The Coca-Cola Company goes BIG with Social Media!

We are constantly seeing new examples of big companies and famous brands, embracing and using social media to connect with their customers. Still, it is impressive to see a company the size of Coca-Cola, not only talk the talk, but actually follow-through. Nothing matches better than big brands and advertising, and brand names do not get any bigger than Coca-Cola. Therefore, it is fascinating to watch Coca-Cola embrace social media and unveil strategies designed to connect with consumers.

Currently, Coca-Cola is using Facebook and Twitter to connect with their consumers and find this possibilities an unique way to sell their products. Both social media allows users to submit suggestions and have them voted on by other customers.


Campaigns like this, have allowed major multinationals to connect with their customers even more, by asking consumers what they expect (on a personal level) of Coca-Cola. This networks are useful to see what consumers’ trends are and to make their products relevant.

Coca-Cola’s Social Media Happiness Ambassadors to Visit 206

Countries Last year Coca-Cola was searching for a few brand ambassadors. At this moment these ambassadors are on a mission to find happiness in the 206 different countries that sell Coca-Cola products across the world. With this campaign (“Expedition 206), Coca-Cola is tapping regular people to be their ‘Happiness Ambassadors’ and travel the world during 2010 and document their quest via blog posts, Tweets, YouTube videos, TwitPics, and other social media mentions.


The winning three-person team has started their journey on January 1, 2010 and attempt to travel more than 150.000 miles in 365 days, visiting each of the 206 countries where Coca-Cola is sold. Their duty is to engage with local denizens and uncover what makes them happy, openly document and share their experiences online, and complete tasks in each country as determined by online voters. They will be sharing their updates on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and other social networking sites. If you like…you can follow the progress on those channels or see the real-time lifestreams at www.Expedition206.com.

In my opinion it is a pretty impressive undertaking, and one of the most unique and involved social media marketing and travel campaigns we have ever seen! The whole trip is all about interacting with people around the world and sharing the idea of happiness and connecting on a personal level and making connections that can exist beyond just language.

Future

Are campaigns like Expedition 206 the future of social media? Although the scale of Expedition 206 is obviously larger than what most social campaigns can be, the idea of connecting people globally using social media and real-life contact is something we hope other companies embrace.

What do you think of Expedition 206? Will you be following the team’s progress as they make their way around the world?

See you next time!