Promoting brands through online communities : specification of the critical success factors

The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the fall of 2001 is frequently described as a turning point for the web. The idea behind the concept of "Web 2.0" is a new interactive use of the Internet. Social media leverages this idea supporting social interaction with user-generated content as a resulting output. It includes various categories such as online communities, blogs, message boards and wikis.Online communities play an increasingly important role in marketing and brand management as consumers expect to interact with brands, turning brand messages into a conversation. Brand communities offer the right online platform to start productive discussions on brands - a common interest of both consumers and companies. The goal of this paper is to identify the critical success factors for managing online communi-ties and promoting the own brand in this new medium. Research is conducted in the form of an online survey on the attractiveness of online communities from a user’s perspective. The survey reached a net sample of 414 participants of which only 236 completed it. Companies cannot stop the social media trend, but they can become part of it by joining the conversation or creating own online communities.Master of Business Administratio