Three Things Coca-Cola Got Right in their Social Media Policy

• Jan 6th, 2010
• Posted by Ron Schott
• Posted in Good Ideas, Lists, Social Media, Social Media News

In the culture of American business, you know something has “made it” when the legal team writes a policy around it – such is the case with social media these days. The latest large brand to do so was The Coca-Cola Company, which just released its concisely three-page Online Social Media Principles.

Here are the top three things we think Coca-Cola got right:

Kept It Simple - While the legalese can quickly become overwhelming in similar documents, the Coca-Cola attempt at a social media policy speaks to its audience in terms they know and use. Less chance for confusion means less chance for breach of the policy.

Covered All Their Bases – By saying the following, Coca-Cola put their employees and everyone else connected with the company on notice. In today’s digital age, where your agents are many and direct oversight is sometimes murky, having a policy that extends beyond physical walls and across the globe makes all the difference.

“The Company adheres strongly to its core values in the online social media community, and we expect the same commitment from all Company representatives – including Company associates, and associates of our agencies, vendors and suppliers. Any deviation from these commitments may be subject to disciplinary review or other appropriate action.”

Gave the Power to the People – Coca-Cola knows that the social media landscape is expanding faster than the physical universe. They also know that no matter how much conversation tracking they do, they can’t keep up with the real-time pace of the online world. By empowering all Coca-Cola employees, regardless of their position in the company, to bring pertinent information to the attention of their online representatives, Coca-Cola has effectively created a team of watchful users that will increase their total number of attentive eyeballs on the Social Web.

There’s been an obvious evolution of large brand social media policies over the past couple of years and that’s the way it should be. More importantly, though, is the fact that these policies are being shared as living documents and added to on a living basis as the Web (and all forms of communication) morphs and changes.

Well done, Coca-Cola.