Title: The impact of advertising, trustworthiness, and valence on the effectiveness of blogs

Authors: Ritu Lohtia; Naveen Donthu; Monica D. Guillory

Addresses: Department of Marketing, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, 35 Broad Street, Suite 1300, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USA ' Department of Marketing, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, 35 Broad Street, Suite 1300, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USA ' Management and Marketing Department, School of Business and Economics, Winston-Salem State University, R.J. Reynolds Center Room 220 601, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27110, USA

Abstract: Blogs have seen explosive growth over the last five years. Given this growth, it is important for marketers to understand how they can effectively use blogs to reach their target audiences. We examine the impact of the presence of advertising, blogger trustworthiness, and message valence on the effectiveness of blogs. Our research demonstrates that the effectiveness of a blog is higher when the blogger is perceived to be trustworthy, while the presence of advertising on a blog decreases its effectiveness. Our research also suggests that negative blog posts with no advertisements will be more effective than any other type of blog. Although blogs are a new and unique medium for marketers, our research suggests that the fundamental theories developed in marketing apply to this medium as well. In the absence of blog specific research, marketing managers may be able to extend their current knowledge of the effectiveness of traditional media to blogs as well.

Keywords: blogs; social media; trustworthiness; valence; online marketing; internet advertising; blog effectiveness; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2013.060264

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2013 Vol.5 No.4, pp.317 - 339

Received: 27 Jun 2012
Accepted: 02 Feb 2013
Published online: 05 Jul 2014 *

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