Crowdfunding Development in the Social Media Marketing System

Abstract

The relevance of crowdfunding in the context of social media marketing is confirmed by a broad media narrative for its multifaceted potential. Media marketing is becoming a driver for the promotion of business ideas and innovative projects in view of the growing role of social networks in shaping public opinion. The aim of the study was the development of a model for evaluating the success of crowdfunding projects and its implementation in the social media marketing system. Three dimensions of information description — the information volume, attitude to information (feedback), and information quality in terms of information communication — were considered as the components of the crowdfunding assessment model. The hypotheses were advanced about the relationship between information description and the success of crowdfunding based on these variables. The hypotheses were tested through the processing of data (N=544) from media agencies’ websites. The results show that the number of words in the project description is inversely related to the success of crowdfunding (b=−0.007), and the number of videos and images is directly related to the project success (R2=0.93). The effectiveness of social networks was confirmed allowing for the consumer loyalty to this method of obtaining information and time spent daily on the Internet (63% in the total user activity). The content analysis found that social networks demonstrated the best indicators in raising funds for crowdfunding, compared to the project promotion through traditional media, and it was the main idea of the research. This study has both theoretical and applied significance: it can be a starting point for establishing the academic background for studying the experience of implementing crowdfunding projects through social networks; the obtained results can be used in the practical activities of crowd marketers.