Brand Relationship and Engagement

Social media platforms provide an endless list of options in terms of brand offers. Consumers who previously had limited access to marketing offerings and information, or were unaccustomed to looking beyond their physical reach, have learned to access products, services and brands both locally and globally given the borderless nature of digital environments (Hajro et al., 2021). These advances, though beneficial for consumers, make it more crucial for companies to deliver seamless experiences to draw consumers away from general brand listings or content timelines to their online brand communities (OBCs), where a specific brand is the central focus of the online environment. Many major brands have their own social media pages through which they reinvent themselves by delivering real-time, simple and effective personalised experiences. For instance, Sony’s PlayStation® has retained its large following on Twitter by continuously posting content of new game trailers, gaming footage, streaming events and free games to download. The social media strategy of online fashion retailer Boohoo has been a major contributor to their continued success in targeting and engaging young audiences, particularly through their Instagram and influencer marketing strategy. The personal care brand Dove has generated impactful marketing campaigns through its OBCs that have reinvented its image and presence in the market. Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign, first launched in 2004, has been refreshed multiple times; it resurfaced in 2020 highlighting the core message to focus on the beauty of real human values. The 2020 campaign ‘Courage is Beautiful’, launched in the USA, honoured healthcare workers and their efforts throughout the coronavirus pandemic (Neff, 2020). Such activity aligns with arguments related to the need of having brand pages or OBCs; brands can use OBCs to generate and post brand-related content and messages, facilitate real-time brand–customer or customer–customer interactions, manage customer relationships as well as build the online follower population.