MYTH : Build the brand, and the community will follow.
This quotation is from Fournier S and Lee L. written in partnership with the Jump associates companies (a US fifty-person strategy firm with offices in the San Francisco and New York city). This emphasizes the fact that “the brand community services the people in it more than the business”, indeed putting the brand second is essential for a marketer if he wants to build a strong brand community. Consumers are joining brand communities for very different and complex reasons, not only to express their shared-valued around one specific brand; they connect to build relationship, to look for emotional link or for encouragements. To sum up “joining a brand community is a mean to an end not an end itself”, as demonstrated in the article.
I also read a report called "Social Networking" comissioned by Mintel in 2008 which points out that there is a shift of "the balance of power", meaning that the consumer dictates more and more what products are made available to them.As you said Vanessa, the online communities are more there to help its members. For instance, on the website Dream Heels anyone can submit a pattern for the Dream Heels' high heeled pumps by downloading the appropriate software programme and submitting their idea online. The patterns, and how they would look on the shoes, are then posted online where potential buyers vote for their favourite. The design that gets the most votes will be available to buy. Thus the community services the members, however, I also think that they help the company. If more shoes are sold because people really WANT them it will have a positive effect on the companies revenue. For Lonely Planet this can mean that members trust each other more than any advertisement.This suggest that online advertisement should be modified for the interactive online communities...
ReplyDeleteI think this is really relevant for Lonely Planet. When you look into the online communities that they have such as the blogs or Facebook, people are commenting and sharing experiences constantly.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that they are part of the brand: they can talk with each other; they share the same interests; they can even create discussion groups around a subject. The brand is just a link between them, a way to find people with the same interests.