Ask any PR/Marketing professional you can get your hands on what the world’s most recognized brand is and I am sure you will get one answerer. If that PR/Marketing flack is worth his or her salt they will say Coca-Cola. I have traveled to about 30 countries in my life and I can assure you, that odd red and white back ground thing means great tasting beverages every where you go.

I have been to countries where I had no chance of reading the language but I always new no matter what the writing was where I could find a Coca-Cola. I have drank it out of plastic bags in Asia, bottles I was certain were 100 years old in Africa and beautiful glasses in Rome. Regardless of where I was, I could find a Coke because I new what to look for.

Now ask your same PR/Marketing professional what is the most recognized brand in social media. Grab a couple more and ask them while you are at it. I am certain you will get 15 diffrent answers if you ask 10 diffrent professionals. Why is that? Why can’t we agree on what a good social media brand is?

The problem arises from what we consider brand recognition and a little thing we call brand equity. Brand recognition is easy, flash me some arches or show me a swoosh and I can tell you what brand they are. Social media falls into a problem when we try to mix brand recognition with brand equity. I might recognize a blogs home page or a companies logo on the web, but I have no inherent beliefs based on those logos on the social web.

These musings were sparked by an article I ran across AdWeek talking about the money that Coca-Cola is dumping into social media trying to gain some recognition. It dawned on me that recognition isn’t the problem, it is equity. I can see a Coca-Cola logo on Youtube and still know its Coke. The problem is Coke has no value or meaning to me in the virtual social world.

I mean I could buy the world a virtual Coke, but the act really loses its meaning. There is something inherently difficult about taking a tangible, visceral experience like a Coke and making it a social media application for Facebook. The social act of buying someone a Coke and chatting about the day simply doesn’t make sense on the web.

Do a Google search and see what Coke is trying to do with social media, the results are interesting. At present Coke is creating community for interaction amongst its users. At first you might wonder what this has to do with soda, but go back to what it means to buy the world a coke. Think about the last time someone bought you a soda so they could sit down and chat with you.

I am interested in hearing what you think the best brand in social media is and why? I have been racking my brain thinking about this and I can not find a definitive answer. Let me know what you think the most recognized social media brand is and if you have a chance look at what Coca-Cola is doing and let me know if you find it interesting.

If you want you can buy me a Coke and we can talk about this all day.