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Online Customer Communities
Gleanster, Dec 2010, Pages: 22
Community has been a driving force of the Internet’s success since the very earliest listserves. Newsgroups formed spontaneously around thousands of obscure topics, developing large subscriber bases. Media companies early on envisioned the business potential of harnessing this drive among Internet users to seek out and “gather” with others who share an interest, problem, or lifestyle. Groups formed around brands, products and usage experiences, as consumers shared their excitement and sought tips to solve their frustrations with the goods and services they’d purchased.
Today’s customer communities, Facebook groups and fan pages are a far cry from the bulletin boards of old, but spring from the same desire to connect with others who share a common interest. Consumers today don’t want to interact just with other consumers. Increasingly, they expect to interact and communicate directly with brands and companies themselves.
Over the past few years, companies have come to see these communities as a valuable asset, nurturing them as part of the brand’s offering. The benefits range from better consumer insight and lower customer support costs to increased word of mouth from passionate customers and purchase decision leverage among prospects.
This report explores what community experiences offer the greatest value to businesses and what technologies, processes and organizational resources are being used to capture that value. Companies have come to see these communities as a valuable asset, nurturing them as part of the brand’s offering. The benefits range from better consumer insight and lower customer support costs to increased word of mouth from passionate customers and purchase decision leverage among prospects.
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