Currently, many businesses use social media to promote their products or brands. Studies show that 73% of marketers believe that social media marketing is at least somewhat effective when trying to advertise to consumers and why wouldn’t they? 3.5 billion people or 45% of the population use social media at least one a day and 50% of these consumers use social media to research products. However, it is not that simple to make a marketing campaign. They need something to make their brand stand out to people in order for it to go viral and therefore be useful to the business.
According to Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, there are six different principles that are necessary for a successful marketing campaign through the use of social media; these being referred to as the Principles of Contagiousness. In this article, we will focus on why the principle of social currency is so important to getting your product or brand viral.
Human Necessity
It is a basic human need to be liked and have social approval from others. People desire to appear attractive, knowledgeable, important or just appealing to their followers, who are often their peers in real life. Social media allows us to gain this approval through liking systems, commenting and sharing as it shows that others agree with or like their perspective. Marketers can either add remarkability to their product or make people feel like they are in an exclusive group in order to advertise themselves.
Make People Feel like Insiders
Another necessity for humans is to be apart of something. Many people want to be included in exclusive groups, whether that be friendship circles, employment from a well respected organisation, parties, they are all groups where only some people can have access to making them more appealing to consumers. Marketers can use this need to ‘feel like insiders’ to promote their product and brand. If they make products seem exclusive or limited in number, consumers will be more likely to share posts involving it and make an effort to tell their friends about it as they want to be included in this group that the brand has made for them. For example, take Elon Musk’s store, The Boring Company. By only selling a small number of weird products, when people purchase them, they feel as though they are apart of a group of people who are better than others. It seems to be an effective strategy too, with all 20,000 of its flame throwers selling out within five days.
Show Remarkability
As well as being liked, some aim to be unique and remarkable due to wanting to stand out and be better than others. Social media gives them a platform to show how different they are. People are always posting about exclusive parties or clubs, items that show off wealth like watches or perhaps, charity events that may support a necessary cause. Each one of these is an effort to be perceived in a positive light by their followers. Marketers can abuse this want by making their product assist the consumer into being different by sharing it or going out and buying the product and posting with it on social media. For example, take a business like Tommy Hilfiger. A plain men’s hoodie from Kmart costs $15 but a Tommy Hilfiger hoodie with the logo on it is at least $150(). This is because people are willing to pay this extra $135 as they are paying for the social currency. By posting pictures of themselves online, they look like they are wealthy as they have the money to afford these types of clothing, therefore showing off a positive quality and giving them the social currency, they desire.
In conclusion, the principle of social currency in the principles of contagiousness is extremely important to marketers when using social media to promote their organisation.
Assignment 1 - Digital Marketing - Hannah Day 
Wow, I didn’t know Elon Musk also owned online stores… interesting work!
LikeLike
He’s a great business man, thank you for your comment
LikeLike
Thank you! This article is really helpful
LikeLike
I’m glad it could be of use to you, thank you for reading.
LikeLike
Very useful! The point about social currency is something I’ve never thought about.
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment!
LikeLike
Very interesting article 👍 Showing the different factors that could increase the social media presence of a business is very helpful especially with the growing amount of people going online.
LikeLike
Thank you so much for reading!
LikeLike
Interesting post, Hannah! I agree that social currency plays a large role within what consumers find attractive or not. Do you personally agree with the idea of social currency, or do you think it might just be a shallow attempt at people wanting to be accepted? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
LikeLike
I feel like it definitely revolves around just wanting to be accepted. It feels like most people only use specific social media such as Instagram and Facebook for the purpose of wanting to seem better to others. Thank you for reading!
LikeLike
This is a really interesting idea, and very well written 👍
LikeLike
Thank you so much for reading!
LikeLike
Very informative and interesting article! I definitely agree with your point that people buy brands to increase their social currency and really enjoyed your Kmart vs. Tommy Hilfiger comparison. It is so true!
LikeLike
Thank you so much for reading! I honestly think the price difference is ridiculous but I do own Tommy Hilfiger clothes too…
LikeLike
Interesting article, love your take on it. Do you think that social currency will continue to influence how people use social media in the future or do you think it will die out?
LikeLike
I feel as though people will always be looking for approval from others and I don’t think this is a dying concept, just because its human nature as stated in the article. Thank you for reading!
LikeLike
Such an interesting concept… What are your thoughts on the other principles of contagiousness?
LikeLike
They’re all extremely important when making any business social media campaign and you must consider them all. This was just an explanation on one of them! Thank you for reading!
LikeLike
Great Article! A lot of people can get confused as to how to get their brand or business famous, and often times people who are successful or have gone viral talk about it in very abstract and non-specific terms, so this article does a very good job in clearly illustrating why and how things can get popular in social media.
LikeLike
Thank you so much for reading!
LikeLike
Great work! I really like the feeling like insiders paragraph as I know so many people that do this and just don’t realise it.
LikeLike
There’s so many examples of it! So many brands feed off this need and it is extremely interesting to watch.
LikeLike
I wonder, if more and more consumers read this, would they grow privy to marketing techniques such as this and force the market to evolve further… Either way, a great read!
LikeLike
It definitely is possible but at the same time, it is still a human need so it may lead them to not care or do it in another way which may force the market to change
LikeLike