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Although Pepsi was the first to use Twitter, yet Coca-Cola has taken the tweets to the next level. With the launch of their ‘Happiness’ campaign, this summer (2009), Coke’s social media marketing strategy has focused on matching their marketing vehicles to their target consumers for better return on investment.
The increase in the level of activity, interaction and engagement in brand related decision making has triggered new collaboration between the communications, public relations and marketing teams to think about the social and digital media space as a new venue for driving good public relations for the company, a new idea that takes full advantage of what social networks have to offer to expand the Coca-Cola brand. With a full year of social networking program up ahead, ‘Expedition 206’ is Coke’s new social initiative scheduled to play out on Twitter as well as on platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.
The innovative initiative places focus on fans driving the experience. From selecting three ‘happiness ambassadors’ to travel 206 countries during 2010 to fans following the journey online; Coke’s virtual global community and its visitors will vote on where the team goes, what they do and who they visit in each country.
The Happiness Route
Through tweets, blogging and uploading on YouTube of their adventures, the happiness ambassadors will tell the story of Coke around the world and the attributes of what the brand is about. The much anticipated program scheduled to begin in January 2010 has already generated enough buzzing for Coke, bringing forth even more enjoyable and pass along content to people.
User generated content allows brands to communicate in order to maintain relationships, attract and keep customers, strengthen brand value. When Gap realized it needed to revamp its branding and reconnect with their consumers, it chose Facebook. Why? Because it was the most effective way of being able to integrate its wide range of activities from advertising, public relations, promotions to gaining customer insight for product development. The Coca-Cola Company recently joined Twitter Fortune 100 clan with designated pages for each of its brands, the corporation has build its own virtual community to strengthen its branding image.
When it comes to consumer generated content, everyone loves Facebook and Twitter. Apart from its easy navigation and reconnecting with people, Facebook provides the opportunity for brands to share any type of content from any media.
The Gap Facebook Page allows its fans to develop their own Gap ads, complete with personal information and photos from individual Facebook albums, learn about upcoming events and promotions, and even get linked to and participate in varied Gap contests, such as their ‘Born to Fit’ campaign contest, featured on Polyvore, to design an inspirational outfit with your own ‘Born to’ message.
Twitter has allowed Coke to gain information related to customer’s satisfaction, brand loyalty, desired future products/services and product attributes. The brand’s identification of different customer segments, based on culture and traditions that the virtual brand community members share has become a tool for strategically targeting marketing activities in real life environment, as well as predict future market trends and activities based on changes in behavior.
When we look at advertising strategies and the best ways to reach customers, we instantly visualize creatives that fit broadcast and print media. With personal data collection, Facebook is a powerful advertising platform. Through social media, Gap ditched TV and promoted its 1969 line (Born to Fit) mainly through Facebook. Coke not only utilized Twitter to discover what interests their targets, but have also succeeded in discovering the most active brand consumers, based on the millions who participated in the ‘happiness ambassador’ competition.
As such, brands succeed in conveying their messages through print, visual and audio techniques that facilitate consumer perceptions and interpretations of the brand and its products and services. At the end of the day, it is all about strategy, who is your target audience and what the brand is aiming to accomplish. Social networking is ultimately about communicating and maintaining relationships. And the best way to create this in order to strengthen your brand is by keeping your consumers updated, sharing images, inviting them to participate in events. In other words, displaying the human nature of your brand.
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