Online marketing of professional sports clubs: engaging fans on a new playing field

Abstract

Online sports marketing has become the best foundation for building fan communities for professional sports league and teams. With the development of more powerful technologies, access to the internet has increased. Websites are now including media such as audio and video files, podcasts and live broadcasts of league games. More powerful media has also enabled more user interaction and user empowerment. Two key elements in the increasing use of online services to increase the effectiveness of online sports marketing are multimedia and user interaction. Together, they provide an increasingly sophisticated, powerful and user-based medium that offers marketing challenges and opportunities to business organisations including professional sport organisations.Related to improved user engagement is the increasing sophistication of sports websites. Creating value for fans has become more difficult because they want more benefits from online experiences, including the development of social connections.Teams could take advantage of fans' attachment by creating interactive web spaces, extending team experiences and building fan loyalty.

Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook

“…Social media has changed the way supporters engage with sports teams, athletes and other fans (Ioakimidis, 2010). Most sport fans are very engaged and, for many, sport plays an important role in their everyday lives (Popp, Wilson, Horbel, & Woratschek, 2016).…”

Spor Organizasyonlarında Sosyal Dijital Medya Düzenlemeleri ve Sinsi Pazarlama: 2016 Rio Olimpiyatları Örneği

“…Spor endüstrisi içinde sosyal medyanın, pazarlama iletişim aracı olarak kullanımına yönelik akademik çalışmaların sayısı da hızla artmaktadır. Bu alanda özellikle tüketici geri dönüşümleri (Mahan, 2011), tüketicilerin sosyal medya kullanımı (Clavio, 2011), spor organizasyonlarında taraftarların dahil edilmesi (Iokimidis, 2010), spor organizasyonları sosyal medya web sitesi içerikleri (Waters ve ark. 2010), sporcuların sosyal medya üzerinden tanıtımları (Butts, 2008) konularında çalışmalar yapılmıştır.…”

Success of Mixed Martial Arts Video Topics on YouTube

“…On the other hand although the Internet is already widely recognized as an important tool to keep company competitive on sport market (Filo & Funk 2005;Rein, Kotler & Shields, 2007;Coyle, 2010) some, even well-established firms were utilizing it indolently (Ioakimidis 2010;Kriemadis, Terzoudis & Kartakoullis, 2010). Unveiling YouTube content specific is especially important for adolescent sports with social media oriented consumers, like mixed martial arts (MMA).…”