The Coca-Cola Company has had great success through social media, and is very active in promoting themselves through various websites.  They have even gone so far as establishing 5 core values that they have about Coca-Cola in the online social media community.  On their website (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia/) Coca-Cola outlines the basis for their values and what is expected of employees that utilize such social media sites.  They share that any forms of communication/advertisements must adhere to the same rules whether it is on social media sites or a commercial on TV.  Coca-Cola states that 'These Online Social Media Principles have been developed to help empower our associates to participate in this new frontier of marketing and communications, represent our Company, and share the optimistic and positive spirits of our brands.' 

The company identifies that it has a responsibility to monitor what is written on social media sites to effectively manage the company's image.  Social media is a tool that can help a business achieve success, and as such this tool needs to be utilized in the proper way to achieve the results desired.  The 10 principles that are outlined provide an excellent template for other businesses to follow.  I especially liked that Coca-Cola mentions how permanent the internet is and then anything written about the company that gets posted on the internet becomes permanent, even if it does get erased it is never fully destroyed.  It is important for companies to always be mindful of what they say on social media sites, because they are representing the company as a whole.  In addition Coca-Cola has a Social Media Certification Program which all associates for the company's marketing must pass in order to promote the company on social media sites.  Effective use of social media starts at the top level of a company; if rules and guidlines to employee behaviour on social media sites are not established by a company they may experience problems.  However, with specific guidelines and close monitoring there is almost no end to the benefits that social media can provide a company.