Publicação
Keeping fans engaged through social media activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case of professional football clubs
| Resumo: | The coronavirus has changed the whole world, including the football industry, which had to suspend all leagues in March 2020. With all games postponed and direct interaction prohibited, social media was the only form of contact between sports organisations and fans. This study aims to examine the impact of the temporary competitive paralysis on professional football clubs' social media marketing activities and fan engagement. The design, content, and frequency of posts were used as a framework to examine changes in posting strategies, while the impact on fan engagement was framed with emotional, cognitive, and behavioural manifestations. To investigate these actions, the author followed Kozinets' netnography guidelines and analysed 433 posts published on the official Instagram profiles of football clubs Real Madrid CF and FC Porto, classifying their content as informative, relational, entertaining and rewarding. The period studied is from February 12 to April 9, 2020, and the results show a shift from a social media posting strategy with absent to low interactivity, moderate vividness and mainly based on entertainment content around the football competition, to one with highly interactive and vivid posts and with a strong shift towards relational content in the post- suspension period. In terms of fan engagement on social media, findings show an overall decrease in engagement after the sport is frozen. However, a phenomenon can be observed in which fans are more inclined to comment on football clubs' posts, especially when it comes to interactive content such as challenges and questions. This study contributes to new research on digital sports marketing and fan engagement and offers practical guidelines for football clubs to improve their ability to digitally engage fans at critical times. |
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| Autores principais: | Tavares, Cláudia Isabel De Jesus |
| Assunto: | Media sociais -- Social media COVID-19 Football Engagement Strategy Marketing digital -- Digital marketing Instagram Futebol Estratégias |
| Ano: | 2022 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | ISCTE |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório ISCTE |
| Resumo: | The coronavirus has changed the whole world, including the football industry, which had to suspend all leagues in March 2020. With all games postponed and direct interaction prohibited, social media was the only form of contact between sports organisations and fans. This study aims to examine the impact of the temporary competitive paralysis on professional football clubs' social media marketing activities and fan engagement. The design, content, and frequency of posts were used as a framework to examine changes in posting strategies, while the impact on fan engagement was framed with emotional, cognitive, and behavioural manifestations. To investigate these actions, the author followed Kozinets' netnography guidelines and analysed 433 posts published on the official Instagram profiles of football clubs Real Madrid CF and FC Porto, classifying their content as informative, relational, entertaining and rewarding. The period studied is from February 12 to April 9, 2020, and the results show a shift from a social media posting strategy with absent to low interactivity, moderate vividness and mainly based on entertainment content around the football competition, to one with highly interactive and vivid posts and with a strong shift towards relational content in the post- suspension period. In terms of fan engagement on social media, findings show an overall decrease in engagement after the sport is frozen. However, a phenomenon can be observed in which fans are more inclined to comment on football clubs' posts, especially when it comes to interactive content such as challenges and questions. This study contributes to new research on digital sports marketing and fan engagement and offers practical guidelines for football clubs to improve their ability to digitally engage fans at critical times. |
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