The Coca-Cola Company: Online Social Media Principles

“Every day, people discuss, debate and embrace The Coco-Cola Company and our brands in thousands of online conversations. We recognize the vital importance of participating in these online conversations and are committed to ensuring that we participate in online social media the right way. These Online Social Media Principles have been developed to help empower our associates to participate in this new frontier of marketing and communications, represent our Company, and share the optimistic and positive spirits of our brands.”

The Coca-Cola Online Social Media Principle document does a great job of telling its employees what they can and can’t do, while wording it in a manner that creates a feeling of empowerment.  Values that Coca-Cola wants its members to embody include:

• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Passion
• Diversity
• Quality

The brand demands that these values, which must be upheld in the work place, be demonstrated online and in social medias.  Coca-Cola recognizes that social medias are more fun platforms used for self expression. However, the company still creates guidelines. The document instructs employees to follow the same Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies created by Coca-Cola. The brand adheres to strong core values in its own social media channels and requests that anyone involved with Coca-Cola {associates, associates of agencies, vendors or suppliers} do the same. If anyone associated with Coca-Cola acts differently, they are subject to disciplinary review or any approbate action.

The company created five core values that must be adhered to in the online social media community. These are for employees who manage Coca-Cola’s media pages:

1. Transparency
2. Protection
3. Respect
4. Responsibility
5. Utilization

Here are an additional five principles for personal or unofficial online activities

1. Adhere to the Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies.
2. You are responsible for your actions.
3. Be a “scout” for compliments and criticism.
4. Let the subject matter experts respond to negative posts.
5. Be conscious when mixing your business and personal lives.

Next the document lists guidelines for the companies online spokespeople. These guidelines mirror many of the values and principles stated above. Rules that appear for the first time include: Remember that your local posts can have global significance, and know that the Internet is permanent. Besides those two rules, the rest seem repetitive.

The Coca-Cola Company’s Online Social Media Principles document is very thought out. It clearly states what the organization will and will not tolerate. The guideline does not restrict anything outlandish; employees are still encouraged to participate in personal accounts, but in a smart manner. These principles and values are the same any organization would request from members representing their company. The only questionable negative of the document is the repetitiveness in rules and procedures. However, I don’t consider this complaint to necessarily be a negative. I believe that it is almost necessary to outline  some points a few times to ensure employees truly understand what an organization demands from them. If information is unclear or not emphasized, an employee may be confused and eventually find themselves in trouble with the company and  their employers.

sprout social

Sprout Social is a program that helps businesses manage their social media. It monitors a companies brand and the conversations taking place regarding that brand. Through this site, you can publish and schedule updates across multiple social channels. Additionally, you can schedule and assign tasks for other team members. Finally, Sprout Social measures a companies efforts  with comprehensive reporting and analytics.

“Our web application integrates with Twitter, Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn and other networks where consumers are engaging with businesses and brands. In addition to communication tools, Sprout Social offers contact management, competitive insight, lead generation, reporting, analeptics and more–all in a package that’s intuitive and easy to use.” – Sprout Social

As the Marketing Projects Coordinator for Student Safety Programs at Marquette University, I use Sprout Social to manage all of my social media tasks. It shows me when our Twitter and Facebook accounts have gained new Twitter and Facebook followers, interactions, unique users, and impressions. The site also displays Student Safety’s audience demographics which helps me decided who I want to target certain messages toward.

My favorite tool on Sprout Social is the publishing application. As a student, I am not allowed to post on Facebook or Twitter when I am out of the office. This can create certain obstacles. However, the publishing tool allows me to set up a content calendar or compose certain messages and then schedule them to go out on specific dates. This is extremely convenient when I know what information I want to send out to our followers and what time/date it needs to appear on which site.

#ChristmasStartsWithChrist

Phillippa Warr from Wired.co.UK states, “The Church of England is launching a Christmas Twitter campaign which will see the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2012 Christmas sermon translated into tweets.” The Archbishop of York and the Archbishop of Designate will also be joining in the social media campaign by sharing their Christmas homilies with the Twitterverse.  All clergy members are also encouraged to participate, using the hashtag #ChristmasStartsWithChrist.

“There are  large numbers of social media enthusiasts to be found in pews and pulpits across the country. This is an invitation for them to join together to celebrate the joy of the Christ Child coming into the world, taking the real meaning of Christmas to a new digital audience.” -Reverend Arun Arora, Director of Communications and the Archbishops’ Council

According to the Church’s official press release, “congregations and clergy in the 12,000 parishes of the Church of England are being encouraged to get out their smartphones and livetweet the joy and meaning of Christmas.” It is unclear whether the congregation is being encouraged to pull out their smartphones in the middle of church. However, it seems almost impossible to livetweet if the phone is not out during the sermon.

This campaign brings up questions of appropriateness to some clergy members. While spreading the ‘good news’ is part of the Christian mission, it seems odd that social media has now become a platform the Church is interested it. Most churches frown upon mobile and cell phone usage during worship.

I believe that the Church is similar to any organization that wants to reach a younger demographic. However, I am not sure livetweeting during ceremonies is the right approach.

Do you think that tweeting during church seems appropriate? If so, will it be distracting for the more traditional church goers?