Ragan.com, a company that shares useful info about public relations and marketing communications, just posted an interview with Adam Brown, who is in charge of social media at Coca-Cola. I strongly encourage you to read the article and watch the video.

Coca-Cola obviously has decided to allocate a great deal of their marketing budget to social media. I will be watching what they do, learning from them, and trying to emulate them for my own agency and our clients. What I love about this article and video is:

1. It reinforces what I have been preaching: a company or organization does not own or control its brand. The “people” do. A brand is an emotional connection between the people and the organization. As marketers, we can help to strengthen this emotional connection, but we cannot force someone to feel something. That feeling resides in their hearts and minds. Social media is a great way to bring people together around a brand. Even if they’re not talking about the brand, they are aware that they have been brought together under the brand’s umbrella.

2. Coca-Cola has created guidelines for social media that apply to all of its employees worldwide. But no one person or department “owns” social media in the company. Experts from various departments and divisions throughout the company are spokespersons in their areas of expertise. They don’t make the PR people speak about specific areas where they have no expertise (or credibility).

3. Coca-Cola is sending three social media ambasssadors to the 270 countries around the world where Coke is sold. They are going to do interviews and record their experiences. The focus is on “happiness.”  How great is that?

4. The social media ambassadors were chosen by an online vote, not by the marketing people. Again, they are putting the power in the hands of the people in their social media communities.

5. Admittedly, Coca-Cola has a very strong brand, and they take some risks with the brand by giving up control in social networks. The challenge is for companies with less brand equity to execute social media programs with as much reach and strength. But since the Internet is the great equalizer, small companies can be more nimble and fast-on-their-feet as they navigate through all the social media communities.

Thanks to Ragan and Coca-Cola for sharing this great information…it makes me happy!

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