Customer Empowerment in the Digital Age: TABLE 1

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: CUSTOMER EMPOWERMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGEThe Internet and advances in digital technologies are fundamentally transforming marketing.Armed with an abundance of information and opportunities, consumers no longer accept the role of passive recipients of marketing communication. This is turning traditional communication approaches upside down and forcing brands to interact with individual customers quickly, openly, and continuously. In the digital age, customer engagement is more important than ever. TheMarketing Science Institute, for example, has identified understanding how marketing activities create engagement as one of its top research priorities for 2014-16. More and more brands are using social media platforms to connect with their customers by creating engaging content so that customers can interact (e.g., sharing an interesting and current tweet) and/or by initiating dialog with them (e.g., responding to a customer comment or complaint).These steps are undoubtedly very important in connecting with customers, but they are not sufficient. Most visionary brands do not only interact with customers; they also empower them.Take LEGO for example. The company enables its customers to create and vote for new product designs in the 'LEGO Ideas' platform. The designs that receive considerable votes from other customers (i.e., 10,000 'supports') are then reviewed formally, and those that pass the review are transformed into actual products to be sold all over the world. The initiative of LEGO not only involves the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement of customers -characteristics of a successful customer engagement initiative -but also shifts the power and control of the company's product development to its customers. This paper focuses on customer empowerment -engagement strategies that give customers a sense of control over a brand's general offerings (Fuchs, Prandelli, & Schreier, 2010;Ramani & Kumar, 2008). Brands have increasingly started to embrace these strategies, which can be evidenced by the growing prevalence of co-creation, crowdsourcing, user innovation, brand communities, and mass customization practices. Here, we first explain why empowerment is a

Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook

“…In a sport context, social media enables these 'prosumers' to develop their own voices in the form of user-generated content or opinions and, thus, adds value to their relationship with clubs through a sense of empowerment (McCarthy et al, 2014;Williams & Chinn, 2010). Therefore, empowerment creates a deeper connection and higher engagement with the sport brand (Acar & Puntoni, 2016). As expected, the impact of Empowerment in Consumption was not significant, since consuming does not allow users to control the production and distribution of content, nor to exert influencing power upon others (Muntinga et al, 2011).…”

Harnessing the creative potential of consumers: money, participation, and creativity in idea crowdsourcing

“…connections with their customers (Acar and Puntoni 2016;Bayus 2013;Fuchs et al 2010;Poetz and Schreier 2012;Stephen et al 2016). 1 Leveraging these benefits of crowdsourcing depends of course on being able to motivate consumers to take part in crowdsourcing initiatives.…”

ICT4D 3.0? Part 2—The patterns of an emerging “digital‐for‐development” paradigm

“…New approaches such as virtual teams or knowledge management can also be understood as operating within a broadly competitive‐driven logic (Fuchs, ). Even the new digital relations with customers—sometimes argued to shift the balance of power from producer to consumer (Kucuk, )—are being coopted into a competitive and hierarchical control model by enabling anything from passive surveillance of their online consumption to active “co‐creation” of value (Acar & Puntoni, ).…”