Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich BWL - Offline-Marketing und Online-Marketing, Note: 2,2, Universität Osnabrück, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This thesis will show the key factors for successful social media marketing in small and mediumsized companies. The first pages deal with the transformation of the Internet and the basics of social media. A definition of Web 2.0 will be given and the popularity of Social Media will be analyzed in further detail. Since social media is very diverse, the most important manifestations like social networks or microblogs will be presented shortly. Thereafter follows the main chapter "Social Media Marketing". This chapter discusses the weaknesses of traditional advertising and PR and where social media attaches to bypass those weaknesses. It is shown, which goals can be achieved, how this is realized and which success factors you need for effective Social Media Marketing. The next step explains how a social media strategy is build and what a small and medium-sized companies must respect in this. The biggest changes caused by social media marketing arise in corporate communications. In the chapter about communication is described what types of communication are relevant for a company and how to enter into a dialogue with the users. Another issue is social media monitoring. This section shows how market research can be operated with social media. The last item in the main chapter then deals with the risks of social media marketing. Thereafter follows a presentation of the three most popular social media sites: Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. This thesis will close with an independently conducted market research study and a conclusion.