WHAT MAKES A CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN SUCCESSFUL? INVESTIGATING CROWDFUNDING PLATFORMSAS A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TOOL

Abstract

Crowdfunding was initially presented as a fundraising tool and an alternative financial instrument that enables SMEs to collect the needed funds directly from the public. However, this financial instrument has many collateral advantages that needs to be studied.The purpose of this study is, first, to introduce the crowdfunding phenomenon in a simplified way through its basis, types, and perspectives to help to its implementation especially in developing countries. Second, to understand how it can be used as a marketing tool, and finally, to study the independent variables that contribute to the success of a crowdfunding campaign. In order to achieve these objectives, the study is divided into a theoretical section; where the bases of crowdfunding, its different types and its marketing assets have been drawn from the existing related literature; and an empirical section that studies the factors that potentially contribute to the success of a crowdfunding campaign. In this context, the factors affecting the success of a campaign were grouped into three major ones: Financial & Reward dimension, Quality dimension and Relational dimension. In order to study the relationship and interaction between these variables and the success of the campaigns, data were collected from 602 published project on the international platform Kickstarter and analyzed using SPSS software. The results indicates that even if the three dimensions have a significant impact on the success of a campaign, the financial dimension have the highest weigh in the equation. The study also shows that there is a need to more empirical research to better understand the Turkish context.