A study by Christodoulides (2009) illustrates that internet and technology have strongly affected on brandsphere. Brand managers role has changed from guardian to host and they have understood that one-side communication is not enough anymore and they should shift to many-to-many communication where consumers are allowed to communicate with the firm and other consumers. Christodoulides (2009) states that before the internet, brand manager used to act like control freak which is not feasible in online world. Today, branding is about creating relationships, interaction and generating better value to the customers. Building and sharing user generated content should be facilitated by companies because it has a powerful impact on building and improving relationship amongst brands, consumers and brand communities. Internet has also offered new opportunities for companies as they can benefit from personalization and customization for instance in case of NikeID.com, where consumer can design trainers themselves from a variety of options.
Read moreCo-branding in User-Generated Images on Instragram and Likeability
Images have the ability to influence directly and are considered more credible than words spoken or written (Vilnai-Yavetz and Tifferet, 2015). Exemplified in the idiom: ‘an image is worth a thousand words’, which indicates images are able to convey many meanings that cannot be so clearly communicated in a simple text message. Currently, communication is driven by technology, which has consequently led to the social media rave. Images are being sent, posted and shared to a large extent through these means by people “seeking to construct an image of themselves” (Leary and Kowalski, 1990), increasing likeability and trying to create a desired impression (Vilnai-Yavetz and Tifferet, 2015). A key way of doing so, however, is by enhancing their status through their clothing and objects, which appear with them in their photos (Johnson et al., 2008).
Read moreCo-branding in User-Generated Images on Instragram and Likeability
Images have the ability to influence directly and are considered more credible than words spoken or written (Vilnai-Yavetz and Tifferet, 2015). Exemplified in the idiom: ‘an image is worth a thousand words’, which indicates images are able to convey many meanings that cannot be so clearly communicated in a simple text message. Currently, communication is driven by technology, which has consequently led to the social media rave. Images are being sent, posted and shared to a large extent through these means by people “seeking to construct an image of themselves” (Leary and Kowalski, 1990), increasing likeability and trying to create a desired impression (Vilnai-Yavetz and Tifferet, 2015). A key way of doing so, however, is by enhancing their status through their clothing and objects, which appear with them in their photos (Johnson et al., 2008).
Read moreThe Rise of Social Media Platforms: A Stepping-Stone for Viral Videos
The rise of social media over the last years has created a platform that enables brands to promote its offerings to the consumers in a non-traditional way. This paper will explore the concept of viral videos in a social media environment.
Read moreTribal Marketing: What Every Marketer Must Know about Tribes in Social Media
Brand communities, consumer tribes and tribal marketing, are much talked about terms in the social media discourse, coined by Web 2.0 luminaries as Seth Godin. Yet, do you fully understand the phenomenon behind the buzz? To successfully adapt tribal marketing strategies you first need to understand what tribes are and how their rise in social media has changed the way we connect and consume. Find out about the three factors that drive tribe experiences online and see how they change marketing as it used to be.
Read moreImportant rules brand should know to succeed in social media
As the penetration of social media is growing dynamically, and consumer eagerly spends their time being social online, brands should react to the changes and be where the consumers are. Social media is a unique environment, where users are ready to share their emotions, are opened for interaction with each other and the brands. This article provides the recommendations on what marketers and the agencies responsible for brands promotion should know and what rules should they take into consideration to succeed in social media and build strong relations with consumers. The article concludes that it is vital to adhere to all of the rules to succeed in the social media environment.
Read moreThe impact of social media on customer communication and modern day marketing
The 21st century has been characterized by various developments, shifts and changes worldwide. Many of these shifts and changes, especially within a marketing context, have been fuelled by the nowadays omnipresent Internet and all the platforms and tools found within. Businesses need to adapt their ways of interaction with their customers and clients. Here fore, several authors offer several approaches on which path to take in order to maximize the potential offered by the World Wide Web.
Read moreYour Brand under Attack: Negative electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and online Firestorms in Social Media Part 2
Although the importance of this topic seems to be extremely high, research is still in its infancy. There is a wide variety of academic articles available that describe the changing paradigm of word-of-mouth, yet there is only limited literature available that examines how brands can deal with negative electronic word-of-mouth and online firestorms within the social media context. This may be connected to the fact that its emergence, its development and its consequences happened in a rather short period of time. However, from popular press articles, Thomas et al. (2012) gathered and analyzed a variety of company examples. Thereby, they identified five general coping strategies, delay, respond, partner, legal action, and censorship, which will be illustrated with cases below.
Read moreYour Brand under Attack: Negative electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and online Firestorms in Social Media Part 1
In 2012, just 39 cents were enough to trigger an ‘online firestorm’ that broke over McDonald's Germany. What happened was that the leading fast-food brand had raised the price of its cheeseburger by exactly that amount. As a consequence, many consumers expressed their unhappiness about the price increase by communicating their displeasure on McDonald’s Facebook wall (Frickel, 2012). This in itself does not seem to be unusual within the highly-connected online world in which many companies manage their own social media presences and respond to or interact with consumers. However, it becomes unusual if the number of ‘likes’ and comments on one critical social media comment rise to exorbitant levels. Within 48 hours 81,000 users clicked on the ‘like’-button and 6,800 users commented. The company responded one day later and announced that the price for the cheeseburger would not be raised in most restaurants (Frickel, 2012).
Read moreUser Generated Content - The empowerment of consumers
This article considers the empowerment of consumer due to the raise of social media and the influences of Users Generated Content on consumers’ behavior and their toward brands.
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