Fan identification – an academic concept rooted in social identity theory – has been widely studied since the 1990s. However, research on the concept has been slow to evolve with new technology and media platforms available to fans following their favorite teams. With this in mind, twelve telephone interviews were conducted with professional sport franchise social media marketers across the country from Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Football League (NFL). Sport marketers were asked how aware they were about the concept of fan identification, what strategies they had for engaging fans on social media and the social media tactics they used to carry out their respective strategies. Overall, sport marketers reported low levels of awareness about the concept of fan identification, social media strategies that differed by social network, and a variety of social media tactics used to carry out each strategy, including social media loyalty programs, a focus on using images, tangible social media spaces, and player Q&A sessions. Future fan identification research topics, recommendations for academic researchers, and implications for other sport social media marketers are included.
Original Title
How Professional Sports Franchises use Social Media to Increase Fan Identification
Fan identification – an academic concept rooted in social identity theory – has been widely studied since the 1990s. However, research on the concept has been slow to evolve with new technology and media platforms available to fans following their favorite teams. With this in mind, twelve telephone interviews were conducted with professional sport franchise social media marketers across the country from Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Football League (NFL). Sport marketers were asked how aware they were about the concept of fan identification, what strategies they had for engaging fans on social media and the social media tactics they used to carry out their respective strategies. Overall, sport marketers reported low levels of awareness about the concept of fan identification, social media strategies that differed by social network, and a variety of social media tactics used to carry out each strategy, including social media loyalty programs, a focus on using images, tangible social media spaces, and player Q&A sessions. Future fan identification research topics, recommendations for academic researchers, and implications for other sport social media marketers are included.
Fan identification – an academic concept rooted in social identity theory – has been widely studied since the 1990s. However, research on the concept has been slow to evolve with new technology and media platforms available to fans following their favorite teams. With this in mind, twelve telephone interviews were conducted with professional sport franchise social media marketers across the country from Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Football League (NFL). Sport marketers were asked how aware they were about the concept of fan identification, what strategies they had for engaging fans on social media and the social media tactics they used to carry out their respective strategies. Overall, sport marketers reported low levels of awareness about the concept of fan identification, social media strategies that differed by social network, and a variety of social media tactics used to carry out each strategy, including social media loyalty programs, a focus on using images, tangible social media spaces, and player Q&A sessions. Future fan identification research topics, recommendations for academic researchers, and implications for other sport social media marketers are included.
Running heau: FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
Bow Spoits Fianchises 0se Social Neuia to Boost Fan Iuentification
Stephen App stephenapp about.mestephenapp Temple 0niveisity
Content may not be ieuseu without peimission.
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
2 Abstiact Fan iuentification - an acauemic concept iooteu in social iuentity theoiy - has been wiuely stuuieu since the 199us. Bowevei, ieseaich on the concept has been slow to evolve with new technology anu meuia platfoims available to fans following theii favoiite teams. With this in minu, a stuuy was conuucteu to iuentify potential ieseaich topics foi fan iuentification ieseaicheis. Twelve telephone inteiviews weie conuucteu with piofessional spoit fianchise social meuia maiketeis acioss the countiy fiom Najoi League Baseball (NLB), the National Bockey League (NBL), anu the National Football League (NFL). Spoit maiketeis weie askeu how awaie they weie about the concept of fan iuentification, what stiategies they hau foi engaging fans on social meuia anu the social meuia tactics they useu to caiiy out theii iespective stiategies. 0veiall, spoit maiketeis iepoiteu low levels of awaieness about the concept of fan iuentification, social meuia stiategies that uiffeieu by social netwoik, anu a vaiiety of social meuia tactics useu to caiiy out each stiategy, incluuing social meuia loyalty piogiams, a focus on using images, tangible social meuia spaces, anu playei Q&A sessions. Futuie fan iuentification ieseaich topics, iecommenuations foi acauemic ieseaicheis, anu implications foi othei spoit social meuia maiketeis aie incluueu. !"#$%&'() Fan Iuentification, Social Neuia, Social Iuentity Theoiy
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S "#$%& '( )'*+&*+,
Intiouuction Puipose of Stuuy Significance of Stuuy Theoietical Fiamewoik Liteiatuie Review Fan Iuentification Consequences of Fan Iuentification Anteceuents of Fan Iuentification Reseaich Questions Nethou Finuings Awaieness of Concept Fianchise 0se of Social Neuia Level of Success Implications Conclusion Refeiences
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
4 -*+.'/01+2'* 0n the fiist seiies of a Sunuay Night Football game against the San Fiancisco 49eis in 0ctobei 2u1S, Bouston Texans quaiteiback Natt Schaub uioppeu back to pass. Schaub intenueu to thiow the football to his wiue ieceivei, Anuie }ohnson. 0nfoitunately, it was completeu to Tiemaine Biock of the 49eis, who piomptly ietuineu the inteiception foi a 49eis touchuown. It was the fiist of thiee inteiceptions Schaub thiew that game, a 27-7 Texans loss, anu the fouith stiaight game in which he thiew an inteiception that was ietuineu foi a touchuown, the fiist time that hau happeneu in National Football League (NFL) histoiy (ESPN, 2u1S). Latei that week, Schaub calleu team secuiity anu the NFL aftei he iepoiteu multiple fans uiiving by his house anu invauing his piivacy. Repoits claimeu that fans paikeu in his uiiveway anu yelleu expletives at the beleagueieu quaiteiback (Bavis, 2u1S). What is it that makes some spoits fans so emotional, loyal, anu occasionally vulgai in the name of a game. Why aie some fans content to sit anu calmly watch a spoiting event while otheis stanu, clap, anu yell with painteu faces anu baie chests that spell the team name. The answei, accoiuing to acauemic ieseaich, may veiy well be the concept of fan iuentification. ueneially, fan iuentification is the level that a fan feels a psychological connection to a team oi spoit (Bietz-0hlei & Lantei, 2uu8). It has also been uefineu as the level of peisonal commitment anu emotional involvement a fan has with a team (Sutton, NcBonalu, Nilne, & Cimpeiman, 1997). Fan iuentification, which has its ioots in social iuentity theoiy, is a iesult of seveial potential psychological, enviionmental, anu team-ielateu factois, anu has been linkeu with seveial elements of consumei behavioi, such as buying team appaiel anu FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S game uay tickets. Simply put, the moie a fan iuentifies with a team, the moie time anu money a fan is likely to spenu on that iespective team. In iecent yeais, many of these highly iuentifieu spoits fans have tuineu to social meuia to follow theii favoiite spoits fianchise. Social meuia is omnipiesent in populai society touay, anu especially among spoits fans. The peicentage of auults using social meuia has iisen fiom 8% in 2uuS to 72% in 2u1S (0lenski, 2u1S), while a stuuy by eNaiketei listeu 17S billion social meuia useis in 2u1S, an inciease of 26 billion fiom 2u12 (Bennett, 2u1S). Piofessional spoits fianchises have capitalizeu on this populaiity. NFL fianchises have a combineu 6u million Facebook anu Twittei followeis, anu many piofessional spoit fianchises in the 0S anu Euiope boast ovei one million social meuia followeis (Foibes, 2u1S). Among spoits fans following theii favoiite teams on social meuia, most have useu Facebook to keep up with theii favoiite teams (Bioughton, 2u11). Nany of these fans aie finuing that following theii favoiite team on social meuia has incieaseu theii level of fan iuentification. Inueeu, a suivey in the SpoitsBusiness }ouinal founu that Najoi League Baseball (NLB) anu NFL fans following theii favoiite teams on social meuia claimeu to be moie uevoteu fans than befoie they followeu the iespective teams on social meuia (Bioughton, 2u1u). Neanwhile, spoiting events like Spain's 2u12 Euiopean Cup title anu Anuy Nuiiay's 2u1S Wimbleuon championship aie two of the most tweeteu events in histoiy, ianking alongsiue woilu events like Piesiuent Baiiack 0bama's ie-election anu the election of Pope Fiancis (0SAT0BAY, 2u1S). Consiueiing the populaiity of social meuia among spoit fans, fianchises have tuineu to social netwoiks foi incieasing iuentification levels among its iespective fans. These FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
6 fianchises use social meuia to offei fans behinu-the-scenes imageiy, inciease inteiaction with stai playeis, anu facilitate game uay expeiiences that unite fans with fellow suppoiteis anu the team. Nany teams utilize multiple social netwoiks in this quest, incluuing Facebook, Twittei, anu Instagiam. While each spoit maiketei's goal on social meuia may be similai - incieasing fan iuentification - the tactics useu to ieach theii iespective goals vaiy. To gain an unueistanuing of these vaiious tactics, the authoi inteivieweu 12 spoit social meuia maiketeis acioss the countiy, investigating the uiffeient stiategies anu tactics useu to inciease fan iuentification on social meuia. 30.4',& '( 5+0/6 This stuuy has thiee puiposes: (1) to uiscovei how well the acauemic concept of fan iuentification has peimeateu the spoits maiketing inuustiy, (2) to lay the giounuwoik foi futuie acauemic ieseaich on fan iuentification, anu (S) to seive as a piactical guiuebook foi spoit social meuia maiketeis looking to uiscovei best piactices anu social meuia inspiiation. Fiistly, by inteiviewing spoit maiketeis about the concept of fan iuentification, the authoi seeks to uiscovei how well the acauemic concept of fan iuentification is known among spoit maiketeis. Aie spoit maiketeis awaie of the concept. Aie they tailoiing theii social meuia content to fans in ways that have been empiiically shown to inciease the iuentification level of fans. By leaining how much is known about fan iuentification, the authoi can bettei concluue to which level acauemic ieseaich is being shaieu in the inuustiy to which its conclusions apply. Seconuly, this stuuy seeks to lay the giounuwoik foi futuie ieseaich on fan iuentification. Inteiviewing spoit maiketeis about the social meuia tactics they use to builu FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
7 fan iuentification will pioviue futuie ieseaich topics foi acauemic inteiest. Foi example, uo social meuia maiketeis finu that fans on a paiticulai social netwoik engage with the team moie than on othei netwoiks. Aie social meuia loyalty piogiams an effective way to builu loyal fans. Bo behinu-the-scenes images of playeis builu fan iuentification bettei than othei types of images oi text only status upuates. Acauemic ieseaich on fan iuentification has begun to question the iole Inteinet activity has on fan iuentification. This papei seeks to inciease acauemic inteiest on social meuia activity as ieseaich piogiesses. Finally, this stuuy seeks to seive as a piactical guiuebook foi spoit maiketeis. Fan iuentification has been wiuely ieseaicheu foi seveial yeais, anu the uptick in social meuia's populaiity in spoits has spuiieu an inciease in acauemic inteiest as well. These stuuies often incluue iamifications foi spoit maiketeis in theii conclusion, but to uate, no ieseaichei has maue spoit maiketeis the main subject of theii stuuy. Auuitionally, pievious ieseaich has laigely useu questionnaiies anu college stuuents as the piimaiy ieseaich instiument anu subjects, iespectively. These quantitative stuuies offei limiteu backgiounu infoimation on the conclusions that aie maue. 0sing inteiviews will be ciitical to uncoveiing uetaileu insights into the thinking of spoit maiketeis as well as why ceitain stiategies woik oi uon't woik, anu combining that inteiview uata fiom seveial spoit fianchises into a single publication will iesult in a useful infoimation souice foi othei spoit maiketeis looking to inciease fan iuentification foi theii iespective fianchises using social meuia.
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
8 527*2(21#*1& '( 5+0/6 This stuuy is significant in that it iepiesents, in many ways, the fiist oi eaily ieseaich in thiee aieas. These incluue the ieseaich methou, the ieseaich subject, anu the topic itself. Fiist, this stuuy is significant in that it piesents acauemic ieseaich on fan iuentification that is qualitative in natuie. Since ieseaich began on fan iuentification, a laige majoiity of this ieseaich has been quantitative. Questionnaiies anu suiveys in paiticulai have been a populai ieseaich tool, useu in ieseaich on potential motives of fan iuentification (Fink, Tiail, & Anueison, 2u12; Wann, Tuckei, & Schiauei, 1996; Clippeit, 2u1u; Theouoiakis, Wann, & Weavei, 2u12), fan iuentification anu BIRuing anu C0RFing (Wann, & Bianscombe, 199u), fan iuentification's impact on the intention to attenu futuie games (Natsuoka, Chellauuiai, & Baiaua, 2uuS; Wakefielu, 199S), on-fielu success anu its impact on fan iuentification (Fishei & Wakefielu, 1998), fan iuentification anu its iole in the puichase of fianchise meichanuise (Kwon & Aimstiong, 2uu6), fan iuentification foimation in miu-level piofessional spoit (uieenwoou, Kanteis, & Caspei, 2uu6), the ielationship between meuia use anu fan iuentification (Phua, 2u1u), fan iuentification anu its iole in fans' intentions to puichase sponsoieu piouucts (Nauiigal, 2uuu), fan iuentification anu the neeu to belong (Theouoiakis, Wann, Nassis, & Luellen 2u12), anu the iole of similaiity anu attiactiveness in fan iuentification with a favoiite spoits team (Fishei, 1998). This is in staik contiast to the use of qualitative ieseaich, anu specifically inteiviews, which have only been useu in one stuuy examining the uevelopment of fan iuentification (Lock, Tayloi, Funk, & Baicy, 2u12). Conuucting qualitative ieseaich, anu inteiviews specifically, offeis an FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
9 oppoitunity to ask moie flexible, open-enueu questions that elicit moie complete answeis than is possible with closeu-enueu suivey oi questionnaiie ieseaich (Singleton, 2uuS). Seconuly, this ieseaich on fan iuentification will be the fiist time that spoit social meuia maiketeis, iathei than fans, aie the subject of ieseaich. To uate, fan iuentification ieseaich has laigely focuseu on college-ageu spoits fans anu fans attenuing spoiting events. 0nueigiauuate college stuuents specifically have been heavily ieseaicheu, incluuing stuuies on the iole of similaiity anu attiactiveness in fan iuentification with a favoiite spoits team (Fishei, 1998), fan iuentification anu the neeu to belong (Theouoiakis et al., 2u12), the ielationship between meuia use anu fan iuentification (Phua, 2u1u), potential motives of fan iuentification (Wann, et al., 1996; Clippeit, 2u1u; Theouoiakis, et al., 2u12), fan iuentification anu its iole in the puichase of fianchise meichanuise (Kwon & Aimstiong, 2uu6), anu fan iuentification anu BIRuing anu C0RFing (Wann, & Bianscombe, 199u). By focusing on spoit maiketeis, iathei than fans, this stuuy will offei ieaueis a behinu-the-scenes look into how spoit maiketeis aie appioaching social meuia with the goal of incieasing iuentification among fans. Finally, this stuuy iepiesents some of the fiist ieseaich on fan iuentification using social meuia as a piimaiy meuia platfoim. As technology has impioveu, acauemic ieseaich has piogiesseu to investigate with changing meuia platfoims. In 2u1u, Phua lookeu at fan iuentification anu meuia use by fans, which incluueu newspapei use, television use, anu online use. In 2u12, Lock et al. examineu the uevelopment of fan iuentification foi a new piofessional team, anu founu that fans uevelopeu incieaseu levels of iuentification with the team as they seaicheu foi news anu meuia on the team. Also in 2u12, Noyei examineu the FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
1u impact following a piofessional baseball team on Facebook hau on levels of team iuentification. Asiue fiom Noyei's ieseaich on Facebook anu team iuentification, little acauemic ieseaich has examineu social meuia as a piimaiy meuia platfoim. Examining social meuia is ciucial when examining fan iuentification uue to the impiessive numbeis in which fans follow theii favoiite spoits teams. By examining the way piofessional spoits fianchises use social meuia, this stuuy will fill a gap in ieseaich anu pioviue aieas of social meuia activity that aie fiuitful foi futuie acauemic ieseaich on fan iuentification. "8&'.&+21#% 9.#:&;'.< 5'12#% -/&*+2+6 "8&'.6 The concept of fan iuentification is iooteu in social iuentity theoiy, a concept laigely influenceu by Benii Tajfel. Social iuentity is a pait of an inuiviuual's self-concept (Tajfel, 1978). It is the piouuct of an inuiviuual's acceptance of membeiship in a paiticulai social gioup, combineu with that inuiviuual's inteinal value of that iespective gioup. It is impossible foi inuiviuuals, accoiuing to Tajfel (1982), to foim self-iuentities that uo not incluue oi aie not the iesult of gioup membeiship. An inuiviuual giavitates towaiu a social gioup in pait uue to the uesiie to achieve a satisfactoiy concept oi image of him- oi heiself (Tajfel, 1974). Tajfel (1974) uefineu a gioup as an entity that is meaningful to an inuiviuual at some point in time anu is maue up of face-to-face ielationships between multiple people. Iuentification with a gioup occuis when the gioup's inteiests, beliefs, anu attituues align with those of an inuiviuual. These gioups can be oiganizational gioups, age cohoits, ieligious gioups, oi, as will be exploieu in this papei, fans of a paiticulai spoits team. FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
11 It is thiough gioup membeiship that inuiviuuals inteinalize the values anu beliefs of the iespective gioup as theii own, which cieates a shaieu social iuentity (Tajfel & Tuinei, 1986). This is especially tiue of those who highly iuentify with a social gioup. These highly iuentifieu inuiviuuals accept the gioup's noims, values, anu goals. As a iesult, inuiviuuals behave in ways that ieinfoice theii membeiship to theii iespective gioup (Nauiigal, 2uuu). Since a laige pait of an inuiviuual's peiceiveu social iuentity is a iesult of gioup membeiship, ceitain claims about gioup membeiship can be maue. Fiistly, an inuiviuual will iemain a membei of a social gioup as long as membeiship in that gioup positively contiibutes to an inuiviuual's social iuentity. Seconuly, once membeiship in a social gioup fails to positively impact an inuiviuual's social iuentity, an inuiviuual will leave the social gioup assuming that leaving the gioup is not an act in itself that woulu conflict with the values of the gioup oi inuiviuual's iuentity. If leaving the gioup is not feasible, an inuiviuual will ieinteipiet the aspects of the gioup that negatively impact the inuiviuual's social iuentity to make them acceptable oi justifiable. Thiiuly, gioup membeiship, anu it's peiceiveu effect on an inuiviuual's social iuentity, is only possible uue to the existence of, anu compaiison to, othei existing social gioups of which an inuiviuual is not a membei of (Tajfel, 1974; Tajfel & Tuinei, 1986). The level of uifficulty in leaving oi changing social gioups can be uefineu in teims of social mobility anu social change (Tajfel, 1974). Social mobility occuis when an inuiviuual is easily able to move fiom one social gioup to anothei when the values anu peiception of one gioup no longei satisfy an inuiviuual's social iuentity neeus. Social change, on the othei hanu, occuis when the ielationship between two oi moie gioups change oi when changes aie expecteu, feaieu, oi uesiieu. In this instance, an inuiviuual uoes not change social FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
12 gioups, but iathei comes to teims with the changes of theii iespective gioup anu those changes' effect on the inuiviuual's social iuentity. A social gioup is continuously peiceiveu as being eithei supeiioi oi infeiioi to anothei social gioup. Auuitionally, anu simultaneously, the conuitions that aie conuucive to leaving a social gioup vaiy in uegiee. It is these two factois combineu that leau an inuiviuual to eithei leave the gioup oi accept the change in gioup supeiioiity oi infeiioiity (Tajfel, 1974). 0ften, the conuitions that aie conuucive to leaving a social gioup aie maue up of the values that a gioup iepiesents oi possesses. If these values align with those of the inuiviuuals that aie membeis of the gioup, the conuitions conuucive to leaving a gioup aie low anu gioup membeis will stay with the gioup uespite the gioup's potential status as infeiioi to othei similai social gioups. Foi eveiy social gioup then, it is ciucial to maintain an element of supeiioiity ovei othei similai social gioups oi limit the conuitions that woulu likely leau to membeis leaving the gioup foi a competing social gioup. Failuie to meet both of these conuitions coulu leau to inuiviuuals leaving the social gioup foi anothei social gioup that will moie positively impact the inuiviuuals social iuentity, potentially leauing to the uisintegiation of the social gioup entiiely. =2+&.#+0.& >&?2&; 9#* -/&*+2(21#+2'* Fan iuentification in spoits has been stuuieu extensively since the 199us (uieenwoou & Caspei, 2uu6; Fishei, 1998; Fishei & Wakefielu, 1998; Kwon & Aimstiong, 2uu6; Lock, Tayloi, Funk, & Baicy, 2u12; Nauiigal, 2uuu; Natsuoka, Chellauuiai, & Baiaua, 2uuS; Phua, FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
1S 2u1u; Theouoiakis, Wann, Nassis, & Luellen, 2u12; Theouoiakis, Wann, & Weavei, 2u12; Wakefielu, 199S; Sutton et al., 1997). In a geneial sense, fan iuentification iefeis to the level that a fan feels a psychological connection to a team oi spoit (Bietz-0hlei & Lantei, 2uu8). The concept of fan iuentification is what uiffeientiates "uie-haiu" fans fiom "faii- weathei" fans (Wann & Bianscombe, 199u). Faii-weathei fans associate with a spoits team uuiing peiious of success only, while uie-haiu fans, those who highly iuentify with a paiticulai spoits team, will show allegiance foi a team uuiing goou times anu bau. Sutton et al. (1997) iuentifieu thiee levels of fan iuentification. At the lowest level aie social fans. These fans aie laigely fans of a spoit iathei than a paiticulai team, anu aie vesteu moie in the enteitainment value of the competition than the outcome of the game. They have low levels of emotional anu financial commitment to a paiticulai team. The seconu level of fan iuentification incluues focuseu fans. These fans iuentify with a paiticulai team uue to a ceitain combination of attiibutes that the iespective team possesses. These fans often possess high levels of emotional anu financial commitment to the team, but often foi shoit peiious of time that coiielate with on-fielu success. The thiiu anu highest level of fan iuentification iefeis to vesteu fans. These fans have a stiong emotional anu financial commitment to the team that exists on a long-teim basis. Foi these highly iuentifieu fans, the team anu its activities take on a laigei iole in a fan's sense of iuentity. As inuiviuuals peiceive themselves to be a highly iuentifieu fan, he oi she incoipoiates that status into his oi hei social iuentity (Nauiigal, 2uuu). These loyal, highly iuentifieu spoits fans view theii iespective favoiite team as an extension of theii own self-iuentity, anu peisonally feel the successes anu failuies of the gioup (Fishei, 1998). FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
14 These vesteu fans feel like games aie a matchup of "us veisus them." They bask in the gloiy of victoiy anu suffei the agony of uefeat as if it weie theii own win oi loss (Phua, 2u1u). As iuentification becomes moie uevelopeu anu impoitant to a fan, it manifests itself in uay-to-uay behaviois (Lock et al. 2u12). Reseaicheis have thiee main ways to measuie fan iuentification. These incluue the Psychological Commitment to Team (PCT) scale, the Connection to Team Scale (CTS), anu then Spoit Spectatoi Iuentification Scale (SSIS). All thiee methous have uocumenteu ieliability anu valiuity, although the SSIS scale, uevelopeu by Wann anu Bianscombe (199S), is the most useu scale in stuuies (Wann, 2uu6). Reseaicheis have geneially come to two impoitant conclusions iegaiuing fan iuentification: (1) levels of fan iuentification aie a somewhat stable constiuct, anu (2) the levels of fan iuentification aie not iesistant to change (Wann, 2uu6). This seconu point - the iuea that fan iuentification levels aie mouifiable - is what keeps spoit maiketeis inteiesteu in the concept anu uiligent in cieating stiategies to inciease iuentification levels. )'*,&@0&*1&, '( 9#* -/&*+2(21#+2'* ueneially, the consequences of fan iuentification can be bioken uown into thiee sections: affective iesponses, behavioial iesponses, anu psychological well-being. 0ne consequence of fan iuentification that appeais to be piesent acioss all thiee categoiies is that highly iuentifieu fans have moie intense iesponses to spoit than theii lessei-iuentifieu counteipaits (Wann, 2uu6). Bighly iuentifieu fans possess a gieatei wealth of knowleuge than weakly iuentifieu fans on spoits in geneial, anu moie knowleuge about a fan's favoiite spoits team in paiticulai (Bietz-0hlei & Lantei, 2uu8). FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
1S These highly iuentifieu fans aie moie likely to BIRu (bask in ieflecteu gloiy) anu C0RF (cutting off ieflecteu failuie) than weakly iuentifieu fans (Wann & Bianscombe, 199u). In the act of BIRuing, highly iuentifieu fans aie quick to attiibute a team's victoiy to skill, while when C0RFing aftei a team's uefeat, a highly iuentifieu fan is moie likely to attiibute the loss to factois outsiue the team's contiol. These outsiue factois may be a biaseu iefeiee, bau weathei, oi simply a mattei of luck. Both BIRuing anu C0RFing seive to piotect a fan's ego anu positive social iuentity that has been manifesteu fiom theii associateu with a paiticulai team. Bighly iuentifieu spoits fans have been founu to be moie emotional aftei spoiting events. These highly iuentifieu fans aie happiei anu moie satisfieu aftei team wins (Wann, Royalty, & Rochelle, 2uu2; Nauiigal, 199S; Wann & Schiauei 1997), anu angiiei, iathei than sauuei, aftei a loss (Ciisp, Beuston, Faii, & Tuinei, 2uu7). Bighly iuentifieu fans have also been founu to be moie aggiessive in natuie. Wann, Peteison, Cothian, & Bykes (1999) founu a positive coiielation between highly iuentifieu fans anu aggiession, while Wann, Shelton, Smith, & Walkei (2uu2) founu a similai ielationship in male spoits fans only. Noie impoitantly to spoit maiketeis, highly iuentifieu fans aie moie likely to invest time anu money on behalf of theii favoiite team. These fans aie moie likely to buy anu weai team-licenseu piouucts (Fishei, 1998; Fishei & Wakefielu, 1998; Wann & Bianscombe, 199S, Kwon & Anueison, 2uu6), watch games on television (Phua, 2u1u), inteiact with the team online (Phua, 2u1u), attenu home anu away games uespite the team's level of on-fielu success (Sutton et el., 1997; Fishei & Wakefielu, 1998; Shuii et al. 1998; Fink, Tiail, & Anueison, 2uu2), spenu moie money on obtain those tickets (Sutton et al., 1997; Fink et al., 2uu2), anu buy a team sponsoi's piouuct (Nauiigal, 2uuu; Kwon & FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
16 Aimstiong, 2uu6). 0n the mattei of game attenuance, iuentification levels may be the most poweiful factoi in ueciuing whethei oi not to attenu a game, ovei such factois as seeing a stai playei oi taking auvantage of a special piomotion (Wann, 2uu6). A*+&1&/&*+, '( 9#* -/&*+2(21#+2'* While the consequences of fan iuentification offei positive news to spoit maiketeis, the potential anteceuents of fan iuentification cieate a pioblem. As Theouoiakis et al. (2u12) note, many of the anteceuents linkeu to the uevelopment of fan iuentification aie out of maiketeis' contiol. Foi example, the most fiequently listeu ieasons foi iuentifying with a team in a 1996 stuuy by Wann et al. weie (1) paients followeu that team, (2) chaiacteiistics of the playeis, (S) geogiaphical ieasons, (4) fiienus followeu the team, anu (S) team success. Sutton et al. (1997) cieateu foui gioups of anteceuents that weie unuei manageiial contiol. These incluueu (1) team chaiacteiistics, such as on-fielu success; (2) oiganizational chaiacteiistics, such as a long-teim commitment to winning anu tiauition; (S) affiliation chaiacteiistics, such as community involvement; anu (4) activity chaiacteiistics, which is an incieaseu exposuie to meuia coveiage about the team. Like the anteceuents submitteu by Wann et al. in 1996, these anteceuents, sans activity chaiacteiistics, aie out of a maiketing managei's contiol. In a 2uu6 aiticle, Wann gioupeu the anteceuents of fan iuentification into thiee categoiies: psychological, enviionmental, anu team-ielateu. Baving fiienus anu family that followeu a paiticulai team, as well as geogiaphical location of the team, weie placeu into the enviionmental gioup. Chaiacteiistics of the playeis anu team success weie incluueu in the team-ielateu gioup of anteceuents. Psychological ieasons foi iuentifying with a team FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
17 incluueu wanting to feel like a pait of a uistinctive gioup anu wanting to feel a sense of unity anu cohesion with otheis. Reseaich has inuicateu that playei chaiacteiistics may only mattei foi fans iooting foi unsuccessful teams. In a stuuy on piofessional hockey fans, Fishei anu Wakefielu (1998) founu that team peifoimance only impacteu fan iuentification among fans following successful teams. Foi fans of teams that weie not peifoiming well on the ice, othei factois, such as playei chaiacteiistics, weie moie likely to impact fan iuentification. Two common types of playei chaiacteiistics stuuieu incluue playei attiactiveness anu peiceiveu similaiity between a playei anu fan. ueneially, ieseaich has founu that it is the peiceiveu similaiity between a specific playei on a team anu an inuiviuual that builus fan iuentification moie than playei attiactiveness. (Fishei, 1998; Lock et al. 2u12). In a stuuy in 2uuu, Tiail, Fink, anu Anueison iuentifieu nine potential motives foi high levels of fan iuentification baseu on social anu psychological neeus. These weie vicaiious achievement, aesthetics, uiama, escape, family, acquisition oi knowleuge, appieciation of physical skills of the athletes, social inteiaction, anu physical attiaction to the athletes. In a 2uu2 follow-up stuuy, Fink, Tiail, anu Anueison testeu the influence of each above motives anu founu that while each motive, with the exception of family, was highly coiielateu with fan iuentification, the motive of vicaiious achievement was the piimaiy inuicatoi. Recent ieseaich has founu that meuia use, especially of the online vaiiety, may have a laige impact on fan iuentification. As Phua (2u1u) wiites, online activity allows spoits fan to bonu with othei fans. This online inteiaction ieinfoices in-gioup membeiship by acting like a socializing agent anu ieaffiims a positive social iuentity. Lock et al. (2u12) founu that FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
18 fans who seaicheu foi news anu meuia about theii favoiite Austialian soccei team uevelopeu highei levels of iuentification foi that team. Similaily, Noyei (2u12) founu that fans following a piofessional baseball on Facebook iepoiteu highei levels of team iuentification than fans not following the team on Facebook, although uiiectionality coulu not be claimeu. Sutton et al. (1997) submitteu foui stiategies foi incieasing levels of fan iuentification. These incluueu (1) incieasing teamplayei accessibility to the public, (2) incieasing community involvement activities, (S) ieinfoicing the team's histoiy anu tiauition, anu (4) cieating oppoitunities foi gioup affiliation anu paiticipation. >&,&#.18 B0&,+2'*, This stuuy seeks to gain insight fiom spoit maiketeis about thiee aieas: (1) how awaie team maiketeis aie about fan iuentification, (2) how spoit social meuia maiketeis use social meuia to inciease fan iuentification, anu (S) how successful those iespective social meuia tactics aie in incieasing fan iuentification. Regaiuing fan iuentification, this stuuy seeks to exploie what iole fan iuentification plays in spoit maiketeis' social meuia stiategies anu tactics. Theiefoie, two ieseaich questions weie foimeu. +,-) .%$ /$/&" /&" (0%&1 2/&3"1"&( /4%51 16" 7%87"01 %9 9/8 :'"81:9:7/1:%8; +,<) .%$ '%"( 16" 7%87"01 %9 9/8 :'"81:9:7/1:%8 0=/# /8 /71:>" &%=" :8 (0%&1 2/&3"1"&(? (%7:/= 2"':/ /71:>:1#; Regaiuing social meuia use, this stuuy seeks to uiscovei the specific stiategies anu tactics spoit maiketeis use on social meuia to inciease fan iuentification. Theiefoie, the following ieseaich questions weie foimeu. FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
19 +,@) A6/1 (1&/1"B# %& (1&/1"B:"( '% (0%&1 2/&3"1"&( 6/>" %8 (%7:/= 2"':/; +,C) A6/1 1/71:7( 6/>" (0%&1 2/&3"1"&( 5("' 1% 7/&&# %51 16"(" (1&/1"B:"(; Regaiuing the level of success spoit maiketeis have in incieasing fan iuentification using social meuia, this stuuy seeks to specifically leain about the vaiying levels of success ceitain tactics have anu how spoit maiketeis aie ueteimining those levels of success. Theiefoie, the following ieseaich questions weie foimeu. +,D) A6/1 (%7:/= 2"':/ 1/71:7( 1#0:7/==# &"(5=1 :8 2%&" 9/>%&/4=" &"(0%8("( 9&%2 9/8( %9 16" (0%&1 2/&3"1"&(? &"(0"71:>" 9&/876:("(; +,E) .%$ /&" (0%&1 2/&3"1"&( 2"/(5&:8B 16" (577"(( %9 16":& >/&:%5( (%7:/= 2"':/ 1/71:7( :8 :87&"/(:8B 9/8 :'"81:9:7/1:%8; C&+8'/ Qualitative one-on-one inteiviews weie conuucteu with 12 Ameiican piofessional spoit fianchises. Fianchises weie chosen to iepiesent a collectively balanceu sample of social meuia activity. Fianchises weie chosen because they (1) hau conuucteu new anu innovative social meuia maiketing tactics that hau ieceiveu attention among maiketing anu spoits meuia piofessionals, (2) weie baseu in uiffeient aieas of the countiy, (S) playeu in eithei the National Bockey League (NBL), Najoi League Baseball (NLB), oi the National Football League (NFL) - populai piofessional spoits leagues in the 0S - anu (4) weie fianchises that collectively iepiesenteu a mix of winning anu losing fianchises. Social meuia use by fianchises in the National Basketball Association (NBA) was iecently examineu by Ahmau (2u12) anu was theiefoie not incluueu in this stuuy. Fianchises weie contacteu thiough a vaiiety of methous. Foi teams of which the social meuia managei was known, a tweet was sent on Twittei to the inuiviuual with a iequest to FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
2u paiticipate in the stuuy. If neeueu, follow up tweets weie sent to the usei. In some cases, the social meuia maiketei woulu iesponu back anu uecline paiticipation. In this instance, the fianchise was iemoveu fiom a list of potential inteiviews, anu a new fianchise, exhibiting similai attiibutes, was chosen. Five inteiviews weie scheuuleu using this methouology. Five fianchises weie initially contacteu using this methou anu uiu not iesponu. In the event that a iespective social meuia maiketei uiu not iesponu on Twittei, oi foi fianchises of which the social meuia managei was not known, a uoogle seaich was uone with the phiase "|Fianchise Team Namej Neuia Relations." Fiom this seaich, contact infoimation foi a meuia ielations staff membei was obtaineu. An email was then sent to each meuia ielations staff-membei with a iequest to contact the inuiviuual iesponsible foi each team's social meuia piesence. Emails weie then sent to each social meuia spoit maiketei iequesting paiticipation in the stuuy. If no iesponse was ieceiveu within a week, a follow up email was sent. If theie was no iesponse aftei a seconu email, oi if a iespective social meuia maiketei iesponueu anu ueclineu to be inteivieweu, the fianchise was iemoveu fiom the list of potential inteiviews anu was ieplaceu by a new fianchise with similai attiibutes. This methouology iesulteu in thiee inteiviews. Foui fianchises iesponueu to email but ueclineu to be inteivieweu. Finally, fianchise suggestions weie iequesteu thiough Twittei. 0nce suggestions weie ieceiveu, tweets weie sent to the iespective fianchises with iequests to scheuule inteiviews. Foui inteiviews weie scheuuleu using this methouology. 0ne fianchise iesponueu on Twittei, but was unable to giant an inteiview. FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
21 Inteiviews weie scheuuleu via email oi Twittei. Inteiviews weie conuucteu on Skype oi telephone, anu lasteu ioughly Su-4u minutes. Each inteiview was iecoiueu anu latei tiansciibeu. Paiticipants weie not compensateu foi theii time. 92*/2*7, 0f the 12 Ameiican piofessional spoit maiketeis that took pait in inteiviews, five weie fiom NLB, foui weie fiom the NFL, anu thiee weie fiom the NBL. Nine paiticipants weie male; thiee weie female. 0n aveiage, the maiketeis inteivieweu hau been involveu piofessionally with social meuia foi 4.6 yeais, hau been woiking in the spoits inuustiy foi 7.9 yeais, anu hau been with theii cuiient spoits fianchise foi S.S6 yeais. A;#.&*&,, '( )'*1&4+ Reseaich question one askeu how awaie spoit maiketeis weie about the concept of fan iuentification. An oveiwhelming majoiity of spoit maiketeis inteivieweu weie not awaie of the concept of fan iuentification oi weie awaie of the concept but weie not awaie that the concept hau been uefineu as fan iuentification. Nultiple spoit maiketeis misunueistoou the concept as a new phenomenon in spoits maiketing that ievolves aiounu iuentifying an inuiviuual fan anu cieating customei piofiles that offei spoits teams the ability to tiack a fan's puichases anu activity, enabling fianchises to offei each fan a customizeu fan expeiience. 0ne maiketei, who believeu fan iuentification was a concept that hei fianchise was awaie of but woulu not be able to uefine as fan iuentification, phiaseu it, I uon't think that a lot of teams know about the paiticulai concept. It's an intiinsic knowleuge foi teams. I think the name is veiy acauemic. Eveiy team wants to connect theii team with fans. You want them to buy moie meichanuise, moie tickets, anu uislike FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
22 oui iivals. It's stuff that as a club is oui goal, but we uon't sit uown at a table anu talk about fan iuentification (peisonal communication, Novembei 7, 2u1S). While the levels of awaieness about fan iuentification vaiieu among those spoit maiketeis inteivieweu, seveial weie accuiately able to iuentify some of the potential anteceuents of fan iuentification. Some of the anteceuents iuentifieu in inteiviews incluueu enviionmental factois such as what spoits teams one's family was a fan of as well as the geogiaphical location of one's upbiinging; team-ielateu factois such as winning peicentage anu team histoiy; anu psychological factois such as a fan's uesiie to be a pait of something biggei than themselves. Reseaich question two askeu how spoit maiketeis integiateu the concept of fan iuentification into theii social meuia activity. Naiketeis laigely claimeu to not ieally think about fan iuentification when using social meuia to connect with fans. As one iesponuent saiu, "It uoes mattei to a uegiee, but it's moie about the content that fans aie iesponuing too" (peisonal communication, Novembei 7, 2u1S). Nany spoit maiketeis focus on using social meuia as a tool to make a uiiect anu emotional connection to fans. As one iesponuent saiu, "We want to get them |fansj involveu anu make them feel like they aie a pait of the team" (peisonal communication, Septembei 24, 2u1S). Nultiple iesponuents talkeu about the impoitance of inteiacting with fans uiiectly on social meuia, because to fans, it wasn't a peison iesponuing back. 0ne maiketei noteu, "They liteially think that this team that they love is iesponuing to them anu acknowleuging that they exist" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 16, 2u1S). "The fans uon't look at the team Twittei hanule as a social meuia team," saiu anothei iesponuent. "They look at it as the SS guys on the fielu anu the coaching staff" (peisonal communication, Septembei 2S, 2u1S). 0ne maiketei summeu it up by saying, FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
2S "We can't just be a megaphone. We neeu to be listening to eveiy tweet that comes back to us so we can figuie out what oui fans want" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 24, 2u1S). 9.#*182,& D,& '( 5'12#% C&/2# Reseaich question thiee sought to uncovei the main stiategies spoit social meuia maiketeis hau on social meuia, anu whethei teams utilizeu a single ovei-aiching stiategy oi multiple stiategies that vaiieu by social netwoik. Responses vaiieu, although most fianchises iesponueu that they employ one high-level social meuia objective anu then vaiy the stiategies useu to accomplish that objective by netwoik. "We uon't post one thing anu blanket it acioss all platfoims," saiu one iesponuent. "We like to use each platfoim foi it's maximum benefit" (peisonal communication, Novembei 7, 2u1S). "We have one high-level stiategic outlook foi eveiy netwoik, anu that is fan love," saiu anothei maiketei. "Aftei that, it ieally changes by netwoik" (peisonal communication, Novembei 7, 2u1S). 0ne fianchise employeu what they calleu the foui pillais of social meuia - listen, conveise, cieate, anu iewaiu - which it useu acioss eveiy social netwoik (peisonal communication, Novembei 11, 2u1S). 0ne team's social stiategy was tieu to the team's business objectives, which incluueu using social meuia to geneiate ievenue, inciease sponsoiship sales, anu builu the bianu (peisonal communications, Septembei 24, 2u1S). 0ne maiketei claimeu to have an oveiaiching stiategy, but mentioneu that it continually changeu anu evolveu as social meuia netwoiks uevelopeu anu technology impioveu (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 11, 2u1S). Nany of the spoit maiketeis that claimeu to have uiffeient stiategies foi each netwoik uiu so because no auuience was the same. As one iesponuent saiu, FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
24 Theie aie uiehaius on Facebook, but they aie geneially moie casual. They aie happy if we just post the game scoies. 0n Instagiam, we ieally focus on behinu-the-scenes content.we post shots fiom the lockei ioom, shots fiom the aiena, shots fiom piactice. Shots that fans just otheiwise woulun't be able to see. 0n Twittei, that's wheie we have oui peisonality. I have no inteiest in boiing people anu wasting theii time (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 16, 2u1S). Anothei maiketei agieeu, saying his fianchise has a "no one size fits all" stiategy. Facebook is about getting people exciteu anu pushing conveisation, wheieas Twittei is about bieaking news. People on Twittei coulu piobably name the staiting offensive line wheie people on Facebook want to talk about the quaiteiback only (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 16, 2u1S). 0ne inteiviewee mentioneu that the biggest uiffeience between netwoiks was in the amount of posting the team uiu. 0n Facebook anu Instagiam, fans ieceiveu an oveiview of high quality content, wheieas Twittei followeis ieceiveu content thioughout the uay. "0n eveiy platfoim, we'ie tiying to tell a stoiy. The uiffeience is in how uetaileu that stoiy gets" (peisonal communication, Septembei 2S, 2u1S). Reseaich question foui sought to uiscovei what social meuia tactics fianchises useu to accomplish theii social meuia objectives. A laige vaiiety of tactics weie uiscusseu, although a few common themes emeigeu fiom similai tactics. These incluueu iewaiuing fans, emphasizing athletes, anu geneiating usei content. In total, only two fianchises inteivieweu hau official social meuia loyalty piogiams. Social meuia loyalty piogiams iewaiu fans by assigning point values to ceitain social actions, such as liking a team's Facebook page oi ietweeting a team's tweet. As fans collect FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
2S points, they can ieueem those points foi piizes, which iange fiom uiscounts on team meichanuise oi game uay tickets to fan expeiiences, such as thiowing out the ceiemonial fiist pitch at a baseball game oi caiiying the team flag anu leauing the team onto the fielu befoie a game. 0ne maiketei explaineu the cieation of theii social meuia loyalty piogiam this way: 0ui objectives weie to iewaiu people foi theii actions that they weie alieauy uoing. We also wanteu to take oui engagement to the next level. We'ie tiying to finu that fantasy football type uamification element foi baseball (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 24, 2u1S). Fianchises have put a focus on giving away expeiiences thiough the piogiam that inciease the emotional connection fans have with teams. "Running out of the tunnel with an NFL team just uoesn't happen," explaineu one iesponuent. "Now we stait eveiy game with that" (peisonal communication, Septembei 2S, 2u1S). 0thei piizes seek to amplify the emotional connection between a fan anu his oi hei favoiite team. These incluue being at the post-game piess confeience, stanuing on the fielu pie-game, getting piivate touis of a stauium, meeting playeis, etc. 0iganizeu social meuia loyalty piogiams aie not the only way to iewaiu fans, howevei. 0ften, fianchises iewaiu fans on social meuia on a much smallei scale. 0ne fianchise constantly monitois social meuia foi mentions of the team fiom fans attenuing theii fiist game, oi celebiating a biithuay, oi visiting fiom anothei city, anu senus customei seivice agents to that fan's seat to give them a piize, offei then congiatulations, anu peisonally welcome them to the ballpaik. "We aie looking foi unique oppoitunities to make them FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
26 |fansj feel appieciateu," (peisonal communication, Novembei 6, 2u1S) saiu one spoit maiketei. Anothei fianchise occasionally gives fans piizes, such as cupcakes, foi checking into the stauium. As the maiketei foi that fianchise stateu, "That's something that's veiy easy to pull off anu it cieates that ueepei bonu" (peisonal communication, Septembei 24, 2u1S). Nany fianchises focus theii social meuia effoits on theii iespective athletes. Nany spoit maiketeis mentioneu seveial uiffeient ways they make stai athletes the focus on theii social meuia. These incluueu uoogle+ Bangouts, Twittei anu vine Q&As, behinu the scenes access, anu view of the playeis off the fielu. 0ffeiing fans an oppoitunity to ask questions uiiectly to playeis, thiough uoogle+ Bangouts oi Twittei anu vine Chats, is a populai social meuia tactic, accoiuing to fianchises, because it cieates an emotional connection between a fan anu a paiticulai playei, which has a halo effect foi the team. "The fans that have theii questions answeieu feel a connection because a playei answeieu theii question uiiectly anu otheis see that playei in a way that maybe they haven't yet. That biings fans a little closei to oui playeis anu team," (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 11, 2u1S) saiu one maiketei. Nany fianchises also focus on giving fans a look at the playeis off the fielu anu behinu- the-scenes. 0ne fianchise uiu a seiies uuiing a iecent tiaining camp with calleu "Behinu the Facemask" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 16, 2u1S) wheie the team posteu inteiviews uone with new membeis of the team so fans coulu get to know these new playeis bettei. 0ne fianchise highlights the uiffeient peisonalities of the playeis by posting pictuies of the playeis off the fielu; one playei has a bowtie company while anothei is a pilot. Anothei fianchise takes playeis on eveiyuay eiianus, like a tiip to the gioceiy stoie, anu inteiviews FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
27 the playeis about theii peisonality anu peisonal life, giving fans a glance at the playei away fiom the playing fielu. 0ne fianchise launcheu a monthly seiies calleu "Insiue the Buuule Confeience Calls" in which fans get to be on a confeience call with playeis anu ask questions. "The fans ieally like having access to the playeis," saiu one maiketei. "I mean, just think 1u yeais ago, if you wanteu to talk to a playei, you woulu wiite a lettei to the fiont office, hope they got it, anu hope they wiote back. Now you just senu them a tweet" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 18, 2u1S). While seeing anu inteiacting with athletes is a focal point of fianchises on social meuia, it's images of the playeis anu team behinu-the-scenes that theii fans want most. "People just ieally eat up eveiything behinu the scenes," (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 16, 2u1S) accoiuing to one spoit maiketei. In many cases, fianchises aie able to post content that no fan oi meuia outlet has access to on theii own. "We aie the closest point of contact to the team," saiu one maiketei. "We neeu to capitalize on that. We neeu to give oui fans the best access possible" (peisonal communication, Septembei 2S, 2u1S). Whethei it's a pie-game pictuie of the lockei ioom, a playei stietching on the fielu, a pictuie of an empty aiena befoie the game, oi a pie-game huuule of the playeis, fianchises inuicateu that they hau a gieat ueal of success with behinu-the-scenes photos on social meuia. "We want to help fill in the stoiy that you see on Tv. It staits in the gym befoie the game, in the clubhouse aftei the game, oi on the fielu uuiing the anthems," (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 24, 2u1S) saiu one iesponuent. Finally, an oveiwhelming majoiity of the fianchises inteivieweu put a focus on geneiating fan content about the team. Fianchises accomplisheu this thiough photo anu FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
28 viueo contests, scavengei hunts, social clubs anu suites, anu content on the main viueo scieen of the stauium. Nany fianchises incluueu photo oi viueo contests as pait of theii social meuia plan. 0ne fianchise hau fans iecieate the celebiation pose of a pitchei aftei thiowing a peifect game, anu latei challengeu fans to ieplicate the swing of one of its moie famous playeis on the social netwoik vine. "It's always gieat when you can have fans talk about you iathei than you talking about you," (peisonal communication, Novembei 6, 2u1S) saiu one maiketei. 0thei fianchises have iun scavengei hunts, in which fans uploaueu content to theii social accounts upon finuing a hiuuen piece of team memoiabilia in a stauium oi aiounu the team's home city. 0ne fianchise fioze jeiseys anu t-shiits in blocks of ice befoie theii home openei; anothei hiu gaiuen gnomes of the team mascot aiounu the city; anothei hau fans snap pictuies thioughout the stauium uuiing an off-season fan festival. 0thei fianchises have hau success with tangible spaces in the stauium that featuie the social meuia content posteu by fans about the team on television scieens. The spaces seive as the "town squaie" of the stauium, accoiuing to one maiketei, by becoming the cential location foi the conveisation suiiounuing the game, anu offei a location foi fans to connect with each othei in auuition to the team. Fans, exciteu about seeing theii own content up on a television scieen, post moie often about the game, geneiating buzz foi the team. "It's getting those people who aie socially enableu to caiiy those conveisations faithei than we can caiiy it ouiselves anu be oui auvocates foi it," (peisonal communication, Septembei 24, 2u1S) saiu one iesponuent. Finally, fianchises post social meuia content fiom the fans up on what's often calleu the "jumbotion" in the stauium. Fianchises often see a laige spike in the numbei of social FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
29 meuia posts maue by fans when the oppoitunity to be on the jumbotion piesents itself. "People get so exciteu that theii content makes it up to the jumbotion," saiu one maiketei, "that they take a pictuie of theii tweet oi pictuie on the jumbotion anu then ietweet that pictuie" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 16, 2u1S). Anothei fianchise sees similai iesults. "When people see whatevei hashtag we have up on the viueo boaiu, we uo see a big spike in tweets, anu it's ieally gieat foi them to see theii content up on the boaiu" (peisonal communication, Novembei 6, 2u1S). =&?&% '( 5011&,, Reseaich question S peitaineu to the most populai type of content posteu by fianchises. Almost univeisally, fianchises iesponueu that photos weie the most populai type of content they posteu. These incluueu infogiaphics, behinu-the-scenes content, anu photos of the stauium. 0thei answeis incluueu access anu bieaking news. Reseaich question 6 questioneu the methou by which fianchises measuie theii social meuia success. While iesponses vaiieu among fianchises, auuience giowth, fan engagement, anu geneiateu ievenue weie common themes. Seveial teams mentioneu engagement as a key peifoimance inuicatoi foi social meuia success. Some fianchises ieceiveu iepoits fiom theii iespective league offices that gave each fianchise a iepoit of metiics like followei counts anu engagement iank. 0ne fianchise mentioneu the numbei of Twittei ieplies as most impoitant. Seveial fianchises stateu that iefeiieu web tiaffic was most impoitant to the fianchise. 0theis look at followei counts to see if any spikes occuiieu that might be inuicative of an especially engaging piece of content. "I like to make suie that giaph I see is always tienuing up," (peisonal communication, Novembei 7, 2u1S) saiu one maiketei who citeu netwoik giowth as FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
Su impoitant. ueneiateu ievenue thiough ticket sales on social meuia was also a common answei. A few fianchises mentioneu ieach, oi how many people vieweu the fianchise's content, as most impoitant. 0ne fianchise claimeu that shaies weie most impoitant, since content with the most value was content that was passeu on. 0ltimately, says one maiketei, "It's a blenu of ait anu science" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 11, 2u1S). Anothei fianchise hau a similai sentiment, "An eyeball test is ieally the best way to tell how we'ie uoing. I can tweet something out, anu within a few minutes, I know whethei that tweet was positive oi not" (peisonal communication, 0ctobei 24, 2u1S). -:4%21#+2'*, Is the concept of fan iuentification "intiinsic knowleuge" as one maiketei claimeu. The finuings of this stuuy woulu ceitainly inuicate that it is. Consiuei that the majoiity of fianchises inteivieweu weie not pieviously awaie of the concept of fan iuentification befoie theii paiticipation in this stuuy, anu yet many of theii successful social meuia stiategies anu tactics aie successful because they auuiess one of the thiee fan iuentification anteceuent categoiies put foith by Wann (2uu6). As explaineu eailiei in this stuuy, Wann's (2uu6) thiee categoiies of fan iuentification anteceuents incluue psychological, enviionmental, anu team-ielateu ieasons foi becoming a highly iuentifieu spoits fan. If we examine each of the successful social meuia tactics useu by fianchises in this stuuy, each one cieates an effect that falls into one of the above categoiies. Foi example, let's examine a gioup of tactics useu by spoit maiketeis: photo anu viueo contests, social suites anu clubs, scavengei hunts, anu jumbotion piomotions. These tactics focus on engaging fans anu encouiaging fans to publish social meuia content about the FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S1 fianchise to theii inuiviuual social feeus. If we consiuei why these tactics aie so successful foi each fianchise, we might look to Wann's (2uu6) psychological anu enviionmental categoiies of fan iuentification anteceuents. Why uo these tactics woik. In each of the above tactics, fans aie encouiageu to post social meuia content as pait of a laigei contest oi event. By contiibuting to these laigei events, fans aie stiiving to be a pait of a gioup that is biggei than them, an element of the psychological categoiy of fan iuentification anteceuents. As fans seek to be a pait of something biggei, like a photo contest oi social suite conveisation, they uploau content about theii favoiite fianchise to theii social netwoiks. Inueeu, multiple fianchises noteu that putting fan content on the jumbotion iesulteu in a sizable spike in fan social meuia activity. This spike in social meuia is impoitant, because incluueu in the enviionmental categoiy of fan iuentification anteceuents is having fiienus anu family that follow a paiticulai spoits team. When fans uploau social content about theii favoiite fianchise to social meuia, the likely encouiage theii fiienus anu family to also attenu futuie home games foi that fianchise anu become a moie iuentifieu fan. If we examine the way fianchises use social meuia to spotlight theii athletes, we can again use Wann's (2uu6) thiee categoiies of fan iuentification anteceuents to explain the success of this stiategy. Consiuei the vaiious tactics useu by fianchises to emphasize theii iespective piofessional athletes. Each of these tactics, incluuing uoogle+ Bangouts, Twittei anu vine Q&As, anu viueos anu inteiviews about the playeis' off-fielu life seek to publicize the peisonalities anu chaiacteiistics of the playeis. Boing so iesonates with fans because they aie uiawn to the chaiacteiistics anu peisonalities of the playeis, which is a pait of the team-ielateu anteceuent categoiy of fan iuentification. FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S2 Bespite the fact that fianchises aie piouucing content on social meuia that is likely successful in incieasing fan iuentification, it woulu be wise foi acauemic ieseaicheis to put a gieatei emphasis on putting theii ieseaich in fiont of the spoit maiketeis theii ieseaich benefits. Boing so woulu potentially cieate a collaboiative ielationship between spoit maiketeis anu acauemic ieseaicheis that woulu be mutually beneficial. Foi acauemic ieseaicheis, paitneiing with piofessional spoit maiketeis coulu give ieseaicheis easiei access to an establisheu fan base foi futuie ieseaich, while spoit maiketeis woulu gain valuable insight about theii fianchise's fans that the team might otheiwise not have the talent anu iesouices to ieseaich piopeily. Seveial topics came up uuiing inteiviews with fianchises that woulu be iipe foi futuie acauemic ieseaich on fan iuentification anu be of inteiest to cuiient spoit social meuia maiketeis. These incluue the change in tone on social meuia uuiing times of winning anu losing, fiont office activity on social meuia, social meuia loyalty piogiams, anu auuience uemogiaphics by social meuia netwoik as well as the level of fanuom on uiffeient social meuia netwoiks. Nany spoit social meuia maiketeis claimeu that theii fianchise's level of winning uictateu the tone anu subject of theii social meuia posts. Nany fianchises took the position that as theii team's success level uioppeu, they shoulu post less fiequently anu focus those posts on the team's uiive to get bettei only. This means that as many fianchises stiuggle athletically, fewei pieces of content aie posteu about the playeis' peisonality anu chaiacteiistics. This stiategy uiiectly conflicts with existing ieseaich on fan iuentification. As Fishei anu Wakefielu (1998) concluueu, factois like playei chaiacteiistics aie moie likely to impact fan iuentification of losing teams. Fishei anu Wakefielu's ieseaich was FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
SS completeu befoie the auvent of social meuia, anu the concept of fan iuentification foi winning anu losing teams shoulu be ievisiteu, as the piessuie to publish a vaiiety of high- quality content 247 giows foi each fianchise, iegaiuless of theii winning peicentage. Noie than one fianchise inteivieweu talkeu about a membei of the fianchise's fiont office that was active on social meuia, anu in paiticulai, Twittei. While not specifically a tactic oi stiategy of the fianchise, each spoit maiketei inteivieweu spoke positively about having a membei of the fiont office active on social meuia. As paiticipation on social meuia by piofessional athletes, coaches, anu membeis of a fianchise's fiont office incieases, ieseaicheis woulu be wise to examine the effects on fan iuentification this can have foi a team. As playeis follow anu inteiact with a favoiite playei, coach, oi team executive on social meuia, uoes theii iuentification with that inuiviuual's team giow. Seconuly, if that playei, coach, oi executive weie to change teams via fiee agency of tiaue, woulu a fan's level of iuentification uevelop oi giow foi that new team. Relateuly, one maiketei spoke veiy positively of theii fianchise's uecision to make the team's mascot active on social meuia. Nascots aie an extension of the team's bianu, can enteitain fans uuiing game, anu maintain a positive outlook uuiing times of competitive stiuggle. uiving mascots a moie active iole on social meuia may make it easiei foi teams to stay positive, topical, anu likeable uuiing tough times. While not applicable foi all fianchises, mascots, especially those who aie well known in anu aiea anu nationally, may piove to be a positive auuition to a fianchise's social meuia aisenal. Auuitionally, acauemic ieseaicheis may be inteiesteu to incluue the effect of a mascot on social meuia with a stuuy on the effects of playeis, coaches, anu fiont office executives. Anothei topic that shoulu inteiest piofessional spoit maiketeis anu acauemic FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S4 ieseaicheis alike is the social meuia iewaius piogiam. Noie than one team inteivieweu hau iecently uevelopeu a social meuia iewaius piogiam anu each fianchise spoke veiy positively about the iesults fiom the piogiam. These social piogiams iewaiu fans foi theii social meuia activity with uiscounts on team meichanuise, game uay tickets, anu fan expeiiences. These types of piogiams aie likely to be successful in incieasing fan iuentification foi a vaiiety of ieasons. Fiistly, these piogiams incentivize fans to consume highei amounts of team content, as fans eain ieueemable points foi inteiacting with the team on social meuia anu foi inteiacting with team web content. This is an impoitant step in incieasing fan iuentification. As Lock et al. (2u12) concluueu in a iecent stuuy, fans who seaicheu foi news anu meuia about theii favoiite Austialian soccei team uevelopeu highei levels of iuentification foi that team. Seconuly, fans taking pait in the social meuia iewaius piogiam aie able to see a leaueiboaiu of othei fans in the piogiam. Boing so auus a gamification element to the piogiam anu makes fans feel like a pait of a unifieu gioup, a pait of Wann's (2uu6) psychological categoiy of fan iuentification anteceuents. Lastly, as fans ieueem theii points foi fan expeiiences, such as iunning out of the tunnel with a team befoie a game, thiowing out the fiist pitch, oi meeting a playei, they make lasting memoiies that many fianchises believe incieases the level of iuentity a fan has with theii favoiite team. Piofessional spoits fianchises woulu be wise to invest in these types of piogiams, anu as they uo, acauemic ieseaicheis woulu be wise to examine theii effectiveness. Finuing out what types of fans take pait in these piogiams, the effect this type of piogiam has on the FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
SS levels of fan iuentification of paiticipating fans, anu which types of iewaius aie especially effective in incieasing fan iuentification shoulu be of paiticulai impoitance to ieseaicheis. Two inteiesting topics iegaiuing the uiffeient auuiences fianchises have on theii social netwoiks emeigeu in this stuuy. The fiist auuience topic is in iegaius to age. Nultiple fianchises noteu that theii Facebook fans weie oluei than theii Twittei followeis, while one fianchise maue special note of the even youngei age of theii Instagiam followeis. This is notewoithy, as ieseaich on fan iuentification has not yet examineu the iole of age. Reseaich on age anu fan iuentification may uncovei that fans of uiffeient age gioups inciease theii level of fan iuentification foi uiffeient ieasons oi in iesponse to uiffeient types of social meuia content. If ieseaich weie to finu that age plays a iole in the uevelopment of fan iuentification, fianchises woulu be moie intelligibly able to publish uiffeient anu moie effective types of content on theii uiffeient social netwoiks. Seconuly, multiple fianchises noteu that theii Twittei followeis weie moie investeu in the team anu team news than theii Facebook fans. As acauemic ieseaicheis begin to encompass social meuia into theii fan iuentification ieseaich, they might begin by exploiing the uiffeient levels of fan iuentification in a Facebook fan veisus a Twittei followei veisus an Instagiam followei veisus followeis on many othei netwoiks. Boing so may uncovei than fans of fianchises follow the team on uiffeient social netwoiks uepenuing on theii level of fan iuentification. Answeiing this question may help fianchises uiiect social content with the goal of selling tickets oi meichanuise to the coiiect social netwoik. Foi example, shoulu ieseaich confiim the hypotheses of seveial fianchises by showing that fans on Twittei possess highei levels of fan iuentification than Facebook fans, fianchises might uiiect ticket piomotions to Twittei iathei than Facebook wheie theii FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S6 highly iuentifieu fans iesiue. 0i, fianchises may ueciue to post ticket piomotions on Facebook, since fans on Twittei aie alieauy likely to puichase game uay tickets. Regaiuless of the stiategy that might uevelop as a iesult of fuithei ieseaich, fianchises may feel moie confiuent in theii stiategies knowing that ieseaich has been uone on the topic. Finally, by ievisiting the theoietical fiamewoik of social iuentity theoiy, ceitain conclusions can be uiawn about the way spoits fianchises use social meuia to engage with fans. As mentioneu eailiei in this papei, social iuentity, the way that inuiviuuals see themselves in society, is influenceu by membeiship in a social gioup. These social gioups aie seen as supeiioi oi infeiioi to othei similai social gioups, anu collectively iepiesent ceitain values anu beliefs that miiioi those of the gioup's inuiviuual membeis. When fianchises engage with theii fans on social meuia, they aie communicating with a social gioup (fans of the spoits team) anu ielaying ceitain values to that gioup. Whethei fianchises focus theii social meuia effoits on making fans feel like an impoitant membei of the social gioup (thiough small tokens of appieciation), incieasing the level of communication among the inuiviuuals that compose the gioup (thiough scavengei hunts, jumbotion piomotions, social meuia spaces, oi loyalty piogiams), oi by making the gioup seem moie supeiioi compaieu to othei gioups (fans of anothei spoits team), fianchises woik to limit social mobility; that is, the conuitions conuucive to leaving the gioup anu becoming a fan of anothei team. )'*1%0,2'* As noteu in an eailiei section, theie weie thiee puiposes to this stuuy: (1) to uiscovei how well the acauemic concept of fan iuentification has peimeateu the spoits maiketing inuustiy, (2) to lay the giounuwoik foi futuie acauemic ieseaich on fan iuentification, anu FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S7 (S) seive as a piactical guiuebook foi spoits social meuia maiketeis looking to uiscovei best piactices anu social meuia inspiiation. Thiough inteiviews with seveial piofessional spoits fianchises, each goal has been met. Fianchises oveiwhelmingly inuicateu that they aie not awaie of the specific teim of fan iuentification, even if they aie intiinsically oi miluly awaie of the oveiall concept. The concept of fan iuentification has been extensively stuuieu since the 199us, but it is time foi that ieseaich to incoipoiate social meuia as a meuia platfoim. This stuuy has iuentifieu seveial uiffeient elements of social meuia that woulu seive acauemic ieseaicheis well, incluuing ievisiting what makes fans of less successful teams moie highly iuentifieu; the effect athletes, coaches, fiont office executives, anu team mascots on social meuia have on fan iuentification towaius each entity's iespective fianchise; the effectiveness of social meuia iewaius piogiams on incieasing a fan's level of iuentification foi a team; the iole age plays in the uevelopment of fan iuentification; anu the potentially uiffeient levels of fan iuentification fans following fianchises on uiffeient social netwoiks possess. Finally, this stuuy pioviues piofessional spoit social meuia maiketeis with a piactical guiuebook towaiu engaging fans on social meuia with the puipose of incieasing fan iuentification levels. Fiom uoogle+ hangouts, Twittei anu vine Q&As, a focus on behinu- the-scenes content, social meuia iewaius piogiams, anu in-stauium social suites, this stuuy has uncoveieu seveial notewoithy social meuia tactics that woulu be useful to any spoits social meuia maiketei in theii futuie enueavois.
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S8 >&(&.&*1&, Ahmau, T. (2u12). F8 /8/=#(:( %9 6%$ 8/1:%8/= 4/(3"14/== /((%7:/1:%8 GHIFJ 1"/2( 5(" (%7:/= 2"':/K (0npublisheu Boctoi of Philosophy). 0niveisity of Noithein Coloiauo, Austin, W. u., & Woichel, S. (1986). L(#76%=%B# %9 :81"&B&%50 &"=/1:%8( (2nu eu.). Chicago: Nelson-Ball Publisheis. Bauenhausen, K. (2u1S, Baicelona anu Real Nauiiu iule social meuia. M%&4"( N/B/O:8"P Bennett, S. (2u1S). 0ne in foui people woiluwiue use social meuia |ST0BYj. Retiieveu u9u6, 2u1S, fiom http:www.meuiabistio.comalltwitteisocial-meuia-woiluwiue- giowth_b4Su4S Biian uieenwoou, P., Kanteis, N. A., & Caspei, }. N. (2uu6). Spoit fan team iuentification foimation in miu-level piofessional spoit. Q5&%0"/8 R0%&1 N/8/B"2"81 ,5/&1"&=#P E(S), 2SS-26S. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=2S462742&site=eh ost-live&scope=site Bioughton, B. (2u11). Suivey spots social meuia tienus among fans. Retiieveu 11u1, 2u1S, fiom http:m.spoitsbusinessuaily.com}ouinalIssues2u11u627Reseaich-anu- RatingsSocial-meuia.aspx.hl=Bioughton&sc=u Bioughton, B. (2u1u). Suivey: Social meuia use builus fan aviuity. Retiieveu 11u1, 2u1S, fiom http:m.spoitsbusinessuaily.com}ouinalIssues2u1uu72u1uu726This- Weeks-NewsSuivey-Social-Neuia-0se-Builus-Fan-Aviuity.aspx.hl=Bioughton&sc=u FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
S9 Ciisp, R. }., Beuston, S., Faii, N. }., & Tuinei, R. N. (2uu7). Seeing ieu oi feeling blue: Biffeientiateu inteigioup emotions anu ingioup iuentification in soccei fans uoi:1u.11771S684Su2u7u71SS7 Bavis, F. (2u1S). Fans accost Natt Schaub at his home. Retiieveu 1uu8, 2u1S, fiom http:houston.cbslocal.com2u1S1uu8fans-accost-matt-schaub-at-his-home Bietz-0hlei, B., & Lantei, }. (2uu8). The consequences of spoits fan Iuentication. R0%&1( N/8:/) Q((/#( %8 M/8'%2 /8' 16" N"':/ :8 16" <-(1 S"815&#P , 1uS. ESPN.com. (2u1S). Nineis feast on Natt Schaub's miscues foi big win ovei Texans. Retiieveu 1uu8, 2u1S, fiom http:espn.go.comnfliecap.gameIu=SS1uu6u2S Fink, }. S., Tiail, u. T., & Anueison, B. F. (2uu2). An examination of team iuentification: Which motives aie most salient to its existence. T81"&8/1:%8/= R0%&1( U%5&8/=P E(2), 19S. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=6898S71&site=eho st-live&scope=site Fishei, R. }. (1998). uioup-ueiiveu consumption: The iole of similaiity anu attiactiveness in iuentification with a favoiite spoits team. F'>/87"( :8 S%8(52"& +"("/&76P <D(1), 28S- 288. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=buh&AN=8SS86447&site=e host-live&scope=site FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
4u Fishei, R. }., & Wakefielu, K. (1998). Factois leauing to gioup iuentification: A fielu stuuy of winneis anu loseis. L(#76%=%B# V N/&3"1:8BP -D(1), 2S-4u. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=ufh&AN=11S8u227&site=eh ost-live&scope=site }ackson, B. (2u1S, ). Twittei faves: 0bama, pope ... anu Anuy Nuiiay. WRF X%'/# Kwon, B. B., & Aimstiong, K. L. (2uu6). Impulse puichases of spoit team licenseu meichanuise: What matteis. U%5&8/= %9 R0%&1 N/8/B"2"81P <Y(1), 1u1. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=19298986&site=eh ost-live&scope=site Lock, B., Tayloi, T., Funk, B., & Baicy, S. (2u12). Exploiing the uevelopment of team iuentification. U%5&8/= %9 R0%&1 N/8/B"2"81P <E(4), 28S-294. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=78S829S7&site=eh ost-live&scope=site Nauiigal, R. (2uuu). The influence of social alliances with spoits teams on intentions to puichase coipoiate sponsois' piouucts. U%5&8/= %9 F'>"&1:(:8BP <Z(4), 1S-24. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=buh&AN=4224194&site=eh ost-live&scope=site
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
41 Nauiigal, R. (199S). Cognitive anu affective ueteiminants of fan satisfaction with spoiting event attenuance. U%5&8/= %9 [":(5&" +"("/&76P <\, 2uS+. Retiieveu fiom http:go.galegioup.com.libpioxy.temple.euupsi.uo.iu=uALE%7CA17492u48&v=2. 1&u=temple_main&it=i&p=A0NE&sw=w Natsuoka, B., Chellauuiai, P., & Baiaua, N. (2uuS). Biiect anu inteiaction effects of team iuentification anu satisfaction on intention to attenu games. R0%&1 N/&3"1:8B ,5/&1"&=#P -<(4), 244-2SS. Retiieveu fiom http:aiticles.siic.caseaich.cfm.iu=S-9249u2; http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=SPBS- 9249u2&site=ehost-live&scope=site; http:aiticles.siic.caseaich.cfm.iu=S-9249u2; http:www.fitinfotech.com Noyei, C. (2u12). +"=/1:%8(6:0 %9 9/7"4%%3 5(/B" 1% 1"/2 :'"81:9:7/1:%8K (0npublisheu Nastei of Aits). Naiquette 0niveisity, 0lenski, S. (2u1S). Social meuia usage up 8uu% foi 0.S. online auults in just 8 yeais. Retiieveu u9u6, 2u1S, fiom http:www.foibes.comsitessteveolenski2u1Su9u6social-meuia-usage-up-8uu- foi-us-online-auults-in-just-8- yeais.utm_campaign=foibestwitteisf&utm_souice=twittei&utm_meuium=social
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
42 Phua, }. }. (2u1u). Spoits fans anu meuia use: Influence on spoits fan iuentification anu collective self-esteem. T81"&8/1:%8/= U%5&8/= %9 R0%&1 S%2258:7/1:%8P @(2), 19u-2u6. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=S22866S1&site=eh ost-live&scope=site Singleton, R., & Stiaits, B. (2uuS). F00&%/76"( 1% (%7:/= &"("/&76 (4th eu.). New Yoik: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess. Sutton, W., NcBonalu, N., Nilne, u., & Cimpeiman, }. (1997). Cieating anu fosteiing fan iuentification in piofessional spoits. R0%&1( N/&3"1:8B ,5/&1"&=#P E(1), 1S-16-22. Tajfel, B. (1974). Social iuentity anu inteigioup behavioui. R%7:/= R7:"87" T89%&2/1:%8P -@(2), 6S-9S. uoi:1u.1177uSS9u18474u1Suu2u4 Tajfel, B. (1978). ]:99"&"81:/1:%8 4"1$""8 (%7:/= B&%50() R15':"( :8 16" (%7:/= 0(#76%=%B# %9 :81"&B&%50 &"=/1:%8(. Lonuon; New Yoik: Publisheu in coopeiation with Euiopean Association of Expeiimental Social Psychology by Acauemic Piess. Theouoiakis, N., Wann, B., Nassis, P., & Luellen, T. B. (2u12). The ielationship between spoit team iuentification anu the neeu to belong. T81"&8/1:%8/= U%5&8/= %9 R0%&1 N/8/B"2"81 /8' N/&3"1:8BP -<(12), 2S-26-S8.
FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
4S Theouoiakis, N. B., Wann, B. L., & Weavei, S. (2u12). An anteceuent mouel of team iuentification in the context of piofessional soccei. R0%&1 N/&3"1:8B ,5/&1"&=#P <-(2), 8u-9u. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=77SS69S9&site=eh ost-live&scope=site Wakefielu, K. L. (199S). The peivasive effects of social influence on spoiting event attenuance. U%5&8/= %9 R0%&1 /8' R%7:/= T((5"(P -Z(4), SSS-SS6-SS1. uoi:1u.1177u19S72S9Su19uu4uu2 Wann, B., Tuckei, K., & Schiauei, N. (1996). An exploiatoiy examination of the factois influencing the oiigination, continuation, anu cessation of iuentification with spoits teams. L"&7"015/= /8' N%1%& R3:==(P ^<(S), 99S-996-1uu1. uoi:1u.2466pms.1996.82.S.99S Wann, B. L., Raney, A., & Biyant, }. (2uu6). The causes anu consequences of spoit team iuentification. ./8'4%%3 %9 R0%&1( /8' N"':/P , SS1-SS2. Wann, B., & Schiauei, N. (1997). Team iuentification anu the enjoyment of watching a spoiting event. L"&7"015/= /8' N%1%& R3:==(P ^C(S), 9S4-9S4. uoi:1u.2466pms.1997.84.S.9S4 Wann, B. L., & Bianscombe, N. R. (199u). Bie-haiu anu faii-weathei fans: Effects of iuentification on BIRuing anu C0RFing tenuencies uoi:1u.1177u19S72SS9uu14uu2uS FRANCBISES 0SE S0CIAL NEBIA T0 B00ST FAN IBENTIFACTI0N
44 Wann, B. L., Peteison, R. R., Cothian, C., & Bykes, N. (1999). Spoit fan aggiession anu anonymity: The impoitance of team iuentification. R%7:/= I"6/>:%& /8' L"&(%8/=:1#P <\(6), S97. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.pioquest.com.libpioxy.temple.euuuocview2u9898S92.accountiu=142 7u Wann, B. L., Royalty, }. L., & Rochelle, A. R. (2uu2). 0sing motivation anu team iuentification to pieuict spoit fans' emotional iesponses to team peifoimance. U%5&8/= %9 R0%&1 I"6/>:%&P <D(2), 2u7. Retiieveu fiom http:seaich.ebscohost.comlogin.aspx.uiiect=tiue&ub=sSh&AN=664998u&site=eho st-live&scope=site