ABSTRACT
Companies and brands increasingly interact with their audiences, especially via online communication and participation formats. One of these formats is the brand community. Online brand communities allow companies and brands to inform and interact with their customers. This chapter explores the characteristics and marketing potential of social networking sites (SNS) brand communities, how SNS users interact with these communities, and what motivates them to engage in different types of interaction. It discusses how SNS brand communities differ from traditional online brand communities and in what ways they are valuable for brand communications. Members of a brand community engage in brand-related activities in much the same way as they interact with other SNS content. Self-presentation refers to the way people present their personal identity to others. Social media users present themselves through personalizing their profile and their activities on social media.
