Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

Brand Communities on Social Networking Sites in emerging markets: The case of MTV IndiaBySushant Kumar, Doctoral Student (Marketing)Indian Institute Of Management, Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow - 226 013 Email:sushant.iiml@gmail.com, fpm10017@iiml.ac.inandDr. Satish S. Maheswarappa, Assistant Professor (Marketing)Indian Institute Of Management, Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow - 226 013 Email: sms@iiml.ac.inAbstractMotivation for study: With the evolution of internet there been an emergence of the concept of groups (or virtualcommunities) revolving around a particular brand or consumption activity. Due to high growth in social networkingsites users in emerging markets, brand in emerging economies are increasing their budgets to foster thesecommunities.Research Gap: Brand community literature has addressed the issue participation motivations, value creationpractices and its outcome in brand communities. While literature has investigated cases of Apple, Harley Davidsonand few other brands there is little research on brand communities on social networking sites based on brands inemerging markets.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate brand community consumption patterns within a brandcommunity on social networking sites for a brand in an emerging market.Methodology: Netnogrpahic method combined with empirical analysis of coded data for MTV India (an emergingmarket entertainment brand) was used for the study.Findings: We find five broad content categories that can be classified on the dimensions on scope of content and itsrelatedness to brand. We find different consumption patterns (consumption as experience and consumption as play)and significant differences in the engagement level produced by different content categories.Implications: This study following a social-constructivist epistemology offers insights about brand communitycontent, engagement and consumption practices.Brand Communities on Social Networking Sites in emerging markets: The case of MTV India1.0 IntroductionVirtual groups evolved with bulletin boards where users could exchange information, applications, messages andother data. USENET established by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1980 is one of the oldest form communityexchanges on Internet. They came a decade before the evolution of Internet. Virtual cyberspace interactions havebecome very popular in recent years and the research interest in this area has increased considerably (Dainton &Aylor, 2002; Tidwell & Walther, 2002). As of July 2010, the social networking site Facebook had more than 500million active users (Zuckerberg, 2010). To put things in perspective, it is approximately 1.5 times more than theprojected population of United States (310 million) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The implications of social mediaare significant like mass emergency events where the interaction leads to bigger and better forms of information(Palen et al., 2010). Businesses are using this medium to advertise, create social networks and their social mediacampaigns are attracting heavy news media coverage. For instance Procter & Gamble invited Facebook members in20 college campus networks to become ―fans‖ of Crest Whitestrips on its Facebook Page. According to Facebook, itwas a great success attracting 14,000 fans (Stross, 2008). State departments such as the Delhi Traffic Police areusing Social Media to catch offenders. Twitter a micro-blogging platform where users publish status updates within140 characters is being used by businesses to get feedback, give directions and engage consumers. Procter andGamble has used Facebook and Twitter to determine the commercials that would be aired during the NBC coverageof winter Olympics (Elliott, 2010). It has been suggested that Social Media can be a powerful tool for listening tocustomers and building a reputation for responsive service with a real time feedback that can engage with customersquickly and help them solve problems (Zimmerman, 2011). User generated websites such as Facebook, YouTubeand Twitter are providing forums for hundreds of millions of users and providing marketers the opportunity toexploit these interactions to gain ready information on consumer preference and needs (Pantano et al., 2010).