Remembering “Share a Coke”
Why do some social media campaigns succeed over others? Every social media campaign has the goal to create growth for their product or brand, but not every campaign is successful in the end. One of the most memorable and successful social media campaigns was the “Share A Coke” campaign done by one of the most well-known brands, Coca Cola. In studying further, there are several components that made this particular campaign so successful.
One key component about the “Share a Coke” campaign is that the company did more than merely advertise their product. They made it so that their product advertised a highly desired community result; togetherness. All around the world, consumers began finding Coke bottles in stores with different names on them. The label would read, “Share a Coke with (Insert Name)”, and the soda aisles would have a plethora of Coke bottles containing a variety of names. Commercials aired showing people buying Coke’s with their friends’ names on them. The more they bought, the more friends they gained, the happier they were. “Share a Coke” was about connecting people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ahnFYzMp8
The most important factor that contributed to the success of this campaign was how personal the campaign became for consumers. People would post on their social feeds, sharing cokes with their friends and family. Over 500,000 people shared photos using the hashtag #shareacoke. This allowed While, allowing your brand image to be in the hands of the general public, is slightly a risk. Coca Cola has been around since 1892 and is a well established, family-friendly, brand. It can afford to take that risk. For Coca Cola it was a successful venture. The company gained 25 million followers. The Facebook website, a KPI, saw traffic increase 870%.
Every social media campaign begins with a goal. Coca Cola has stated their goals for the “Share a Coke” campaign were to increase their sales in the summer period, and to engage with their customers. These goals are simple and attainable. Thus, their Key Performance Indicators were also simple and easily measurable. To track their first goal, they would merely need to monitor changes in sales of coke products. To track the success with their second goal, they would need to monitor their social feeds. As stated earlier, Coca Cola did substantially well on their social media interactions. In a world growing in virtual connection, the campaign was able to become, as Digital Vidya explains, a call to action. “The slogan is powerful enough to convince the product and share their Coca-Cola stories online” they said, and the result of the campaign confirms that.
None of their goals would have been met, had they not done extensive research on their target audience. According to a case study on Coca Cola done by Monica Pitts, “Conducting primary and secondary research on your target audience prior to coming up with the creative concept for your marketing campaigns is a definite must.” The research done prior to the start of “Share a Coke” was extensive, to the point where even considering which names should be included on labels was an intricate part of their studies.
I remember always looking for my name on Coca Cola bottles, but never being able to find it in stores. There were ways you could go online and order bottles that had your name on it, but it wasn’t something my parents allowed me to do. Fortunately for me, my middle name was a little bit more common and that’s what my friends would get me when we all would “Share a Coke”. Interestingly, I was never much of a fan of Coca Cola. I much preferred to drink Sprites, but the idea that I could drink something that someone bought for me with my name on it made me feel special and loved. Looking back, I think how brilliant of a campaign that it sold the product without actually needing to solely sell the product.
Coca Cola isn’t the only company to have had success with a campaign with a strong call to action, such as this one. The feminine product company, Always, also ran a successful campaign called “Like A Girl” around the same time as the “Share a Coke” campaign. Always advertised confidence, Coca Cola advertised happiness and community, knowing their target audience was important in establishing how to reach them. Favorable, their successful social media campaigns resulted in a win-win scenario for everyone; growth for them, and positive changes in society.
