The Effect Social Media on the Development of Sport Marketing Strategy: The Case Study of Football Clubs in Northern Iraq

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of social media for the football sport club's marketing strategy in Northern Iraq. The data were collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. Sampling strategy used in this study is maximum variation sampling. The outcomes of this study reveal that developing the social media tools are significant for the football sport clubs to thrive the sports marketing strategy and increase their relationships with the fans in a professional way. The football sport clubs need to adopt the social media as a strong channel for developing the sports marketing strategy and grasp the fans as a key product. They should have the ability to use different types of social media tools. Through this development football clubs will be able to make important progress in the advertisement, expand the number of fans, develop their marketing strategies, and improve their financial ability.