Toolz Academy provides digital skills training to help bridge the digital skill gap in Nigeria. It also connects trained graduates with companies needing digital talent through an internship program. The document discusses how brands can use social currency by engaging with customers on social media and creating relevant content to attract their attention and achieve marketing goals. It provides examples of brands like Mercedes, Kellogg's, Nike, Dropbox, GTBank, Access Bank, Leadway Assurance, UBA, and Union Bank that have effectively used social currency strategies.

1. Social Currency
Brands & Engagements

2. About Toolz Academy
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Lead Writer: Babajide Alaka
Editor: Elcee McEdwards
Research Team: Olufunke Akinloye, Amaka Uremeh
Creative: Oluwaseun Duncan
Contact: study@toolzacademy.com +234-342-4403
Address: No. 29 Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria
Data Sources: Social Bakers, Financial Brand, CBN
Acknowledgements: McKinsey, Financial Brands, Deloitte, KPMGTatio blanihi, lliquassumGit
Disclaimer: This document has been produced by Toolz Academy to provide information to Africa by
increasing the digital knowledge and competencies on the continent.
Toolz Academy thus certify that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect years of
experience and research that we have vetted and pronounce as global best practice.

3. About Author
Babajide Alaka, Head, Content at Zowasel, is the Content Creation &
Aggregation lead for the Zowasel Group that encompasses Zowasel,
Growsel, and Toolz Academy.
He was formerly the Content Director for Nigeria’s leading Digital
Agency, Street Toolz. His areas of strength are digital communications,
engagement management, content design, writing, and curation. He has
worked in the journalism sector for more than 12 years - having stints
with NEXT, Daily Times and Goal.
He is Google-Certified in Mobile Marketing and Search Marketing and continues to write for Premium
Times while he is also the group’s Digital Marketing Specialist.

4. 4 | Toolz Academy
Advancement in technology and the use of social
media has greatly influenced the pattern of
consumers’ choices and patronage. As a matter of
fact, it is no more business as usual. The onus is
now on brands to do what they can to connect with
today’s consumers, who live their social lives online
through the comfort of their devices. The brands now
have to strategically take their place in the hearts of
these consumers, in creative ways that are ingenious
and relevant enough to attract the attention of the
consumer, in order to achieve their marketing goals.
“
“
Now we have so many more social outlets, so many ways to be stalked and bullied.
If social media is too much for you to handle, then don’t have a Twitter or Facebook
account. Just be yourself. Be who you want to be.
Khloe Kardashian
THE BIG STEP TO ACHIEVING YOUR
MARKETING GOALS

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How then can brands ingeniously connect with the consumers? A perfect approach would
be to implore social currency.
The concept of social currency is derived from Pierre Bourdieu’s social capital theory,
which is based on a community lifestyle, where members are privy to information and
resources that are beneficial to them and for an improved status and social identity.

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PRINCIPLES
OF SOCIAL
CURRENCY
(STEPPS)
Are you in search of new ways to grow your business
and reach your marketing goals? Research shows
that 40% of what online users talk about, is their
personal experiences or relationships. There is often
an urge to share thoughts, feelings, experiences
and whatever you feel excited about. Brands should
put into consideration this important aspect of the
human character and adequately leverage on it
to lure online users, by creating a social currency
platform that wholly meets this need.

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So, how then do you create a social currency platform
that would give users a unique experience of the
brand? These principles should guide you.
Share what motivates your customer base
Your content should be centered on the consumer’s
interest. This should aid the share-ability of
the content and drive participation. For a shoe
manufacturing company, content about shoes, the
maintenance and useful fashion tips might be most
appropriate for social currency.
An insurance company that offers products that
cut across different aspects; from life to business,
family, health, savings and education, should create
content that cover these aspects, possibly content
on lifestyle.
With the recent awareness in health and good
lifestyle, food and lifestyle brands should also
consider content that in some way improve the
lifestyle of the users – content like health and body
care tips. People will share and engage with content
that is about them, talks to them or will be of benefit
to people around them. So, choose your content
wisely.
Trigger the top-of-mind appeal
The top-of-mind approach is a winning formula,
anytime. For an employee who is confused about how
to be that most loved employee in his organization,
he/she will deeply appreciate content that provides
useful information on how to achieve that goal.
The idea is to always create content the user won’t
forget in a hurry. Be sure that it appeals to the target
audience. Creating top-of-mind content is perfect for
word-of-mouth marketing.
Marketers have come to appreciate the power of
word of mouth marketing and how profitable it can
be to a business. People often prefer to use a product
that is well recommended by others.
Euromonitor’sanalysisontheconsumertrendin2017
identifies authenticity as one of the considerations
that will inform a consumer’s decision. The consumer
would rather go for a brand that is tested and trusted
by other users. Social currency hereby creates an
avenue for you to build trust and brand loyalty that
could aid word-of-mouth marketing for your brand.

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Emotions: Make your audience love you
Does your content make the user so satisfied that
their impression of you is totally amazing? An
example is a music platform, where users can listen
to their favourite music. Finding the song you have
endlessly searched for could affect your perception
of the owners of the platform. Value is really
important. It is essential to emotionally connect with
your audience at all times.
Remember what social currency is all about and why
people share their experience or try to identify with
other peoples’ experiences. Make it emotional. Make
your audience love you.
Publicity
This should help your brand get more noticed. Social
currency subtly puts your brand in the face of the
consumers and solicits their patronage. For social
currency to effectively do that, it should be relevant.
It is more of an owned media for your company
and a perfect avenue to publicize your brand, if the
platform generates good traffic.
Practical value
Go beyond the usual and the ordinary. Give users an
experience whenever they go through your content.
It could be on insights they probably would have
paid to have, humour or some content that provides
rare information.
Whatever form you choose to adapt, ensure that
it offers practical value. Recent research shows
a continuous rise in the number of searches for
instructional materials like how-tos. The trend also
shows that consumers react favourably to such
content because they offer practical value and
effectively apply to our everyday lives.
Stories
Do you know why we remember tales and often re-
tell them to kids at leisure times? It is because we
think stories are interesting. See your brand as a
storyteller trying to entertain the listeners. People
want to connect with reality. Nobody wants to be sold
to or to feel like a prey in the hands of marketers.
Stories create a good medium to convey your values
and messages in an interesting way, without the users
feeling manipulated. Imbibing the art of storytelling
on your platform could be a profitable way to keep
your audience engaged and actively interacting with

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WHAT IS SOCIAL
CURRENCY?
TEXT WRITTEN BY IMAGES TAKEN BY
Social currency is the trending medium of exchange
between brands and consumers. Wikipedia
describes it as “the entirety of actual and potential
resources which arise from the presence in social
networks and communities…” This is to say that social
currency is comprised of content that is relevant to
the consumers and in line with the key messages of
a brand.
It is a concept that goes beyond sharing information
or marketing products to consumers; it involves an
engaging interaction that can only be earned by
doing the right things. According to Brian Solis, “In
the digital space, attention is a currency. We earn it.
We spend it.”

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Erich Joachimsthaler, Founder and CEO of Vivaldi
Partners on social currency says, “Social currency
is a means, not the end; nor is it just a buzz or
conversation. Rather, it is about creating meaningful
experiences around the brand.” He further explains
the importance of social currency to a brand’s
interaction with its customers as it provides the
brand with an opportunity to relate with the personal
lifestyle of the consumer and creates a unique
brand identity. This is also what he has to say about
companies that build social currency.
“Companies who adopt the new processes and tools
in building social currency will prosper in today’s age
of digital and social revolution and have a chance of
creating new levels of business performance.”
Social currency is a widely accepted form of outreach
and it effectiveness is seen in different parts of the
world; developing countries are not left out of the
fuss. Brands and companies have seen the need to
engage consumers on a more personal level and are
Social currency, in the long run, is intended to build social
capital for the brand that embraces it, through affiliation,
conversations, advocacy, information and identity.

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Steve Sponder’s social currency’s wheel
shows the various forms through which
social currency occurs. They include useful
value, entertainment value, monetary value,
information value and personal value.
aggressively taking their place in social currency.
We would like to consider social currency as the
accurate measure of a brand’s credibility on the
digital space for online
marketing.
“Social currency” is a relatively common
concept in marketing and business these
days, but I think about the concept in
mathematical terms.
“
“

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TYPES OF
SOCIAL
CURRENCY
Social currency could be in
different forms. There really isn’t
any restriction to the form with
which it should take. The idea is for
it to be engaging and compelling
enough for the audience to share
with friends. Brands need to think
from the consumer’s perspective
and create content that would add
value to the consumer.
Useful value: This includes utilities from brands
that are beneficial. A good example is Nike+. It is a
platform for apps and services that provide useful

13. Toolz Academy | 13
value to Nike fans.
Entertainment value: Coke Studio is a good
example of this type of social currency. It is a
branded entertainment that serves as a form of
advertisement for a brand. Coke studio is a musical
show where artistes perform in pairs in competition
for a price. This generates good publicity for the
brand and entertains the audience.
Monetary value: This involves some kind of
voucher or promotion a brand offers the audience in
exchange of their patronage.
Information value: Here, social currency is in form
of informative content, which could come as blog
posts, videos or slide-share presentations.
Personal value: Content that offers personal value
is often compelling because it offers the audience
much more than information. It often enhances
their lives. Reality TV shows are good examples of

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Mercedes Benz
THANKS FOR PURCHASE
MORE SPACE LOREM
A good example of a brand that has leveraged on social currency to achieve its marketing goals is Mercedes-
Benz. They launched the CLA sedan with a contest that put five top Instagram photographers behind the
wheel for a three-day road trip, sharing six photos a day with the hashtag #CLATaketheWheel. The Instagram
photographer with the most likes won the car.
However, a handful of tweets and Instagram photos won’t be sufficient to a brand, if there is no engagement.
The idea with the Mercedes campaign was to amplify engagement on social media and possibly a landing
page on a website that had information about the product.
GLOBAL BRANDS THAT HAVE
LEVERAGED ON SOCIAL CURRENCY

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Kellogg’s
Kellogg is a popular brand in the food & beverage industry. The launch of the Special K chips was a remarkable
period for online users. The Tweet Shop in London gave away bags of new Special K chips in exchange for a
tweet. Though it seemed like a freebie from the company, it was a perfect opportunity for them to publicize
their product.
GLOBAL BRANDS THAT HAVE
LEVERAGED ON SOCIAL CURRENCY

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Nike
This brand has transformed from being just
a sportswear brand to a lifestyle brand with
the launch of a fitness tracker and Nike Fuel
Community, a platform where users can share
all they experienced throughout their weight-
loss journey - the struggles, diet, amongst other
things.
GLOBAL BRANDS THAT HAVE
LEVERAGED ON SOCIAL CURRENCY

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Dropbox in an awareness campaign offered extra Dropbox space for tweets and shares from users. Users
can actually increase their allocated spaces on Dropbox through referral. With their tweets and share, they
can acquire more space for their needs. Here, Dropbox has used its resources and product to acquire more
awareness and brand loyalty, as users get to talk about the brand.
GLOBAL BRANDS THAT HAVE
LEVERAGED ON SOCIAL CURRENCY

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GTBank
In Nigeria, businesses are opening up to the idea of social currency and are actively using it to generate
leads and increase brand loyalty. A good example is Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB). GTB was founded in 1990
and can be said to be a youth-centered bank, based on their strategic positioning and available products
and services. GTB currently has social currency platforms with which they effectively connect with the 21st
century user in their interest areas. Some of the platforms include the SME Market Hub, NdaniTV, GTB Food
and Drinks and GTB Fashion weekend.

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NdaniTV has grown to be one of the most sought after online platform in Africa, known for its interesting and
engaging content. The platform has over 340,000 likes on facebook and over 85,000 subscribers on Youtube
in just few years of it creation. Do you know why the platform has garnered this much following? It is a social
currency platform. GTbank identified their target audience and offered them content that is of interest to
them, in exchange for their patronage.
GTBank

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Access Bank
Access bank is also not taking the challenge lightly. Though Access bank has been in existence before GTbank
and is probably known as an old generation bank, they are not oblivious of the importance of social currency
in staying relevant. They have a social currency platform, Accelerate, which is currently gaining momentum.
The platform is targeted at the young adults and comprises a variety of creative content. There users have
access to interesting content from different lifestyle aspects; sports, health, fashion, fiction and videos etc.
AccelerateTv is an integral part of Accelerate and offers users interesting media content that appeals to the
target audience. The beauty of such platforms is that it increases the bank’s relevance to the target audience
and as much as they are favourably disposed to the content, the bank stays at the top of their minds.

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The insurance sector in Nigeria is obviously not left out of the fuss. Leadway Assurance Company has also
launched their lifestyle platform, Happy Notes, which provides content that cut across business, health, car
maintenance, safety, inspiration, sports, entertainment, stories, arts and culture, as well as trends. Though
an insurance company powers the platform, its content is not centered on insurance. Rather, the platform
is fast becoming a centre for useful information that users enjoy. This would help build brand equity and
loyalty, projecting Leadway Assurance as a thought leader for issues that relate to a people’s lives.
Leadway Assurance

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UBA
UBA, on its part, has also launched Red TV, an online TV channel designed to inspire and entertain the African
youth and young people all over the world.
The platform delivers rich, engaging and dynamic video content in its bid to offer value to its targets around
Africa and serve the social currency objectives of its sponsor.
Favouring intimate programming channels that speak to core interests and needs, the platform tries to pro-
vide content that appeal to the needs and wants the Generation Y and the millennial viewer, while also re-
maining relevant to the older generations.

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Union Bank
Union Vibes was created by Union Bank as a way of connecting with a select group of audience in a way
that would get their attention. The platform was targeted at young adults and served as a one-stop spot for
entertainment, as it offered music and video content, in addition to being a reservoir for attractive deals. The
platform further offered an avenue to spotlight young entrepreneurs.
To the credit of Union bank, users could easily open an account through the platform and could also
customize their ATM cards.

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MTN Nigeria
With the development of apps and other value added services from MTN Nigeria, it is only fair to commend
their efforts in staying relevant to their subscribers. Their input in social currency so far, has been laudable,
as users actively interact with their platforms. Some of these platforms include the MTN Music+, which
serves as an online bank for both audio and video music, readily available for feature phone users. There’s
also the Comedy+, an online store for interesting comedy skits and clips.
Music+ offers engagement and benefits to users of the platforms through various promotions, some of
which include:
• VIP passes to Music+ lifestyle events
• Loyalty points
• Exclusive music
• Flexible subscription options
• Offline streaming of music.
• 1 month free subscription + 150MB of data for first time users

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GLO
GLO, a telecommunications company known for their variety of products and services, is also not left out
in all these. They offer value added services that are exclusive to their subscribers at a very reduced price.
Some of the services include the GLO Joke portal and GLO Total Entertainment, a game store. These plat-
forms seek to create engagement and maintain the patronage of the subscribers, which is the major aim of
social currency.

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Impact of Social Currency
On Platforms
1. Information: It creates a platform for people to seek, receive & share information about the brand.
Brands indirectly take charge of what is being said on various platforms.
2. Conversation: This is a two way street. After brands release information it wants to put out, consumer
feedback is inevitable. It gives room for interaction.
3. Advocacy: It influences how much people promote & stand up for the brand.
4. Affiliation: It creates levels of connectedness and how people feel towards a brand & the surrounding
community
5. Identity: It engages people to identify with the brand, using it to express who they are.

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What Social Currency
Will Do for Your Brand
For every brand project, there is the purpose and the
capabilities. A social currency platform is said to have
achieved its purpose when its positive vibes influences
the brand.
Social currency will also:
1. Help to create a unique brand identity for your
company
2. Build the value of a company
3. Create a strong affiliation between customers,
consumers and users of a brand
4. Increase a brand’s engagement with customers
and interaction with customers
5. Increase a customer conversation around the
brand
6. Give users of the brand access to information
that makes them grow personally
7. Cause a strong attachment to brand, which
drives active advocacy, recommendation or even
defense for the brand.
8. Increase your sales and ROI
9. Help marketing efforts as it provides a ready
audience
10. Create an online and offline social community
for the brand
11. Provide an avenue to channel the brand’s CSR,
better
12. Consistently establish the brand as a thought
leader in the industry
Ways to Launch a Social Currency
Platform
Offering Freebies: Winning items only when you
use the platform
Unique offerings and Exclusivity: e.g. Offer a
discount when people buy on the platform or offer a
prize too juicy to ignore.
Dripping Tap: A controlled reveal over time with
interesting and news worthy activities that will keep
potential users guessing over time, supported with
key influencers and riddles e.g. “Something big is
coming”, “Countdown to the platform.”
Fanfare: A big bang launch involving a concentrated
burst of media investments across multiple channels.
Key Note
You don’t have to do anything wrong to get out of
business. As long as your competitors catch up with
the trend and do it right, you might lose out and fail.
Reinvent yourself to stay relevant. The importance
and advantages of being a social brand cannot be
over emphasized. As a brand, you need to be wary
and vigilant so that you are not caught unawares by
today’s emerging trends.
References
https://images.fastcompany.com/VivaldiPartners_SocialCurrency.pdf
http://www.hrzone.com/hr-glossary/what-is-social-currency
6 Principles for creating contagious social content https://www.skyword.com/
contentstandard/marketing/6-principles-for-creating-contagious-social-content/

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