Dalam rangka memenangkan persaingan di dunia usaha, perusahaan dituntut untuk mengubah konsumennya menjadi pelanggan yang loyal. Dewasa ini public relations banyak dilibatkan dalam dunia pemasaran dengan kekuatan komunikasi yang persuasif dan kemampuan menjalin hubungan dengan pelanggan. Persaingan bisnis juga terjadi di antara majalah wanita baik dengan majalah lokal maupun dengan majalah lisensi luar negeri. Femina, salah satu majalah wanita mempunyai komunitas untuk pembacanya, yakni Komunitas Femina & Friends.
Penelitian bertujuan menganalisa pengaruh keterlibatan pembaca Femina dalam Komunitas Femina & Friends terhadap loyalitas mereka pada majalah Femina dilihat dari tiga dimensi pembentuk keterlibatan dalam komunitas merek, yakni kesadaran bersama, berbagi pengalaman dan tanggung jawab moral.
Penelitian menggunakan konsep marketing public relations yang menjelaskan pembentukan komunitas merek sebagai salah satu strategi dalam mengikat pelanggan dengan merek, produk dan perusahaan. Penelitian menggunakan paradigma positivis, pendekatan kuantitatif dan bersifat eksplanatif. Penelitian dilakukan selama periode waktu Januari-Juni2009 dengan pengumpulan data selama April-Mei 2009 dengan populasi 9361 anggota Komunitas Femina & Friends dan sampel sebanyak 30 orang. Penelitian menggunakan teknik penarikan sampel aksidental yang didasarkan pada kemudahan untuk mencapai responden. Dalam hal ini, kuisioner di postingkan di milis Komunitas Femina & Friends.
Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa keterlibatan pembaca dalam Komunitas Femina & Friends berpengaruh pada loyalitas mereka pada majalah Femina. Ketiga dimensi pembentuk keterlibatan dalam komunitas merek secara keseluruhan mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan pada loyalitas merek. Namun, ketika dianalisis secara parsial, didapat bahwa dimensi tanggung jawab moral mempunyai pengaruh tertinggi sementara dimensi kesadaran bersama kurang berpengaruh pada loyalitas merek.
In an effort to outperforming competitors, companies must turn their consumers into loyal customers. Meanwhile, companies are facing a decline in the productivity of their brand campaign tools, especially in creating a long-term commitment between customers and the brand/product which can lead to loyalty.
From this point, companies begin to recognize the role of public relations to support their marketing objectives through the use of more credible and effective strategies to enhance brand campaign. One of the many strategies is engaging consumers and customers in a community. Brand community is believed to help foster a bond between the customers, the brand, the product and the company. As to magazine, brand community is also known as readers community.
This research is focused on Femina magazine which also has a form of brand community called Komunitas Femina & Friends. The aim of this research is to measure the effectiveness of Komunitas Femina & Friends in affecting loyalty among its members towards Femina magazine. The relationship of the two variables is investigated by examining how customer?s involvement in brand community affects brand loyalty and how the three elements of brand community, such as consciousness of a kind, shared rituals and traditions and moral responsibility partially affect brand loyalty.
This research is carried out using positivist paradigm with quantitative approach. Research is conducted in January-June 2009 periode of time while the collection of data took place from April-May 2009. The Population of this research is all community members that count up to 9361 members with a sample of 30 active members. Primary data obtained by mailing questionnaires to virtual forum of the community while data is analized by using statistical software SPSS version 16.0.
A survey of 30 respondents reveal that their brand loyalty is significantly influenced by their engagement to the elements of moral responsibility and shared rituals and traditions but weakly influenced by the first element, that is consciousness of a kind.
