Integration of online-based brand communities into value creating processes of firms

The emergence and growth of brand-based leisure communities represent a significant sociocultural phenomenon, especially in the automotive sector. A multitude of automotive clubs, associations, internet forums, internet-based community platforms, etc. can be observed. Due to innovative Web 2.0 social media and networking technologies, which have provided new opportunities for the interaction and integration of car consumers and automotive enthusiasts, online automobile leisure communities have experienced an enormous increase in quantity (and size) in recent years.

These so called Brand Communities (BCs) play a vital and essential role in the construction of brands and brand cultures. Hence, they are taking part in value creation processes of firms – they are co-creators of brand value. This results in great chances for companies on the one hand, but also implicates risks that have to be taken seriously on the other hand. Companies have to accept the role of BCs in value creation processes and learn to integrate these communities more actively into these processes in order to create competitive advantages and increase performance. It can be assumed that this is a great challenge for companies, especially because the landscape of the BC online-scene in the automotive area is supposed to be a very heterogeneous field and different (types of) BCs need to be treated differently.

This paper aims to take the heterogeneity of the field, the positive and negative consequences of BCs for companies, and the differences that arise of this collective phenomenon (in comparison to individual consumers) into account and tends to develop a typology of online-based BCs in the automotive sector. This typology will be based on theoretical concepts (Community and Brand Community Research, Service-Dominant Logic, Relationship Marketing) and empirical research (the data was collected through a quantitative online-survey and netnography of 50 (German speaking) BCs in the automotive sector).