Naslov
Usage of virtual communities for companies' communication with customers – a theoretical review

Autori
Gregurec, Iva ; Vranešević, Tihomir

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
Marketing challenges in new economy / Križman Pavlović, Danijela ; Benazić, Dragan - Pula : Fakultet ekonomije i turizma Dr. Mijo Mirković Sveučilišta Jurja Dobrile u Puli, 2011, 343-357

ISBN
978-953-7498-45-0

Skup
22nd CROMAR Congress - Marketing Challenges in New Economy

Mjesto i datum
Pula, Hrvatska, 06.10.2011. - 08.10.2011

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
virtual community; social network; Internet; communication; relationship

Sažetak
The concept of virtual communities has appeared before today’s most popular forms of social networking on the Internet, when the dominant form of virtual connectivity were news groups, chats and mailing lists. The last two decades have witnessed drastic globalization achievements and technological innovations that have a major impact on marketing as on people to whom companies direct their messages. In addition, due to the current crisis and the changes it has brought, companies urge to implement innovations to reach their customers with as little money as possible. Virtual communities are one of those innovations that company must implement in their business plan. Virtual community is a network of individuals who use specialized web sites for communication. They encourage interaction between users who are linked in a virtual community in order to peruse mutual interests, ideas or goals for which electronic communication is a primary form of interaction. If companies want to be competitive, if they intend to keep their existing customers as well as attract the new ones, they need to be innovative. They need to set up a community on its web site which gives them the advantage over other companies. This can improve company's brands by adding value to its products or services. Virtual communities also have an important role in creating and maintaining long-term relationships with customers, which leads to greater marketing efficiency. The concept of virtual communities is very similar to the concept of social networks, but it is broader and includes all forms of virtual networking. The differences between virtual communities and social networks becomes smaller every day, because both of them share digital content, assess and comment on other people's content, exchange experiences and so on. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to show main differences between virtual communities and social networks and to give a review of how companies use virtual communities to communicate with their customers.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

POVEZANOST RADA