دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی رسانه های اجتماعی در بازاریابی رابطه ای: چشم انداز مدیران ورزشی حرفه ای - Sage 2017

Abstract

This study aims to obtain an in-depth understanding of the use, opportunities, and challenges related to social media (SM) in achieving relationship marketing (RM) goals in professional sport. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 26 managers of professional sport teams from the four major leagues in North America. Results outline the platforms adopted, the six intended objectives of SM use, the seven opportunities SM provides, and the seven challenges of SM as a RM medium. Theoretical and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research are provided.

Discussion

The purpose of this study is to develop empirically supported understanding of the use, opportunities, and challenges of SM in meeting RM goals in the context of professional sport teams in the four North American major leagues. The study, based on the perspective of managers of the professional sport teams, produced data that allowed the work to accomplish the intended purpose. Table 4 summarizes the identified opportunities and challenges of SM as a RM tool.

The study informed us that the seven identified opportunities that SM presented in meeting RM goals facilitate the building, maintenance, and enhancement of relationships between sport teams and fans. As discussed above, the value of SM is the opportunity it provides to communicate, interact, and engage in two-way dialogue with fans on an ongoing basis. Through a two-way continuous dialogue, sport teams can listen to and understand fans’ needs, respond accordingly, and are able to create additional value for consumers. Similarly, a variety of fan needs (ranging from customer service issues to engaging in a direct conversation with players) through a continuing dialogue can be met and potentially translate into the building, maintenance, and enhancement of relationships. These are the core intent of RM, both as a management approach and as a theoretical framework (Gronroos, 2004; Williams & Chinn, 2010). In this regard, the findings support previous studies (e.g., Hambrick & Svensson, 2015; Williams & Chinn, 2010) that conceptually claimed the conduciveness of SM as a tool in meeting RM goals and those that argued for SM’s role in making the RM approach practical (e.g., Abeza et al., 2013; Dixon et al., 2015; Hambrick & Kang, 2014; Meng et al., 2015; Wang & Zhou, 2015; Williams & Chinn, 2010) that has been a difficult marketing resource in the past unless frequent phone calls or letters are exchanged or radio talk shows are used.