NetEase Cloud Music Built Its Image Again In The Groundswell

Would you be influenced by the melody or the lyric of music? And would you enjoy the comments when listening to music?

If your answer is yes, you might be an active villager in the "Cloud village". 

"Cloud village" is the name for the community created by a music app called NetEase Cloud Music. The users of the app are called as "Cloud villagers". Just like Spotify, users can leave our comments when listening to music. 

The app built its own community as more and more people use this app and registered their own account. As a Cloud villager, we can make comments, post our own music and videos, provide the lyrics as well as translate the lyrics for foreign songs. Because of the community, NetEase Cloud Music experienced the influence of the groundswell, and building its unique brand image based on the groundswell. 

Now, I would like to connect NetEase Cloud Music with the book - groundswell, which explained what the groundswell is, the technologies of groundswell, how it influences the brand, how to listen to and talking with the groundswell.

Once we register our account, we can look through the comment area of every song and get the background about the song that we did not know. For example, when we listen the song Valder Fields, we may feel that it is a song to express the happy life.

Let us enjoy the song to feel.

 However, when we look at the comments, we can know that the song was written during a health HIV education project.

It can be a benefit that we get from the groundswell. As is said in the book," The groundswell is a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations"(P23) In Cloud Village, everyone shares what he or she knows, we see it and learn it, and as a result, because of the collaboration, the community can finally become a large resource library. Also, we can find some song lists that cater to our tastes.

Above all, we can see the brand image NetEase Cloud Music wanted to build an image as "discover good music". However, "your brand is what your customers say it is"(P96), The brand image was not like what the company designed.

With the growing popularity of social media and community, we have become more open online, sharing more stories and emotions. As we always remind of something and be very emotional when listening to very infectious music, Cloud Village became a community where we drain our negative emotions. 

Gradually, when NetEase Cloud Music is mentioned, the " Online depressing" impression will come into our mind. People even use a homophonic joke of the second word "Yi" in Chinese, which means simple in the original meaning but be given a new meaning of depressing.

Because the huge influence of social media, the comments has already changed the brand image. As is said in the book, "The value of a brand belongs to the market, and not to the company" (P96) . It seems like a disaster for the brand. But the company created a new image of "cure". The official account of the brand pronounced a "cure" activity to changed its image from "depressing" to "cure".

To build the new image, NetEase Cloud Music listened to the groundswell. It showed that the brand effectively monitored their community and social media. Listening to the groundswell and using the technology services helped the brand gain new insights(P98). After effective listening to the groundswell and the user insight, NetEase Cloud Music communicated with us through social media to build its new image - "cure", NetEase Cloud Music learned that most people are under a huge pressure and they cannot find a place to drain, so they planned a warm communication strategy for the grounds well.

The groundswell can be a huge power to influence the image of brands, and companies should both listen to and talk with the groundswell to beat with it and regard it as a challenge to build its positive image in the society.