Introducing branded communities in sport for building strong brand relations in social media |
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| Institution: | 1. Temple University, United States;2. Griffith University, Australia;1. Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudo da Performance Humana (CIPER), Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da Costa, 1495-688 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal;2. School of Kinesiology, Sport Management, University of Minnesota, 218 Cooke Hall, 1900 University Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA;3. Biwako Seikei Sport College, 1204 Kitahira, Otsu, Shiga 520-0503, Japan;4. Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da Costa, 1495-688 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal;5. ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco, 34, 1149-041 Lisboa, Portugal;1. University of North Alabama, Health, Physical Education and Recreation, UNA Box 5073, Florence, AL 35632, USA;2. Texas A&M University, Department of Health and Kinesiology, 4243 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA;3. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, 104 Huff Hall, MC-584, 1206 South Fourth Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA;1. Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland & Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.;2. Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Calle Corona 34, Valencia, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Brand communities have become an important aspect for brand management in social media. However, many brands have failed to establish a successful online brand community. In this study, we introduce branded communities as an alternative concept to brand communities. In contrast to brand communities, a branded community does not revolve around a specific (sport) brand, but around any interest or need. However, a specific brand makes use of the community for marketing purposes by sponsoring or operating the community. We emphasize the suitability of sport as an interest around which branded communities can be built as well as links of branded communities to sport sponsorship. We empirically studied the factors which influence the success of this phenomenon and the effects of operating or sponsoring such a community for a brand by using an online survey (N = 501) of members of a branded online community relating to football. The results demonstrate the relevance of topic interest (i.e., identification and involvement with football) and the quality of the community as determinants of interest in and loyalty towards a branded community. The brand owner benefits from an increase in brand loyalty for those community members who are aware of the brand as the operator of the community, whereby awareness of this sponsorship does not decrease loyalty towards the community. Our research contributes to previous knowledge by proving that branded communities are both an effective means for companies to deploy sponsorship and branding strategies in social media and provide a promising opportunity for sport managers to generate value. |
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| Keywords: | Branded communities Brand communities Customer loyalty Sponsorship Social media Branding co-creation |
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