Your Brand Has an Audience. TYB Can Give It a Community.

Brands have pretty much cracked the code for building an audience on social. Most have mastered the content calendar, racked up the followers, and learned the algorithm’s ever-changing dance. But an audience merely watches; a community participates.
Social is often tasked with building a brand’s community. It’s well-equipped to do so, but that’s easier said than done. Especially when brands often end up using their social channels as a catch-all to broadcast various, disconnected messages. The real magic happens when you invite people from the nosebleeds into the inner circle. With 78% of consumers being more willing to buy from a brand they feel connected to (Sprout Social, 2023), the question isn’t if you should build deeper connections, but how?
Enter my newest social obsession: Try Your Best (TYB).
I think TYB has found a borderline miraculous solution to this issue, creating a backstage pass of sorts, that truly shifts users from passive viewers to active partners.

For those unfamiliar with TYB, the app is a community rewards platform where users can engage with brands by completing challenges and participating in activities to earn coins that can be redeemed for products, exclusive merch, or site discounts. One minute, a user might be answering a quiz on a product’s ingredients. The next, they’re submitting a photo of a brand’s product in their work bag or voting on the next destination for a brand-sponsored influencer trip.
For users, TYB is a welcome interruption to the hypnotic scroll. It replaces unending consumption with compelling challenges that deliver more satisfying jolts of dopamine via achievement. However, the challenge cadence and rewards brands offer need to strike a healthy balance. Otherwise, a brand risks spamming its users, leaving them fatigued and annoyed. Additionally, the level of effort a challenge requires should be taken into consideration. I’ve seen brands that only ask for proof of purchase and UGC, which, for someone just learning about the brand, feels overly pushy. So, ensuring there is a mix of challenges and ways to participate in the community, no matter your relationship with the brand, is key.
This gamified approach transforms brand interaction from passive likes into a personal treasure hunt for users, carving out a unique role within the social sphere. TYB taps into a core human desire to learn, contribute, and be recognized, and it makes engaging with brands feel genuinely fun (something, I think, we all are craving more of).

If the groundwork wasn’t compelling enough, the underlying dialogue that’s occurring is what makes TYB truly brilliant for brands. Those simple challenges become a secret weapon for storytelling and sculpting a brand’s future in real time. A quick poll on which product to develop next isn’t just a poll; it’s a brand turning its most dedicated fans into a volunteer R&D team, fostering a deep sense of ownership in a product that hasn’t even been released. This is invaluable, given that 63% of consumers feel more positive about brands that let them contribute and interact (GWI, 2022). TYB essentially allows a brand to make its customers feel like valued co-conspirators in its success. So, a brand becomes more than a vendor; it becomes the host of a club, whose audience is incredibly proud to be active members.

Let’s talk tangible wins. In this post-cookie reality, first-party data is king, and TYB delivers it in an ethical and social-first way (remember, it’s fun). Every quiz answered and opinion submitted is volunteered information that paints a richer picture of a brand’s community that analytics alone can’t capture. And while I do think the app’s UX has some growing pains to sort out, especially as more communities are added, the impact the app can have on a brand’s bottom line is astounding. Loyalty members account for nearly 65% of a company’s sales (Bond), and TYB’s rewards system is a powerful engine for attracting and retaining those high-value customers.

We’ve established that the app’s mechanics are powerful, but they are not the strategy itself. TYB’s real power can be compounding: when community participation and challenges align with a broader purpose and brand ethos, brands build an asset competitors can’t easily copy. Challenges that ladder up to a core brand value—like sustainability, innovation, or craftsmanship—create a deep and cohesive narrative. Yet, when used as another bulletin board with a string of random, disconnected tasks for discounts or to drive engagement, it backfires and feels purely transactional. For brands that make their TYB community an intentional space to deepen and expand upon their ethos and POV, it becomes a truly instrumental growth engine.

My advice: don’t mistake TYB for just another loyalty app or fleeting social platform. Think of it as the secret sauce in your community engagement strategy. It’s the tool that converts passive followers into an invested base of advocates who feel seen, heard, rewarded, and, most importantly, excited to redeem their hard-earned coins for your brand’s products. In an economy of fractured attention, building a community that actually engages isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s among one of the most durable competitive advantages you can build.
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Suzanna Mayer specializes in building resonant brand strategies rooted in cultural insight. Her experience ranges in focus, from shaping overarching brand narratives for clients in travel, B2B, energy, and automotive, to driving impactful social strategies for CPG and Beauty brands targeting the Gen Z mindset. Driven by a love for exploration—both in market trends, nature, and food—Suzanna is a passionate traveler and hiker, often spending her weekends outdoors or trying out a new local restaurant.