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 consumer-brand 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 sense of belonging, it can also exert influence on brand-related purchase decisions and the number and duration of community visits. These factors oblige companies to ensure their OBC activity aligns with the values and identities of targeted customer segments, or to adapt if they seek to target a larger audience, creating a plurality of OBCs that target niche or mass customer segments. Considering the diverse identities of customers, some customers will be attracted based on the appeal of the brand, or the community members, or both. This chapter examines the heterogenic nature of OBCs concerning social identification and commitment and how companies utilise OBCs to appeal to their target audience.
6) Brand and customer loyalty
OBCs can facilitate the development of brand loyalty and the brand's long-term relationships with customers. However, the internet enables individuals to access OBCs without having purchased from the brand, and they can come and go as they wish. The challenge for companies is to build or maintain these individuals' loyalty to the brand itself through OBCs; thus, developing them from a passive follower and socialiser to an active customer. Managing these individuals is complex as they have varying levels of engagement and loyalty towards brands, and have different needs, values and expectations. This chapter provides a multidimensional examination of managing brand loyalty in the context of OBCs.
7) Brand relationships and engagement
This chapter advances the conceptualisation of the practical implications of customer engagement in the context of OBCs. Detailed examination of the concepts and features of OBCs must be integrated with the concepts of customer engagement to understand two important entities, brand and the community, and their importance in building customer engagement. Engagement related to the brand can differ from community-related engagement; this prompts the need to alter online activities to meet the differing needs of the customers, which complicates the management of customer engagement in OBCs. This chapter provides in-depth knowledge of value-driven insights into OBCs that can enhance customer engagement.
8) Managing service failure and recovery strategies
The chapter focuses on the strategic importance of OBC s in the service failure process. The open access of the internet facilitates increased customer awareness of service failures, and OBCs can alert other customers to service failures. This has encouraged companies to embrace the opportunity to adapt their service recovery strategies to include online response and presence. Additionally, companies are expected to develop OBC-orientated recovery strategies to address failures when they are brought up by customers in OBCs and to manage the firestorms that could arise following a reported failure. OBCs enable customers to become involved in the recovery strategy for the service failure they and other customers encountered, thus extending the role of recovery efforts to both the firm and the customers depending on the situation and capabilities.
9) Value co-creation sphere
This chapter examines how an OBC strengthens value co-creation. The chapter examines three main theoretical orientations: social influence theory, actor-network theory and self-categorisation theory. The chapter focuses on customers' different levels of involvement in OBCs, and further discusses how customers' interactive stances could be understood using various key theoretical lenses. How do these ideas influence understanding of a consumer's level of engagement in an OBC? How would a brand leverage these ideas in the creation and development of a digital marketing strategy?
