CUSTOMERS AS ONLINE BRAND AMBASSADORS: Motivation for the Creation of UGC and Benefits for the Fashion Label ‘Free People’

September 29, 2014

  Written by Susanne Krebs

INTRODUCTION

Sociologists and economists alike talk about the new, empowered customer. This customer’s stage is the marketplace, his props are Social Media applications and his agenda is to ‘spread the word’ via user-generated content (UGC). By the time the curtain is drawn, it remains unsure whether the customer’s actions will result in comedic or tragic consequences for companies. But if marketers act smart and quick, they can turn ordinary customers into virtual stars; stars that act as online brand ambassadors and endorse for their benefactors.

This paper aims to highlight the most important steps, motivations and implications of the new customer’s journey and presents a successful example of how a fashion/retail company mastered the concept of recruiting customers as online brand ambassadors via an internally implemented UGC-platform.

BACKGROUND

Customers’ Empowerment

Sharing personal content online has become omnipresent in contemporary society. Individuals share information about their daily life, upload pictures of their latest travels and review their latest purchases. This phenomenon is summarized as UGC and defines “any material created and uploaded to the Internet by amateur contributors” (Akar & Topçu, 2011).

With the emergence of Web 2.0 and its multiple Social Media applications (i.a. YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Flickr or personal blogs), UGC is accessible for society at large (Daugherty, Eastin & Bright, 2008). A new marketplace emerged (Akar & Topçu, 2011) and within new challenges: company-driven CRM increasingly turns into customer-driven CMR (“customer managed relations”) who demand platforms to proactively interact with companies (Wind, 2008). Within a company’s marketing context, the power shifted from market-driving media experiences to market-driven media ‘reactions’ (Daugherty, Eastin & Bright, 2008).

On the other hand, every empowered customer represents a valuable asset for the company (Liu-Thompkins & Rogerson (2012). As content creator, influencer and communicator he possesses the latent potential of becoming an online brand ambassador. Naturally, the feasibility of this concept differs among industries. It is more likely to incite a customer to endorse for a fashion label than, for example, for a petrol brand. Assessing the industry’s reputation (and for that matter also the company’s reputation) is a key to success. Most importantly however, is the assessment of the target customer and his motifs in order to implement a digital marketing strategy that eventually generates profit from UGC and possibly recruits customers as online brand ambassadors (Hoffman & Fodor, 2010).

Customers’ Motivation

Sharing online content is motivated by personal and social functions. Personal incentives include the expression and relation of self-concepts. Through UGC, customers can voice their individual opinions and - by receiving acknowledgment for these opinions - increase their self-esteem. This alludes to the second incentive: social belonging. By sharing UGC, customers become part of an online community and satisfy the human need of ‘fitting in’ and nourishing relationships (Daugherty, Eastin & Bright, 2008).

Additionally, a majority of individuals shares content online because they want to “get the word out about causes or brands” (The New York Times, 2011). The creation of brand-related UGC has a particular motivation. Since their emergence, brands are seen as “symbolic resources for the construction of identity” (Elliot & Wattanasuwan, 1998). Brands utter meanings (personal and/or societal) that serve as touch points of identification and inspiration for individuals to create stories around ‘the self’. A collective of brand devotees is referred to as ‘brand community’ (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). A typical characteristic of ‘brand communities’ is that they are non-geographically bound. In this context, Web 2.0 acts as a central mean of communication. Community-embedded creators of brand-related UGC are seen as particularly important, trustworthy and valuable customers (Muniz & Schau, 2011) and therefore constitute ideal online brand ambassadors.

Implications for Marketers

Contemporary marketing is multidirectional, participatory and user-generated (Akar & Topçu, 2011). An elementary step is to ensure that the customer has access to a suitable platform to communicate with the company and with fellow customers and to encourage active participation and co-creation of brand meaning within that platform (Singh & Sonnenburg, 2012).

Marketers have the possibility to resort to third-party UGC-platforms (common Social Media applications like Facebook or Twitter) or to create internal platforms.

Internal UGC-platforms allow more specific, brand-related customization and thus give the opportunity to create more personalized, trustworthy identities and relationships (Christodoulides, 2009). Furthermore, internal UGC-platforms allow for more company power because they can apply their ‘own set of rules’ to control the brand meaning which is a critical necessity within UGC (Muniz & Schau, 2011).

On the other hand, the implementation of an internal UGC-platform is connected to a financial investment (instead of resorting to mostly free third-party applications). To redeem this investment, it is important to generate enough traffic to trigger beneficial participation. Appealing incentives that motivate the customer to actually create brand-related content and share it with others (even outside communal boundaries) are crucial in this context (Burmann, 2010).

It is important to integrate the concept of online brand ambassadors into the company’s existing marketing mix (Daugherty, Eastin & Bright, 2008). The number one rule to regard is consistency in storytelling (Singh & Sonnenburg, 2012). Ideally, UGC is one of multiple marketing touch points. Despite the fact that online brand ambassadors do participate in creating the story, they are still remain customers and therefore good story listeners (Singh & Sonnenburg, 2012). Creating own content must not become a redundancy once a company implements a UGC-platform.

Best Practice example: The ‘Free people’ community board 

About ‘Free People’

‘Free People’ (FP) is a subsidiary label of the American fashion company ‘Urban Outfitters’. It was launched in 1984 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since the label’s relaunch in 2001, FP promotes femininity, courage and spirit; values that are not only resembled in the bohemian fashion designs but also in the label’s culture and marketing activities (Free People I, 2014).

FP pursues an extensive digital marketing strategy that took off with the official retail website launch in 2004. Social Media appearances on common external channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc. are as much part of the strategy as internal digital marketing efforts. The label launched a blog in 2006 and released an internet short film in 2012 (Free People I, 2014). All marketing initiatives follow the same storytelling motif that circles around the ‘twenty-something Free People girl’. Through this, FP wants to emerge from a mere fashion brand to a lifestyle brand (Noricks, 2013).

The Community Board: A Perfect Marketing-Fit

Simply creating digital content for the customers is not enough for the FP marketers. They want to mobilize their most passionate customer base to create their own brand content and to become valuable assets by turning them into online brand ambassadors (Noricks, 2013).

Fig. 1: “FP Me logo”

Fig. 1: FP Me Logo

In this context, FP launched an integrated, online community board in February 2013 with the name ‘Free People Me’ (FPMe) (Sherman, 2013). To actively create content, the FP customer is required to create an account. Thereafter, he (or in this case: she) is entitled to create UGC – upload pictures of outfits featuring FP designs as well as to like or comment on other user’s pictures (Free People II, 2014). 

Kathryn O’Connor, FP’s Senior Marketing Manager, motivates the integration of the community board by highlighting the importance of including the customer in the label’s marketing activities: “Our customers are a huge source of inspiration and we wanted to give them a space to show their style and interact with each other” (Noricks, 2013).

Fig. 2: “FP Me Community Board Layout"

ig. 2: FP Me Community Board Layout

 Investing in an internal UGC-platform always implies a certain risk. Prior to the launch, FP was confident it could generate sufficient traffic to their internal domain because previous customer analyses indicated that the typical FP customer is engaged and willing to share label-related content on the Internet (Noricks, 2013). David Hayne, FP’s Managing Director points out that “[their] customer today is sharing her life with friends on social media. [They] believe she’ll also be excited to do so with fans of a brand she cares about” (PR Web I, 2013). This belief fostered the creation of an online community that generates label-related UGC and enables customers to become trustworthy online brand ambassadors.

De facto, the concept proves to be successful. Within one year of the community board launch, FPMe generated over 25.000 different customer pictures (Free People II, 2014).

In November 2013, FP expanded their FPMe concept. Since then, users are able to upload ‘inspirational’ pictures that don’t necessarily feature FP designs but any motifs customers like to share with the label and fellow customers (PR Web II, 2013); a further step to establish the label as a lifestyle brand, rather than a mere fashion brand.

Hand in Hand: Mutual Benefits for Label and Customers

However, simply providing FP’s customers the technical opportunity to create UGC is not enough to recruit them as online brand ambassadors. There are attendant factors that account for the concept’s success.

Reaching out to bloggers or other popular influencers in order to raise brand awareness is a common, contemporary marketing strategy in the digital fashion and retail industry. FP takes the role as one of fashion industry’s few pioneers and turns ‘ordinary’ customers into stars and consequently into online brand ambassadors. This is a smart approach, especially considering the rise of criticism against bloggers that endorse for products in exchange of sponsorships (Hunter, 2013).

FP’s incentives for regular and qualitative UGC creation are e.g. participating in FP fashion shows, hosting shopping parties in FP stores, becoming FPMe ‘Trendsetter of the Year’ or having customer generated pictures featured on the online web shop (Sherman, 2013). These incentives trigger customer’s personal motivation factors such as the impression or self-esteem management. Being on a ‘first name basis’ with FP is an added bonus because it indicates appreciation and belonging.

“The good news for Free People is that for every customer it makes into a star, there are hundreds FP Me users waiting for their moment” (Sherman, 2013). Whenever FP re-shares customer’s UGC, the creator experiences a boost in traffic and popularity. Some of FP’s most popular online brand ambassadors even decided to create own style blogs due to their sudden communal fame and thereby spread the FP lifestyle even beyond the community’s boundaries (Sherman, 2013). Senior Marketing Manager O’Connor is convinced that “if [the label is] drawing girls into the Free People lifestyle, chances are that they’ll also be attracted to the clothes” (Noricks, 2013). Eventually, the establishment of online brand ambassadors turns into measurable ROI.

CONCLUSION

Turning customers into online brand ambassadors is a recent, demanding and risky marketing phenomenon. However, if a company proves to be successful, its online brand ambassadors are prone to be highly beneficial. They are ordinary individuals that fellow customers can relate to and therefore perceive as trustworthy.

The journey toward a self-sustaining online brand ambassador base is challenging. Creating a platform that enables UGC is the first step. Ideally, a company assembles multiple UGC touch points, external and internal. Internal UGC-platforms demand higher investment and maintenance but are crucial for the process of creating transparency, trust and a consistent storytelling arch. There, customers can resort to an online community that satisfies their social and personal needs and motivates them to actively create and share brand-related content.

Incentives add to this motivation and have the chance to ‘spread the word’ beyond communal boundaries to increase awareness and traffic.

Recruiting customers as online brand ambassadors has great potential among fashion retailers. Creating UGC related to clothing products is normally possible without inordinate effort or expenditure. However, the ‘look and feel’ of the label has to appeal to an online affine customer base. Furthermore, fellow customers have to accept the idea of ordinary individuals endorsing for the label and influencing their lifestyle. FP complies with these requirements. The label’s target customer embraces the online brand ambassador concept which turns it into a promising online marketing tool.

REFERENCE LIST

Literature:

Akar E., Topçu, B. (2011): An Examination of the Factors Influencing Consumers’ Attitude toward Social Media Marketing, Journal of Internet Commerce, 10 (1), 35-67

Burmann C. (2010): A Call for ‘User-Generated-Branding’, Journal of Brand Management, 18, 1-4

Christodoulides G. (2009): Branding in the Post-Internet Era, Marketing Theory, 9(1), 141-144

Elliot R., Wattanasuwan K. (1998): Brands as Symbolic Resources for the Construction of Identity, International Journal of Advertising, 17, 131-144

Daugherty T., Eastin M. S., Bright L. (2008): Exploring Consumer Motivations for Creating User-Generated Content, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 8(2), 16-25

Hoffman D. L., Fodor M. (2010): Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?, MIT Sloan Management Review, 52(1)

Liu-Thompkins Y., Rogerson M. (2012): Rising to Stardom: An Empirical Investigation of the Diffusion of User-Generated Content, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 71-82

Muniz A. M., O’Guinn T. C. (2001): Brand Community, Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 412-430

Muniz A. M., Schau H. J. (2011): How to Inspire Value-laden Collaborative Consumer-Generated Content, Business Horizons, 54, 209-217

Singh s., Sonnenburg s. (2012): Brand Performances in Social Media, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 189-197

Wind Y. J. (2008): A Plan to Invent the Marketing We Need Today, MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(4)

Internet:

Free People I (2014): Our Story, available online: http://www.freepeople.com/our-story/       [accessed: 2014-02-07]

Free People II (2014): FP Me, available online: http://www.freepeople.com/fpme/                  [accessed: 2014-02-07]

Hunter S. (2013): Point of View: Have style bloggers sold out to the lure of big fashion brands?, available online: http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/point-view-bored-fashion-blogs/ [accessed: 2014-02-11]

 Noricks, C. (2013): How Free People succeeds with branded and customer-generated content, available online: http://www.prcouture.com/2013/04/25/how-free-people-is-succeeding-with-branded-content/ [accessed: 2014-02-10]

PR Web I (2013): Introducing ‘FP Me’: Free People’s Style Community, available online: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10429732.html [accessed: 2014-02-13]

PR Web II (2013): Free People introduces next phase of UGC to its website: ‘Inspiration Pics’, available online: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11329517.html     [accessed: 2014-02-08]

Sherman, L. (2013): Retailers look to their best customers, not bloggers, as the new influencers, available online: http://fashionista.com/2013/12/customers-new-retail-influencers/  [accessed: 2014-02-10]

The New York Times (2011): The Psychology of Sharing, available online: http://nytmarketing.whsites.net/mediakit/pos/POS_PUBLIC0819.php                            [accessed: 2014-02-12]

Visuals:

Fig. 1: http://www.freepeople.com/resources/_shared/images/fpme/fpme-logo.png           [accessed: 2014-02-07]

Fig. 2: based on http://www.freepeople.com/fpme/ [accessed: 2014-02-07]

How has the Internet changed consumers over the past 10 years and how can marketers best adapt?

September 25 2014

Written by Daphne Khoo

Introduction 

Needless to say, over the past 10 years, the Internet has changed drastically. In the recent years, traditional media has waned since the growing use of social media such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 platforms. On these social media platforms, consumers are now able to contribute, share and access information extensively on the World Wide Web. Given these characteristics, the new Internet not only shapes consumers’ perceptions but also empowers consumers in Internet marketing, heralding a perceptible change in consumer behavior over the years. With this power at hand, many marketers are beginning to understand the importance of readjusting their marketing strategies to reap commercial gains, specifically through incorporating the online social network to influence consumers’ perceptions and behavior (Akar and Topçu, 2011). Since corporations actively search for means to capitalize and leverage on the various online marketing channels evolving technologies facilitate, what is the best marketing mix most commercially beneficial to marketers?

Evolution in Information Technology

The Web was first introduced by Tim Bruners-Lee in 1989 and is by far the largest transformable-information construct. Since 1989, there have been remarkable improvements in the Web and related technologies (Getting, 2007; Boulos and Wheeler, 2007). More specifically, the advent of Web 2.0 has redefined marketing roles to those that were more customer-centric. According to Berners-Lee, Web 1.0 was a read-only web and a system of cognition (Getting, 2007). At that point, the main goal of websites was to make information readily accessibly for anyone and establish an online presence (Aghaei, Nematbakhsh and Farsani, 2012). Unlike Web 1.0, Web 2.0 is far more interactive and participative as users are now allowed to create, upload and share content. Web 2.0 hosts platforms where users can express themselves freely with no restraints. Some examples would include blogs (online journal entries), web mashup (combined information and services from multiple sources), and Wikis (Free access to edit information on a webpage). In this Web 2.0 reality, in particular with the advent of social media sites such as Facebook, users form communities, create, and share content across multiple platforms at an alarming rate (McIntyre, 2013). With access to such rapid and multidirectional flows of information, consumers can now make more informed decisions, which ultimately influence their behavior.   

Essentially, the differences in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are pertinent to the changes in consumer behavior, as enhanced user participation would empower consumers in internet marketing (Labrecque, Esche, Mathwick, Novak and Hofacker, 2013).

User Generated Content

In the Web 2.0 realm, online brand communities including social-networking sites have mushroomed and sustained the development of user-generated content (Gangadharbatla, 2008). User-generated content (UGC) has also been a key driver for not only brand conversations but consumer insights as well. With the continued growth of online participation in content creation and sharing, consumer empowerment in internet marketing comes into play as consumers are now able to exert greater influence over products and brands (Jevons and Gabbott, 2000; Riegner, 2007). As a result, a shift from a conventional publisher-centric media model to a more user-centric model can be observed. However, it does not stop here. When consumers generate content about a brand regardless of intent, this brand-related UGC amplifies the impact that UGC has on brands and consumer-based brand equity, which will be further discussed later in the paper.

Changing Consumer Perceptions and Behaviors

Web 2.0 has profound implications for consumers. In contrast with consumers 10 years ago, consumers today are able to access word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews, and easily become digital producers. With this ease in accessibility, consumers are more empowered to provide constructive advice on the credibility of a product or service (Veer, 2011). Furthermore, in today’s context, consumers would rather trust advice from their communities as compared to a marketer’s pitch. Consequently, as consumers distrust marketers, brand supremacy and brand loyalty degenerates (McIntyre, 2013).

Consumer empowerment is activated and enhanced by marketing efforts that serve to satisfy consumer needs and wants especially within the Web 2.0 era (Wright, Newman, and Dennis, 2006). Undeniably, consumer empowerment is not objective but subjective. A study has shown that there are three main influences on a consumer’s subjective empowerment experience: 1) the ability to dictate the features of the choice set; 2) progress cues in the consumer purchasing process; and 3) information on other consumers (Wathieu et al., 2002). Essentially, UGC enables consumers to connect in new digital realms (Harrison, Hunter and Waite, 2006), making them feel empowered and allowing them to define brand values based on their own perceptions (Christodoulides, 2009).

Capitalizing on Changing Consumer Behavior

The proliferation of the Internet has been the single most critical catalyst in the power shift from marketers to consumers (McIntyre, 2013). Consumers are now actively seeking value in low cost purchases and brands are being commoditized, which ultimately pose as a greater challenge to the modern marketer. Furthermore, Marshall McLuhan suggested that the power of words no longer lies in the medium, but in ways the medium is used. In fact, most marketers have started rebranding their businesses, channeling their resources into building interactive relationships with consumers in online communities rather than pushing media campaigns.

·   Establishing an Online Presence

In the past, the company initiates interaction between the company and consumers through market research and advertising. However, at present, the internet has empowered consumers by making it convenient to contact the company to gather more information on their products or even purchase them within the comforts of their home at any time of the day. This ultimately led to the advent of internet search engines and directories, which facilitate consumers' desires to gather important information on products of services before purchasing them. As such, in today’s context, it is important for marketers to ensure that they establish an online presence on the web through search engine optimization tactics and an easily navigable and accessible website.

·   Managing Customer Relationship

Establishing good customer relationships never stops at clinching a deal on an excellent product; it has to be coupled with excellent after-sale service as well. The internet has made such a practice even more essential today. Chat rooms, reviews box and other internet media have accelerated the feedback loop on products and its complementary after-sale service. This has made it easier for consumers to access information on the quality of the product or service posted by communities and to make more informed decisions. As a result, an effective feedback system has to be put in place to manage negative social response or feedback before word spreads and undermines the credibility of the brand. It is especially crucial in today’s context to provide prompt service recovery because negative feedback travels farther than positive ones in the cyber world (Sridhar and Srinivasan, 2012).

·   Increased Customization in the Product Offering

Having realised the importance that consumers ascribe to personalized or customized offerings, marketers should abandon mass marketing, which was popular within traditional media practices. However, in the Web 2.0 era where consumers value quality customer relationships, marketers prefer diversified advertising, as greater returns can be translated from these relationships (Anderson, n.d.). Marketers are now able to use technologies such as Ad Exchange and Demand Side Platform to ensure that their targeted market segment receives their customized messages.

·      Brand-related UGC

Recent studies have shown that brands that encourage UGC can create relationship-building opportunities with consumers (Christodoulides, Jevons and Bonhomme, 2012). Yet brand-related UGC is a Janus-faced strategy. On the flipside, negative UGC can have adverse implications on enhancing and sustaining a brand’s equity, especially since consumers place greater credibility on UGC than professional content (Cheong and Morrison, 2008).  A recent study suggests that involvement with UGC can have a positive impact on consumer-based brand equity, since there are more than twice as many brand-related searches on social-networking sites that relate to UGC as compared to marketer-created content (Christodoulides, Jevons and Bonhomme, 2012). For successful brand marketers, these findings strongly support a change towards a more participative and interactive approach and provide an undisputable basis for a brand manager to engage in UGC (de Chernatony and Christodoulides, 2004). Ultimately, successful brand managers have to review the ways in which they can better manage brand-related UGC so as to simultaneously grow their brand equity as well.

·      Multi-Channel Strategy/ Cross Channel Advertising

As consumers continuously search for new information, marketers face the challenge of continuously catering to that need by using the right format, scope and tone (Anderson, n.d.). Therefore, it is crucial for marketers to develop an open-source content in order to ensure that messages are syndicated and integrated with online channels through links. Today, marketers aim to foster close relationships with their consumers and to build brand loyalty by offering insights on consumers’ pressing concerns on blogs. In fact, according to the HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing Report, B2C companies that maintained a blog generated 88% more leads per month than those who did not.

Furthermore, with information easily accessible and shared among consumers, marketers should be more conscious of their different channel offerings. Especially with internet comparison sites and consumer chat rooms, the required information that consumers demand can be easily accessed. As such, marketers must be aware that it would not be easy to execute differential pricing in different channels without an influx of purchases, consumer confusion or dissatisfaction  (Laroche, Kiani, Economakis and Richard, 2013). Since the consumers expect consistency, a successful marketer has to establish an effective multi-channel strategy rather than leaving it to chance.

·      Inbound Marketing

Ultimately, it would be essential for marketers to engage in in-bound marketing by supplying value laden-content, such as White Papers and infographics, so as to enter consumers’ inner circles (McIntyre, 2013). By this strategy, marketers would be able to tap on privileged and personal information about their consumers and thereby redefine their targeted market segments, determine valuable leads and better tailor their messages and products.

With technological evolution, business intelligence, and predictive analytics, Customer Relationship Management systems and other software applications and programs can facilitate this new marketing approach. This technological support allows marketers to quickly sort, analyze and translate the variety of data that consumers have accessed into more accurate results on consumer preferences. Therefore, marketers should consider employing these technologies when formulating an effective marketing mix.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the evolution of the internet has fundamentally changed how consumers perceive brands as well as purchase goods. There is a clear power shift from the marketer to the consumer, as the consumer is empowered to make informed decisions based on information the internet provides easy access to. With consumers becoming co-creators, marketers should adopt a more participative, personalized and user-centric approach in order to succeed. Marketers should pay attention to developing positive brand-related UGC in order to establish their brand and grow their brand equity. Building conversations around their brand is also essential in establishing credibility in our tech-savvy age. Nonetheless, despite the growing obsolescence of the traditional marketing approach, online and offline marketing should not be isolated but considered as a mixture of both inbound and outbound marketing when one is formulating a multi-channel strategy. Traditional marketing approaches possess the potential in garnering reach and influencing consumer perceptions and thusshould not be ignored or neglected. Furthermore, there will always be differentiated consumers and the possibility of repurposing old systems. Even though the means of marketing has evolved along with technology, the role of marketing still remains the same. Its aim in fostering quality customer relationships will definitely drive its function to positively correlate with the changing behaviors of its consumers (McIntyre, 2013).

Projecting into the next five years, establishing marketing-tech teams may be necessary to tackle the challenge information technology poses to marketing’s form and function.

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