Social Brand Inventory

Name

Institution

With the advent of social media, creating a social brand has become a mandatory undertaking for all corporate or business entities. Individual too, such as politicians, musician, CEO, sportsmen among others are under pressure to create social brands of themselves. However, pressure businesses face is enormous especial since social platforms provide a new platform for competition. Every organisation has to create a brand image and sell it to make sure customer identify with it. Coca-Cola, one of the most influential international brands has been able to fashion a resilient social brand for itself.

The brand

Coca-Cola has numerous brand features and elements that are easily identified by consumers. These elements have effectively enabled the brand to realise a unique brand identity and brand differentiation. The elements are logos, symbols, characters, slogans and trademarks (Haig, 2007).

The Coca cola brand has unique and identifiable symbols and logos

All the symbols bear coca cola’s log (bellow) logo is frequently written in red Spenserian script which make it easily recognisable by consumers

Coco cola also has a desirable personality and mages to create a form of friendship with customers. It has a brand similar to human personality. The personality is a product of the packaging, marketing activities and advertisements. Also, customer’s experience with the brand over time shape the personality type they associate with the brand. It has become part of the life style of many people consumers, becoming part of many activities and interest as well as shaping their opinions.

The coca cola slogan and trademarks have also been influential in nurturing the brand. The brand has had numerous slogans over years. Most the slogans captured the essence of the prevailing activities, for instance during World War II it coca cola was a symbol of friendship, during the world cup it capture the spirit of the world cup and during the Olympics it captures the spirit of the Olympic. As a result, Coca-Cola manages to remain relevant to people irrespective of the prevailing circumstances. The trade maker “Coca cola” is also distinguishable by consumers.

Marketing Coca Cola brand in social media

To conduct a social media inventory, it is necessary to use a competitive social media analysis tool. The tool should be able to distinguish indirect and direct competitive brands for points of equivalence and points of dissimilarity. The social media inventory should capture the content, website/blog, social networking, relationships, and analytics and tech.

Content

The content parameter should evaluate and list all the content created or use by the brand such as events reports , articles, CEO/executive director reports, blog posts, articles, stakeholder and client updates, newsletters, photos, videos, audio, reviews, quarterly and annual report among others. How is the content packed and distributed

Website and blog

The parameter evaluates the above content as presented on the website or blog. Two checklists are necessary for this purpose: checklist for clarity or purpose and checklist for maximizing the impact.

Social networking

This parameter takes the inventory of the number of friends, fans and followers, their length of involvement, and the growth rate. It takes inventory of numbers on various social networking sites and community sites. A checklist for purpose and clarity and various tools for efficiency and impact can be used in the evaluation of social networking parameters.

Relationships

Relationships take onto account the relationships the brand has with different professional, consultants, other organisations, media outlets and others. It takes into account the most influential relationships.

Analytics and reach

It focuses website and blog analytics. It takes the inventory of monthly visitors, traffic growth, repeat and new visitors, referrals and the ranking given to the content.

The social attribute of coca cola brand

Coca cola brand position statement

Coca cola has a strong band statement that it is a companion or a friend that accompanies its consumers in all fun filled activates. As a result, it heavily sponsors sporting and gaming activities as well as identify with festive seasons such Christmas.

Social persona

Compared to its competitors such as Pepsi, coca cola has a strong social persona that visible engages with its consumers (Mayes, 2011). The persona is created by various elements of the brand earlier noted. Thus coca cola’s persona is a product of its slogans, logo, packaging, taste, and pricing. These elements give it a physical existence and to its human like intractability with consumers. The brand positioning as a friend and lover of fun further increase its social personification.

Brand social channels and vehicles

There are several social vehicles use by coca cola brand to reach its customers. They include the brand official website, blogs, social networks and community sites (Mayes, 2011). Coca cola has a number of websites. Some are regional in their coverage; others apply to specific countries while some are run by bottling plants across the world. For example http://us.coca-cola.com/home/ is the U.S. website, http://www.cocacola.co.za/ the South African platform and http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/ in UK among others. Social networks and community sites include Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, and others.

Key components of the brand’s organizational social media policy

Coca cola appreciates the influence of social media and how it can impact on the brand positively or negatively (Coca Cola, 2009). In this regard, the brand has a strong social media policies that guide all it social media engagements. The policy states that both its social growth is guided by leadership, collaboration, integrity, accountability, passion, diversity, and quality. The companies over values for social media community are transparency, protection, respect, responsibility and utilization (Coca Cola, 2009). In relation to company and agency associates the brand has 10 principles that all associate must observe (Coca Cola, 2009):

Be Certified in the Social Media Certification Program.

Follow our Code of Business Conduct and all other Company policies.

Be mindful that you are representing the Company.

Fully disclose your affiliation with the Company.

Keep records.

When in doubt, do not post.

Give credit where credit is due and don’t violate others’ rights.

Be responsible to your work.

Remember that your local posts can have global significance.

Know that the Internet is permanent.

Audience and engagement

Coco cola’s audience consist of consumers, corporate bodies, government and retailers. All these identify with the brand and relate with it at a personal level. These engage with the company through social media post, share events, picture, videos, tweets and re-tweets, sharing blog post and press releases among others.

Conclusion and recommendation

Coca-Cola has a strong social brand and has managed to appeal to many consumers who identify with the brand at a personal level. However, to keep up this image coca cola has to keep up with its current activities and increase the extent of the creating through which it engages with consumers.

References

Coca Cola. (2009). Online social media principles. Retrieved from http://www.viralblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/TCCC-Online-Social-Media-Principles-12-2009.pdf

Mayes, L. (2011). Effectively Incorporating Social Media: A Case Study on Coca-Cola. Retrieved from http://www.american.edu/soc/communication/upload/Laura-Mayes.pdf

Haig, M. (2007). Brand royalty: How the world’s top 100 brands thrive and survive. London [u.a.: Kogan Page.