Online Brand Communities and their Impact on Brand Equity of Indian Telecommunication Industry

Author(s):  
Joshi Sujata ◽  
◽  
Padman Arjun ◽  
Menachem Domb ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Weitzl

Due to the growing importance of company-initiated online brand communities (OBCs) like Facebook brand fan pages, details about consumers' perceptions of these sites need to be linked to their effects on customer-based brand equity. This research builds on Keller and Lehmann's brand value chain as the theoretical foundation and adopts the theory to fit the social media context. This approach enables the simultaneous evaluation of the impact of consumer online content perceptions on both fan-page engagement and consumers' brand mindset. Specifically, this research investigates the consumer-based outcomes of perceptions of content's vividness and interactivity as well as the effects of perceived information and entertainment value of brand posts. In addition, this empirical study evaluates the consequences of positive brand fans' comments for consumer online engagement (e.g., liking), brand awareness, image, and attitude. Results show that consumer-oriented brand pages can stimulate positive offline brand engagement such as loyalty and recommendation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Welf H. Weiger ◽  
Hauke A. Wetzel ◽  
Maik Hammerschmidt

Purpose The proliferation of online brand communities has shifted control over brands from firms to consumers. Demonstrating how marketers can stimulate consumers to use these opportunities and engage with the brand in such communities, the purpose of this paper is to address the effectiveness of normative and utilitarian appeals commonly employed in practice for enhancing engagement intensity and brand equity in turn. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents two studies at an individual user level. The first study builds on matched data on marketing actions, user behavior, and user perceptions from a Facebook brand community. The second study uses an experiment with members of a firm-hosted online brand community. The authors employ seemingly unrelated regressions while controlling for self-selection. Findings Marketer-generated appeals have a positive effect on brand equity that is mediated by engagement intensity. However, the strength of these effects depends highly on community, user, and relationship characteristics. Practical implications Generally speaking, marketer-generated appeals are effective tools for marketers to build brand equity through enhanced user engagement. However, their effectiveness can be improved when managers use a targeted approach. To offer precise managerial guidance, this paper shows how entertainment value, content consumption asymmetry (e.g. whether a user prefers user-generated content over marketer-generated content), and membership duration increase or lower the impact of appeals in building the brand through engagement intensity. Originality/value The authors provide evidence that appeals designed to drive user engagement in online brand communities are effective tools for boosting brand equity.


Author(s):  
Wolfgang Weitzl

Due to the growing importance of company-initiated online brand communities (OBCs) like Facebook brand fan pages, details about consumers' perceptions of these sites need to be linked to their effects on customer-based brand equity. This research builds on Keller and Lehmann's brand value chain as the theoretical foundation and adopts the theory to fit the social media context. This approach enables the simultaneous evaluation of the impact of consumer online content perceptions on both fan-page engagement and consumers' brand mindset. Specifically, this research investigates the consumer-based outcomes of perceptions of content's vividness and interactivity as well as the effects of perceived information and entertainment value of brand posts. In addition, this empirical study evaluates the consequences of positive brand fans' comments for consumer online engagement (e.g., liking), brand awareness, image, and attitude. Results show that consumer-oriented brand pages can stimulate positive offline brand engagement such as loyalty and recommendation.


10.5772/56854 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Brogi ◽  
Armando Calabrese ◽  
Domenico Campisi ◽  
Guendalina Capece ◽  
Roberta Costa ◽  
...  

Quoting the fashion genius Coco Chanel: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” This is even more true today than it was back then. Indeed, Web 2.0 technologies have made luxury fashion more accessible to everyone. Nowadays, consumers can instantly access a wide variety of fashion goods on the Internet and share brand experiences with other consumers. In this scenario, Online Brand Communities (OBCs) allow fashion customers to communicate with each other without any restrictions of time and place. For this reason, OBCs are viewed by fashion marketers as powerful instruments to influence customers' purchasing behaviour. The aim of the current study is to analyse the effects of OBC dynamics on brand equity. The proposed research model is applied to eight spontaneous OBCs of the luxury fashion industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitender Kumar

Purpose The purpose of this study is the exploration of customer engagement with the brand and brand community (dual foci) inside online brand communities and to assess the simultaneous impact of dual foci of engagement in creating equity for the brand. The role of sense of community is explored as a moderator in influencing customer engagement. Design/methodology/approach The sample is composed of the members of Facebook-based brand communities. An internet survey of 833 subjects provides data to test the theoretical model with the help of structural equation modelling using AMOS 21. Findings The empirical investigation supports the proposed theory except for a few counterintuitive findings. Psychological ownership with the brand and the brand community has a direct effect on customer engagement with the brand and the brand community, respectively. A brand-based value-congruity has a direct effect on brand engagement; however, community-based value-congruity has an indirect effect on brand community engagement through brand community psychological ownership. The moderating effect of sense of community on engagement is also observed. Engagement with dual foci explained a substantial proportion of the variance in brand equity. Research limitations/implications A student sample, cross-sectional research design and a limited number of constructs in the nomological network to explore engagement in an online brand community constitute few limitations of this study. Customer engagement with dual foci has major implications for both the researchers and practitioners dealing with online brand communities. Practical implications To engage customers in online brand communities, dual foci should be the objective of management. A sense of ownership towards the brand and value-congruity with the brand should be aimed to engage customers with the brands; brand community psychological ownership and value-congruity with the community should be embraced by the firms to achieve brand community engagement. A high sense of community also needs to be promoted for strengthening dual foci engagement that further generates brand equity. Originality/value Customer brand engagement and brand community engagement had been studied separately in literature ignoring the fact that brand is the raison d’etre of the community. Taking a dual object engagement perspective, this study has charted out different routes of how to generate brand equity using online brand communities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson Ozuem ◽  
Michelle Willis ◽  
Kerry Howell ◽  
Geoff Lancaster ◽  
Raye Ng

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhimin Zhou ◽  
Chenting Su ◽  
Nan Zhou ◽  
Ning Zhang

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