The social currency: Should brands give gifts for favourable tweets and posts?
From fashion to food, an increasing number of businesses are exchanging goods and services for tweets and Instagram posts. How much value are these companies actually getting from this alternative payment method?
Marc Jacobs' tweet pop-up shop
Marc Jacobs is leading the way in the retail sector after opening its doors to a fashion tweet pop-up shop last weekend in London, where tweets and social media posts using the #MJDaisyChain hash tag bought you coffee, cupcakes, fragrances and other Marc Jacobs goodies. And if you were creative enough to combine the tweet with a Vine video, you were in for a free gift and a manicure at the pop-up nail bar as well.
The most powerful word-of-mouth marketing channel is no doubt social media, with as many as 71 per cent of consumers more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. As brands and businesses work hard to have their voices heard on social media from selfie sweepstake competitions to interactive video campaigns, the latest trend emerging is the emergence of a new powerful order; the social currency.
In the past few months, London has seen a flurry of businesses looking to capitalise on this new social currency through a series of social media pop-up shops, where the pound is exchanged for tweets and posts.
Frozen food brand Birds Eye recently gave away free food to diners in a Covent Garden pop-up, in return for a picture post of their meal with the hashtag #BirdsEyeInspirations. Nokia promoted the Lumia 630 by launching the #100aires pop-up in East London in June, where one-off art pieces of art were up for sale using social currency.
Another pop-up that is fast-approaching is Yes-Sir.com and Man Made London’s collaboration to bring you the first social media barber shop. From 18-20 September, visitors will get a free beard trim or wet shave in exchange for a tweet, Facebook post or Instagram post with the hashtag #ShaveMeSir. Visitors will also be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi, a photo booth, social media competitions and beer and popcorn while they wait their turn.
There are clear benefits of hosting these social media pop-up stores for businesses, several of which are similar to that of traditional pop-ups; they are for a limited time only, they generate a buzz, encourage spontaneous purchases and increase brand awareness of the company. In addition, it is clear that trading goods and services for tweets and posts about your business, can clearly create an increase in online exposure amongst the community of fans and followers and reach new potential consumers through the 'word-of-mouth' posting and tweeting.
As brands and businesses continue to develop and utilise the social currency in exchange for goods and services, they must be aware of the potential downfalls. The biggest risk being whether the offer of free goods and services will entice the right target audience. Healthcare company Telecure found that their pay-by-tweet option did not result in a quantifiable change in their social media metrics and even encouraged dishonesty amongst how people used the service.
Furthermore, if the customer loses trust with followers and friends that are in effect being paid to post and tweet, it could in the longer-run reduce the credibility of social media as a trusted word-of-mouth platform. And the more frequently businesses begin to utilise the social currency, it could devalue the worth of a share or a tweet.
It is certain that there is a bright future for social currency, especially for B2C brands that have a strong social media presence and a significant fanbase. It will be interesting to see as we move into a world which is looking into alternative methods of payment as social media continues to develop as more than it’s traditional use as a communication platform.
Rupa Ganatra is co-founder of Yes Sir