Use of Social Media in Communication Strategies of Premier League Football Clubs

Abstract

Development of internet and new technologies leads to big changes in communications. Every sport organization is in search for the most efficient communication channel. In order to find the most efficient communication channel with the lowest cost, sport organizations have recognized the importance of social media networks in communication strategies. Being that social media networks can be considered as a source of information for customers, this article considers social media networks as one of the main tools used in sports branding and communication strategies due to its communicative, broadcasting, organizational and interactive potential. As a network with the higher number of active users, Facebook was the main network which has been analyzed. Using the example of Premier League football clubs, the authors analyzed the content of the most popular official Facebook pages dedicated to the English football clubs and tries to identify the key conditions for successful social media campaign. Results show that the top Premier League clubs are usually using four content formats combined with nine content types.