Do online communities exist?

Obviously online communities do exist. Globally the world is getting closer to one big web-community. Social, business, politics, sports, dating, sex, and education amidst others all have web/online communities, with millions universally connected as members of these communities.



Basically, online communities are groups of people who [in most cases] have never met before, from different background and culture with a particular interest or concern been shared over the internet, contacting each other through the mailing list, web conferencing, and newsgroups.(partnership.co.uk) Online communities are supported by listservs, bulletin boards, chats, MUDs, MOOS or combinations of these software programs along with web pages The list of online communities is endless. Groupings to be sparingly done thus: Face book/ my space/Tagged (mainly Social Interest), Linton (Professional), 606 debate (sports)

Online communities can basically be divided into 3 broad groups:
1. Virtual communities of interest: online community with same interest. E.g. Hobby, politics, sickness etc.
2. Organisational Communities: These groups have the same organisational interest. It’s basically done using the intranet or using special systems e.g. Lotus Notus or 1st class. These people could be sitting adjacent each-other or across the world, their business is conducted within the culture of the organisation.
3. Local Communities online: Numerous communities go online to create their own web presence, a kind of existence port-folio, an online presence, providing information [maps, fire& police posts, and shops], discussing civic regulations mirroring the real world.



Importance of online communities to the marketing world
Technology has brought breathtaking changes to the way business is conducted, with globalisation been the key driving force facilitated by the rapid growth of the internet. The impact of the internet on business is massive, with values of product based on creative and informative use of information and technological communications.(Pitta and Fowler 2005)

The internet provides a means of communicating to individuals and organisations. It is more focused on individuals who value convenience, near instantaneous communications, specificity and accessibility. Its importance to marketing is powerful and immeasurable. Once online members build trust prompting personal contact they interact like friends sharing word of mouth.



The internet provides basic advantages to marketers:
• A means of communication{ e-mails, ICQ}
• A means of obtaining information { online customer database, e-libraries, web}
• Overcoming geographical barriers
• Restructuring relationships
• Increasing the use of new global advertising and marketing techniques
• Get users to respond immediately (Tsang and Tse 2005).

Understanding an online community and its purchasing behaviours is important and relevant to marketers, as relationships between consumers could influence brand choice. The understanding and effective use of these communities would be important to marketers.(Simmons 2007)

If properly utilized, marketers can sponsor online communities, discussing topics of interest to their customers. If interest can be gained a growing number of followers can be achieved, which provides an opportunity to interact deeply with customers, create a marketing research opportunity on product design, pricing amidst others

Electronic means of communications is the fastest. Marketers can effectively use its aid to discussion. These online communities optimize market segments with particular interest. With internet spending projected to grow to $331billion by 2010, online consumers are set to rise (Dennis and Danielle 2005).

Basically online retailing has been primarily business-to-consumers; there is an increase in consumer-to-consumer e-commerce. Evidently eBay is a C-to-C estimated to be worth $3billion. The growing increase of online commerce increases consumers’ use of internet purchase decisions.







Video Based Games Communities:
From last decades, we assisted of the huge development of the video consol and video game (PS3, Xbox360) and we notice a major graphic headway. Indeed, this market should weigh 675 million dollars by 2012 only in the United States, according to the society of market studies Parks Associates. The dynamism and the potential of the emergent sector of the game advertising is a great opportunity for marketer to expand their marketing strategy in order to capture this new target segment that is increasing every day.
The strategy may be apparently simple but advertisers tried to achieve that in game extracts in which personalized players appear in video football game such as Pro evolution soccer 2009. A ground surrounded with advertising hoardings in the colours of the automobile constructer Ford, or sports clothes of the football with brands such as Nike or Adidas. The idea is as stated by Jay Sampson, vice-president of Massive Co-op is to create advertisements so naturally in the games as in real life.

Key benefits of Online Communities
1. Stronger relationships with customers will improve loyalty.
2. An online community will increase Search Engine Optimisation thus driving more traffic to your website. It will also increase the proportion of positive consumer comments online.
3. Your online community will provide a better understanding of customer needs and a platform for immediate customer feedback on new ideas and services.
4. Online communities build and amplify positive word-of-mouth, advocacy and PR.
5. An ongoing dialogue will help keep customers at the heart of the business.(Swinyard et al.2006)
Possible ways of targeting online browser based community
Relevant studies lays emphasis on the perceived risks associated with the online browser communities, online shopping and various consumer attitudes that foster and inhibit online exchange (Teo and Yu 2005) . This perceived risk is what restricts a customer from sharing information and purchasing products online. To ensure customer loyalty in an online context, eight factors were identified that impact on loyalty. They are:
• Customization
• Contact Interactively
• Care Community
• Convenience
• Cultivation
• Choice
• Character (Srinvivaran et al 2002)
The browser based community are a wide range of different people, so the E marketers should put these factors in mind to enhance customer experience.

References:

http://www.freshnetworks.com/learn/the-future-of-online-communties

partnership.co.uk (unknown) what Are Online Communities [online] available from [19 March 2009]

Pitta, D. A. and Fowler, D. (2005) 'Internet Community Forums: An Untapped Resource for Consumer Marketers.' Journal of Consumer Marketing 22, (5) 265–274

R, C., Smith, S. and Swinyard, W. R. (2006) 'E Shopping Lovers and Fearful Conservatives: A Market Segmentation Analysis.' international Journal of Retail and distribution Management 34, (4/5) 308-333

Simmons, G. J. (2007) '“I-Branding”: Developing the Internet as a Branding Tool.' Marketing Intelligence & Planning 25, (6) pp. 544-562

Tsang, P. M. and Tse, S. (2005) 'A Hedonic Model for Effective Web Marketing: An Empirical Examination.' Industrial Management & Data Systems 105, (8) 1039-1052