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Social network sites, relationship marketing, football, social ... investigate the impact of SNS on relationship marketing ..... Email marketing is a particular issue.
Social Network Sites and Relationship Marketing Communications: Challenges for UK Football Clubs Jeff McCarthy

Dr. Elke Pioch

Prof. Jennifer Rowley

Dr. Catherine Ashworth

Manchester Metropolitan University Aytoun Campus Manchester M1 3GH, UK +44 (0)161 247 6751 [email protected]

Manchester Metropolitan University Aytoun Campus Manchester M1 3GH, UK +44 (0)161 247 6053

Manchester Metropolitan University Geoffrey Manton Building Manchester M15 6BH, UK +44 (0)161 247 6137

Manchester Metropolitan University Aytoun Campus Manchester M1 3GH, UK +44 (0)161 247 6065

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

ABSTRACT The remarkable rise of social network sites (SNS) and associated developments in consumer behavior presents research opportunities as well as challenges for marketing practitioners engaged in push-based traditional and digital marketing communications. This paper seeks to contribute to SNS literature by investigating its impact on organizational digital relationship marketing communications and how such organizations may respond strategically in the age of social media. A multiple case study approach was used to examine the challenges and concerns of English football clubs in relation to SNS. Within-case analysis preceded across-case analysis in order to identify emergent themes and key issues. The results provide empirical insights into current levels of integration of relationship marketing initiatives. Concerns of SNS include inertia, control and monetisation. The willingness and ability of cases to harness online community value is also tempered by concerns related to brand control. This paper is perhaps one of the first studies to focus on the organizational perspective of the SNS phenomena. Findings identify factors organizations should consider when devising a strategic response to the challenges and opportunities faced by SNS, with a view to influencing consumer behavior to mutual benefit. Such factors are tempered by the short-term commercial focus of cases concerned. Further research may include other countries, wider elements of social media and research from the consumer perspective.

General Terms Management, Theory

Keywords Social network sites, relationship marketing, football, social media.

1. INTRODUCTION This paper looks to contribute to the literature fields of Social Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. MindTrek’11, September 28-30, 2011, Tampere, Finland. Copyright 2011 ACM 978-1-4503-0816-8/11/09....$10.00.

Network Sites (SNS) and relationship marketing in sport by discussing the results of a multiple case study of four English football clubs. There has been limited empirical research to investigate the impact of SNS on relationship marketing communications and most scholarly SNS research has tended to focus on the customer perspective, rather than that of the organization. Through the lens of football clubs, this study aims to investigate the impact of SNS on organizational digital relationship marketing communications and how such organizations may respond strategically in the age of social media. It is critical for brands to understand what makes customers want to be a part of the social web [1]. A sector where this presents real challenges and opportunities is football. The success and traffic volumes of unofficial sites such as SNS are a concern to clubs for whom the official site is a key generator of advertising revenue. Clubs have noted how SNS have stimulated fan discussion on domains outside of their control. Early research concluded that football fans often vent their frustration on unofficial sites [2]. 80 UK clubs now have their site hosted and managed via the Football League Interactive (FLi) network. It is claimed there are 1.8 million registered users across the FLi network, however average page impressions per month are down from 65m [3] to 56m [4]. Reduced page views per visit are a concern and appear to reinforce the argument that official sites do not offer an interactive experience [5]. It is an issue FLi network has done very little to address in over 10 years, despite available technologies. Indeed the English Premier League (EPL) accepts that official club websites are not alone in their growing popularity. Today a simple Google search for any EPL site or related content will reveal scores of results, with official sites often being out-performed in search rankings. This may justify the claim that the internet harnesses the ability and desire of fans to exchange ideas, information and opinions [2]. Fans and interest groups have simply tapped into the advantages offered to them by SNS in a comparatively non-commercialized space. The aim of this research is to explore the impact of SNS on relationship marketing activity of football clubs. The following section offers a literature review on the key theoretical contexts for this paper: SNS and Relationship Marketing in Sport. Given the nature of SNS, important elements that can be affected by changes in the environment such as scope and processes of relationship marketing are also considered. This is followed by a brief discussion of the multiple case research methodology executed for this study. The findings section presents and discusses relationship marketing activity to offer context for the

concerns about SNS held by the case football clubs, before examining the willingness and ability of cases to harness online community value. Finally, the conclusions and implications for management and opportunities for future research are outlined.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Social network sites As Figure 1 demonstrates, internet users are becoming increasingly active in their use of social media moving through phases of: (i) text-based sharing medium; (ii) audio visual medium; (iii) democratised influence – facilitating of peer influence amongst consumers; (iv) motivated through shared interest(s) – thereby engaging in different social media platforms that meet their needs; and (v) desire for brand interaction [6,7,1]. The latter three are of particular interest to this study due to the lack of club involvement in SNS-based conversation.

influence being used [12]. This reinforces the warning that traditional marketing approaches should not be replicated in the social web [14]. A significant change in mindset on the part of football clubs may therefore be required, in particular staff dealing directly with fans on a regular basis. Early research has shown that adopting the prevailing mindset of trying to control the media on fan forums and unofficial sites does not engender trust between fans and club owners [15]. Such tactics only serve to drive a wedge between interested parties. Empowering customers is crucial to online relationships [16] and a very powerful approach in community building [17]. With sports consumers having extremely high product involvement [18], it is important clubs recognise this. Early online research has shown how consumers will exhibit signs of tribal behaviour, centred on consumption-related interests [19]. The crude, transaction-oriented relationship marketing activity of football clubs [20] is therefore a potentially risky approach in the online domain where fans will post responses to football-related content [21] including commercialization of the relationship.

2.2 Relationship marketing in sport Although commitment, involvement, shared values and trust are suggested as related to sports consumer attitudes and behaviours [22], there is generally a distinct lack of research into the understanding of relationship marketing theory in the context of the sport industry [22,23]. Published research appears to have been influenced by the commitment-trust based theory of Morgan and Hunt, which contends: “Relationship marketing refers to all marketing activities, directed towards establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges.” [24:22].

Figure 1: Active Internet Users: Thinking about the internet, which of the following have you ever done?

Source: Universal McCann, 2010:17. The emergence of SNS as a phenomenon has triggered growing academic discussion. Lacking in theoretical foundation [8], the request has been made for researchers to contribute to this field [9]. Perspectives range from those focused on the application [cf. 9,10,11] to a broader consideration of the increasing variety of activities utilized via social networks [12]. Kaplan and Haenlein [11:63] define SNS as “...applications that enable users to connect by creating personal information profiles, inviting friends and colleagues to have access to those profiles, and sending e-mails and instant messages between each other.”. In contrast, Boyd and Ellison [12:211] define SNS as: “...web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semipublic profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.”. The importance of social networks as a hub of activities including blogging, photo-sharing, video-sharing is increasing [13]. It is therefore argued that the definition of Boyd and Ellison [12] more accurately reflects the ethos of how SNS are used. SNS offer much potential for providing useful information for commercial purposes [9]. However, SNS users are not averse to switching to competing sites if they perceive undue commercial

Previous literature has examined loyalty and segmentation. For example, it was found football supporter attitudinal and behavioural loyalties are much more complex than the conventional wisdom of fans being supporters for life [25,26]. Much agreement can be found between Tapp and Clowes [25], who identified „fanatics‟ as one example of highly involved football consumers, and Bee and Kahle [22] who suggested how such fans display their commitment through repeat ticket purchase and a desire to demonstrate involvement through exhibiting certain behaviours. Their work was grounded in psychological theories and encouraged the consideration of different levels of trust and the impact on the relationship, based on the complex nature of sport consumer trust. In developing their functional model of relationship marketing in sport, they extended the notion of trust as a precursor to commitment [22]. The link between football club websites and relationship marketing was identified and found differing awareness levels of relationship marketing at football club level [5]. Since this time, there has been limited academic discussion “...about emerging changes in the market environment and their potential direct effect on the practice of RM.” [27:435]. The rapid growth of sites enabling fan dialogue is evident. For example the number of Football League club fans using the official site as their main source of club information has declined by 13 percentage points to 55% [2008 vs. 2009] whilst the use of unofficial sites and message boards is up by 6 points to 21%. Additionally, 23% of Championship club fans use unofficial sites as their main source of information [28]. Such growth appears to be in line with SNS statistics. Sport is a growing influencer of social culture and in

January 2009 made up 2% of UK social networks [29]. Footballrelated content is a major driver of growth. As recent as September 2010 „football‟ was top of Twitter trends [30]. Concentrating on the fan perspective, research discovered fan dialogue was restricted due to corporate interests and subsequent media manipulation [15]. The investigated club sought to pressurise the moderators of a newspaper forum into restricting the sentiment of negative fan opinion related to the club owner. The research argues this tactic further alienated already disaffected supporters. Earlier research had prophetically highlighted how “inevitable mistakes” in the complex internet arena may negatively impact on trust and commitment of customers [27]. The above is an example of the issues faced by UK football clubs‟ regarding social computing. The paper is located in the relationship marketing literature in order to evaluate the impact of SNS on digital relationship marketing communications.

3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Multiple case context This paper is based on multiple case research of four English football clubs. English professional football was worth £957m in [2008/09] tax contributions and is therefore very important to the UK economy [31]. Despite soaring revenues, it has been suggested football clubs “face extraordinarily turbulent conditions” [32:2]. Three key factors provide the impetus for this study: 1) the ever-growing importance of the internet to clubs; 2) a lack of response to SNS by the clubs, plus; 3) potential lack of website traffic, revenues and interaction. Consequently, a deeper academic understanding of the impact of SNS on communications is now required.

3.2 Research design, data collection & analysis 3.2.1 Multiple case research Only recently has multiple case research been used to extend the understanding of relationship marketing theory in sport [23]. Case study research is suited to evaluating the „how‟ and „why‟ questions of exploratory research [33] and multiple case research can lead to genuine academic contribution [34]. This paper uses four case studies in order to offer varied empirical evidence [35].

3.2.2 Data collection & analysis Due to the emergent nature of SNS and the lack of research of the impact on relationship marketing communications in sport, an inductive approach was considered more appropriate. Purposive sampling was used due to League status (EPL or Football League) and variety of club perspective, access, remit of interviewee, scope, longevity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior positions of responsibility: Marketing Manager at three clubs and Head of Customer Operations at the fourth. All interviews were personally transcribed in order to ensure closeness to the data [36]. Field notes were utilized in order to document the general feel of the interview and main points. In all instances, written confirmation was obtained for both interview consent and transcript approval. Within-case analysis preceded across-case analysis [37,38] in order to identify emergent themes, content and key issues related to the research aim. This foundation was later revisited with

cases thought of as a whole in order to “... allow commonalities to emerge.” [23:312]. Data analysis was completed manually in order to maximize researcher interpretation of the data. Closeness to the data allowed distinctive themes to emerge and encouraged detailed knowledge of each case [39]. In vivo codes served as the key identifiers for each participant‟s meanings, which were later validated by each participant. The process used was therefore: (1) line by line analysis; (2) in vivo coding; (3) focused coding; and (4) theoretical coding. Desk research complemented the insight gained from the expert interviews and included: (i) selected digital relationship marketing communications of the case study clubs – in order to help identify the nature of that activity and to validate against primary data; (ii) key newspaper and industry websites – containing analysis and insight external to the interview data; (iii) key industry reports - considered appropriate as they are extensively used by football industry specialists and are believed to be reliable.

3.2.3 Case descriptions A brief description of each case now follows, concentrating on data obtained at the time of the research to offer context. Table 1: Case description Bolton Wanderers FC (BWFC)  League: EPL status is the “main priority” for commercial stability and sustainability [40].  Attendance: Average has frequently dipped below 80% over the past three seasons, based on a capacity of 27,879 [41].  Revenue: Total football turnover increased from £50.4m in 2007/08 to 51.8m in 2008/09. Corporate hospitality fell 22% to £1.8m and merchandising revenue fell 2% to £1.2m. Total football operating loss was £15.5m, up 22.2%. Current net loss is £13.2m, up from £8.1m for 2009 and 2008 respectively [42].  Website: Official club website www.bwfc.co.uk.* Leeds United FC (LUFC)  League: Relegation to the second tier followed turmoil, fuelled by significant financial problems with initial debts of £103m in March 2003 [43], resulting in the club entering administration on 8th May 2007. Began the 2007/08 season in the third tier, returning to the second tier after promotion in May 2010.  Attendance: Average has been around 60% since 2003/04, though still large support compared to other Football League clubs [44]. Elland Road capacity is 39,460 [45].  Revenue: Merchandising revenue increased from just short of £1.5m in 2007/08 to £4.9m in 2008/09, contributing to an operating profit of £15k on a turnover of £23.5m [46].  Website: Official club website www.leedsunited.com.** Newcastle United FC (NUFC)  League: Enjoying EPL status after promotion in May 2010.  Attendance: Average when in the EPL has been 44,362 [47]. St James‟ Park capacity is 52,387 [48].  Revenue: 1980-2000 saw near bankruptcy and evasion of third tier [49]. Included in the Deloitte „Football Money League‟ despite inconsistent team form and no participation in Europe. 2007/08 turnover fell from £99.4m [50] to £86m in 2008/09. 2008/09 matchday revenues decreased 10% to £29m, commercial income fell 25% to £19.4m and broadcasting revenue fell to 22% to £36.3 [51]. Recorded an operating loss of £37.7m though the goal is to break even by 2015/16 [52].  Website: Official club website, www.nufc.co.uk.* Nottingham Forest FC (NFFC)  League: Stabilised in the second tier after August 2008 return.  Attendance: Has averaged 23,065 over the completed 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons [53] - an increase of 13.8% on three previous seasons in the third tier. The City Ground capacity is 30,576 [54].  Revenue: 2007/08 revenue fell from £9.2m to £7.6m with season ticket sales down 18%, to £4.6m and commercial income down from £3.6m to £3m [55]. Of this £3m, TV, radio and internet fell 25% to £750k because of no televised cup run, merchandising sales by internet and mail order fell 22.2% to £700k whilst advertising revenues were stable at £500k. Club debts were £40.2m owing to the Chairman and £3.6m to Nottingham City Council [55].  Website: Official club website www.nottinghamforest.co.uk.* * Hosted and managed by Perform Group. ** Hosted and managed by Level 3. Online advertising sales outsourced to Perform Group.

4. FINDINGS Data analysis generated three emergent themes   

Relationship marketing activity Club concerns with SNS Willingness and ability of clubs to respond to the SNS phenomena

4.1 Relationship marketing activity Particular attention was paid to the website and related digital communications. In the context of SNS, insights into current levels of integration of relationship marketing initiatives revealed two key issues: (i) channel disparity; (ii) poor customer experience.

4.1.1 Channel disparity The study revealed that a lack of systems integration and data warehousing contributes to a limited view of customer behavior and a fragmented approach to relationship marketing communications. Drawing on the data, Figure 2 highlights a typical scenario whereby there is disparity between systems. The circles represent the different departments or database systems within a case. Those shown in blue represent separate internal systems. For example, the membership database has no relationship with the corporate sales database. Those circles in red represent outsourced activity, such as club website, email marketing and, in Case D only, retail. For example, clubs are not able to extract data based on selections of a regular matchday attendee who has recently viewed latest news and purchased specific merchandise.

The above position is supported by evidence in the literature that football clubs are in the embryonic stages of CRM and still trying to align the channels properly without the ability to coordinate tactical commercial messages, tailored to the particular customer [20]. Each case is attempting to develop its CRM capabilities however, this does not extend to SNS data due to a lack of current club SNS activity and subsequent lack of strategic response. Issues applying directly to SNS are investigated later. Email marketing is a particular issue. The weekly newsletter does not encourage the majority of fans to visit the official website more than once per week, hence commercial messages lose impact. The lack of personalisation in club communications is evidence of poorly targeted communications which would be classed as a “one-to-many” communication [56:452]. Such approaches may suggest a lack of customer insight and are likely to result in less return on investment.

4.1.2 Poor Customer Experience During the interviews it was openly acknowledged, or implied by all clubs, that the customer experience across channels and online in particular was poor. Evidence indicated potential issues of a lack of trust between the fan and club in terms of online ticket sales. The poor development of ticket sales on English club websites has been discussed and suggests the lack of progress is due to already high attendance, albeit in the EPL [57]. The analysis showed clubs to consider their online experience to be very poor with very little in terms of interactive technology. This contradicts the suggestion of that EPL club websites offer a rich, interactive communication experience [57]. In summary, the findings appear to concur with the narrow perspective of relationship marketing argued to be based on reactive database marketing techniques often short-term and transaction focused [58].

4.2 Club concerns with SNS Three key concerns emerged in relation to SNS, as summarized in Figure 3.

Figure 2: Systems Legacy In all cases, the databases are not integrated so clubs do not have a holistic view of the fan, nor how their behavior is influenced by digital communications: “...we have a single customer view of some sort which is still very much in its embryonic stage...our email providers aren’t plugged into that single customer viewpoint yet... Did they click through on the email, did they shop off-site, did they browse around the site, how much did they spend online… you know we don’t capture any of that information at the moment and that... isn’t plugged into that central database....” (Head of Customer Operations, Case A)

Figure 3: Club concerns with SNS

4.2.1 Inertia Clubs revealed a lack of genuine action in response to SNS. References to clubs “missing a trick”, “playing at it” and “scratching the surface” were evidence of a reticent approach. Inertia involved three core elements: (1) denial; (2) engagement; and (3) openness.

4.2.1.1 Denial The findings identified an historically and presently held belief

at club level, that SNS was a “fad” or “bandwagon” with some scepticism as to the figures and longevity of SNS platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in particular. There was nevertheless an acknowledgement that to continue doing very little was no longer an option. Social computing is now mainstream and cannot be dismissed by companies [59].

4.2.1.2 Engagement All clubs repeatedly revealed the current official site provision to be lacking engagement and interaction as a major concern. Their worry was this is already causing fans to migrate to unofficial sites and the “next generation” of fans possibly seeking other forms of entertainment. For example, clickstreams for JulySeptember 2010 of case D show that after leaving the official site, 11% visit Facebook, 9% visit the unofficial club forum and 2.3% migrate to Twitter. 6.4% of users have visited the unofficial club forum prior to arriving at the official site [60]. The need for clubs to engage with potentially discontented fans has already been expressed [61] otherwise they will develop a preference for alternative unofficial sites [62,28]. Interviews highlighted a surprising dismissal of the opportunity cost to clubs, in the context of globalised football [63] and global football fandom [64,65]. Having established traffic is money; the research found clubs justifying their lack of response to SNS with claims of not missing traffic they had never had. This rationale is inconsistent with the cross-case admission that commercially important advertising revenues are related to traffic volume. Indeed, the predominant revenue model in SNS and other social computing applications is advertising [59] and clubs accepted that unofficial sites are likely to be already benefiting. Traffic migrating to unofficial sites must therefore be reducing potential advertising revenues. It is suggested this links closely with the category of inertia mentioned above.

4.2.1.3 Openness Analysis suggested cases were slowly moving away from the lack of transparency in their dealings with fans, to a degree of openness. Criticism of clubs suggests they need to be much more open in appreciating their value as a “social business” with emphasis on their impact on the local community and stakeholders [66:4]. However, all four cases were found to be increasing their level of openness, in that collaboration with fans was being considered as an option to engage in SNS activity more proactively.

Existing literature has argued how a club has sought to actively influence and exert pressure on the nature of club-related fan discussion via unofficial media sites [15]. However, case interviewees demonstrated an awareness of such drawbacks and indicated a preparedness to release some control. Tapping into the passion of fans requires an acceptance that views expressed will not always be what the club wants to hear. Yet interviewees all discussed the need to release some control of the conversation if official sites are to accommodate and facilitate such fan debate. The findings appear to concur with literature defining the immersive experience of interaction and community involvement on such sites as Facebook and Twitter [67] which were those specifically mentioned by clubs as the primary SNS. Finally, consistency of message was cited as a process to be managed in order to maintain fan engagement and ensure a more effective customer experience. Due to the conversation structures being broken when retweeting [68] this may present problems when using Twitter for customer service.

4.2.2.2 Brand Clubs were concerned about the impact of SNS on their brand, specifically reputation and brand equity. Cross-case analysis revealed a suggestion of very high brand loyalty in comparison to other sectors. It was suggested the tribal passion of fans towards their club brand was potentially very powerful. Brand community research has proposed four thematic categories for value-creating practices [69]. For example, the practice of “impression management” includes “evangelizing” [69:34] when justifying member devotion. Yet the research found clubs “...have just shied away from any level of interaction and engagement with our supporters.” (Head of Customer Operations, Club A). Existing literature argues “...social networking practices [in brand communities] evolve and move past brand boundaries” [69:34]. It is therefore suggested the findings highlighted the real dilemma clubs face regarding control of their brand. It is argued that your brand is what your customers say it is [70] and in the environment of SNS, the nature and tone of conversations may decide that. For clubs wary of opening up supporter conversations on the official website, it represents a challenge to potentially release control and ownership of an official brand community. However, that is arguably where the most potential lies [69] for clubs with passionate fans – a dilemma recognised by clubs.

4.2.3 Monetisation 4.2.2 Control The key theme of control revealed two core aspects, related to conversations and brand.

4.2.2.1 Conversations There was cross-case awareness that a key element of football support is the conversation and discussion between fans pre, during and post match. Terms such as “banter”, “dialogue” and “conversation” emerged. Crucially the nature of SNS permitting such exchange was cited as the reason fans utilized unofficial sites, however due to concerns regarding negative comments; there is a fear at club level of allowing supporter conversations within the official site. This links closely with the issue of denial discussed above.

Principally the use of SNS was seen as a driver of traffic to the official site, which is monetised via advertising revenue, and sales of commercial products, such as online player TV, ticketing and merchandise. Their accepted problem now is to not be seen attempting to dominate the space by rolling out the highly monetised model of their existing website provision. The commercialism of football has been widely researched (cf. 71,61,21,72]. The findings in this research suggest that clubs are aware fans may consider SNS as their space [private or public], yet there is pressure to use them as a commercial space [9] if clubs are to allocate resource. In conclusion, the research proposes that the three key themes: (1) inertia; (2) control and; (3) monetisation are factors clubs need to address before engaging in SNS activity. Internally the clubs need to find the right balance between using these factors

for their own benefit and „letting go‟ to such an extent that they can facilitate the driving of SNS to engage fans and therefore add value. The term „moderated freedom‟ of consumer content is proposed here, i.e. to allow freedom but to reserve the right to moderate extreme or profane postings.

4.3 Willingness and ability of clubs to respond to SNS phenomena 4.3.1 Commercial gain The opportunity for clubs lies in attracting higher and more frequent traffic in order to improve page impressions on the official site. Cases also recognised the likelihood of SNS advertising revenue arising from the FLi approach. This is evidence of the potential capital interests offered by SNS [9]. Despite the lack of SNS provision via the FLi agreement, analysis uncovered the changing response of clubs to SNS, mostly out of necessity and the need to respond to the needs of a more sophisticated customer. Comments reflected the findings of surveys revealing a wider demographic of football fans [62,28] in addition to reference to a more sophisticated customer-base with higher expectations of their online experience.

4.3.2 Interaction In a link with tribal literature [73,74], all clubs identified that the way to drive traffic was to engage fans through their passion for the club. Football is tribal in nature [25] and cases considered football to be unique in its ability to create a unifying interest around a team brand, recognising the positive manner in which sports consumers are involved with the product [18]. The key was considered to be the enabling of engagement in a proactive manner, rather than simply responding to discussion or duplicating existing official site content. Clubs hope this would overcome the limitations of their current generic „push‟ communication, despite the absence of targeted and appropriate communications. It was suggested that SNS offered real-time customer insight, enabling more sophisticated relationship marketing activity. The findings therefore suggest the commercial gain potential of SNS [9]. Interviewees articulated an intuitive understanding of the benefits of engaging with online communities that exist around their club in the form of SNS. This represents the positive aspects of brand and the theme of control. The findings are congruent with the notion of creating value in brand communities through engagement [69].

4.3.3 Content Due to the commercial agreement with FLi and its reliance on advertising revenue, driving traffic to the official site is the major objective of each club. Twitter may therefore offer the best immediate potential for clubs as it "... has proven to be a fantastic source of traffic for content driven sites, and the media companies with a strong presence on the service are using it to great effect...." [75]. Accepting a need to do something, cases A and D have activated a Twitter profile, though it was acknowledged these are duplicating the current news feeds of the official site. All cases recognised their current presence, or lack of presence, on Facebook or Twitter demonstrates they are playing with at SNS at best. Used more imaginatively and effectively, the value of Twitter is proven in driving traffic back to the sites responsible for the original tweet, in addition to facilitating extensive [viral] retweeting [76].

4.3.4 Community Offering fans a chance to show their “badge of honour” could be argued to be linked to the community engagement practices categorised in brand communities [69]. Moreover, the elements of fans being given the opportunity to share experiences and credibility could be considered “impression management practices” [69:34]. The findings revealed that clubs are considering “social networking practices” [69:34] by allowing fans to connect with fellow supporters in a specific location. Their idea was for fan club branch Chairmen to act as a facilitator in community growth and belonging. Finally the “brand use practices” [69:34] are potentially the contentious category for clubs who are not yet willing to relinquish control of their brand, as the earlier discussion demonstrates. However, regarding match day experience, clubs have already been willing to successfully respond to concerns raised in discussions on unofficial SNS, not by participating in the conversation but by introducing initiatives at the stadia. In contrast, one case has openly asked for suggestions regarding the use of social media to enhance the match day experience and been reprimanded by fans for being too commercial in their interpretation of the suggestions made. These findings reinforce clubs‟ concerns regarding SNS and the theme of monetisation.

5. CONCLUSIONS Existing literature contains no previous discussion of the impact of SNS on relationship marketing communications in sport. The relationship marketing literature was used as the framework for this study which makes a number of contributions: first, the findings study did not concur with the accepted view that commitment is influenced by trust, [22]; second, football club concerns regarding SNS are identified and must be addressed in developing a strategic response to the social web; third, the willingness and ability of clubs to respond to SNS reflects the balance to be achieved in building club commercial gain and facilitating supporter engagement and commitment. Previous literature has highlighted the closed approach football clubs have to business [15,66], a view this investigation into the relationship marketing practices serves to partially reinforce. However this examination is distinguished from the presently accumulated knowledge in that it suggests: (i) clubs are aware of collaborative opportunities with successful unofficial SNS owners and writers, or supporter branch Chairmen, in order to build their online customer relationships through empowerment [16]; (ii) clubs see collaboration with customers or unofficial site owners and contributors, as a potential means of co-creating value in their community [17,69].

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH 6.1 Management implications The research demonstrates the commercial reality of football today. The lack of a relationship marketing strategy manifests itself in system disparity and generic customer communications. All cases stated the key role of the website as a key communication channel in their relationship with fans. Site traffic is the currency of FLi network sites where advertising revenue is a key driver. The study shows how the short-term generic approach to monetising web traffic is potentially harming

the longer-term revenue potential of official club sites. Clubs can no longer afford to be so passive with either no SNS presence or a simple replication of club news and offers, via an unofficial platform such as Facebook or Twitter. A more open culture is required in engaging with fan dialogue online or risk potential loss of valuable revenue streams to unofficial SNS. A key objective for clubs must be to merge system data in order to develop a more holistic view of customer behavior.

[11] Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media, Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.

The research highlights the “inherent conflict” football clubs wrestle with: between meeting organizational profit requirements and meeting the needs of their customers [77:18]. The difficulty is in balancing the commercial potential of SNS [9] against the proven risk that users will simply switch SNS if they perceive overt commercial influence being applied in that environment [12]. However, it should be noted the lack of customer insight is further exacerbated by the reluctance thus far to actively embrace the potential of SNS. For organizations with a culture of armslength engagement, the passion of fans in such a viral environment is a double-edged sword; the harnessing of that passion can result in both positive and negative fan response. The clubs have the ability regarding exclusive content and a ready fan base. However, their actual willingness and ability to openly interact with fans and to refrain from overt commercializing of the SNS environment appears to be preventing them from embracing SNS to its full potential.

[14] Mitchell, A. 2008. “Opinion Piece: Web 2.0 commentary”, Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 9, 3, 296-297.

6.2 Research implications

[21] Gibbons, T. and Dixon, K. 2010. “‟Surf‟s up!‟: A call to take English soccer fan interactions on the Internet more seriously”, Soccer & Society, 11, 5, 599-613.

There is considerable scope for further research of the impact of social media on relationship marketing in sport, in addition to other fields. Such studies may contribute to the conditions required for brand community engagement and interaction. Segmentation of the SNS behavior of football fans could also be researched in order to better inform the link between SNS and customer behavior. It is hoped further research incorporates wider elements of social media, including the range of platforms through which it is accessed, such as the mobile web.

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