MKTG2032 / MKTG7037 E-Marketing

The Internet. Neither a truck nor a series of tubes

MKTG7037 / MKTG2032

E-marketingWeek 3

Course StructureWeek No Week beginning Topic(s)/Task(s)

1 19 February Chapter 3 Unique features of internet-based marketing

2 26 February Chapter 4 Consumer behaviour

3 5 March Chapter 5 Creating cybercommunities

4 12 March Chapter 6 Applications for business and non-business

5 19 March* Chapter 7 The internet in marketing strategy

6 26 March Chapter 8 The role of product in internet marketing

7 2 April Chapter 9 Promotion: the internet in the promotional mix

8 23 April Chapter 10 Promotion 2: the internet as a promotional medium

9 30 April Chapter 11 Pricing strategies

10 7 May Chapter 12 Distribution

11 14 May Chapter 13 Services marketing online

13 28 May Chapter 14 Relationship marketing

12 21 May Chapter 15 International marketing

MKTG2032 / MKTG7037 E-Marketing

The Internet. Neither a truck nor a series of tubes

Cybercommunities

Cybercommunity

• arise where a group of individuals engaged in computer-mediated communication move beyond basic exchange of information into the formation of a community structure based on the exchange of shared goods of value.

– Shared goods of value• common points that bind the community together

Definition of community

• Real communities – time and geography dependent – form around a geographic region, feature or social

clustering

• Virtual communities – share a common bond – not dependent on geography– Not dependent on computer mediated communication– aided by periodic physical convergence or convergent

events• Eg football fandom

• Cybercommunities – virtual communities in computer-mediated environments.

Constructs of community

• Shared goods of value– Common or unifying interest

• A point for convergence– Shared experience

• Common understanding of past experiences– Participation

• Options to be involved in the community environment– Sense of belonging

• Self identification with the group– Social network capital

• Experience and collective history of the social group– Shared knowledge base

• Common knowledge between members, shared sense of language, meaning, voice and collective knowledge

Constructs of community

• Cybercommunity– formed from one-to-many-to-one CMC

information exchanges which – develops shared goods of value – community structure evolves

• is identified by members• Is used as a basis for self-identification

Types of community

Natural(arises from a gathering of

people)

Constructed(facilitated transaction)

Permanent(fixed location)

Natural PermanentWebsites forums

World of Warcraft guilds

Permanent ConstructedWeb2.0, SecondLife,

Ebay, Flickr

Transient(occurs when in use)

Natural transient

E-mail list, MSN group conversations, skype conference

calls

Transient Constructed

Blog responses

Constructs of community

• Three levels of community– Structured Artificial World

• exists independently of the human members– Permanent, constructed

– Fixed locations which depend on human input• Exists independently of humans, but depends on human

input for functionality and value– Permanent, natural– Permanent, constructed

– Electronic social sphere• social sphere exists only during the interaction between the

members– transient, natural– transient, constructed

Constructs of Community

• Cybercommuning– seamless integration of communications

technology with social interaction between members of a cybercommunity

– represents a deliberate and conscious behaviour to seek membership of a collective structure in the computer-mediated environment.

• integrates Internet-based activities into a collective structure

• Akin to clanning behaviour in consumer behaviour

Constructs of community

• Cybercommunities are constructed worlds– designed to meet the needs, wants and

communication exchange of their membership.

• community access based on – the communications ability of the membership,– their access to the tools of communication– social network capital

• cybercommunity exists through the strength of its members.

Constructs of Community

• Community is only as valuable as the other members– cohesive group of shared interest, social support

and other goods of collective value is of use only if there are sufficient members of the group to share it

• community is sold on the basis of selling customers to customers.– the community sells itself on the value to be

derived from other patrons of the community

Communities of self-expression

• Group level-mediated communications– one-to-many-to-many structure

• journals are published by single authors who are writing either for themselves or to a waiting audience

• Role of audience – respond with feedback to the original post and/or– interact to other posted feedback

• Shared goods of value– Computer mediated one to one or one to many to one

• readership and involvement in the community is based either on

– shared experience– collective or common interests, or – existing friendships

Communities of self expression

• User-generated content– one-to-many-to-many structure

• Communities developed around shared publishing goal by multiple groups of authors who are writing either for themselves or to a waiting audience

– Blogs, wikis, flickr, youtube

– Role of the audience• Participant member• Respondent• Critics• Content generator/aggregator

Setting up a community

• Location– does the community need a defined structure,

transient structure or multiple spaces?

• Community– what makes a community tick? – What people are needed to populate a

community?– What structures need to be in place?

• Destination marketing for cybercommunities

MKTG2032 / MKTG7037 E-Marketing

The Internet. Neither a truck nor a series of tubes

Is it community yet?

http://mktg2032.ning.com/

Destination Marketing

• Attractions – encompass the reasons for going to a

community

• Accessibility– degree to which the community can be

reached by the ordinary user • Does the community need specialist client software?• Is there an obvious access point?• What’s required to be involved?

– Registration? Fees? Credit card? Gmail account?

Destination Marketing

• Amenities– Virtual services available to the community

• Available packages– levels of membership

• basic level of use through to levels associated with control, management and often including capacity to create and modify elements of the environment.

• Activities – all events, activities and related services that will be

consumed as part of the community experience by a visitor

• Includes activities that expand beyond the core community structure into other venues, such as face-to-face meetings, or involvement in other group-oriented projects.

Destination Marketing

• Ancillary services – services used by community members

• second stage services, such as virtual postcards, email address and web hosting

• MMORPG mail services, auction houses

• Not all principles of destination marketing can be applied to each type of cybercommunity structure

Discussion Questions for the Board

• ‘Cybercommunities grow by the strength of their users rather than by the active intervention of their owners.’ Discuss in relation to the factors that influence the success of the community. How many of these factors do you believe are within the control of the community owners?