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The emergence of social media as one of the driving forces of consumers´ online experiences today also challenges our current understanding on marketing and brand management. The effects of brands´ social media involvement are to this day uncertain. Severin Dennhardt shows that social media and user-generated brands do have a strong influence on brands. Four independent studies demonstrate that first, successful brands can be created in virtual worlds, second, user-generated content drives the creation of unique brands, third social media strongly influences the social value perception of brands, and fourth, social media impacts consumers´ purchase decision process.

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Research Overview.- Overview of Papers.- Implications and Future Research.

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Dr. Severin Dennhardt wrote his dissertation under Prof. Dr. Kurt Matzler´s supervision at the Chair of Strategic Management and Leadership at the University of Innsbruck.

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