Social Media Marketing

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USING B
RAND O
UTPOSTS AND C
OMMUNITIES
Figure 4.4 Coca-Cola: Facebook Brand Outpost
Consider Coke’s “Department of Fannovation” shown in Figure 4.5, a campaign
that ran in 2010 during the run-up to March Madness. Created on the Posterous blog-
ging platform, this is a combination outpost—Posterous has developed a community of
its own—and a social application. Built around fan participation and a contest theme,
the purpose of the site is simple: Ask NCAA fans (followers of the various sanctioned
U.S. collegiate athletic programs) to offer ideas for improving the experience of being
an NCAA Fan. As you might expect, the ideas flowed forth.
Drawing on the activities common in ideation platforms to encourage idea shar-
ing, Coke has used a blogging platform and its content ratings tools to create a shared
space where members participate socially with each other. Consider the fundamental
engagement building blocks as they apply to the Coke Fannovation site.
Consumption clearly occurs as fans read through each others ideas about the
things that might improve the experience of being a fan. Some ideas are obvious—
create chat rooms for rival fans—or a stretch at best: “Let the fans vote on the starting
lineup for the upcoming game,” for example. Participants read these and then vote
them up or down.