Online brand communities in Korea : a case study

Abstract

The importance of online brand communities has received increasing attention from both academia and industry. This paper reports a case study. It explains successful online strategies developed by two leading brands, Samsung mobile and Chungjungwon, in Korea. The current study has shown that the online brand community can act as a marketing tool to develop a group of loyal consumers around the brand. This study provides marketers with insights into and some useful guidelines for the creation and maintenance of successful marketer-generated online brand communities. The findings also suggest that there are differences in community development and management strategies, according to the characteristics of product category and community members, as well as in the purpose of the community operation.