Coca Cola’s use of social media in its ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign
One of the best ways to help ensure that a business is unique and that it gets the attention of its target markets is through content marketing. Social media platforms have made it possible for productions to be able to provide free valuable content to their target consumers. Almost every individual in the world is connected to more than one social media platform, which helps to show the strength that these platforms have on businesses reaching their target consumers (Del Buono, 2015). Social media enables productions to reach out to their consumers, respond to their queries and also update them on their new products.
One of these social media platforms is Facebook; it is one of the most renowned media platforms. The platform has almost two billion users, where 80% of the people that use the internet have an active Facebook account that they log in multiple times in a day (Wiltjer, 2015). One advantageous fact about Facebook is that it is easy to use and this has ensured that it is not only used by the younger generations. It is estimated that 65% of people that are above the age of 65 own and are still active in their Facebook accounts (Wiltjer, 2015). Facebook is a media platform that people all over the world use on a daily basis and this makes it one of the best social media advertising platforms. Facebook is an effective media for advertising for all businesses because of its ability to reach the targeted audience. It allows for business to make specifications on its target audience in regards to age, behaviour, interests and the location (Wiltjer, 2015).
One of the businesses that have learnt and taken advantage of media platforms like Facebook for their PR campaigns is Coca Cola Company. As one of the most recognized brands in the world, it is able to attract its fans and its followers without much effort by having active social media accounts in all platforms. Coca Cola has over 63 million followers in its Facebook account, which makes it very easy for the company to reach their consumer targets when they advertise using this platform (May, 2019). One of the most effective campaigns that Coca Cola was able to pull through by using Facebook is the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign in 2014. This has been rated to be one of the best performing marketing campaigns, which Coca Cola has ever pulled through in history. The campaign exchanged the famous iconic coke design on the coca cola cans with the most common names in various countries. Each of the new bottles had the #shareacoke wording on them, which was meant to inspire consumers to make online promotion of the brand (Moye, 2014). Consumers were encouraged to find the new branded coke bottles that had their names or the names that held distinctive significance for them. After which they were encouraged to share them with their family as well as friends. This worked effectively as consumers started creating conversations online which helped to create media awareness on the brand and its products. The consumers shared their experiences as well as stories on social media using the hashtag #ShareaCoke (Moye, 2014).
An effective social media campaign is one that allows the consumers to effectively connect with brand and actually take part in increasing the positive effects of the campaign on the brand (Del Buono, 2015). Through this campaign, Coca Cola was able to connect and interact with their consumers on a personalized level. The target consumers in this case were the millennial, this is a group of people who value personalization and it has actually become a way of life for them (May, 2019). This group has a high regard on self-creativity, distinct storytelling and the way that they connect with their friends is also very important to them. The campaign gave them the ability to engage in all these things while at the same time promoting the brand. Whenever a consumer shared a Coca Cola bottle branded with a friend’s name, they honoured this friend and at the same time promoted the Coke brand unknowingly.
Social media should be used as a platform to allow brands to effectively communicate with their audience which helps to improve consumer relations (Del Buono, 2015). Coca Cola used their Facebook page to listen to their audience and responded to their requests on the names that they wanted to see on the new Coca Cola bottles. The campaign was a success as it increases the intake of the beverage for young adults by 7%; it also produced a total of more than nineteen million media impresses (May, 2019). The circulation on the company’s Facebook page increased by 87% with the likes on this page also augmented by almost 40% (May, 2019).
Though Coca Cola has been effective in utilizing social media platforms for effectiveness in their public relations, there are still some weaknesses in their strategy. Being a celebrity brand makes Coca Cola inactive on their social media pages. Most of the company’s social media pages, for instance, Facebook are left unattended for very long periods without any response to many consumer questions and also without frequent updates on the brand. Coca Cola needs to understand that consumers connect better with a brand that they are able to reach out to in case of any criticizes on the products and get a quick response.
References
Del Buono, A. (2015). Marketing in the digital age. Beverage Industry, 106(8), 22–27.
Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=108622310&site=ehost-live
May, A. H. (2019, May 10). Case Study On Coca Cola 'Share A Coke' Campaign. Retrieved
from https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/case-study-on-coca-colas-share-a-coke-campaign/
Moye, J. (2014, June 10). Summer of Sharing: 'Share a Coke' Campaign Rolls Out in the U.S.
Retrieved from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/summer-of-sharing-share-a-coke-campaign-rolls-out-in-the-us
Wiltjer, P. (2015). Facebook marketing primer. Catering Magazine, 21(3), 42–45. Retrieved
From http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=103100776&site=ehost-live
