Sport Management and Development

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

اعضای هیات تحریریه

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

News

Guide for Authors

forms

Branding through Social Media (Case Study: Instagram Page of Tehran Esteghlal F.C.)

    Authors

    1 Assistant Professor of management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    2 Assistant Professor of sport management, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    3 Associate Professor of sport management, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

,

Document Type : Research Paper

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate how to the Sport teams use Instagram as a social media platform for their branding purposes, and how much their fans respond to the brand on Instagram.
Methodology: First, qualitative and quantitative content analysis was conducted on 500 Instagram posts by Tehran Esteghlal F.C. Then, by using one-way ANOVA and Scheffe test, investigated what team brand attributes have created more fan engagement.
Results: Findings indicated that two demonstrates of brand attributes of Esteghlal F.C. on its Instagram page including product-related factors (team success, star player and head coach), and non-product related factors (brand mark, management, club’s history and tradition, club’s culture and values, event’s image, sponsor and fans). The highest frequency of images was related to star players (47.6%), and the lowest frequency was attributed to the club’s culture and values (2.2%). The results of ANOVA showed a significant difference between the means of comments and likes of the fans in terms of brand attributes. Scheffe test results showed that star players cause a significant difference in the number of fans' likes. moreover, it pointed out that sponsors effect the number of fans' comments.
Conclusion: Instagram as a social media platform could be a suitable instrument to realize the brand through the content of messages exchanged between the followers and the sport teams. So, it could be used for branding purposes of the club.
 

Keywords

References
  • Abeza, G., O’Reilly, N., Seguin, B., & Nzindukiyimana, O. (2015). Social media scholarship in sport management research: A critical review. Journal of Sport Management, 29(6), 601-618. Doi: 10.1123/JSM.2014-0296.
  • Anagnostopoulos, C., Byers, T., & Shilbury, D. (2014). Corporate social responsibility in team sport organisations: Toward a theory of decision making. European Sport Management Quarterly, 14(3), 259-281. Doi: 10.1080/16184742.2014.897736.
  • Anagnostopoulos, C., Parganas, P., Chadwick, S., & Fenton, A. (2018). Branding in pictures: using Instagram as a brand management tool in professional team sport organisations. European Sport Management Quarterly, 18(4), 413-438. doi:10.1080/16184742.2017.1410202.
  • Asian Football Confederation (2018). Esteghlal FC. Retrived from http://www.the-afc.com/competitions/afc-champions-league.
  • Baena, V. (2016). Online and mobile marketing strategies as drivers of brand love in sports teams: Findings from Real Madrid. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 17(3), 202-218. doi:10.1108/IJSMS-08-2016-015.
  • Bauer, H. H., Stokburger-Sauer, N. E., & Exler, S. (2008). Brand image and fan loyalty in professional team sport: A refined model and empirical assessment. Journal of sport Management, 22(2), 205-226. doi:10.1123/jsm.22.2.205.
  • Berry, L.L. (2000). Cultivating service brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 128-137. Doi: 1177/0092070300281012.
  • Biscaia, R., Correia, A., Ross, S., Rosado, A. F., & Maroco, J. (2013). Spectator-based brand equity in professional soccer. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 22, 20-32.
  • Blank, A. S., Koenigstorfer, J., & Baumgartner, H. (2018). Sport team personality: It’s not all about winning!. Sport Management Review, 21(2), 114-132. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2017.05.004.
  • Blumrodt, J., Bryson, D., & Flanagan, J. (2012). European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on customer-based brand equity. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(7), 482-493. Doi: 1108/07363761211274992.
  • Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of computer‐mediated Communication, 13(1), 210-230. Doi: 1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x.
  • Boyle, B. A., & Magnusson, P. (2007). Social identity and brand equity formation: A comparative study of collegiate sports fans. Journal of Sport Management, 21(4), 497-520. Doi: 1123/jsm.21.4.497.
  • Browning, B., & Sanderson, J. (2012). The positives and negatives of Twitter: Exploring how student-athletes use Twitter and respond to critical tweets. International Journal of Sport Communication, 5(4), 503-521. doi:10.1123/ijsc.5.4.503.
  • Chanavat, N., & Desbordes, M. (2014). Towards the regulation and restriction of ambush marketing? The first truly social and digital mega sports event: Olympic Games, London 2012. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 15(3), 2-11. doi:10.1108/IJSMS-15-03-2014-B002.
  • Clavio, G. (2013). Emerging social media and applications in sport. Routledge handbook of sport communication, 259-268.
  • Clavio, G., & Walsh, P. (2014). Dimensions of social media utilization among college sport fans. Communication & Sport, 2(3), 261-281. doi:10.1177/2167479513480355.
  • Coyle, P. (2010). Teams active in social media build strategic advantage. Sports Business Journal, 12(1), 18.
  • De Chernatony, L. and Segal-Horn, S. (2001). Building on service characteristics to develop successful services brands. Journal of Marketing Management, 17(7), 645-669. Doi: 1362/026725701323366773.
  • Filo, K., Lock, D., & Karg, A. (2015). Sport and social media research: A review. Sport management review, 18(2), 166-181. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2014.11.001.
  • Geurin-Eagleman, A. N., & Burch, L. M. (2016). Communicating via photographs: A gendered analysis of Olympic athletes’ visual self-presentation on Instagram. Sport management review, 19(2), 133-145. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2015.03.002.
  • Gladden, J. M., & Funk, D. C. (2001). Understanding brand loyalty in professional sport: Examining the link between brand associations and brand loyalty. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 3(1), 54-81. doi:10.1108/IJSMS-03-01-2001-B006.
  • Gladden, J. M., & Funk, D. C. (2002). Developing an understanding of brand associations in team sport: Empirical evidence from consumers of professional sport. Journal of Sport management, 16(1), 54-81. dio:10.1123/jsm.16.1.54.
  • Gladden, J. M., Irwin, R. L., & Sutton, W. A. (2001). Managing North American major professional sport teams in the new millennium: A focus on building brand equity. Journal of Sport Management, 15(4), 297-317. doi:10.1123/jsm.15.4.297.
  • Gladden, J. M., Milne, G. R., & Sutton, W. A. (1998). A conceptual framework for assessing brand equity in Division I college athletics. Journal of sport management, 12(1), 1-19. doi:10.1123/jsm.12.1.1.
  • Gretry, A., Horváth, C., Belei, N., & van Riel, A. C. (2017). Don't pretend to be my friend! When an informal brand communication style backfires on social media. Journal of Business Research, 74, 77-89. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.01.012.
  • Hambrick, M. E., & Kang, S. J. (2015). Pin it: Exploring how professional sports organizations use Pinterest as a communications and relationship-marketing tool. Communication & Sport, 3(4), 434-457. doi:10.1177/2167479513518044.
  • Hambrick, M. E., Simmons, J. M., Greenhalgh, G. P., & Greenwell, T. C. (2010). Understanding professional athletes’ use of Twitter: A content analysis of athlete tweets. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3(4), 454-471. Doi: 10.1123/ijsc.3.4.454.
  • Harwood, T. G., & Garry, T. (2003). An overview of content analysis. The marketing review, 3(4), 479-498. doi:10.1362/146934703771910080.
  • Kaynak, E., Salman, G. G., & Tatoglu, E. (2008). An integrative framework linking brand associations and brand loyalty in professional sports. Journal of Brand Management, 15(5), 336-357. doi:0.1057/palgrave.bm.2007.29.
  • Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of marketing, 57(1), 1-22. doi:10.2307/1252054.
  • Keller, K. L. (2009). Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of marketing communications, 15(2-3), 139-155. doi:10.1080/13527260902757530.
  • Khanmohammadi, M., Heydarinezhad, S., MehdiPour, A., & Khatibi, A. (2017). Strategies for Brand Development of Khuzestan Steel football Club. New Approaches to Sport Management, 5(18), 33-46. ]Persian[.
  • Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54 (3), 241-251. Doi: 10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005.
  • Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage publications.
  • Kunkel, T., Doyle, J. P., & Funk, D. C. (2014). Exploring sport brand development strategies to strengthen consumer involvement with the product–The case of the Australian A-League. Sport Management Review, 17(4), 470-483. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2014.01.004.
  • McCarthy, J., Rowley, J., Ashworth, C., & Pioch, E. (2014). Managing brand presence through social media: The case of UK football clubs. Internet Research, 24(2), 181-204. Doi: 1108/IntR-08-2012-0154.
  • Miles, J. (2014). YouTube marketing power: How to use video to find more prospects, launch your products, and reach a massive audience. McGraw Hill Professional.
  • Mirzai, M., Mohammad Kazemi, R., & Khademi, M. (2016). The Effect of Sport Brand Development on the Brand Value (Case Study: Persepolis Brand). Sport Management, 18 (38), 531-548. ]Persian.[
  • Mohamadi, , Mahmoodian, A. (2019). Impact of Using Social Media of Instagram in Athletes Brand Image. Sport management and development, 8(1), 21-30. ]Persian.[
  • Nazari, R., Mokhtari, M. (2019). The Model Elements of Professional Football Clubs are based on Customers Based Brand Equity. Sport management and development, 7(4), 106-117. ]Persian[.
  • O'Shea, M., & Alonso, A. D. (2012). Opportunity or obstacle? A preliminary study of professional sport organisations in the age of social media. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 10(3-4), 196-212. Doi: 10.1504/IJSMM.2011.044790.
  • Parganas, P., Anagnostopoulos, C., & Chadwick, S. (2015). ‘You’ll never tweet alone’: Managing sports brands through social media. Journal of Brand Management, 22(7), 551-568. doi:10.1057/bm.2015.32.
  • Rein, I., Shields, B., & Grossman, A. (2015). The sports strategist: Developing leaders for a high-performance industry. USA: Oxford University Press.
  • Richelieu, A., Pawlowski, T. and Breuer, C.h (2011). Football brand management: Minor league versus champions’ league. Journal of Sponsorship, 4(2): 178-189.
  • Ross, S. D., James, J. D., & Vargas, P. (2006). Development of a scale to measure team brand associations in professional sport. Journal of sport management, 20(2), 260-279. doi:10.1123/jsm.20.2.260.
  • Sajjadi, S. N., Rajabi Noushabadi, H., Abdolati, M., & Tariqi, R. (2016). Identification of factors affecting the brand equity of professional football teams studied: Tehran Esteghlal Club. Sport Management Studies, 15(39), 87-110. ]Persian[.
  • Shaffaie, L., Memari, J., & Asghari Jafar Abadi, M. (2016). The character of the brand of the selected football teams of the Iranian Football League by path analysis model. Management and development of sports, 8(20), 117-136. ]Persian[.
  • (2018). Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users.
  • Stavros, C., Meng, M., Westberg, K., & Farrelly, F. (2014). Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media. Sport Management Review, 17(4), 455-469. Doi: 1016/j.smr.2013.11.004.
  • Thompson, A. J., Martin, A. J., Gee, S., & Geurin, A. N. (2018). Building brand and fan relationships through social media. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 8(3), 235-256. doi:10.1108/SBM-04-2017-0024.
  • Wallace, L., Wilson, J., & Miloch, K. (2011). Sporting Facebook: A content analysis of NCAA organizational sport pages and Big 12 conference athletic department pages. International Journal of Sport Communication, 4(4), 422-444. Doi: 1123/ijsc.4.4.422.
  • Wang, M. C. H., & Tang, Y. Y. (2018). Examining the antecedents of sport team brand equity: A dual-identification perspective. Sport Management Review, 21(3), 293-306. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2017.07.010.
  • Williams, J., & Chinn, S. J. (2010). Meeting relationship-marketing goals through social media: A conceptual model for sport marketers. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3(4), 422-437. Doi:10.1123/ijsc.3.4.422.
  • Zimmerman, M., Clavio, G., & Lim, C. H. (2011). Set the agenda like Beckham: A professional league’s use of YouTube to disseminate messages to its users. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 10(3/4), 180-195. Doi: 10.1504/IJSMM.2011.044789.

 

Sport Management and Development
Volume 10, Issue 1 - Serial Number 25
January 2021
Pages 112-127
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics