[Brands & Social Communities]

Brand community is the term social scientists use to describe like-minded consumers who identify themselves with a particular brand and share significant traits. 

Thomas C. O’Guinn and Albert Muniz  have showed that consumers may organize into these communities to share their experiences of a brand. Consumers who are part of a community demonstrate brand advocacy which is a high level of consumer loyalty, Conversely, consumers in an identifiable brand community represent a cohesive group that reflects the brand’s values.

However, brands also try to organise these communities by enhancing bidirectionnal communication. It's very clear on Facebook or Twitter that the brands are customer-centric and the cusumer is involved. On these sites community managers are asking questions to the brand fans so that they feel heard by their favourite brands. Including consumers in branding leads to value co-creation. 

NIVEA Facebook page

Nivea has their own Facebook page. They have a very interactive page with games, videos and people can put comments on the Facebook page. There is an interaction between customers and the brand. They are also active on twitter but for the their whole product range, not only for Nivea skincare.

L’Oreal also has a facebook page but it’s not only dedicated to skincare products. They  only have a facebook page for L’Oreal revitalift. This website is also quite interactive and proposes some games, offers and gifts for their customers. Vistors also have the possibility to leave comments on the page.

L'Oreal Twitter

Nivea and L’Oreal both enjoy a high brand name awareness. Building a strong brand community is very important in order to create strong customer relationship. That’s why these brands use all the possible mediums to be close to the customer and create deep relationships . With this kind of interaction the customer feel very close to the brand and a link is created. Also via facebook customers exchange tips or comments about the product. 

Garnier Website " Elles en parlent"

Garnier is trying to handle its social image by creating a website dedicated to consumers who want to test their new products. They publish some comments and also several data which are a good publicity for their products. 

 Below you can find some screenshots about the site called "Elles en parlent"

Sources : http://www.terrella.com/bcmarketingwp2.pdf  David M. Kalman (2009)
http://www.garnier.fr
Official Nivéa and L'Oréal Twitter and Facebook pages