(9 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5)This is Adam Brown, Head Of Social Media at Coca-Cola, in a quick 3 minute interview on his new Social Media Policy for Coke. What a job that must have been! The thing I love about this, is that it’s a simple policy (3 pages long), practical and full of common sense while the best part is that Coca-Cola is empowering global staff to become part of the PR & Customer Relations teams.
Below I’ll list out the 10 Principles for Online Spokespeople & a link to download the new social media policy from Coca-Cola.
- 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.
Click here to download the new 3 page social media policy from Coca-Cola. (via ViralBlog)
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January 11th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Thanks for posting this. It is great to see a huge brand supporting social media within the company not just outside. It is amazing to watch this video, and then deal with companies that are still banning facebook and youtube from the office. I agree with getting everyone, even outside associates, involved – even if its replying to a comment or tweet that is relevant to them. thanks again!
Lucinda Callie – Sumo Digital
January 11th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
This is fascinating, but somehow leaves a bad aftertaste (a bit like Coke). I can’t shake the feeling that they’re playing the system and turning ’social media’ into just another form of ‘corporate media’.
The best line in the linked document is where it says “always remember who we are (a marketing company)”, not a soft drink company.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:39 am
A great example of a large corporate organisation integrating social media into their existing principles of communication. As Adam said its so important that these are simple but also that they had buy-in from Legal, HR, compliance, Marketing etc. Social Media is not a new separate ‘thing’ its an evolution of digitally connected communication that all companies at some point will need to address. We will all learn by the early adopters and their success or failures but they will gain ground on competitors by taking the lead!
January 13th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Succinct and entirely readable. Anyone in the company should be able to understand both the guidelines and their intent. Impressive.
This is a useful example of how a multinational is evolving communications policies to fit the reality of disaggregated media. I’d be interested in a follow-up interview with Adam in six months, asking him how the implementation has gone, what changes they’ve made, what they’ve learned, etc. Great post. Thanks.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Fantatic, I think they created the blueprint for large organisations the world over…my other favourite question, number 11 if you will…”would you feel comfortable saying it to the CEO, because you are!”
January 21st, 2010 at 10:20 am
Hi Digital Buzz / Aden,
Thanks for posting about this, I share you interest in the topic. I have two additional things to contribute: First, Coke is being transparent about what level of participation they expect from different categories of employees. The main distinction they make is between certified (“spokespeople”) and non-certified employees, but — as I tried to disentangle in my own blog post – http://bit.ly/5yFgza — there’s also a top tier called “subject matter experts.” In each case, Cokes’ policy aims to make it clear when someone is meant to step back and let the next level take care of something.
Second, to give credit where credit is due: Andy Sernovitz, the guy interviewing Coke’s Adam Brown in the video, is the uncredited source for ViralBlog. – http://www.damniwish.com/2010/01/common-sense-wisdom-in-cokes-new-social-media-policy.html
Looking forward to following your Tweets,
- Bruce Wilson
January 21st, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I love the idea of Social Media Certification … what are the chances of sharing a “syllabus” of sorts?