Coca-Cola and Social Media Policies

A company known for its presence across the globe and social media is Coca-Cola. The Coke Company social media policy is readily available on their website, and has been shared on Facebook and Twitter 75 times each, which is pretty impressive. 

Coke opens up their social media policy by discussing what social media means to them. They realize how many people, all over, talk about them each and everyday, and according to them, they want their more than 150,000 associates in more than 200 countries to join in on those conversations and to represent the company in the best possible manner. 

They go on to provide their employees with social media principles which they should use both in their personal and professional lives. Coke tells their employees to be smart, but still have fun. 

Coke then goes on to list their company commitments, which involve being transparent, responsible, and respectful. 

 

After listing their company policy towards social media, they go on to discuss their social media policy for employees on their personal time.  

Coca-Cola says that they respect the rights of their associates and authorized agencies’ associates to use blogs and other social media tools for both self-expression and as a means to further the company’s business. 

The Coke Company encourages their employees to use social media but to be responsible. 

Here are their expectations for personal social media use: 

 

I am very supportive of the Coca-Cola Company’s social media policy. Being transparent in all social media engagements is incredibly important, and all companies should make an active effort to do so. I also like that they encourage their employees to use social media, have fun, and try to further the company on their personal accounts if applicable. Coca-Cola also makes a good decision by telling their employees they alone are responsible for their personal actions, and if they decide to discuss the company on their personal profiles they must announce that they are affiliated with the company, and that they should consult the prepared company responses when dealing with topics that require subject matter expertise.

However, I don’t like the style of how their company and personal policies are written because they are a little complex and wordy. The policies would be better if they were written in more of a bullet point style, especially for their personal policy, although I appreciate how much detail they provide their employees with. In regards to their personal policy, they also reference several other policies, which they could provide hyperlinks to if possible so that they are more readily available for their employees, unless that is not possible for reasons legal or other.  

Overall, Coke has a great social media policy. They address all the necessary topics for both personal and private use, but their format could use some work. Other than that, Coke should keep it up! Companies need to have social media policies for their employees in their work and personal lives, and Coke does a great job making their expectations known. People need to make good decisions and be responsible for what they post, and Coke seems to be teaching their employees that.