses.
• Ticketing: In addition to being collectibles, NFTs can be combined with event tickets to provide access to an event.
• Customer Governance and Decision-Making: NFTs can be used to enable customers to impact decisions and outcomes of a team or brand.
• Customer Data with Pseudo-Anonymity: A customer’s crypto wallet and the assets they own could inform marketing strategies and how to engage with the consumer.