has become possible with the use of both online communities and games. Research by Gartner, one of the leading IT research company states that ‘more than 60% of Fortune 1000 companies with a website will connect to or host a form of online community by 2010’.
Online communities engage the customers and develop their brand experience by building a relationship between the brand and the customers. Different companies have developed online communities as an interactive marketing tool that allows them to access and advertise to a large group of like-minded individuals in a social setting, encouraging communication between users and brand. Most international brand such as L’Oreal, Nokia, Nike, Amazon etc build online communities to give their customers from different countries the chance to interact, share their opinion on their product and also buy the product online. This is done mostly by the participant of the online community registering for free.
Online communities have a social and commercial purpose. They allow for marketing feedback and new idea conduits; check on quality and social responsibility. In such communities, customers own companies, rather than companies owning customers (Farquhar and Rowley 2006). The importance of online communities is increasing day by day because of consumers increasingly use of online tools to share ideas and contact fellow consumers (Casalo, Flavian and Guinaliu 2008). The success of any online community depends on the willingness of consumers to participate in the community. Community managers are assigned to these online communities to ensure that it is sustained grows and is a safe place for customers to interact with other customers and with the company.
A good example of online community is Amazon. People can buy books on their website, post their reviews and also discuss the book with other book lovers. Though recently, online communities now includes brick and mortar communities and online forum for example, second life, the information members exchange in this virtual community allows people to learn about each other as they learn more about the community’s focal topics. Interaction among the members is the engine that fosters the growth of such communities.
Research has shown that consumer motivation for joining these communities include satisfaction of needs like shared interest, relationship building and transaction
Why is it important to marketers?
Each of the decisions a buyer faces can be influenced by interactions with communities that are focused on the same product or service type in question. For consumers who have already made a purchasing decision, these communities also provide help with the ongoing use of that product. Relationships between consumers have been shown to influence brand choice and the choice of services, and research has long highlighted the importance of studying the relationships among communicators in this communities.
While consumer-to-consumer communication is not new, the organized support and public nature of the internet provides marketers with unprecedented access to information on these communications. Participation in these communities allows researchers’ early identification of trends and also access to word-of-mouth (WOM) communication – a form of communications that should not be undervalued (Pitta and Fowler 2005) .
In each of these communities, members share information of value to themselves and others, this sharing can be valuable to marketers.
Benefits of these communities are the amount of information a company can gain about its customer base which they can use for short and long customer relationship. The data collected can be used for ‘product development, customer’s feedback, loyalty management, customer segmentation, campaign targeting and individual or group customer satisfaction management’. All these information can be use in marketing and the satisfaction of customers.
Marketers can target consumers in these communities by becoming members of these communities, by participating and interacting with other members a group or mini-society could be formed for members interested in the product or service. Trust must be built over time, and can be lost quickly if the community sees the interaction as being solely self-serving so it has to be done continually and gradually without aggression.
Consumers can also be targeted through sponsorship and the use of subtle advertisement within the online communities (Pitta and Fowler 2005). To be effective, the marketer should refrain from too active and overt a role in an online community.
On the gaming side, companies have not only been utilizing existing games as advertising platform, but rather building their own games. For instance, America’s Army , released on July 4, 2002 which proved to be an effective marketing tool with 9 million players and Barack Obama’s campaign when dynamic ads were placed in the online versions of some 18 games running on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 video-game consoles.
Subway restaurant is also a positive example because research shows that 20% more gamers visited the place in the month afterward than gamers who did not. The ads also created a 19% lift in gamers who rated the chain as excellent or very good, a 12% jump in purchase consideration, and a 9% increase in players who would recommend http://www.promomagazine.com/entertainmentmarketing/0201-console-games-offer-brands’)
References:
Casalo, L. V., Flavian, C. and Guinaliu, M. (2008) 'Fundaments of Trust Management in Development of Virtual Communities.' Management Research News 31, (5) 324-338
Farquhar, J. and Rowley, J. (2006) 'Relationships and Online Consumer Communities.' Business process management journal 12, (2) 162-177
Pitta, D. A. and Fowler, D. (2005) 'Online Consumer Communities and Their Value to New Product Developers.' Journal of Product & Brand Management 14, (5) 283-291
Online communities engage the customers and develop their brand experience by building a relationship between the brand and the customers. Different companies have developed online communities as an interactive marketing tool that allows them to access and advertise to a large group of like-minded individuals in a social setting, encouraging communication between users and brand. Most international brand such as L’Oreal, Nokia, Nike, Amazon etc build online communities to give their customers from different countries the chance to interact, share their opinion on their product and also buy the product online. This is done mostly by the participant of the online community registering for free.
Online communities have a social and commercial purpose. They allow for marketing feedback and new idea conduits; check on quality and social responsibility. In such communities, customers own companies, rather than companies owning customers (Farquhar and Rowley 2006). The importance of online communities is increasing day by day because of consumers increasingly use of online tools to share ideas and contact fellow consumers (Casalo, Flavian and Guinaliu 2008). The success of any online community depends on the willingness of consumers to participate in the community. Community managers are assigned to these online communities to ensure that it is sustained grows and is a safe place for customers to interact with other customers and with the company.
A good example of online community is Amazon. People can buy books on their website, post their reviews and also discuss the book with other book lovers. Though recently, online communities now includes brick and mortar communities and online forum for example, second life, the information members exchange in this virtual community allows people to learn about each other as they learn more about the community’s focal topics. Interaction among the members is the engine that fosters the growth of such communities.
Research has shown that consumer motivation for joining these communities include satisfaction of needs like shared interest, relationship building and transaction
Why is it important to marketers?
Each of the decisions a buyer faces can be influenced by interactions with communities that are focused on the same product or service type in question. For consumers who have already made a purchasing decision, these communities also provide help with the ongoing use of that product. Relationships between consumers have been shown to influence brand choice and the choice of services, and research has long highlighted the importance of studying the relationships among communicators in this communities.
While consumer-to-consumer communication is not new, the organized support and public nature of the internet provides marketers with unprecedented access to information on these communications. Participation in these communities allows researchers’ early identification of trends and also access to word-of-mouth (WOM) communication – a form of communications that should not be undervalued (Pitta and Fowler 2005) .
In each of these communities, members share information of value to themselves and others, this sharing can be valuable to marketers.
Benefits of these communities are the amount of information a company can gain about its customer base which they can use for short and long customer relationship. The data collected can be used for ‘product development, customer’s feedback, loyalty management, customer segmentation, campaign targeting and individual or group customer satisfaction management’. All these information can be use in marketing and the satisfaction of customers.
Marketers can target consumers in these communities by becoming members of these communities, by participating and interacting with other members a group or mini-society could be formed for members interested in the product or service. Trust must be built over time, and can be lost quickly if the community sees the interaction as being solely self-serving so it has to be done continually and gradually without aggression.
Consumers can also be targeted through sponsorship and the use of subtle advertisement within the online communities (Pitta and Fowler 2005). To be effective, the marketer should refrain from too active and overt a role in an online community.
On the gaming side, companies have not only been utilizing existing games as advertising platform, but rather building their own games. For instance, America’s Army , released on July 4, 2002 which proved to be an effective marketing tool with 9 million players and Barack Obama’s campaign when dynamic ads were placed in the online versions of some 18 games running on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 video-game consoles.
Subway restaurant is also a positive example because research shows that 20% more gamers visited the place in the month afterward than gamers who did not. The ads also created a 19% lift in gamers who rated the chain as excellent or very good, a 12% jump in purchase consideration, and a 9% increase in players who would recommend http://www.promomagazine.com/entertainmentmarketing/0201-console-games-offer-brands’)
References:
Casalo, L. V., Flavian, C. and Guinaliu, M. (2008) 'Fundaments of Trust Management in Development of Virtual Communities.' Management Research News 31, (5) 324-338
Farquhar, J. and Rowley, J. (2006) 'Relationships and Online Consumer Communities.' Business process management journal 12, (2) 162-177
Pitta, D. A. and Fowler, D. (2005) 'Online Consumer Communities and Their Value to New Product Developers.' Journal of Product & Brand Management 14, (5) 283-291
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It is really interesting figures in Game side. Using Gameonline community is really vital for products which taget the youth. I like the example of Subway ;)
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