Day 4 - Marketing and Communicating with Online Communities

The term “social” in social media highlights a particularly powerful aspect of the online environment ‐ enabling us as individuals to create, belong and communicate in groups and communities. This has become a strong feature of the online environment over the last three years and is becoming increasingly influential in the way organisations communicate with customers and stakeholders.


Additional Readings:
Kozinets R. (1999) E‐Tribalized Marketing?: The Strategic Implications of Virtual Communities of Consumption European Management Journal Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 252–264, 1999

Sicilia M and Palazo´n M, Brand communities on the internet. A case study of Coca‐Cola’s Spanish virtual community. Corporate Communications: An International Journal Vol. 13 No. 3, 2008 pp. 255‐270 www.emeraldinsight.com (2007). Available: www.emeraldinsight.com/1356‐3289.htm. Last accessed 5th April 2010.

Wei Zhang and Stephanie Watts. Online communities as communities of practice. Available: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkpdf&contentId=1733098 Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Journal Of Knowledge Management Vol. 12 No. 4 2008, Pp. 55‐71. Last accessed 5th April 2010.

Kozinets R V. (2010). Netnography: The Marketer’s Secret Weapon, How Social Media Understanding Drives Innovation. Available: http://www.netbase.com/landing_pages/netnography_paper. Last accessed 5th April 2010.


Task / Agenda:

Consider UK retail bank, First Direct’s social media newsroom including its Interactive community in the light of community frameworks discussed in the lecture today. http://www.newsroom.firstdirect.com