Effects of Social Media on Coca-Cola Brand Reputation in Australia

This research proposal investigates the effects of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+, on the brand reputation management of Coca-Cola in Australia. The study aims to determine the significance of social media marketing, its consequences, and the strategies employed by Coca-Cola. The literature review highlights Coca-Cola's extensive use of social media, its marketing campaigns, and its engagement with followers. The research will employ both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the effectiveness of these platforms in building and maintaining the brand's image. The proposal discusses Coca-Cola's unique approach to social media marketing, including its responses to customer interactions and its efforts to engage with younger audiences. The research will also consider the importance of social responsibility in social media communication and its impact on brand perception.

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Research Proposal
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Abstract
Social media has really evolved in the 2000s especially upon the birth of Facebook and Flickr in
2004. It will also be quite cynical not to acknowledge the current influence that the social media
has had upon modern lifestyle especially with the continuous development of so many social
media platforms over the last two decades. This research paper will examine the effects of
various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ as a
communication tool in brand reputation management of Coca-Cola, Australia. It is as well
important to note that this research paper will use both qualitative and quantitative methods of
data collection to obtain relevant information and/or data that will form the basis of this research
paper.
Introduction
The Coca-Cola company is an America Multinational corporation, manufacturer, retailer as well
as retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverages and syrups. This company is well known for
its brand Coca-Cola invented in the year 1886 by a pharmacist's named John Stith named
Pemberton in Atalanta, Georgia (Rahman, 2017).
It is important to note that despite the fact that coke was imported to Australia from the United
started in the early 1900s it was not until in 1938 that the company started to produce locally.
Since then Coca-Cola has been in a position to garner millions of followers in various social
media platforms.
Social media has been a really important tool that the Coca-Cola Company has used as a means
of communication for its brand reputation and management. The company has been really
successful in this based on the number of followers it has had on its various social media

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platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. This write-up will present an
empirical study of the effect of social media as a communication tool for brand reputation and
management of Coca-Cola, Australia (Radpour & Honarvar, 2018).
Social media has been very instrumental in terms of marketing for the past two decades. Social
media marketing is basically a form of internet marketing that involves creating as well as
sharing relevant content on various social media platforms with the aim of achieving marketing
goals as well as protection of brand reputation. Based on the sensitivity of social media, there is a
need to follow certain procedures and/or strategies in order to obtain meaningful benefits. The
social media has been really instrumental for Coca-Cola Australia (Mari, 2016). In its various
social media platforms, Coca-Cola Australia has quite a number of followers. In its Facebook
account alone, Coca-Cola Australia has more than one million followers. This is considerably
high in comparison to other competitive beverages such as Red Bull and others. In addition to
this Coca-Cola Australia has adopted quite a different strategy in terms of its social media
marketing. This will be looked at later in this write-up.
Research Purpose
The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of social media as a communication tool in
brand reputation management of Coca-Cola, Australia.
In order for the purpose of this research paper to be achieved, quite a number of issues will be
looked at in depth. Some of the issues that will form the basis of this research paper comprise of
social media marketing, its significance and some of its consequences in term so of brand
reputation management. In addition to this, various social media platforms of the coca-cola
company will as well be analyzed (Li, Cui, Chen, Zhou, 2019).

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Literature Review
Coca-Cola is a very famous drink not only in Australia but also across various countries in the
globe. Coca-Cola is actually the most recognizable brands thanks to its various accounts across
in social media. The Coca-Cola brand has had enormous sales in Australia alone because of its
marketing campaign that has lately majored on social media Some of the social media platforms
that Coca-Cola has employed as a communication tool in its brand reputation comprises of
twitter, facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. Six years ago, a report conducted showed that the
brand had over 63 million followers on its Facebook page, over 750,000 followers on Twitter
and also seemed to be active in Pinterest as well as Google+ (Gordon & Cheah, 2017).
Studies conducted show effectiveness in marketing can be achieved in various ways such as a
transition to relationship marketing and building a brand that is recognized worldwide. Another
possible that this can be achieved is through establishing long term relationships with customers
as well as having high credibility of influencers in various online platforms such as facebook,
twitter, Pinterest and Google+ so as to enforce and/or enhance the practice of co-creation
(Khamis, Ang, Welling, 2017). The key to effective marketing lies not only in measures taken to
assess as well as implement various viral marketing strategies but also depends on a very great
extent the monitoring of these strategies in all spheres including qualitative metrics. This,
therefore, calls for a need to take into account the size of the online community that needs to be
addressed and the credibility of the message when designing the strategies that would be used in
the first place.
In comparison to other brands, Coca-Cola has shown a very huge difference in terms of its
effectiveness and success that it has achieved in terms of social media as a means of brand

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reputation management. This has been attributed to the various approaches that Coca-Cola uses
in all these social media platforms in comparison to other brands. In Twitter, for instance, Coca-
Cola implements a totally different approach. This is so because Twitter is often used for
tweeting various marketing messages, asking relevant question to customers regarding ways to
improve the brand and spouting strategic inspirational quotes responding to various mention
(Martínez-López, Anaya-Sánchez, Aguilar-Illescas, Molinillo, 2016). It is, however, important to
note that this is also done in a much controlled and well-monitored manner. In regard to
Facebook, the brand messaging aimed directly at women while in the brands Pinterest account,
there is a single board that relates to a particular brand’s (Coca-Cola) advertisement campaign
while the others are just random placed images that focus on other minor themes. Coca-Cola
basically uses a different approach and a strategy to build its brand not only in Australia but also
across the globe.
Coca-Cola has also used a very unique approach that involves social marketing and making
music and spreading it through its various social media accounts so as to retain more youths and
in that case creating its brand even more famous. The president of Coca-Cola Canada Nicola
Kettlitz ascertains this. He mentions that their own marketing (Coca-Cola) needs to reflect as
well as allow teenagers and youths to be in a position to express themselves and in that way
connect with the brand in totally different ways. This strategy has proven to be very effective as
it has attracted more youths due to the immense impact that it has had (Pallegedara & Warren,
2016).
It is as well important to note that social media is a really sensitive platform that could either
destroy the brand of a company or destroy the brand based on the nature of the information that
this brand puts on its various social media platforms. This, therefore, calls for a high level of

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social responsibility. The posts in various social media platforms should embrace a high degree
of socially responsible business practices. This is so because studies conducted have shown that
such posts often receive the most favorable public response. This simply means that there is a
need to embrace the issue of social responsibility in regard to the message and/or posts that are
being used by a brand for promotional purposes (Morgan, Frawley, Fujak, Cobourn, 2017).
Coca-Cola uses Facebook as one its social media platform as a means of brand reputation
management. Statistics indicate that the brand has attracted about 63 million followers in its
main Facebook page which makes it the most recognizable brands across the globe. Coca-Cola
Australia, has attracted about 1,071, 700 followers on its official page. As a result of this
internationality celebrity, Coca-Cola is forced to always have its account attended. This is,
however, not in comparison to other brands such as Red Bull which has to post several updates
within a day with an aim of attracting more followers. Coca-cola can even go for up to a week or
two without posting anything. Another advantage that Coca-Cola has over other brands is the
fact that it does not have its own stores (Diers-Lawson, 2017). This, therefore, shifts its focus
into managing its brand image and increasing awareness amongst its customers through
conducting advertisement from the issue of trying to drive customers to its shops or to an online
platform as is the case with other brands. Recently, for instance, most of the updates that Coca-
Cola has shared in its various social media platforms. This has also been evident in some of the
activities that the Company has been engaged in such as the use of its Facebook page to
publicize Olympics as well as Euro 2012 games (Turban, Strauss, Lai, 2016).
In addition to this, Coca-Cola also has a number of Facebook apps such as ‘When will happiness
strike’ and ‘Ahh Giver’. The former is essentially a video reel of its adverts whole the latter
allows users to be in a position to send messages that are personalized as well as free coke to a

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facebook friend. It is for this reason that it has been in a position to be one of the leading brands
in the world (Krishna & Srikanth, 2019).
Twitter is another social media platform that Coca-Cola uses as a means of a communication tool
in brand reputation management. The Company uses different twitter accounts for each local
markets in which it has operational bases. In Australia alone, Coca-Cola has about 6,200
followers which are considerably high in comparison to other competitive brands. In addition to
this, various Twitter pages have been dedicated for its various products and important sub-brands
such as Diet Coke, and Coke Zero. Their main tweeter feed has about 700,000 followers
(Clevenger & MacGregor, 2019).
Coca-Cola has adopted a really strategic manner of using Twitter as a means of a communication
tool in brand reputation management. This is so because unlike other brands that post straight
forward marketing messages, Coca-Cola uses Twitter to respond to mentions. Coca-Cola rarely
posts direct marketing messages but responds to a considerable amount of mentions each day
(Islam & Rahman, 2017). These mentions consist of complaints, follow requests, compliments as
well as general chitchats. Its Twitter feed has found a way of addressing customers rather than
just pushing marketing advertisements and messages to them. Despite its great strategy in terms
of its Twitter feed and how it responds to mentions from customers, Coca-Cola still has quite a
number of mentions that go unanswered. This, therefore, calls for a need to address this issue by
having Coca-Cola increase the number of staff to the customer service team in the twitter so as to
ensure that no mentions go unanswered (Schwarz, 2019).
The brand’s Pinterest account is quite dynamic. This is so because of the fact that there is just a
single board that relates to a certain Coca-Cola advert while the rest are just images that often

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concentrate on random theme. For instance one of the brand-related board in the brand’s
Pinterest account is called ‘Olympic Games Moments’ (Islam, Rahman, Hollebeek, 2018). This
board comprises of a series of images that depict coca-colas sponsorship of that event. Other
minor boards are tagged on various random topics such as ‘Be Active', ‘Be Together' and ‘Keep
Discovering' which comprises of some really great photos which have been taken from flicker
and in that cases none of these circles back to the brand’s own website (Zeng & Song, 2018). It
is important to note that some of these pictures were created specifically for Coca-Cola but most
of them just appear to be pictures from random flicker accounts. This idea is really strategic for
Coca-Cola as it involves collecting a number of images into a single place and the people who
actually took these photos to get pleased that the Coca-Cola company has noticed their efforts.
Over the last five years, Coca-Cola has been in a position to maintain a fairly active Google+
account and posted quite a number after some few days. It has about 800,000 followers in this
particular social media platform. Despite this huge number of followers, their level of user
engagement on this page is considerably low in comparison to other social media platforms such
as Facebook and Twitter.
Research Question
What is the effect of social media as a communication tool in brand reputation management of
Coca-Cola, Australia?
Research Design and Methods
Sampling design

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In order to determine the effects of social media as a communication tool for brand reputation
and management of Coca-Cola, Australia, primary data will be randomly collected from a
number of participants. The sample size for this particular research paper will be 500. These
participants will be selected randomly using simple random sampling. This is a very important
sampling technique that will be used. This is so because each individual is chosen entirely by
chance and each member of the entire population has an equal chance and/or probability of being
selected. In order to obtain this random sample, each member of the population is given a
number and then a table of a random number will be used to decide which individuals will be
selected.
Data collection
As mentioned earlier, this research paper is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative.
This, therefore, means that various methods both qualitative and quantitative will be employed in
data collection. The data obtained herein will be very critical in pinning down the research
question and trying to determine what are some of the effects of social media as a
communication tool for brand reputation and management in Coca-Cola, Australia (Massaro,
Dumay, Garlatti, Dal, 2018).
The qualitative methods that will be employed in this particular research will aim towards
finding some certain trends and current issues as well as strategies of employed by Coca-Cola in
various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and google+. Some of the
common qualitative techniques of data collection that will be employed here comprise of textual
as well as visual analysis with a combination of observations. It is important to as well note that
this will mainly be retrieved from various scholarly books and articles that will be examined for

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vital information regarding the issue of social media as a communication tool for brand
reputation and management of Coca-Cola, Australia (Danielewicz-Betz, 2016).
Quantitative methods of data collection will also be employed so as to supplement the qualitative
methods. Some of the qualitative methods of data collection that will be employed here comprise
of methods such as the use of questionnaires, surveys, and interviews (Hekimoğlu, 2018). Some
of these methods are briefly discussed below;
Surveys-A survey is essentially a set of resultant data and/or set of information that is often
obtained from a number of respondents that are usually sampled in a particular case study. In this
particular research paper, quite a number of people will be targeted so as to provide vital
information that will be used in determining the effects of the impacts of social media as a
communication tool of brand reputation and management in Coca-Cola, Australia. Here the
targeted population will comprise of all coke product users in Australia especially youths and
teenagers. It is also important to note that various methods of surveys will be employed (Yang,
Li, Huang, 2017). Some of the most common survey methods that will be used here comprise of;
online surveys, face to face surveys and telephone surveys. A combination of all these surveys
will be very essential as in that case, limitations associated with each individual survey method
will be greatly reduced.
Use of Questionnaires- Use of questionnaires is one of the most important techniques of data
collection that can be employed in this particular research project. Use of questionnaires is a
special method of data collection that involves extracting vital information regarding a certain
topic or subject through the use of a series of oral and/or written questions. Based on the nature
of this research, the use of questionnaires will be a very important tool for data collection. This is

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so because the design with which questionnaires are made is in a way that is aimed towards
extracting some really essential information form the respondents. The targeted population will
for this method of data collection be individuals around Australia, both Coca-Cola users, and
non-users (Turban et al, 2018).
Interviews-Use of interviews is also another very essential data collection technique that will be
employed in this particular research paper. It is also important that this method of data collection
will be specifically used because of the numerous advantages that are associated with it. As
depicted earlier, this research paper seeks to determine some of the effects that social media has
had as a communication tool for brand reputation and management in Australia (Kucharska &
Mikołajczak, 2018). This, therefore, means the participants in this method of data collection will
strictly be people around Australia, both local and foreign. Based on the nature of this particular
research as well as the design of the research question, it is expected that the participants that
will be used here will provide useful information regarding the effects of social media as a
communication tool for brand reputation and management of Coca-Cola in Australia. As
mentioned earlier, this method will specifically because of some of the many advantages that are
associated with it. First and foremost, interviews are often used in situations where personalized
information is needed. According to the nature of this research obtaining personal information
and thoughts of people regarding the effects of the use of social media as a communication tool
for brand reputation and management will be very essential for the research (Stohl, Etter,
Banghart, Woo, 2017).
In addition to this, various methods of interviews will be used. Some of the most common
methods of interviews that will be employed in this research paper comprise of face to face
interviews and telephone interviews. Here, face to face interviews is expected to be more useful

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in pinning down the research question in comparison to telephone interviews (Kucharska &
Thomas, 2017).
Significance of the study
As mentioned earlier, social media is a very important tool that has been used for marketing in
recent years. This study will present new findings that will revolutionize the use of social media
as a marketing tool. Some of the relevant significance that is associated with this study are
outlined below;
First and foremost, this research will redefine the aspect of social media as a marketing tool.
Basically, based on this research paper, it will be revealed that social media marketing is a
special form of internet marketing that involves creating as well as sharing content on social
media with the aim of achieving marketing as well as specific branding goals.
This research will also reveal that before embarking on social media marketing and branding it is
important that one considers the business goals that a company seeks to achieve. Starting social
media marketing and/or branding without a plan or strategy can be likened to wondering a forest
without a map, this would not yield any tangible results (Hassan & Casaló, 2016).
Before embarking on social media marketing, there are a number of questions that one needs to
consider. The questions will provide a guide towards defining social media marketing goals that
are required. Some of the common questions that one needs to ask themselves comprise of
questions such as; Who is the target audience, what is hoped to be achieved through the social
media marketing and what message and/or information is meant to be passed to the audience
through social media marketing. Through a guide to these questions, then there would be no
doubt that social media marketing will be somewhat successful (Kim, 2019).