A shoutout is when your brand or community posts gratitude to one of the members. People love it:
They get recognized by the tribe.
They get some followers.
They promote what they do.
👉 And it also engages other community members: they want to join the party and have the opportunity for a shoutout.
👉 The most interesting: nobody knows who will be shoutout-ed next time, so people will try to play this lottery over and over and submit more content.
Making shoutouts is free for a brand, so it's one of the best tools in terms of price/value. And I'm really amazed by the tiny amount of companies leveraging this basic tool.
Here are some great examples of systemic shoutout approaches:
Lululemon is literally full of user-generated content.
Patagonia is also famous for its community and environment-loving style.