The brand experience of a football club through live videos on social media : developing a tactical marketing and communications framework

Abstract

The omnipresence of social media and the dominance of brands offer professional football clubs significant opportunities to establish brand experiences intended to strengthen their relationships with fans and supporters. Moreover, the rising popularity of online video has enabled the use of live video to be increasingly incorporated within the digital media mix. However, little academic attention has been afforded towards its applicability and strategic implementation. This research addresses the gap in the literature by establishing a tactical marketing and communications framework that creates a holistic brand experience through social media live video for fans of the case study football club with the intention of enhancing viewer loyalty. A pragmatic research approach was adopted, culminating in a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The study assessed the characteristics of live video on social media that influence viewer loyalty. Furthermore, it established significant relationships between brand experience, fan typology, and viewer loyalty. These findings ultimately informed the development of an Experiential Grid for tactical implementation of live video on social media of the case study football club. This research contributes to the brand experience literature by adding the novel perspective of social media live video and the online video perspective to the brand loyalty literature. The development of a dedicated Experiential Grid, with adaptation of its tactical implementation components to a social media environment, constitutes the main contribution for marketing and social media practitioners in the football industry.