Is it working?

Now that we have discussed a few things about how to use SM as a marketing tool, lets see if it is working for Coke.


I will give an example of SMM activity that Coke has done and from a marketing (and my) point of view give you my opinions on why I think the campaign was successful.


Coke's expedition 206
Coke offered a chance to three happiness ambassadors to travel the world and find out what it is that makes people happy.  The three ambassadors were selected from an online vote.  As the travelled the world, they kept all fans up to date with their movements and told their happiness stories using a number of SM platforms.  


These can be found here:


Facebook
Flickr
Youtube
Twitter


Coke also used a number of other social media platforms for particular countries, therefore, ensuring that as they travel the world, the world travels with them.  For example, they used QQ (a chinese instant messaging service) and this alone received approximately 1 billion visits related to expedition 206.


So did it work?


Yes, in my view it did.  Coke wanted to raise awareness of their brand and what a way to do this.  The whole world was reached, and even when the ambassadors left for another country, they were still followed through the use of social media.


Why did it work?


Coke generated conversation, they didn't purely advertise to their markets, they generated conversation with their consumers, in a space where their consumers like to be, social media.  They coupled this with their brand of happiness, which is what everyone wants and this generated amazing conversations.  Good stories from all around the world were spread, showing to everyone that happiness is very much alive.  The brand wasn't directly pushed, so it didn't annoy consumers, the brand was supported by something people want, and associated itself with happiness.


From a marketing perspective, the interest in this campaign started well before the campaign started.  People got involved by voting, therefore feeling part of the whole campaign, and because these people voted, they felt that they had a say in how this campaign will run.  This then kept them interested and they remained followers, spreading the word about this awesome campaign, leading to the generation of more followers, and all the way, Coke is achieving its objectives of raising awareness and developing two way conversations with their consumers.


I would love to hear if any of you took part in this campaign (by voting perhaps), whether you ever came across this campaign and in your view, whether you think it was a success and why.


Ross