The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management

Abstract

The evolution of the internet, including developments such as Web 2.0, has led to new relationship realities between organizations and their stakeholders. One manifestation of these complex new realities has been the emergence of an internet-based democratization of brand management. Research about this phenomenon has so far mainly focused on investigating just one or more individual themes and thereby disregarded the inherent multilayered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management as a holistic, socio-technological phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to address this limitation through an investigation of the various socio-technological democratization developments of the phenomenon. To achieve this aim, a balanced and stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management has been adopted to conduct an integrative literature review. The review reveals three key developments, which together form the essential parts of the phenomenon: (I) the democratization of internet technology, (II) the democratization of information, and (III) the democratization of social capital. The insights gained help to clarify the basic structures of the multi-layered phenomenon. The findings contribute also to the substantiation of a call for a new brand management paradigm: one that takes not only company-initiated but also stakeholder-initiated brand management activities into account.

Exploring interaction differences in Microblogging Word of Mouth between entrepreneurial and conventional service providers

“…These findings provide support to the theoretical proposition (P1), and extend past research (Fischer & Reuber 2011), highlighting that relative to conventional service providers, entrepreneurial firms have a wider social network interaction with their customers, and are more dynamically-driven to leverage MWOM in organizational practices (Asmussen et al 2013). Conversely, we identify that the social network of the conventional service provider is more controlled and utilized in an 'authoritative' way.…”

“…In turn this expands social networks and online communication in the pursuit of new ideas. However, this particular process is not commonplace in conventional businesses where scholars demonstrate that interactivity is mostly leveraged in a less dynamic manner, primarily for customer relationship management (Trainor, Andzulis, Rapp & Agnihotri 2014) or brand management (Asmussen, Harridge-March, Occhiocupo & Farquhar 2013). The tendency of a firm to 'champion' the technological forefront of their market is therefore, an ideal representation of the entrepreneurial archetype, vis-a-vis the conventional one, reflecting that while opportunities are present for both firms (e.g.…”

Drivers and outcomes of political candidate image creation: The role of social media marketing

“…Although social media's impact on purchase behavior, brand, and customer equity has been discussed in the literature to some extent, its application in political marketing is yet to be examined at length (Asmussen, Harridge-March, Occhiocupo, & Farquhar, 2013;Chang, Yu, & Lu, 2015;Godey et al, 2016;Kaid, 2012;Kumar, Bezawada, Rishika, Janakiraman, & Kannan, 2016;Winchester et al, 2014). The role of social media and its employment by brands is becoming more eminent primarily because these platforms allow marketers to operate in a more interactive manner by allowing them to observe consumer reactions, and monitor these reactions and conversations taking place on their platforms (Saridakis et al, 2016;Schweidel & Moe, 2014).…”

When Public Utilities Like to Talk on Facebook

“…As well as the identification and selection of the relevant stakeholders, the dialog comprises the exchange of perspectives as well as a confrontation of different positions (Cuppen 2012). Particularly social networking sites such as Facebook seem to enable the utility to such a dialog with its stakeholders (Manetti et al 2016;Yang and Kent 2014;Assmussen et al 2013;Korschun and Du 2013;Bortree and Seltzer 2009). To encourage a dialogue, the utilities should predominantly post information which is perceived as interesting and relevant (Bonsón et al 2015, p. 58).…”