Great article by Jason Cormier at SearchEngineWatch.com on the social media mastery of Coca-Cola with some really interesting and, in my view, key points.
Have a look at this…

Social Media Marketing

As marketers, we are bombarded with articles, seminars, workshops, whitepapers – telling us the how, why and wherefore of social media marketing – the reality is that often these sources of “knowledge” leave us with more questions than they have answered. As Jason Cormier points out, how refreshing to look at one company that has some really clear and valid thoughts on how universal principles apply to their social media management and marketing and how it is working for them.
“In all of this, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the lessons learned (and shared) from a single company – even one that’s been in business for 125 years. But one thing I’ve learned about social media is that universal principles apply. Coca-Cola may have far more budget and resources than you – but at least some of the wisdom gained from their leaders and experience can also be ours.

Coca-Cola’s View on Media

As Wendy Clark, SVP of Integrated Marketing and Communication for Coca-Cola will tell you, media is viewed as paid, earned, owned, and shared. This is not at all unique to Coke, but certainly sets the stage for understanding how the company views and segments its overall marketing.”
Clearly, if you look at the diagram above, it’s important to understand where your activity lies in the scheme of your marketing as a whole – and, for me, the key takeway is what value you place on how your customers and potential customers are expressing their engagement. Did they merely just “look” or did they “Like”, “Comment”. “Upload”, “Share”?
For Coca-Cola their actions are defined by the value they place on each type of engagement.

Data Whisperers – are they the new Messiahs?

Brilliant comment from Jonathan Mildenhall, VP of Global Advertising Strategy at Coca-Cola – “… data will become the new soil in which our ideas will grow, and data whisperers will become the new messiahs.”  The new messiahs? A good enough reason to get those “whisperers” engaging with your brand, your message then? Coca-Cola think so.
“Content Must Be Liquid and Linked” – another key takeaway here. Coca -Cola are thinking strictly in terms of how the content they produce will be shareable – because that’s how it will then flow across networks, cultures, and personal touch points for our customers. We need to understand what those personal touch points might be.

Advocacy vs Loyalty

“Advocacy Trumps Loyalty” – the final takeaway for this blog today is centred around an article by Joe Tripodi, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of Coca-Cola,  in the Harvard Business Review:
“Awareness is fine, but advocacy will take your business to the next level. I used to think that loyalty was the highest rung on the consumer pyramid until I became the CMO of Allstate Insurance. There, I saw clearly that so much business was driven through personal referrals and advocacy by individuals for their agent.” He goes on to say that Cocal Cola aspire to “…be a facilitator who manages communities, not a director who tries to control them.”
Can you see how you might translate that into your business? It’s a big step from broadcasting messages and running display ads that cannot and do not instigate any engagement, to being a valid and valuable facilitator in a community of potential customers, isn’t it? Do you see the value that would bring to your  business or do you still need persuading on the true value of social media marketing?