EXCLUSIVE: My blog post provokes a social media review at Costa Coffee!

It appears that a blog post by me has led to a major review of how a brand with a presence in 26 countries uses social media! Who would've thought it?!

Last week, I spotted a fake account on Twitter which was using the Costa Coffee name. With tweets referring to "slave grown, chemically enhanced bananas" and coffee beans "being checked for drugs" it was clear that the company wasn't behind it. However, what was worrying was the ease with which I found the account - I simply typed 'Costa Coffee Twitter' into Google - and it was allowed to run for several weeks.

I spoke to a Costa Coffee official spokesperson today who confirmed that it was me who alerted the company to the account and it has now been deleted. "Anyone who knows Costa would have known the tweets weren't true and I think it was quite obvious it wasn't a proper Costa account," she told me. "However, it is still worrying that people can do such a thing and I accept we have been a victim of cybersquatting. We've learnt from it the hard way and we now need to have an official social media presence."

"We're reviewing our social media policy because we don't have much of a presence compared to other brands. It is something we need to do." My consultancy invoice in the post!

It is clear that Costa is very much a novice when it comes to this social media-mularky. There is another Twitter account - @CostaCoffee - which was registered in October, has over 1,000 followers but has posted only one tweet. When I asked the spokesperson she admitted: "we're still trying to find out who owns that one" and "it might have been set up by someone in the past who wanted to do some social media work for Costa".

I've also spotted @Costa_Fort, which appears to be promoting a Costa branch in Glasgow. The spokesperson said it "could be run by the branch" and when I asked whether that is allowed under company policy, she added "it is being reviewed".

It's good that Costa Coffee has finally recognised that it needs a social media presence but it is pretty shocking that it took a journalist to make the company realise! I will be keeping an eye on developments and if you do spot some official Costa Coffee tweets or Facebook updates in the future remember where you heard it first!