How to maintain your community users?

Sicilia M. Palazo M. conducted a study on the Coca Cola online brand communities. Their research paper described and analyzes the most successful online strategies developed by a global brand, Coca-Cola, in Spain. The authors argues that the Coca Cola website act as “a marketing tool helping to develop a group of loyal consumers around the brand” and that the company achieve it by “the creation of a virtual community, which provides functional, social, and experiential values”. What I have understood is that companies to maintain participation by its online virtual community need to provide to 3 different kinds of contents/values:

- > Functional values are about allowing people to create contents on forums, supporting spaces for people to debate online, enable their customers to download goodies about the brand (ie: wallpapers, games…)

- > Social values are about providing a platform where people can use to meet people (ie: social space, messenger, voting)

- > Entertainment values to create memorable experience, linked to the Flow criteria introduced by Hoffman and Novak (1996). This type of contents appeal to emotional, sensorial experience of the brand. (ie: Tournaments, games, prize winning…).

Based on that piece of information, what do you all think Lonely Planet is doing? Hope it will inspire you guys to draw some recommendations for our report !