Effective Brand Community Management : Lessons from Customer Enthusiasts

This paper explains how companies can manage their brand communities effectively. The findings reported in this paper are based on a four-year long project involving the study of company managed and enthusiast-run communities. During that time, 200 brand community managers of company-managed and enthusiast-run communities from diverse industries and countries were interviewed and corresponded. A large-scale surveys of community members was also conducted. In addition, the authors have participated extensively in a number of these communities over an extended period of time. The concepts and ideas discussed in this paper are the result of a synthesis of these activities over the last four years