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Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media

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  • Stavros, Constantino
  • Meng, Matthew D.
  • Westberg, Kate
  • Farrelly, Francis

Abstract

Social media provide fans with an additional means to engage with their team and are a valuable forum for sport organizations to better understand fan motivations and strengthen fan relationships. This study contributes to emerging research on the nature of social media use by revealing the motivations underpinning the desire of fans to communicate on the Facebook sites of several National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. Our findings indicate that fans exercise four key motives as they draw value from the social media enabled connection to the team: passion, hope, esteem and camaraderie. Further, and in light of our understanding of these motives, we identify how this platform can be used to facilitate interaction, a key construct in relationship marketing. A content analysis, using a netnographic methodology, was undertaken to explore online comments by fans of eight purposefully selected NBA teams over a two-week period during the off-season. This period represents strong potential for isolating highly identified fans who are motivated to seek engagement and interaction. Implications for sport managers to further relational goals are identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Stavros, Constantino & Meng, Matthew D. & Westberg, Kate & Farrelly, Francis, 2014. "Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 455-469.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:spomar:v:17:y:2014:i:4:p:455-469
    DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2013.11.004
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    9. Olzhas Taniyev & Farah Ishaq & Brian Gordon, 2018. "Investigating the Differences in Twitter Content and Effectiveness Between Individual and Team Sport Athletes," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(4), pages 89-102, July.
    10. Nicolas Scelles & Boris Helleu & Christophe Durand & Liliane Bonnal & Stephen Morrow, 2017. "Explaining the Number of Social Media Fans for North American and European Professional Sports Clubs with Determinants of Their Financial Value," Post-Print halshs-02110645, HAL.
    11. Mohsen Behnam & Geoff Dickson & Vahid Delshab & Anna Gerke & Parvaneh Savari Nikou, 2023. "The moderating effect of fan engagement on the relationship between fan knowledge and fan co-creation in social media," Post-Print hal-03969039, HAL.
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    13. Annamalai, Balamurugan & Yoshida, Masayuki & Varshney, Sanjeev & Pathak, Atul Arun & Venugopal, Pingali, 2021. "Social media content strategy for sport clubs to drive fan engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. José María Lamirán-Palomares & Tomás Baviera & Amparo Baviera-Puig, 2020. "Sports Influencers on Twitter. Analysis and Comparative Study of Track Cycling World Cups 2016 and 2018," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Kari L. J. Goold & Reynafe N. Aniga & Peter B. Gray, 2020. "Sports under Quarantine: A Case Study of Major League Baseball in 2020," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
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