DISCOVER KENYA
Brand communities
16-01-2016
By: Denise Berkeveld
Source: Wave 5- The Socialisation of Brands, www.barnraisersllc.com/2014/11/7-best-examples-brand-communities/
Social media is in these days really booming and a lot of people are making use of social media networks, but not only just people also brands are using those networks. More and more, people would like to have a social and interactive relationship with brands. That’s why a lot of brands made their own brand communities.
What is a brand community?
According to Albert Muniz Jr. and Thomas C. O’Guinn (who did a study on Brand Community for the Journal of Consumer Research in 2001) is a brand community: “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand.”(Barnraisersllc, 2014). Nowadays a brand community can also be online, brands can create campaigns, messages and communities which consumers want to join. Spreading a message trough social media is much more effectively than doing traditional marketing.
Roadmap
In the Wave 5- The Socialisation of Brands is a road map created to help brands create the right social media experience. People are joining social communities online, but what do they want from brands? Companies first need to identify what kind of social relationship the consumers want. This can be done through the following 4 steps;
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Understand how and why people use social media
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Map the social landscape of the category you are operating in and where your consumer fits in that landscape
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Identify the social needs of the consumer
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Identify the platforms that best meet those needs.
In the report Wave 5- The Socialisation of Brands will be expained more in detail how brand scan create the right social media experience.
I think it’s important for brands and especially also travel brands to create a brand community in these days. They should be on different kinds of social media networks and interact with their customers.
