• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 25, 2014

It would be an understatement to call the market for customer relationship management software and social marketing services crowded.
 
Still, the co-founders of Detroit-based start-up Stik think they’ve found a unique way to approach the space with Social Proof -- a new service that helps brands collect customer reviews, and then intelligently distribute them to potential customers.        
 
“We’re helping businesses collect customer success stories, and then push them to the right audiences,” said Jay Gierak, co-founder of Stik. “That’s really where the power comes from.”
 
In fact, Gierak claims to be carving out a new niche, “customer Csuccess marketing,” which combines content creation (user reviews) with targeted cross-platform delivery.
 
Existing clients trying the new service include General Motors, Quicken Loans and Coldwell Banker.
 
Reviews, which Social Proof collects with the help of brands partners, are always connected to a user’s social media profile. That way, potential customers know the reviews they are seeing are authentic. Reviewers also must agree to have their opinions shared with others.
 
The platform uses social connections, common characteristics and affiliations to push the reviews to specific consumer demographics via email, social and other established channels.  
 
The platform also “wraps” user reviews in metadata, which makes them searchable and sortable by specific parameters, customer characteristics and demographic data.
 
With Social Proof, Stik is appealing to brands in high-yield relationship-based industries, including real estate, home construction, automotive, healthcare and education.
 
“We’re interested in any [industry] where trust is a big factor,” said Nathan Labenz, Stik co-founder.
 
To date, Stik has raised $2.7 in capital from investors such as North Coast Technology Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Draper Associates, First Step Fund, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and Automation Alley.