Profiling Customer Engagement with “Snuggie” Experience in Social Media

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In order to understand meaningful customer experience in social media, this study profiles customer engagement by exposing the essential brand experience rooms in hyper-reality contexts. This study selects Snuggie as a target brand as it uses multiple contact points, including social media, to provide meaningful experience to customers. With their unique marketing strategy, Snuggie became a popular brand among the U. S. customers beyond just a wearable blanket.
Upon analyzing a total of 364 customer reviews about Snuggie in Amazon.com, five experience rooms were exposed;“Physical artifacts” and “customer involvement” are influential experience rooms which signify interactions between products and customers, while “intangible artifacts”, “technology” and “customer placement” reflect a lower degree of experiential engagement. This approach suggests a theoretical foundation in understanding the customer engagement concepts by the means of brand experience dimensions in social media. The ability to create compelling engagement in social media depends on the successful facilitation of relationships and information, which lead to a creative, communicative and interactive experience.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Wasko, M. M., "Why should I share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice" 29 (29): 35-57, 2005

2 Mudambi, S. M., "What makes a helpful online review? A study of customer reviews on Amazon.com" 34 (34): 185-200, 2010

3 Blanchard, A., "Virtual behavior settings: An application of behavior setting theories to virtual communities" 9 (9): 2004

4 Martin, B., "Using the imagination: Consumer evoking and thematizing of the fantastic imaginary" 31 (31): 136-149, 2004

5 Kaplan, A. M., "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media" 53 (53): 59-68, 2010

6 Frow, P., "Towards the 'perfect' customer experience" 15 (15): 89-101, 2007

7 Kozinets, R. V., "The wisdom of consumer crowds collective innovation in the age of networked marketing" 28 (28): 339-354, 2008

8 Singer, D., "The power of storytelling: What nonprofits can teach the private sector about social media. McKinsey Quarterly"

9 Humphreys, A., "The intersecting roles of consumer and producer: a critical perspective on co-production, co-creation and prosumption" 2 : 2008

10 Kumar, N., "The influence of recommendations on consumer reviews on evaluations of websites" 17 (17): 425-439, 2006

11 Grove, S., "The impact of other customers on service experiences" 73 (73): 63-85, 1997

12 Swaminathan, V., "The evolution and antecedents of transformational advertising : A conceptual model" 23 : 49-55, 1996

13 Wu, J., "The effects of trust and enjoyment on intention to play online games" 8 (8): 128-140, 2007

14 Nahapiet, J., "Social capital, intellectual capital and the organziaitonal advantage" 23 (23): 22-26, 1998

15 Mathwick, C., "Social capital production in a virtual P3 community" 34 (34): 832-849, 2008

16 Puente, M., "Snuggie gets a warm embrace from pop culture" USA TODAY

17 Baudrillard, J., "Simulacra and Simulation" The University of Michigan Press 1994

18 Bitner, M. J., "Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees" 56 (56): 57-71, 1992

19 Normann, R., "Reframing business: What the map changes the landscape" John Wiley 2001

20 Ritzer, G., "Production, consumption, prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’" 10 (10): 13-36, 2010

21 Venkatesh, A., "Postmodernism perspectives for macromarketing : An inquiry into the global information and sign economy" 18 (18): 153-169, 1999

22 Brown, J. S., "Organizational learning and communities of practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning and innovation" 2 (2): 40-57, 1991

23 Shaw, D. L., "New about slavery from 1820-1860 in Newspapers of South, North and West" 61 (61): 483-492, 1984

24 Sismeiro, C., "Modeling purchase behavior at an e-commerce web site: A task-completion approach" 41 (41): 306-323, 2004

25 Roberts, K., "Lovemarks: The future beyond brands" PowerHouse Books 2005

26 "How to tell the difference between a Snuggie" Chicago Sun-Times

27 Gentile, C., "How to sustain customer experience : An overview of experience components that co-create value with the customer" 25 (25): 395-410, 2007

28 Wyner, G. A., "How do you measure the customer experience?" 15 (15): 6-7, 2003

29 Layton, J., "How Amazon works"

30 Hirshman, E., "Hedonic consumption : Emerging concepts, methods and propositions" 46 (46): 92-101, 1982

31 Prahalad, C. K., "Future of competition: Cocreating unique value with customers, Books, 1" Harvard Business School Press 2003

32 Kim, H. Y., "Future forces transforming apparel retailing in the United States : An environmental scanning approach" 25 (25): 307-322, 2007

33 French, T., "Five ‘no regrests’ moves for superior customer engagement. McKinsey Quarterly"

34 Hameide, K. K., "Fashion branding unraveled" Fairchild Books 2011

35 Mollen, A., "Engagement, telepresence and interactivity in online consumer experience: Reconciling scholastic and managerial perspectives" 63 (63): 919-925, 2010

36 Kearsley, G., "Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning" 38 (38): 20-23, 1998

37 Koh, J., "Encouraging participation in virtual communities" 50 (50): 69-73, 2007

38 Kim, H. J., "Dimensionality of fashion-brand experience : Aligning brand equity approaches" 16 (16): 418-441, 2012

39 Chu, S. C., "Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites" WORLD ADVERTISING RESEARCH CENTER 30 (30): 47-75, 2011

40 Edvardsson, B., "Design dimensions of experience rooms for service test drives" 20 (20): 312-327, 2010

41 Divol, R., "Demystifying social media. McKinsey Quarterly"

42 Doorn, J., "Customer engagement behavior: Theoretical foundations and research directions" 13 (13): 253-266, 2010

43 ViVek, S. D., "Customer engagement : Exploring customer relationships beyond purchase" 20 (20): 127-145, 2012

44 Sherry, J. F., "Contemporary marketing and consumer behavior: An anthropological sourcebook" Sage 1995

45 Abraham-Murali, L., "Consumers' conceptualization of apparel attributes" 13 (13): 65-74, 1995

46 Haubl, G., "Consumer decision making in online shopping environments: The effects of interactive decision aids" 19 (19): 4-21, 2000

47 Arnould, E. J., "Communicative staging of the wilderness servicescape" 18 (18): 90-115, 1998

48 Sawhney, M., "Collaborating to create: The internet as a platform for customer engagement in product innovation" 19 (19): 4-17, 2005

49 Edvardsson, B., "Cocreating customer value through hyperreality in the prepurchase service experience" 8 (8): 149-161, 2005

50 Brakus, J. J., "Brand experience: What is it? how is it measured? does it affect loyalty?" 73 (73): 52-58, 2009

51 Anderson, T., "Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context" 5 (5): 1-17, 2001

52 Sedley, R., "4th annual online customer engagement report 2010"