Online brand communities (OBCs) are hugely important in the development of marketing strategy, but it is unclear how marketers can effectively utilise these platforms to enhance and develop consumer engagement. For an online brand community to be successful, it should allow members to feel a connection to the brand and with other members while forming a disconnection from those not belonging to the community. It should also have rituals and traditions that join members together over a revered commonality, and moral responsibility in contributing to the community. Indeed, brands play active roles in securing degrees of activity in OBCs' through content that offers members the quality of engagement they seek.This book focuses on contemporary digital marketing issues in OBCs, offering a comprehensive examination of consumers' response to active engagement in such communities. It discusses how brands can tap into the various levels of participation, engagement and online conversations in the development of marketing strategy and ultimately examines how an online brand community strengthens value co-creation.

Balancing theory with practical approaches, this book gives serious treatment to an important yet until now overlooked area of digital marketing strategy, providing an important resource for scholars, students and practitioners.

Wilson Ozuem's area of expertise lies in digital marketing and innovation. He teaches digital marketing at several UK universities. Professor Ozuem is acknowledged as an international leader in the field of digital marketing and multichannel retailing. His current research focuses on the effects of online brand communities on marketing strategy.

Michelle Willis's expertise is in digital marketing. Her current research interests include online service failure and recovery strategies and customer loyalty, particularly with the millennial generation. Her research has been publishedand presented in various journals and conferences, including those of the American Marketing Association and the European Marketing Academy.

Auteur
Wilson Ozuem is a Professor of Digital Economy at the University of Cumbria, UK. His general area of expertise lies in digital marketing and fashion marketing, while his specific research interest concerns the impacts of emerging computer-mediated marketing environments on the fashion industry. Prof. Ozuem is acknowledged as one of the international leaders in the study of digital marketing and multichannel retailing. His research has been published in key journals, including the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Information Technology & People and Psychology & Marketing, and many others.
Michelle Willis is a Lecturer in Digital and e-Business at the University of Cumbria, UK. Her research interest lies in emerging technologies, particularly the interface between social networking sites and the development of marketing programmes, and online service failure and recovery strategies, in association with consumers of the millennial generation. She has co-authored chapters in textbooks, articles for the journal Psychology & Marketing, and conference papers in her specialist area of research that were presented at the American Marketing Association and the European Marketing Academy conferences.

Contenu

1) Online brand communities: introduction and context

This chapter sets the scene by setting out a number of reasons why an online brand community (OBC) is an integral part of digital marketing strategy. This chapter explains and discusses the relevance of OBCs and how a detailed knowledge of them could enhance the creation of an effective digital marketing strategy. The evolution from material consumption to information consumption, knowledge sharing and interactive communication processes, combined with the rise of the internet, has led to the emerging concept of OBCs. Despite their categorisation as a digital media platform or a form of social media, OBCs have distinctive features that differentiate them from other digital platforms, such as social networking sites, blogs and forums, which are widely accessible to general audiences compared to the exclusivity that OBCs emphasise. This chapter introduces the concepts and features of OBCs, beginning with their development in the digital revolution and their integration into social media activity.

2) Participation and customer involvement

This chapter explores consumers' participation in OBCs, focusing on the various levels of participation, including antecedents, mediators and moderators. Customers' decision to participate and commit to being involved in OBCs is often influenced by pre-existing bias or experience embedded in their thinking processes, which cause them to perceive an OBC's characteristics and the activity conducted in an OBC from a positive, negative or neutral perspective. This in turn can impact how they will participate in OBCs and whether their participation will present advantages or disadvantages to a brand. Individual customers will have different motivations for participating in OBCs and will deliver different results; thus, OBCs have diverse perspectives and online activity behaviours. In this chapter, we look at the common OBC characteristics that influence customers responses towards OBC content and activities and other participating OBC members, and how the customers' thinking process is effected by the characteristics. 3) OBCs and customer loyalty

This chapter begins with an important two-part examination of online brand communication and customer loyalty. In this chapter, the focus is on how an OBC is an effective means of influencing customer behaviour. The chapter discusses the link between OBCs and customer loyalty. We explore the rise of OBCs, and explain how loyalty has become more complicated and the emergence of OBC-based types of loyalty. OBCs can contain details about customers' purchasing actions and attitudes towards brands; however, social media managers are having to read between the lines to check whether OBC users' online activity translates into active or passive customer loyalty and whether those users intend to continue to be loyal to the brand in the long term. This chapter provides a framework that provides insight into the different types of loyalty of OBC customers and explores how their OBC activity interconnects with their type of loyalty.

4) Consumer engagement and satisfaction

This chapter focuses on consumer engagement and satisfaction. The chapter discusses a range of consumer engagements which might lead to customer satisfaction. We examine how consumer engagement has major economic and social benefits and can be a key predictor of future business performance. The chapter identifies the importance of understanding engagement and the shifts in consumerbrand interactions, and further discusses that engagement (the consumer or the brand) remains on-going. Engagement is co-created and initiated by either the marketer or consumer. Consumer engagement is multidimensional and an umbrella term for a range of dimensions including cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social, all of which represent different antecedents and consequences of developing long lasting customer relationships. This chapter seeks to examine these different dimensions and how they impact customer satisfaction.

5) Social identification and commitment This chapter examines social identification and its importance in understanding OBC users. Social identification is a strengthening attribute of OBC users leading to long-term commitment. Social identification is the foundation for community creation including OBCs. Not only does social identification make individuals feel welcomed or give them a sen…