Social Media in Relationship Marketing: The Perspective of Professional Sport Managers in the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gashaw Abeza ◽  
Norm O’Reilly ◽  
Benoit Seguin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
North America ◽  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Professional Sport ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Sport Teams ◽  
Practical Implications

This study aims to obtain an in-depth understanding of the use, opportunities, and challenges related to social media (SM) in achieving relationship marketing (RM) goals in professional sport. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 26 managers of professional sport teams from the four major leagues in North America. Results outline the platforms adopted, the six intended objectives of SM use, the seven opportunities SM provides, and the seven challenges of SM as a RM medium. Theoretical and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research are provided.

Social Media as a Relationship Marketing Tool in Professional Sport: A Netnographical Exploration

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gashaw Abeza ◽  
Norm O’Reilly ◽  
Benoit Seguin ◽  
Ornella Nzindukiyimana
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Professional Sport ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sport Teams ◽  
Twitter Account ◽  
Core Components ◽  
Marketing Tool ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

This study, guided by the relationship marketing theoretical framework, adopted an observational netnography method to investigate professional sport teams’ use of Twitter as a relationship marketing tool. Specifically, the study focused on the three core components of the theoretical framework of relationship marketing: communication, interaction, and value. The observational netnography is based on data gathered from the official Twitter account of 20 professional sport teams in the four major North American leagues over a seven-month period. Results outline seven emergent communication types, six interaction practices, and ten values (co)created by the teams or/and fans. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as impetus for future research, are identified.

scholarly journals Do Corporate Carbon Policies Enhance Legitimacy? A Social Media Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Galán-Valdivieso ◽  
Laura Saraite-Sariene ◽  
Juana Alonso-Cañadas ◽  
María Caba-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
North America ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Carbon Mitigation ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Carbon Policy ◽  
Carbon Performance ◽  
Practical Implications

Stakeholders are increasingly concerned about climate change and companies’ commitment to anticipate future carbon-related risks, and grant or withdraw support depending on their perceptions of firms’ carbon performance. The aim of this research is to analyse which carbon-related factors influence stakeholders with regards to the legitimacy-granting process. The sample in this study includes 146 firms from North America and Europe committed to carbon mitigation, whose legitimacy is measured via social media interactions. Findings show that setting a corporate carbon policy and disclosing an internal price of carbon are positively linked to legitimacy, while other factors are negatively or not related to legitimacy. This study makes theoretical contributions, proposing a metric based on social media stakeholder engagement to measure corporate legitimacy, as well as practical implications, revealing which carbon information shapes stakeholders’ perception of firms’ climate performance, and opening new possibilities for future research.

Intellectual capital disclosure on Twitter – empirical evidence from the world’s largest companies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Bryl ◽  
Justyna Fijałkowska ◽  
Dominika Hadro
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Corporate Disclosure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Philosophy ◽  
Business Units ◽  
Structural Capital ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to examine intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) on Twitter by 60 of the world’s largest companies and explains the main themes communicated to stakeholders. The second objective is to determine which topics provoke most stakeholders’ reactions. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform content analysis on more than 42,000 tweets to examine ICD practices along with the reactions of stakeholders in the form of retweets and “favorites” toward the information disclosed. Findings Intellectual capital (IC) is an important theme in corporate disclosure practices, as more than one-third of the published tweets refer to IC. The world’s largest companies focus on relational capital information, followed by human and structural capital. The main IC themes disclosed were management philosophy, corporate reputation and business partnering. Tweets related to IC are of greater interest to stakeholders than other tweets and provoke more reactions. There is no complete consistency between the topics most intensively disclosed by companies and those that elicit the most vivid responses from the addressees. Practical implications This study offers an understanding of the world’s largest companies’ practices that refer to ICD via social media and has implications for organizations in the creation and use of communication channels when developing a dialogue with stakeholders on topics regarding IC that may lead to better management of IC performance. Originality/value This paper is a response to the call for studies on ICD via social media, which is strongly highlighted in the recent literature concerning future research on IC and until now was almost absent in the field of business units. This research provides in-depth insights into the use of Twitter to disclose IC elements and indicates which fields and topics of this disclosure provoke stakeholders’ reactions, which is a novelty in ICD studies.

The roles of social media in tourists’ choices of travel components

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuerui Liu ◽  
Fuad Mehraliyev ◽  
Chun Liu ◽  
Markus Schuckert
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Inductive Approach ◽  
Practical Implications

Social media are acknowledged as an important information source that influences tourists’ travel choices. However, qualitative studies that take an inductive approach to identify the roles of social media by investigating how social media affect travel choices are limited. By interviewing 21 tourists who had recently taken trips, this article aimed to identify the roles that social media played in the tourists’ choices of six travel components (destination, transportation, accommodation, food and dining activities, attractions, as well as shopping and leisure activities). Four roles have been identified: Need Generator, Supporter, Guider and Approver. Theoretical and practical implications along with future research suggestions are discussed.

A taxonomy of value co-creation on Weibo – a communication perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 2075-2092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Ge ◽  
Ulrike Gretzel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Marketing Organization ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Comprehensive Classification ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to develop a taxonomy of value co-creation types occurring in firm-customer interactions on social media. Design/methodology/approach In total, 570 destination marketing organization (DMO)-initiated posts on Weibo and 3,137 responses were collected to develop a taxonomy by conducting qualitative empirical-to-conceptual analysis. To apply the taxonomy through conceptual-to-empirical analysis, 100 DMO-initiated posts and 823 responses were collected. Findings The communication-focused value co-creation taxonomy shows a variety of co-creators, verbal and non-verbal communicative co-creation actions facilitated by social media, and different co-created value types. Research limitations/implications This study used a single social media platform and selected three DMOs’ Weibo accounts. Future research should focus on other types of firms and different social media platforms. Practical implications This study used a single social media platform and selected three DMOs’ Weibo accounts. Future research should focus on other types of firms and different social media platforms. Originality/value This study enriches the tourism literature and the general marketing literature by examining value co-creation from a communication perspective and provides a comprehensive classification of value co-creation opportunities on social media.

scholarly journals Between hope and fear: developing social media guidelines

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaël Opgenhaffen ◽  
An-Sofie Claeys
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine employers’ policy with regard to employees’ social media use. Specifically, the authors examine the extent to which employers allow the use of social media in the workplace, what opportunities can be related to employees’ social media use and how social media guidelines are implemented within organizations. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with HR and communication managers of 16 European companies from different sectors and of varying size. Findings Some organizations believe that social media should be accessible to employees while others ban them from the workplace. Most respondents believe that organizations can benefit from employees sharing work-related content with their own network. However, they encourage the sharing and retweeting of official corporate messages rather than employees developing their own messages. This fear regarding employees’ messages on social media is reflected in the broad adoption of social media guidelines. Research limitations/implications Future research should chart the nature of existing social media guidelines (restrictive vs incentive). Accordingly, the perceived sense and nonsense of social media guidelines in companies should be investigated, not only among the managers but also among employees. Practical implications Organizations should remain in dialogue with employees with regard to social media. Managers seem overly concerned with potential risks and forget the opportunities that can arise when employees operate as ambassadors. Originality/value The use of in-depth interviews allowed the authors to assess the rationale behind social media guidelines within organizations in depth and formulate suggestions to organizations and communication managers.

Identifying the Different Approaches in Use of Social Media Outlets: A Case Study of German Professional Sport Teams

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-261
Author(s):  
Fabian Kautz ◽  
Michael Schaffrath ◽  
Alex C. Gang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Ice Hockey ◽  
Professional Sport ◽  
Sport Teams ◽  
Sport Industry ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
Sport Clubs ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The sport industry has long used social media as an effective instrument of communication. In the framework of the current study, a content analysis investigated how professional sport clubs in Germany use Facebook and Twitter. The study covers the entire 2015–16 season, which was illustrated via selectively choosing 2 weeks for data analysis; four clubs each from basketball, ice hockey, football, and handball were collected as a sample. All Facebook posts and Twitter tweets published by the 16 clubs during the 2 weeks, a total of 3,412 contributions (Facebook 717, Twitter 2,695), were included in the analysis. The codebook contained 57 variables, and this article presents the results on the identified topics of the published contents on the two social media platforms. On both platforms, the clubs under examination primarily issued statements regarding themselves and their sport-related activities. Twitter is predominantly used as a live medium during games, whereas Facebook allows for significantly greater reach. However, no sport-related differences were found between the two social media platforms.

“Most [False Reports] Involve Teens”: Officer Attitudes Toward Teenage Sexual Assault Complainants—A Qualitative Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-45
Author(s):  
Eryn Nicole O’Neal ◽  
Brittany E. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sex Crimes ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Officer Attitudes ◽  
Practical Implications

Scholars, advocates, and victims have repeatedly criticized the police treatment of sexual assault (SA) complainants. Apathetic attitudes and hostile behavior on the part of the police have likely resulted from socialization into a culture that condones the use of force and violence and blames SA victims for their victimization. Using data from in-depth semistructured interviews with 52 Los Angeles Police Department sex crimes detectives, we examine officer attitudes toward teenage complainants of SA. Notably, almost three fourths of the respondents ( n = 38; 73%) mentioned that teenagers lie about SA. Practical implications, theoretical advancements, and directions for future research are discussed.

Brands, community and style – exploring linking value in fashion blogging

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christofer Pihl
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Study Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Empirical Context ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – By using the concept of style, the purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the notion of brand community. More specifically, it seeks to explore how style can function as a linking value in forms of communities centred on brands that emerge within the empirical context of fashion and social media. Design/methodology/approach – A netnography of the content produced by 18 fashion bloggers in Sweden was conducted. Content analysis of this material was used to map how consumption objects, in terms of fashion brands, were integrated in activities taking place on blogs, and through these processes, acted as a linking value for community members. Findings – This paper demonstrates how fashion bloggers, together with their readers, constitute a form of community centred on style. It also shows how fashion bloggers, by combining and assembling fashion brands and products, articulate and express different style sets, and how they, together with their followers, engage in activities connected to these style ideals. Research limitations/implications – As this study has been empirically limited to a Swedish setting, future research would benefit from findings of international expressions of communities of style. Practical implications – Based on this study, strategies for managing communities of style is suggested to represent a potential source of competitive advantage for fashion firms. Originality/value – In the context of the conceptual discussion about what brings members of communities together, this study provides evidence of how style can function as a linking value in the setting of consumer communities that emerge within the boundaries of fashion and social media.

Meeting Relationship-Marketing Goals Through Social Media: A Conceptual Model for Sport Marketers

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Williams ◽  
Susan J. Chinn
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Customer Relationships ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sports Organizations ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Sport Industry

Sport industry marketers have long understood the importance of nurturing customer relationships. The new challenge is how best to face the shifts in customer relationship marketing posed by sports organizations and proactive consumers, or “prosumers.” In this article, the elements of the relationship-building process are presented with a focus on communication, interaction, and value, concepts identified in Gronroos’s (2004) relationship-marketing process model. An expanded version of Gronroos’s model is developed to include prosumers and to describe the interactions that occur through social-media exchanges. The value of specific social-media tools and Web 2.0 technologies in helping sport marketers meet their relationship-marketing goals is also discussed. Finally, directions for future research employing the expanded model are suggested.

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