Online Friends Determine the Persuasiveness of SNS Advertising Campaigns

GUDA VAN NOORT, MARJOLIJN ANTHEUNIS & EVA VAN REIJMERSDAL Online Friends Determine the Persuasiveness of SNS Advertising Campaigns Marketers more and more design advertising campaigns especially for Social Network Sites (SNS), with the aim that SNS users forward these campaigns to their online network. By means of a survey, this study investigates whether the persuasiveness of such campaigns is determined by the strength of the social connection between receiver and the sender of the campaign. The results support the idea that SNS campaigns are more persuasive when forwarded by close friends, than when forwarded by less strong social connections. Thus, the social context plays a crucial role in the persuasiveness of marketing communication activities within SNS.