Online Versus Face-to-Face Brand Communities
Academic brand community research has primarily focused on shared rituals and face-to-face gatherings of brand fans. With the widespread adoption of social media, brand supporters can share in virtual live gatherings via images shared on Facebook pages, YouTube streaming of live events, Vine video vignettes summarizing brand gatherings, descriptions in blogs, and a myriad other medium. While a face-to-face brand gathering, like a Harley Davidson bike rally, can create a strong emotional bond and positive memories for participants, social media allows a consumer to share in the experience from a distance. In this chapter, we discuss three successful online brand gatherings. These virtual gatherings allow community members to join in from afar. These examples are from the following brands: the fashion brand DKNY, Apple iOS, and Downton Abbey, a television show with a large following.
Case Study 1: DKNY
The Virtual Pajama Party
Fashion brand DKNY made social media a hallmark of its marketing and communications efforts for years. In an unusual strategy, the brand once featured two different “voices” in social media. On Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, the voice of the brand was DKNY, while on Twitter and the brand’s Tumblr blog, the voice was that of their SVP Global Communications at Donna Karan International, in the form of the @dkny PR Girl Persona. From this Twitter handle, information concerning the daily operations of DKNY public relations were shared tweeted to brand fans and followers. This type of content provided an insider view of the craziness of fashion PR and allowed fans to feel a deeper sense of connection with the brand and the DKNY executive. Through these channels, @dkny PR Girl documented both the fun and frustrating challenges running the brand’s communications, including popular postings about unreasonable fashion show seating requests from journalists and wannabe journalists.
The original execution of the DKNY PR Girl was that of a nameless public relations employee providing insider access, and the identity of the voice was not known by most followers. The creator of this content, the DKNY PR Girl, was portrayed as a fashionable avatar that reflected the current season and DKNY fashions. Over time, it became more difficult for the executive behind DKNY PR Girl to separate her personality from that of the online persona.1 To lift the veil, the woman behind the tweets, Aliza Licht, released a YouTube video entitled “The Real DKNY PR Girl.” Her video provided insight into DKNY’s communication strategy and social media, including Licht’s real identity.2 This move to out herself on social media has led to many opportunities to enhance the DKNY brand as well as Licht’s own brand.
Licht’s activity under the DKNY social media accounts included unique activities not often undertaken by branded social media accounts. For example, she frequently live tweeted television shows known to be popular with DKNY’s fan base including Revenge, Gossip Girl, and Scandal. While no formal partnership exists between the brand and these entertainment properties, the DKNY account interacted with fans and stars of these television shows each week. These hour-long sessions allowed brand fans to interact with a company executive about topics completely unrelated to marketing the DKNY product. With over 483,000 followers during this approach to social media, these Twitter viewing parties become a virtual pajama party.
Licht also hosted viewing parties online during the major entertainment awards shows, including the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Academy Awards (Oscars). During her live tweets of red carpet events, her brand fans (who she refers to as friends and not followers) were given insight as to the brand’s efforts to dress celebrities for the events. By describing the anticipation of seeing “Celeb X” walking the red carpet in Donna Karan Atelier (the couture brand), Licht shared the brand’s victories (and sometime disappointment when Celeb X has switched to a competitor brand last minute). Brand fans were encouraged to share these images on their own Tumblr blogs or other social media channels. Fashion brands depend on word of mouth to drive interest in their brands and collections, and DKNY built a faithful following during this era. These fans were not only loyal to the brand but also to the executive behind the voice of the brand.
In addition to the informal TV viewing parties and the awards show live tweeting, DKNY also used social media channels to broadcast its major fashion shows (before the launch of Periscope and other broadcasting applications). While journalists covet the seats at the live events (and jockey for the best seats), brand fans sat front row via live streaming. Additionally, brand community participants received live commentary directly from Licht, who live tweeted during the show while performing her other duties. During the event, brand community members commented and tweeted as the models worked their way down the runway.
Additionally, DKNY recruited brand community members to tweet as part of campaign launches. The brand used community members as the stars of the viral video content. This approach validated brand community members’ participation and encourages word-of-mouth communication; members who were featured shared this video and details of the campaign with their networks and shared the information offline with their expanded network of friends and family. While academic brand community research considers offline brand gatherings as the exemplar interaction, these virtual pajama parties and inclusive online approach for events big and small provide an inexpensive way for the brand community to interact with the voice of the brand in a low-pressure, inviting environment on a regular basis. This investment in brand fan interactions, for both DKNY events and non-brand events like television show discussions, proved worth the time and effort as measured by fan count and engagement with the brand. These approaches are authentic and encourage involvement. Additionally, when brand community members take an active role in championing a brand, they develop a deeper investment in the brand and community.
In August 2015, DKNY deleted all social media content from Twitter and Tumblr as originated by Licht’s DKNY PR Girl.3 Following the departure of founder Donna Karan and other top execs, the brand shifted creative direction. Additionally, all fans and friends of the @dkny Twitter account were promptly unfollowed in the course of a single day. Basically, the relationships built and the visual and text history of the rich brand community created and fostered by Licht were deleted in a day. While it’s not uncommon for new creative leaders to want to make their own mark on a brand’s identity, erasing years of history and the digital artifacts of relationships painstakingly created by Licht seems very shortsighted and antithetical to the concept of fostering brand community via social media. What once was visually and tonally unique to DKNY now sat as an empty Twitter page and an Instagram account indistinguishable from other mainstream designers. In short, the brand euthanized not only the DKNY PR Girl persona but also the spirit and strategy of brand community fostered over years and thousands of personal interactions.
For her part, Licht has proven to be a successful curator of compelling content and a master community builder. After the content was deleted from the DKNY account, Licht and the brand announced her departure from the firm.4 Based on the success of her career guidance book Leave Your Mark: Land Your Dream Job. Kill It in Your Career. Rock Social Media, Licht saw considerable demand for her expertise in the media and speaking events. As expected, the community she built under the DKNY have followed her to her personal account, and she now serves as an online mentor to thousands. The same events she would tweet for the brand are now tweeted via her personal account. This is an example of when a transparent and authentic executive’s community building is not only effective in building community but also in creating personal relationships that survive separation from the brand.
Case Study 2: Apple iOS Devices
A different approach to brand community is executed by followers and supporters of Apple’s mobile devices, the iPhone and iPad product lines (collectively known as iOS devices). Apple has not invested resources into the traditional online community for its devices; for example, no official Facebook page exists for iPhone. However, a user-generated Facebook page has been created for iPhone with over 14 million followers as of June 2014.5 This page imports Wikipedia information and shows groups and pages related to iPhone. Apple invested in a music-centric community known as Ping, which went virtually ignored by iTunes users. This failure to build a successful community led Apple to discontinue the Ping community in 2013.6 New Apple product launches and the proceeding rumors are closely tied to where and when Apple users join in the brand community. For months, rumors were shared through the media that Apple planned a product in the wearable category,7 which was confirmed at a media event.8 Depending on the importance of the event, Apple may live stream the event or allow keynote speakers to be viewed online or via Apple devices (such as Apple TV) afterward. The audience members who are invited to the event are not passive participants; they actively tweet, live blog, and post updates of the event as new details are revealed. Technology blogs such as Engadget, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, TechCrunch, and others run stories that automatically update with images of the keynote slides and presenters so that readers can follow along. Figure 5.1 shows the live blogging and images posted during the launch of Apple iPhone 5s.9
These updates are shared real-time on Twitter, and Apple fans can follow. While Apple lacks a firm presence in social media, brand community members share news and updates as empowered by the technology blogs. Forrester Research’s NetBase unit measured the number of mentions surrounding the launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c. Days prior to the event, Twitter mentions of “iPhone” hovered below 10,000 mentions per day, likely elevated from normal due to the run-up to the event.10 The day of the event, over 110,000 mentions of the device occurred on Twitter, indicating that Twitter participants were sharing news and interacting with one another about the event.
Figure 5.1 Engadget liveblog of Apple iPhone 5s and 5c announcements
Case Study 3: Downton Abbey
Tea, Tiaras, and Twitter: The Social TV Phenomenon
Before 2012, the typical television viewer likely would associate public television network PBS with such serious programs as Nova, NewsHour, and childrens’ programming like Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers. However, a British import for the PBS Mainstay Masterpiece changed this perception, becoming both a ratings hit and social media phenomenon. The story of the upper-class Crawley family, led by the Earl of Grantham, captivated viewers. Its large following has resulted in a community on Twitter that converses via tweets while viewing the show. According to Nielsen Social Guide, 97,000 tweets were generated during the U.S. Season 4 premiere. These tweets resulted in 15.2 million total impressions for the show, and the telecast ranked second for the day (excluding sports).11 For a show on PBS to reach this level of buzz and social media consumption would be unthinkable in the past. In addition to the organic discussion surrounding the #DowntonPBS topic hashtag, PBS has driven conversation with popular bloggers such as Tom and Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo on Twitter),12 entertainment journalists such as Jarett Wieselman of Buzzfeed, celebrity fan Patton Oswalt, and stars from the series. Figure 5.2 shows a tweet from the @tomandlorenzo Twitter feed.
PBS has taken the additional step of heavily promoting the #DowntonPBS hashtag in integrated marketing efforts, such as Downton Abbey-branded social media campaigns, backgrounds, and banners, as illustrated in the Twitter background shown in Figure 5.3.13
Figure 5.2 Live tweets from bloggers Tom + Lorenzo
Figure 5.3 Celebrity Patton Oswalt’s Downton tweets on branded Twitter wallpaper
As with many aspects of popular culture, the show has spawned a number of social media parodies, including the voluble tribute to protagonist Lady Mary’s eyebrows on Twitter (@L_MarysEyebrows).14 Social media channels have responded to the inherent social nature of television viewing and provide a shared audience with which fans can share emotional reactions to events on the show. Most sites support hashtags, which allow participants to search updates related to the topic or show of interest. Additionally, Facebook has added a feature related to what the user is doing, such as watching television. Now-defunct mobile application tvtag (formerly GetGlue) performed a similar feature, where users can “check in” to shows and syndicate that activity as an update on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Because of the ongoing dialogue around television shows, social conversation and check-ins are now taken into account when reporting the success of a television show.
Nielsen, traditionally known for measuring television ratings, launched Nielsen SocialGuide to add the element of social discussion into television ratings. For each ranked episode, Nielsen reports the number of tweets associated with a television show, the number of unique authors or Tweeters, the number of impressions, and unique audience.15 Per Nielsen, for every Twitter participant tweeting about a television show, 50 brand exposures occur for that show.16 In the challenging television market where shows are given little time to catch on or face cancellation, driving word of mouth for TV franchises is mandatory for network executives. Additionally, Nielsen has started conducting new research to establish causality between tweets and viewership, which will further justify investment in social media brand community for television franchises as these findings are further corroborated.17 For a time, mobile application tvtag published real-time trending television viewership on its mobile app and website, and total check-ins are cited in media publications such as AdAge.18 In Figure 5.4, real-time viewing statistics reflect the shows that tvtag viewers have indicated they are currently watching; a mid-afternoon snapshot captures primetime TV shows Arrow and Supernatural (likely viewed by DVR) and daytime dramas General Hospital and The Young and the Restless (likely viewed real time).19 Using this service as additional insight, media and broadcast organizations gained insight into which shows are valuable enough to viewers to share with their networks (and strangers) through social media. While the service has been discontinued, it is reasonable to expect a similar service to fill the void it left. Additionally, Facebook now includes a “watching” status to share the consumption of TV and entertainment content with a participant’s network.
Figure 5.4 tvtag mobile social real-time check-in tracking
Key Takeaways
- Traditional brand communities have focused on face-to-face events, while online brand communities in social media can participate remotely in brand events.
- Events can include product-related events or peripheral activities, such as DKNY’s live tweeting of TV shows popular with its community.
- Including brand community members in advertising efforts drives deeper engagement with the brand and has built in word of mouth.
- While brand rallies such as Harley Davidson group rides were the standard for brand gatherings, online brand gatherings are gaining traction (such as the cross-country Vespa rally).
- Social media brand community also facilitates word of mouth and buzz related to popular television programming. Traditional social media channels like Twitter and Facebook are augmented with mobile smartphone apps such as tvtag.
- Social conversation and check-ins have a multiplier effect on exposure, and traditional media measurement organization Nielsen has responded by launching conversation measurement. It behooves network executives to embrace social media and allocate resources to fostering authentic conversation.
- Unlikely social media darling PBS’s Downton Abbey demonstrates that social media conversations and community can form far beyond brands and can encourage adoption and consumption of atypical television programming.
- Geography no longer limits brand community; from the comfort of the participant’s living room, brand community interaction can occur anywhere (like @dkny’s virtual pajama party on awards nights or appointment television viewings).
- Once a brand has built relationships through thousands of interactions, it is shortsighted to delete that content just because of new management or creative direction. The consumers who cocreated the content may feel alienated or disconnected from the brand.