Communication strategies of entrepreneurs within social media networks and its impact on their firm performance:an empirical analysis of young start-ups in Germany
Thus far only isolated and limited work on the importance of social media communication exists for entrepreneurs. This is remarkable because - from theoretical considerations as well as numerous best practice cases from the field - social media communication for company founding could have an extensive potential. In our paper we conceptualize communication of start-ups in social networks within the framework of communication management theory. We use data of a start-up panel in Germany (n = 442) and examine whether communication management in social media contributes to start-up performance, and which strategies entrepreneurs use in their social media communication. We refer in this context to understanding-oriented communication and strategies of personalization and analyze their impact on start-up success.