Brand communities: Strategies and implications

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand brand communities and what factors contribute to its success. A brand community is a specialised, non?geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand. Further, there are seven characteristic features of brand communities: specialised, network of customer relationships, expressly commercial, brand rallying point, self?selected group, brand culture and moral responsibility. For the purpose of this study, the concept of brand collectivities has been excluded. Looking at the reasons for brand communities’ existence, there are primarily seven reasons why consumers participate: need to share, legitimacy, brand resonance, exchange, interests and hobbies, rewards and socially relevant causes. Besides, there are numerous benefits that accrue to marketers from brand communities which leads them to invest in them. Brand communities may be segmented along numerous dimensions: level of involvement with the product, level of exclusivity of the community, social structure, group focus, etc. Based on level of involvement and exclusivity, there are nine types of brand communities. One community of each of these nine types has been studied in terms of – the product, basic characteristics of the community, ten factors along which they can be compared which we have identified and a few implications for marketers from each brand. Our conclusions based on the study across different types of brand communities include emotional involvement in BCs, merchandizing within the communities, structure of the communities, etc. Finally, we have identified some key metrics which may be measured to measure the success of brand communities.