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Business Horizons (2016) 59, 175—183
www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor
Who is the better player? Off-field battle
on Facebook and Twitter
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Teresa Tiago *, Flávio Tiago, Sandra Dias Faria, João Pedro Couto
University of the Azores, Rua da Mae de Deus, 9501 Ponta Delgada, Portugal
KEYWORDS
Abstract Social media networks have become essential to the modern business
world, and are especially vital for sports firms and athletes. Social media networks are
new channels for firms to connect with their audience and establish a social customer
relationship. For sports firms, athletes play a special role, as they are the firms’
ambassadors and the focus of virtual communities of fans. For most athletes, social
media is a powerful tool to take advantage of their time in the spotlight. However,
social media has much more potential. This work analyzes the social media profile and
content created by six well-known sports figures–—Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi,
Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant–—to develop a model
(STAR) for social media use. The adoption of this model can enhance fan engagement
online and therefore increase athletes’ and firms’ brand value and connectivity with
consumers.
# 2015 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.
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Social media;
Customer Relationship
Management;
Facebook and Twitter;
Fan engagement;
Athletes
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1. The social media movement
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Social networking increases the size of one’s personal network through meeting friends of friends or
family, and their friends or family. The ability to
enlarge and maintain a personal network has been
widely studied from a sociological perspective, and
the key actors in these networks are the customers
and users of a firm’s products and services. This
display of connections became digitally available
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: mariaborges@uac.pt (T. Tiago),
flaviotiago@uac.pt (F. Tiago), sfaria@uac.pt (S.D. Faria),
jpedro@uac.pt (J.P. Couto)
via social network sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Badoo, and Orkut. These digital
platforms give anonymous people—sometimes
with less social ability—the capability to belong
to wider networks with others who have common
interests, and to be active participants in creating, sharing, and removing content. Social networking has become a valuable tool for sports
firms and athletes. Thus, the primary objective
of this study was to analyze social media content
and develop a model for social media use for
sports firms and athletes.
The exponential growth and influence of social
media on firm and consumer behavior over the past
decade has been well documented (Berthon, Pitt,
0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2015 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2015.11.003
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176
T. Tiago et al.
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(Fort & Winfree, 2013). Therefore, the relationship
between fan attitudes and sports figures, organizations, and brands is crucial to many sports firms’
performance. Brands must consider the implications
of adopting social media, such as the requirements
to set clear objectives, establish a uniform attitude
toward social media, integrate social media
with the traditional communication and promotion
strategies, and—above all—explore the fan-sports
figure relationship and fan identification with the
brand.
Social media creates a digital proximity between
fans and athletes, particularly for those sports figures that use social media to invite interaction and
leverage engagement and brand value. Considering
global sports figures, we focus on players who are
active in social media—specifically Facebook and
Twitter—and who have a large number of followers.
We studied:
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Plangger, & Shapiro, 2012; Dollinger, 2015; Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010; Tiago & Verı́ssimo, 2014). As social
media became more common, firms and brands
developed new communication approaches to
generate revenue through interactive online tools
(Filo, Lock, & Karg, 2015).
In 2014, social media was saturated with official
and co-created content about the World Cup and
Champions League. Athletes, sports organizations,
and sports businesses were in the spotlight of millions of users worldwide. With fans, athletes, sports
organizations, and journalists engaging in social
media platforms, brand management and sports
communication can be leveraged through social
media adoption (Holzner, 2008).
In 2010, Kaplan and Haenlein suggested that firms
could decide to either participate in this communication or continue to ignore it. Currently, the decision to participate in social media can be made by
sports firms, but no longer by sports organizations or
athletes since fans consume the media’s representation of sports and sports figures. Through social
media adoption, the representation of sports and
athletes is composed of constantly changing tweets,
‘likes,’ videos, photos, and movies from firms, athletes, and other fans.
Social media has changed the sports world, making information instantaneously available to view,
comment on, and share. In particular, social media
can create or destroy images in real-time, since
content communication about brands, sports
events, and athletes occurs with or without permission from sports firms or athletes (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Although social media sites such as Facebook,
Google+, Vine, and SportNetwork are considerably
changing the sports world (Pieper, 2013), Twitter is
still preferred by millions of users (Hull & Schmittel,
2015). An in-depth analysis of these networks shows
that Twitter users can easily search for other people
with similar interests by using hashtags (Hull &
Schmittel, 2015).
According to Baird and Parasnis (2011a), firms
must incorporate social media programs with customer relationship management (CRM). For the
sports industry, this creates a unique opportunity
to leverage the ‘fan-sport’ relationship and transform fans into consumers of the brands.
Gwinner and Swanson (2003) examined the impact of fan identification on brand sponsorship outcomes, acknowledging four distinctive impacts:
sponsor recognition, attitude toward the sponsor,
sponsor patronage, and satisfaction with the sponsor. However, sports revenues are not confined to
sponsorship, and can be driven by ticket sales, players’ value in the sports market, and media streams
Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer player for Real Madrid);
Lionel Messi (soccer player for Barcelona);
Tom Brady (football player for the New England
Patriots);
Aaron Rodgers (football player for the Green Bay
Packers);
LeBron James (basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers); and
Kevin Durant (basketball player for the Oklahoma
City Thunder).
Filo et al. (2015) performed a careful review of the
literature concerning sports and social media and
noticed that most studies focused on Twitter, neglecting the other social networks. As advised by
Billings, Butterworth, and Turman (2014), and as
shown in Figure 1, focusing on Twitter can be deceiving, since in most cases the community built
around the athletes is smaller than on Facebook.
Even though the data retrieval process is open
access, it will not cover all the sports figures and
fan interactions. Therefore, further research of
other social network sites with different analysis
metrics is required.
In summary, as the social network phenomenon
continues to evolve, sports organizations that
focus on long-term consumer retention can improve
their CRM and strengthen their brand value by
adopting an active digital presence and promoting
sports figures’ activity on diverse social media
sites.
This document is authorized for educator review use only by Ricard Jensen, Montclair State University until September 2016. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright.
Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860
Copyright 2015 by Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. For reprints, call HBS Publishing at (800)545-7685.
Figure 1.
Followers in social media
2. I’m a fan. . .
motivation is linked to a consumptive object,
such as the athlete’s personality, team, sport,
or league.
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Wann (1995) observed that a large proportion of
people are somewhat involved in sports as players,
spectators, or fans. These people exhibit certain
factors of fan behavior, such as a positive level of
arousal, escape from routine, self-esteem benefits,
entertainment, group affiliation, aesthetic qualities, and economic impacts.
Hunt, Bristol, and Bashaw (1999) considered a fan
to be an enthusiastic devotee of some particular
sport, and thus more willing to consume organized
sports and sports-related products. The ubiquitous
nature of sports in many contemporary societies
creates a wider range of involvement. As Billings
et al. (2014) noted, our role in sports as a player,
watcher, or follower influences our physical and
emotional state and consequently fosters our
well-being. Across all levels and types of sports
competitions, two common elements relevant to
the vitality of the fan community have become
the foundation of the sports culture: (1) the images
produced and (2) the language used by sports media.
Unveiling sports fans’ motives and foreseeing
their behavior is important to sports marketers,
and most research focuses on a team performance
model as the main driver of fan behavior (Hunt
et al., 1999; Pritchard & Kharouf, 2014). Likewise,
Hunt et al. (1999) subdivided fans into several
categories:
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Who is the better player? Off-field battle on Facebook and Twitter
Temporary fans are those who identify them-
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selves with a specific group during a certain period, even though they may not adopt a public selfidentification with the group.
Local fans are those who choose their teams
based on geography, and therefore their selfidentification is related to locality and not the
sports figures.
Devoted fans are those who do not manifest
any time or geographic constraints, and their
Fanatical fans are those who have superlative
fan-like behavior that drives them to adopt a
supportive behavior outside the sports context.
Dysfunctional fans are those who consider being a
fan as their primary method of self-identification.
Hunt et al. (1999, p. 440) argue that the development of fans into these different categories occurs
through a halo process whereby the affiliation
becomes a reflex of ‘‘a reservoir of memories
feed[ing] fans’ enthusiasm and passion for sports
and link[ing] them to the sports institution, interpersonal relationships, and experiences’’ enhanced
by social networks that incorporate fans’,
followers’, or families’ shared content.
In summary, athletes and sports figures are using
social media to interact with fans (Pieper, 2013;
Sanderson, 2013). As a result, sports fans employ
social media to build community and promote their
preferred representations of athletes and sports
figures (Sanderson, 2013). Considering the most
basic level, any online social network can become
a community where individuals with similar interests or who belong to similar social structures can
interact using their public persona (Acquisti & Gross,
2006). Thus, large online sports communities are
created around a sport or sports figure.
A sports fan with no time or geographical boundaries (i.e., a devoted, fanatical, or dysfunctional
fan) tends to replicate game day experiences and
behaviors in other contexts. This sports fan considers the level of interactions documented in social
media related to sports (Hambrick & Sanderson,
2013; Pedersen, 2014; Pieper, 2013; Varner, 2013)
and adopts a social identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel &
Turner, 2004) perspective by using the virtual communities to recreate sporting event environments.
Using this knowledge, Underwood, Bond, and Baer
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Copyright 2015 by Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. For reprints, call HBS Publishing at (800)545-7685.
178
T. Tiago et al.
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engagement, allowing social media to significantly
shorten the distance between the sports figure and
fans, and consequently changing fan engagement
levels. One of the major tasks facing sports marketers is maintaining engagement levels, since this
reflects consumer interest and actual sportsconsumer behavior.
3. Data and results
A cluster analysis was performed based on the network structure of the six athletes studied. The
cluster analysis was used to identify groups of individuals that were similar but different from other
groups so that specific profiles within the fans and
followers could be recognized. Three clusters were
found, as presented in Table 1.
By examining the three clusters and comparing
the analysis with the Hunt et al. (1999) fan classification structure, local and dysfunctional fans were
not found; however, that might be due to an insignificant number of these types of fans in the sample.
There are no fans based solely on their location and/
or with geographical constraints. This is consistent
with the ubiquity of social media, which allows
anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection
and an account to be linked with a sports figure.
The most interesting and challenging dimensions
of analysis are intimacy and influence, since they
are closely related to consumer sentiments. Additionally, sports fans have strong opinions and feelings and their engagement may vary with their
emotions. Thus, a content analysis must be performed to translate human emotions and opinions
into engagement bases. By analyzing the social
media content shared on Facebook by the six players, some conclusions can be made (see Figure 2).
Sports fans tend to deeply engage with specific
players. However, not all content shared by these
players creates the same engagement level, and
specific content leads to interaction peaks. For
example, Cristiano Ronaldo’s social media content
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(2001) analyzed how firms can explore social identity in sports to build service brands.
Additionally, brand personality dimensions, traditionally applied to tangible brands, can also be
applied to sports (Aaker, 1997). Recent studies such
as Carlson, Todd Donavan, and Cumiskey (2009)
suggest that athletes and teams can enhance their
sport’s brand awareness and emotional ties with
fans, and social media provides such opportunities.
Although sports are intangible and not all multifaceted dimensions of brand personality can be
applied, evidence reveals that athletes and team
prestige and distinctiveness are positively influenced by both the shared and unique facets of brand
personality (Carlson et al., 2009). Athletes and
teams that have high-value brands are able to extend into different areas to enhance their brand
value without the risk of a brand personality change
(Diamantopoulos, Smith, & Grime, 2005). More specifically, athletes and teams may offer meaning to
brands for fans. The endorsement of famous sports
stars and their personalities can assist brand managers in positioning their brands and promoting fans
to identify with brands and sports stars (Ross, 2008).
The emotional involvement and commitment that
occurs among sports fans establishes the basis for a
community that shares the same values, likes or
dislikes, and similar consumer behavior. The specific
environment surrounding these consumers can be
used by marketers to enhance consumer identification with a sports-related product or service and,
in due course, increase brand equity and sales
revenue.
Therefore, and as Kavoura (2014) suggests, online
communities offer unique communication opportunities for marketers and advertisers by providing
direct access to specific consumer targets that are
updated continuously through comments about
their state of mind, desires, and likes. These virtual
communities provide opportunities for reinforcing
brands by making or strengthening the emotional
connection with the community members. This
emotional tie is intimately related with fan
Table 1.
Mean differences between fan segments
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Dimension
Like it
Comment
Post activity
Share links
Location
Gender
Cluster 1
Temporary fans
18.65
2.17
0.32
2.91
0.65
0.67
Cluster 2
Devoted fans
35.64
3.30
0.51
3.10
0.58
0.68
Cluster 3
Fanatical fans
43.36
4.11
2.13
4.85
0.64
0.69
Mean difference
1
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