There is a new trend in town and it’s called #socialcurrency. It’s a concept which allows customers to connect their social media accounts and pay in-store according to their friend and fan following. Social Currency is especially popular in pop-up shops. It allows social media influencers to exchange promotion for sizable discounts.
One Piece
Retail brand OnePiece recently launched a first of its kind pop-up #socialcurrency shopping experience in New York City. The Norwegian based brand which specializes in “onesies” (one piece jumpsuits) decided to leverage the power of social media. They created an ambassador system known as “PieceKeepers” which lets customers connect their social media accounts and pay based on their degree of influence. For each 500 followers across various platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn etc.) the customer earns $1 towards their purchase. To earn the discount, they must upload and share an image in the New York location using the store’s hashtag.
Klout
Positive endorsements in exchange for product is a solid marketing strategy, especially given the price tag that comes with celebrity-endorsed tweets or Instagram promotions. This idea of rewarding people based on their social media reach has been around for awhile. Founded in 2008, Klout is a company which invites users to connect all of their social media accounts and track their influence. Based on their reach across various platforms, users are assigned a score (1-100). The highest scores are rewarded with “perks”, exclusive rewards or product discounts.
Klout understands that influence is big. The company recently introduced a new content sharing platform which helps users boost their score and their influence. The new platform provides Klout users with dynamic content in areas of their interest. It uses four different flags to highlight certain articles: on the rise (content is on the verge of trending), crowdpleaser (a topic that is popular with one’s network), hidden gem (it hasn’t been seen by many in one’s network), and hot off the press (recently published). The idea is that by being a better content creator – or social sharer, you can boost your social media reach.
Marc Jacobs
Studies of social media as currency have found significant, positive correlations between posts and increased web traffic or e-commerce. Fashion brand, Marc Jacobs gained a bit of social traction after opening up a pop-up shop that lets fashionistas pay with tweets. The installation took place last year during New York Fashion Week. Cash had no value at this pop-up shop. All transactions were carried out based on the customers’ use of the promoted hashtag across various social media platforms.
The Daisy Marc Jacobs Tweet Shop was designed to be social media friendly, featuring a comfortable lounge, food, drinks and Wi-Fi. The brand, which was promoting their new Daisy perfume, exchanged tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos with customers. They hosted contests where Marc Jacobs products where given away to the most influential users. This #socialcurrency PR stunt is a strong one, offering equal value to the brand as well as the paying customers.
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