Posting Strategically : The Consumer as an Online Media Planner

We propose that consumers have theories about effective word of mouth persuasion, acting as intuitive media planners in making online forum choices. Based on Persuasion Knowledge Model, we suggest that consumers possess beliefs about forum audience (i.e. how loyal to the brand these readers are). Across three studies, we demonstrate posters' persuasion strategy by selecting forum audience. Specifically, posters prefer posing positive messages on a brand-neutral forum where the audience is perceived as less loyal to the target brand (e.g., Camera Forum) to a brand-specific forum where the perceived loyalty is high (e.g., Nikon Forum). We offer two boundary conditions under which message valence will not affect where a message is posted: when posters have a non-persuasion motive, such as affiliation, and when the opportunity to activate persuasion knowledge is low, such as time pressure.