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1. Introduction
Currently, organizations use several tools to keep customers motivated and committed to their brands. Relationship marketing is one tool that seeks to create and maintain long-term relationships with consumers and is considered a strategic resource for a company, a trend toward modern marketing and successful relationships (Laroche et al., 2012). Obviously, it is not always easy to maintain long-lasting relationships with customers, and brand communities are a strong tool for reinforcing these relationships. These communities were introduced as a solution for integrating and serving customers in their relationships with the brand. Brand communities perform important brand-name tasks: sharing information, perpetuating a brand story and culture and providing customer service (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001).
Through these communities, consumers can discuss ideas and products or simply talk about their favorite brand with individuals who have the same feelings of ownership, admiration, and love toward that particular brand. These communities are founded with the aim of connecting not only customers with each other, but also connecting a brand/company to its customers and forging a closer relationship with them to the benefit of both. Based on these kinds of relationships, the brand may more easily identify the desires and real needs of its customers.
When it comes to brand communities, it is important to understand that consumers are not the only ones who operate in them, but a number of entities do as well, including the companies themselves. It is crucial to realize that similar concepts like relationship marketing and branding can be covered through these communities, which are extremely important nowadays. It is necessary to build a stable relationship not only with consumers but also with all individuals who operate in the market and are, in some way, related to the brand. Through the brand community, it is possible to understand the needs of consumers and what may need to be changed. Brand communities may be a means of reinforcing and stabilizing the relationships between a brand and its customers.
Brand communities are essential to create lasting and meaningful relationships with individuals (McAlexander et al., 2002), strengthening loyalty and other relational outcomes. However, literature is not clear on the chain of effects between brand communities and these relational outcomes is produced (Hur et al.