Fan Pages and Virtual Brand Communities: Faraway, so Close

Autoria: Benjamin Rosenthal, Eliane Pereira Zamith Brito

Propsito Central do Trabalho

Brand fan pages are a relatively recent environment of consumers gathering around a brand.
At the end of 2012, there were more than 50 million fan pages and more than 618 million
daily users on Facebook (Facebook, 2012).Fan pages have become a significant virtual space
in which brands can build a two-way communication process with their consumers, allowing
brands to publish content and consumers to express what they think and feel. According to
global research from InSites Consulting (2012), 55% of social network users follow at least
one brand. Within these brand-connected segments, eight to twelve brands are followed
passively (with no engagement to the brand at all), and three to six brands are followed
actively (reading, sharing, liking, or commenting on brand content). Despite their importance,
fan pages have received relatively little attention in the marketing literature and few authors
have aimed to theoretically define what a fan page is. In this research we describe if and how
the concept of fan pages is similar to the concept of a virtual brand community. We also aim
to empirically identify characteristics that approximate (or separate) the fan page from the
virtual brand community concept.
Marco Terico
We show that the main barrier for a fan page to be conceptually closer to a virtual brand
community is the velocity and brevity of the participation of fans in the environment and its
consequent impersonal nature. Fans, even those who frequently use the fan page to express
their identities and to obtain information on topics of interest, are there for only a few
moments amid the multiple tasks that they perform online or offline. We show that fan pages
can assume several characteristics of a virtual brand community. Our data that suggest that
fan pages can grow to be places that are community-like or almost communal and that the
evolution of the fan page in this direction differs from the online community evolution
process theorized by Kozinets (1999). The fast pace, intermittency, and impersonal nature of
the relationships that occur between a brand and its fans leads to a simplified framework in
which time, topical consistency, individual identity communication, and the establishment and
internalization of cultural norms and cultural cohesion form the evolving pattern of the virtual
brand community. We suggest that the type of brand category plays an important role in the
capacity of the fan page to become a more communal space. We also show that celebrities
contribute to turning the fan page into a more communal environment by engaging in
practices of social networking, impression management, community engagement, and brand
use (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould 2009). Our cases suggest that the level of brand iconicity
also plays an important role in the potential of a fan page to exhibit more communal
characteristics. Iconic brands organize collective identities through axes of social class,
gender, race, nationalism, or group affiliation, allowing individuals to enact their identities
(Holt 2006). Following OGuinn and Muniz (2009), we found that fan pages can be
considered a loose form of online community, with greater adherence to the postmodern
society in which disconnectedness from neighbors and face-to-face community (and)
ephemeral attachment (OGuinn and Muniz 2009) are more the rule than the exception.
The communal side of fan pages should be understood in this context, within the possibilities
and limits of most of the online communities to form and foster bonds in a world that
encourages the formation of weak ties. The fan page as a virtual brand community is a useful
framework but is one that can only be used given the limitations of most online communities
to truly be a community.
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Mtodo de investigao se pertinente

To investigate the extent to which fan pages share characteristics that are similar to a VBC,
we considered the seven characteristics for an online environment to become an online
community proposed by Kozinets (1999) as the main code categories of analysis. We
searched for textual instances that represented each of these seven characteristics to
understand whether and to what degree the fan pages studied can be considered VBCs. To
achieve the proposed objectives, we studied four fan pages. We analyzed the Jack Daniels,
Nike Run, Mizuno, and Budweiser fan pages in Brazil. Because of some apparent similarities
between fan pages and virtual brand communities, we decided on the use of the netnographic
method in a direct and non-participative manner, which is an adaptation of the ethnographic
method for the setting of online communities (Kozinets 2002). The immersion and
internalization of what was observed occurred slowly during the four months of data
collection. The aforementioned content was extracted from the Facebook fan pages and
submitted to HyperRESEARCHTM software for the coding process. We codified each fan
pages content, frequently exchanging opinions, solving differences, questioning motives
when in doubt, and achieving consensus. We followed and watched the fan pages on a daily
basis or at least on a weekly basis during the period of data collection and primary coding. We
created the code categories based on thick description and grounded meanings extracted from
the text (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) and based on the proposed research objectivesto
identify, understand, and contrast the presence of the seven communitarian characteristics
proposed by Kozinets (1999). We had previously studied the four fan pages in other research
projects, which made our experience richer and our cultural comprehension wider. We also
used data from interviews conducted with some assiduous members of the Nike Run fan page.
The analysis was also inspired by case study theory (Woodside 2010), as the phenomenon is
new and the context is dynamic and complex. In each case, we sought data on the nature of
the case (its activity and functioning) and the physical setting and its contexts (e.g., the
intertwined role of running activities and the fan page) in a search for detailed description and
explanation.
Resultados e contribuies do trabalho para a rea
We propose that fan pages are environments that can present several of the characteristics of
community building but that these communal characteristics evolve in a simpler manner than
is presented by Kozinets (1999) and that leads to a more loose and ephemeral form of online
community, in line with OGuinn and Muniz (2009). Furthermore, the process of community
building in a fan page is positively influenced by the level of iconicity of the brand and by the
level of presence of the category in the lives of individuals. Topical information and identity
communication were common in three of the four fan pages. The establishment and
internalization of cultural norms and conformity to cultural rules were characteristics that
manifested rapidly and almost simultaneously for the frequent visitors of the fan pages.
However, we observed almost no conflict, status or power relations, or perceptions among
members, with the exception of the Nike Run case and only to a low degree. Topical
information and identity communication were common in three of the four fan pages. The
establishment and internalization of cultural norms and conformity to cultural rules were
characteristics that manifested rapidly and almost simultaneously for the frequent visitors of
the fan pages. However, we observed almost no conflict, status or power relations, or
perceptions among members, with the exception of the Nike Run case and only to a low
degree. We presented data that suggest that fan pages can grow to be places that are
community-like or almost communal and that the evolution of the fan page in this direction
differs from the online community evolution process theorized by Kozinets (1999). The fast
pace, intermittency, and impersonal nature of the relationships that occur between a brand and
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its fans leads to a simplified framework in which time, topical consistency, individual identity
communication, and the establishment and internalization of cultural norms and cultural
cohesion form the evolving pattern of the virtual brand community. The establishment of
social relationships and the formation of perceptions of whos who in such an environment
are community characteristics that are difficult to form on fan pages, with only a small group
of heavy users and celebrities presenting these two characteristics. Time and consistency of
topics are fundamental for a group to develop as a community. We propose that brands from
different categories should have different communal goals regarding their fan pages. Not all
fan pages will have the same communal potential, and they should not be treated as serving
the same goals in a brand strategy. Our data suggest that the common objective of many
brandsto have the greatest possible number of fansis myopic. A larger base of fans can
bring a higher number of views of the brand content. However, this notion represents the
media logic that brands had in the old TV daysthe cost per thousand viewers logic. If
companies want the fan page to be more communal and to receive the benefits that Schau,
Muniz, and Arnould (2009) discussed, then brands need to involve individuals in brand or
category activities and post content that expresses who these fans are or how they want to be
perceived, in turn facilitating self-expression on Facebook and even helping fans in the
construction of social relationships. This research encourages brands to bring a more
communal spirit to fan pages. The fan page is an online tool constructed under the structure of
a corporation (Facebook) and is organized and managed by marketing executives who need to
show results based on quantitative evidence. One of the key metrics to measure a fan pages
success is engagement, which is defined by Facebook as the percentage of unique people
who clicked on, liked, commented on or shared a post, divided by the total number of unique
people who saw that post (Facebook 2013). This metric does not encourage the quality of
conversations but largely emphasizes the quantity of likes, shares, and comments.
Furthermore, this metric does not directly measure communal status. Such measures must
still be created to direct marketing actions.
Referncias bibliogrficas
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Kozinets, R. V. (1999). E-Tribalized Marketing? The Strategic Implications of Virtual
Communities of Consumption. European Management Journal, 17(3), 25264.
Muniz Jr., A. M., & OGuinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer
Research, 27(4), 412-432.
Schau, H. J., Muniz Jr., A. M., & Arnould, E. J. (2009). How Brand Community Practices
Create Value. Journal of Marketing, 73(3), 3051.
Zaglia, M. E. (2013). Brand communities embedded in social networks. Journal of Business
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