Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Community
The emergence of the social web and online communities has given rise to
the need for a change in how the “people” segment of Internet strategies are
viewed and defined. Early online congregation points such as chat rooms and
message boards, which used to be private affairs, have today given rise to
the very public forums like blogs, social networks and virtual worlds, which
have subsequently changed the rules of online marketing strategies. With
130 million people on Facebook and 150 million people on China's QZone,
online consumers are crafting their own online experiences and making their
own rules as they go, in environments that increasingly exclude corporate
bodies and brands whether they are luxury or not. These platforms, which
enable people to create and manage an online identity (whether real or not),
communicate with and influence others, and participate in all kinds of online
events are cropping up all over cyberspace at an alarming rate. With hun-
dreds of thousands of existing blogs and social networks in any language
you can think of and millions of users around the world, the power equation
of the cyberspace has shifted from corporate bodies to the consumer mar-
ket. The company or luxury brand is no longer in control of the way online
messages are diffused, assessed and interpreted. They are now discussed and
debated before they are either accepted or completely rejected. The social
web brings people together and encourages them to talk through dialogues
that are genuine and independent of any influence from corporations.
Since online communities have the capacity to change public opinion in
a matter of minutes and, eventually, public behavior in short periods, it is
about time their relevance for the luxury sector is assessed. The luxury sec-
tor remains lost as to how to approach the social web and the majority of
brands concede that the luxury brands should not create online communities
but should, rather, watch the social web and understand the modalities of its
functioning. The problem with this standpoint is that it's been a couple of
years since this watching exercise started and still nothing has been done by
luxury brands in this regard, except, well, more watching and the occasional
Tweeting. While I am one of those who do not go out advising luxury brands
to create blogs and online communities, I believe that luxury brands should
do more than “watch” the social web. Of course, observation and monitoring
the contents of blogs is key to understanding the evolution of the mind-set
of luxury clients but luxury brands may participate in the social web without
exposing themselves to ridicule or losing their magic touch.
Essentially, there are two ways that a corporate body may participate in
the current social web, the first being as an aggregator of consumers to the
website. This approach draws people together on the brand's website not only
to interact with the brand and purchase products, but also to discuss, share
and exchange experiences linked to the brand. Before a company goes in this
direction, they must first ensure that they enjoy a positive consumer-based
