dissertation - social media marketing

10/27/2015

Sports Marketing in the World of Social Media: What are the implications of sports betting companies using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook?

Luke EdwardsStudent id: 4994723Supervisor: Tina Simak

Source: PaddyPower.com Source: SkyBet.com Source: Ladbrokes.com

1| P a g e L u k e E d w a r d s 3 0 8 S E M

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY&

COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

DISSERTATION TITLE: Sports Marketing in the World of Social Media: What are the implications of sports betting companies using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook?

STUDENT’S NAME & I.D.: Luke Edwards 4994723

COURSE OF STUDY: BA (Hons) Sports Marketing

Declaration of Originality

This project is all my own work and has not been copied in part or in whole from any other source except where duly acknowledged. As such, all use of previously published work (from books, journals, magazines, internet sites etc.) has been cited within the main report and fully referenced as an item in the List of References/Bibliography

Copyright Acknowledgment

I acknowledge that the copyright of this Project belongs to Coventry University

Signed by the student: L. Edwards Date: 25/04/2016


Acknowledgments: First of all I would like to thank Coventry University for giving me the opportunity to undertake this study. I would like to thank my lecturers and supervisor Tina Simak for help in guiding me through this process and answering any and all questions I might have had.

I would like to give a special thank you to my friends and family who have been there to support me throughout this process, from motivating me to get on start typing, to just being there when I needed guidance because without them I wouldn’t have made I through to the end.


Table of ContentsAcknowledgments:..............................................................................................................................3

Chapter 1............................................................................................................................................6

1.1 Chapter Overview:.......................................................................................................................6

1.2 Introduction:................................................................................................................................6

1.2.1 Introduction to the study:......................................................................................................6

1.2.2 Research Aims and Objectives:..........................................................................................6

1.2.3 Overview of Research Methodology:.................................................................................7

1.2.4 Limitations to the study:.......................................................................................................7

1.2.5 Structure of Dissertation:......................................................................................................7

1.2.6 Chapter Conclusion:.............................................................................................................7

Chapter 2............................................................................................................................................8

2.1 Chapter Overview:...................................................................................................................8

2.2 Literature Review:......................................................................................................................8

2.2.1 Marketing:..............................................................................................................................8

2.2.2 Sports Marketing:..................................................................................................................9

2.2.3 Relationship Marketing.......................................................................................................10

2.2.4 Social Media:.......................................................................................................................11

2.2.5 Social Media Marketing – The Advantages and Disadvantages:.................................12

2.3 Social Media building relationships:.....................................................................................12

2.4 Chapter Conclusion:..............................................................................................................13

Chapter 3..........................................................................................................................................14

3.1 Chapter Overview:..................................................................................................................14

3.2 Methodology:............................................................................................................................14

3.2.1 Research Design:................................................................................................................14

3.2.2 Case Study Approach:.......................................................................................................14

3.2.3 Case Study Design:............................................................................................................15

Chapter 4..........................................................................................................................................17

Chapter Overview:....................................................................................................................17

4.1 Case Study ONE: PaddyPower............................................................................................17

4.2 Case Study TWO: SkyBet.....................................................................................................18

4.3 Case study THREE: Ladbrokes...........................................................................................19

4.4 Case Study Summary:...........................................................................................................19


Chapter 5..........................................................................................................................................21

Chapter Overview:....................................................................................................................21

5.1 Conclusion and recommendations.......................................................................................21

5.2 Contribution to Knowledge:...................................................................................................22

5.3 Future Direction:.....................................................................................................................22

6.0 References:.................................................................................................................................23

7.0 Appendices:................................................................................................................................25


Chapter 1.1.1 Chapter Overview:Innovation in technology has led to the modernisation of marketing with the birth of social media platforms, which has an impact on the way in which sports betting companies are conducting their marketing. This research looks at the implications of sports betting companies using social media platforms and whether companies through the use of these platforms companies can achieve growth.

The purpose of this chapter is to give an insight into the background of the research and justify its reasons for focus. The theoretical frameworks and research methods are detailed, whilst the aims and objectives of this study are outlined.

1.2 Introduction:1.2.1 Introduction to the study:This study will aim to address and discuss the research question - How does the use of social media affect growth of sports betting companies? This area warrants researching as the concept of using social media as a marketing platform, is a modern technique and its ability to drive growth is, as yet, unproven. Due to this, research is continuously being done in order to determine the success or failure in using social media platforms.

The use of social media is quickly becoming a dominant marketing strategy due to its ease and cost effectiveness. Itis being incorporated into the marketing strategies of many organisations within the sports market.

It can be argued that more research is required into social media marketing as the full of effects it has may still be unidentified, therefore this study will help attempt to examine the effects and add to existing knowledge. This study will be looking at individual sports betting companies such as: Paddy Power, Skybet and Ladbrokes. This will be in order to compare and contrast their social media presence and success based on the interactions on these platforms (analysing the number of retweets or likes on a post).

1.2.2 Research Aims and Objectives:In order to answer the research question - How does the use of social media affect growth of sports betting companies? – And given that research into this topic is ongoing due to its modern nature, there are three aims to this study: Firstly, to determine an up to date and relevant definition of the term “social media”. Secondly, to discuss whether an active online presence in social media is a beneficial marketing activity that drives a sports betting company’s growth, given that their service is always active. Thirdly, briefly discuss the relationship an organisation is able to create through the use of social media and the effect this can also have on growth.

In order to facilitate the analysis of this research, numerous research objectives have been set, which have been incorporated into the methodology of this study. The objectives surrounding this study are:


- Generate a contextual background of marketing, sports marketing and relationship marketing

- Uncover definitions of the term ”social media”- Discover the advantages and disadvantages of using social media- Critically analyse existing literatures in order to develop a definition of “Social Media”

in order to add to existing knowledge- Analyse the benefits of an active online presence- Discuss the relationship social media builds with consumers- Discuss social media strategies being implemented by sports betting companies- Determine successful and failed approaches to social media

1.2.3 Overview of Research Methodology:This study will be researched using a mixed-method approach, through the use of secondary data and the interpretation of that data. A significant part of the research will be qualitative, although there will be times where quantitative data will be used in order to analyse social media posts (e.g. the number of retweets or likes a post gets). A case study approach method will also be used in order to gain a detailed analysis of the real-time situation of specific sports betting companies and how they use their accounts – in order to generate a picture of their online presence.

1.2.4 Limitations to the study:As stated earlier in this chapter, the concept of using social media as a marketing tool is a new and modern way to market to consumers. Due to the modern nature, the research surrounding it is still ongoing and no long-term effectiveness has been theorised, therefore, some findings may be inconclusive. This leads onto the definition of “social media” as there will be many varying opinions on its definition as more research is conducted and published giving more up to date literature.

1.2.5 Structure of Dissertation:Developing on from the previous sections, the remaining chapters seek to review existing literature surrounding the topic of study; discuss the methodology for this research; and to analyse and present the findings for this study.

Chapter 2 discusses the theoretical frameworks for this research, highlighting key findings and analysing their relevance to the study. Three areas of literature will be critically analysed – “Social Media” as a key marketing concept, the advantages and disadvantages to the use of social media and key strategies in using social media. In doing so, this will allow the development of research with the interpretation of findings which will show the direction of the study.

In Chapter Three, the methodological considerations for this research are presented, looking to discuss the chosen methods of research, ensuring the justification of why they were used and the benefits in doing so.

The findings and main points from the research are presented and discussed in Chapter Four. These will be structured into specific case studies designed to apply the theoretical frameworks and findings from the research in order to gain a real-time analysis of the effects of social media marketing.

Following this in the final chapter the conclusions and recommendations from this research for this study are presented.


1.2.6 Chapter Conclusion:This chapter aimed to present the introduction of the contextual background for this study and the focus of it. The aims and objectives of this research along with the methodological design have also been discussed. The chapter to follow establishes the theoretical foundation on which this study is created through the review, analysis and interpretation of social media and the advantages and disadvantages of using it.

Chapter 2.2.1 Chapter Overview:The following chapter will contain the main arguments for the study. A full literature review will be produced in order to gain a conceptual framework on the critical analysis of social media marketing, online presence and highlighting the advantages and disadvantages in a structured chronological order. The relevance of each piece of literature will be determined with key points also highlighted.

2.2 Literature Review:The following literature review will give a detailed analysis of the literature being used in order to answer the research question - How does the use of social media affect growth of sports betting companies? – In turn, from the surrounding literature, establish a background to marketing; more specifically honing in on sports marketing and how it has evolved to incorporate relationship marketing, to which alongside the development of technology has birthed social media marketing. From this be able to generate a compelling definition of “social media” and create an argument showing the advantages and disadvantages of using social media within the sports betting market and how it aids in the development of relationships between an organisation and its consumers to drive growth.

Due to the innovative nature of technology, it has required the role of marketing to become just equally dynamic to meet changing consumer behaviour and make best use of the available technology. The birth of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have taken over from mainstream media; with over a billion users registered on Facebook and around 340 million active daily users on Twitter (Statista, 2016).

2.2.1 Marketing:Before diving into the depths of social media marketing, we must first begin to start at the beginning with the concept of marketing as a whole. Marketing is all around us and started to develop during the 1960’s and made its way to the forefront of business today (Elliot et al, 2011). Frederick (2007) stated that even with the evolvement of business, to which has led to the development of marketing, some things however have remained similar, and that is the desire of a business to make a profit. This doesn’t mean that marketing is fundamentally just for profitable organisations, both profitable and non-profitable organisations; along with charities use marketing as part of their business models (Armstrong, 2009). The development of marketing can be shown in the simplest form of the evolvement of the marketing mix, which started out as a basic 4 P’s concept; product, place, promotion and price, has now evolved into the more commonly used 7 P’s; product, place, promotion, price, people, process and physical evidence (Elliot et al, 2011). In order to create a foundation for this study, we must decipher and define the concept of marketing. Elliot et al (2011)


explained that marketing is the activity linked with a set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have values for customers, clients, partners and society at large.

This was furthered by Armstrong (2009) who stated that marketing is a philosophy which guides the business as a whole, whilst incorporating other business functions. Armstong (2009) goes on to develop his statement and explain that the philosophy of marketing is responsible for understanding the wants, needs and desires of the consumer in order to develop a compelling value proposition in order to attract and retain customers. This compelling value proposition aims to create a mutually beneficial and profitable relationship between the business and the consumer, partners or society.

Elliot et al (2011) justified marketing as not just being the preconception of direct selling and advertisement, it is much more than that. He stated that marketing that is done successfully, will become an influence and be informative with every business activity. From this, it becomes beneficial to society, including employment and the creation of wealth. This ties in with Theodore Levitt’s article of “Marketing Myopia” which proposed a link between market orientation and business survival. This explained that marketing had become a driving force for successful business.

2.2.2 Sports Marketing:From creating this foundation of marketing, we can now close in on the specific area of sports marketing. Shank & Lyberger (2015) defined sports marketing as a specific application of marketing principles and processes to sport products and the marketing of non-sport products through the association with sport. They go on to explain that the 7 P’s of the marketing mix becomes the sports marketing mix in order for it to be adapted into the unique environment of sport. They interpreted the sports marketing mix as a coordinated set of elements that sporting organisations use in order to meet marketing objectives and satisfy their consumer needs.

Throughout history, many businesses attempted to create a linkage with sport in order to enhance commercial opportunities. Due to the success of this, more and more businesses followed suit leading to today’s current market and the modern threshold for clutter; along with scrutiny and integrity of which are demanding forces that will impact its future.

Fullerton & Merz (2008) along with Shank & Lyberger (2015) repeatedly mention that sports marketing requires strong relationships with the consumer and therefore it is crucial that the sports marketers recognise the needs and wants of the consumer in order to understand what attracts them to an event or product; as this will allow the complementation of the exchange process.

The sports marketers must be cautious with their marketing techniques; as consumers demand variety in the presentation of sports products, but they will not overlook any over-commercialisation of said products that impact the integrity and presentation of its environment (Shank & Lyberger, 2015). Failing to do will lead to marketing myopia, Theodore Levitt further went on from the earlier definition to say that marketing myopia is the practice of defining business in terms of goods and services rather that in terms of benefits sought by customers.

Due to the success of sports marketers being able to understand the wants and needs of the consumer, along with understanding both the industry and the specific application of marketing processes to sports context; the sports industry is currently experiencing a high rate of growth because of the sports marketers, as they play a huge role in this dynamic


industry (Shank & Lyberger, 2015). This growth was pushed during the Beijing Olympics when Vice Chairman of the Beijing Olympic Committee, Du Wei, encouraged businesses to become involved in marketing through the use of sport by saying that sports marketing has become one of the most effective of all marketing strategies; especially as marketing through sports is still overlooked by many (Fullerton & Merz, 2008).

2.2.3 Relationship MarketingAs we delve further into the depths of marketing as a whole and specifically sports marketing, it becomes clear that customer relationships play a significant role and the pursuit of these influences which strategies are implemented. Relationship marketing is defined as “all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges” (Morgan & Hunt, 1994, p. 22; Palmatier et al., 2006, p. 136).

Buhler & Nufer (2010) acknowledged that within sports marketing, the use of relationship marketing is nothing new, due to the unique bond between fans and their club and mutually beneficial bonds with businesses (i.e. sponsorship). Therefore, they went on to state that many sporting organisations understand and recognise that there is an importance of a deep and good valuable relationship with their stakeholders; therefore implemented relationship marketing strategies through the use of customer relationship management (CRM) without even realising.

Over the past two decades, the concept of relationship marketing has received close attention as more and more companies recognize the importance of maintaining and enhancing their relationship with existing and future customers (Duncan & Moriarty, 1998; Lindenmann, 1998; Vavra, 1992), this ties in with Buhler & Nufer (2010) whom felt a new paradigm within sports marketing was emerging, specifically in order to incorporate CRM strategies in their relationship marketing.

Sporting organisations are moving towards being focused on long-term retention of customers, whilst incorporating a variety of database management techniques in order for them to be able to maintain and enhance existing customer relationships (Bee & Kahle, 2006). As the use of relationship marketing has been described as ongoing cooperative behaviour between the marketer and the consumer (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2000), the importance of retaining customers is stressed further; within sports marketing especially. Bee & Kahle (2006) explained that the role of relationship marketing within sports facilitates role enactment and characterises relationship marketing as the attraction, development and retention of customers. This implies a long-term view of the consumer and with the current approaches to relationship marketing being varied, occasionally they adopt a narrow perspective (focusing on short-term) or a broad perspective emphasizing longer-term goals (Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001).

Furthering the point of the unique relationships a customer has with a sport organisation (Buhler & Nufer, 2010), once the relationship has been entered, the act of doing so usually reflects consumers commitment to reiterate patronage towards said organisation; regardless of other choices available to them (Bee & Kahle, 2006). This patronage represents more than just repeat purchasing and brand loyalty, it creates an ongoing partnership between the organisation and the consumer. From this, Sheth & Parvatiyar (1995) recognised that this strong relationship/partnership created these mutually beneficial advantages: decision making process is more efficient, search costs decline, cognitive consistency in decision making, as well as reducing the complexity of the buying situation and the resources required. Thus with the engaged relationship, the risk of cognitive dissonance is reduced due to the consumer being familiar with the products and services on offer (Bee & Kahle, 2006).


This concept was furthered by Morris, Barnes & Lynch (1999) in which they discovered that once a positive relationship with a company is formed, consumers show their satisfaction and loyalty to the product. Also, consumers in a long-term relationship/partnership with an organisation will be more willing to pay premium prices, make referrals and generally spend more (Duncan & Moriarty, 1998). Sports organisations focus on establishing these long-term relationships, due to acquiring new customers is roughly six to nine times more costly (Peppers & Rogers, 1993).

2.2.4 Social Media:As marketing, sports marketing and relationship marketing have evolved, so has technology; creating attractive opportunities on the internet for organisations to build relationships via social media platforms. Technology has played a substantial role in the evolving nature of sports marketing, radio and television really began to show the development of it and brought the organisations to a broader, more accessible audience (Shank & Lyberger, 2015). From there technology evolved into more of an electronic age (Baron et al, 2014) this was in order to deliver superior customer value and create strong, lasting relationships between an organisation and its customers (Armstrong, 2009). Sports marketers that understand this are then able to create solutions, communicate the product or service on offer and deliver at a time and place convenient to their customer, this led to more frequent use of social media, due to its ease of accessibility and personal usage (Elliot et al, 2011). This was supported by Deighton & Grayson (1995), whom predicted in their studies that the future of marketing communications was to be more conversational and more technology based to allow for a more interactive relationship and dialogue with a customer.

Many researchers have interpreted the term “social media” and generated their own definitions, often referring to it as social media marketing. Figure 1 below identifies a definitions from different academics to show their definition and any correlations within their definitions.

Figure 1.

Zarrella, 2009 ‘Social media marketing’ - is a means to freely distribute content via an online platform without needing to pay publishers for advertising space

Blackshaw & Nazzaro, 2004 ‘Social Media’ - describes a variety of new sources of online information that are created, initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands,

Michaelidou, Siamagka & Christodoulides, 2011

‘Social Media’ - consists of new sources of online information such as SNS, blogs, chat-rooms, rating websites, video and photo sharing websites and podcasts, created and used for educational purposes about issues including products and brands

Singh, 2010 ‘Social Media’ - refers to content created for and consumed by regular people. It includes the comments a person adds at the end of an article on a Web site, the family photographs he uploads to a photo-sharing site, the conversations he has with friends in a social network, and the blog posts that he publishes or comments on


Weinberg, 2009 ‘Social media’ - which relates to the sharing of information, experiences, and perspectives throughout community-oriented websites

From Figure 1, it is noticeable that each academic’s definition is similar in terms of; if we interpret the similarities of each definition into one, social media can be defined as an online platform created for and used by regular people to freely use, express, publish and access information anywhere and anytime. This interpreted definition will be the basis to which this study will be based upon.

2.2.5 Social Media Marketing – The Advantages and Disadvantages:Stemming from the birth of social media, the ways in which marketers operated changed and innovation led to the creation of social media marketing, which is a marketing process that empowers individuals to promote, websites, products or services to an online community (Weinberg, 2009). The main idea of social media marketing is that it drives a more innovative, diverse and viral-spread word-of-mouth marketing technique. It allows individuals to recommend and highlight links to share with peers instantaneously. This allows the development and maintenance of relationships between consumer and organisation. From this it generates a sense of brand awareness that spreads continuously until the social media post is no longer viewable.

Apart from generating brand awareness, there numerous other benefits of using social media marketing such as the increase in traffic/subscribers due to the retweeting or sharing of a post, reduced overall marketing expense, generation of qualified leads, new business partnerships and improved search ratings due to more online spread (Stelzner, 2011). The accessible nature of social media, with businesses being able to create accounts for free, enables a business to massively reduce its marketing costs, with less being spent on costly television advertisements, or newspaper spreads, just a small team of marketers operating around social media accounts with the aim to generate as much viral spread as possible through consumers retweeting on Twitter or sharing and liking on Facebook.

There can also however, be disadvantages to social media marketing such as a lack of interaction from a social media post or account (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). This would be where a business fails in their attempt in at generating traffic to either their site or social media account, leading to a wasted marketing attempt. Another disadvantage to social media marketing would be a lack of appropriate product presentation (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). If a post on a social media network site appears as an irrelevant post in terms of their product, consumers will skip past it without giving it a moment’s thought, therefore there is pressure to get it right with each and every social media post.

The need to attract attention from consumers and the need for it to be spread across several accounts is a pivotal part of social media marketing, only those businesses that have researched their consumer base effectively are able to achieve this and have the opportunity to build relationships with their customers and generate successful posts more often.

2.3 Social Media building relationships:From successful research into a business’ consumer base, a business is able to generate an online relationship with their customers through the use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). Since its birth, social media has sought to bring people closer together, it exists to connect people and foster relationships. Therefore, businesses using social media platforms to connect with their consumers are also incorporating relationship marketing into their strategies.


There are three key principles to ensure relationship marketing is used effectively within social media, these are: emphasizing that a customer has a life time value and the use of strategies to retain the right customers. Secondly, to be able to recognise that relationships with customers should not be forced and neither should relationships with any stakeholder. Thirdly, the principle of marketing should be understood as an activity that works with all departments within a business through market orientation (Andrew, Pederson & McEvoy, 2011).

A business implementing relationship marketing by the use of social media follows these principles, as although at the root of each social media post, a business may be trying to sell a product/service, the initial interaction with a consumer builds the relationship and gives the consumer a thought process in their mind on whether or not to purchase the product/service; or to just be involved with their social media interactions - to share with others who may be inclined to purchase.

Throughout history, Sport has always had a close relationship to the media, it has helped to shape and evolve the way in which it is marketed through ‘Sports Marketing’. In looking at this relationship, it is clear that both sport and the media can bounce off of one another to get the best results (Boyle and Haynes, 2009). In today’s culture of sports marketing, the need for stakeholders to be able to interact with companies through social media platforms has become essential. By now, most companies should be on a form of social media platform, it requires little investment of money and it can quickly cause an increased ‘buzz’, sales and consumer insight. It allows the company to post links to their company website or a specific section within that website with ease; especially if they’re trying to create more customer interest through a competition, giveaway or simply promoting an upcoming product and want to tell consumers about it (Zarrella, 2009).

2.4 Chapter Conclusion:This chapter’s purpose was to critically analyse and discuss the existing literature surrounding the topic of study which is social media. It sought to give balanced and justified reasoning in order to answer the research question - How does the use of social media affect growth of sports betting companies? – The chapter to follow will outline the methodological approach undertaken to support this study.


Chapter 3.3.1 Chapter Overview:Chapter Three looks to present the methodological approach that will be used in order to generate a rationale for the research methods used, whilst taking into account and discussing the ethical considerations for this research.

3.2 Methodology:As mentioned in section 1, this study will be conducted using a grounded mixed-method approach, using qualitative research in order to gain findings aswell as a multiple case study approach. Studies surrounding this area of research are of a relatively recent nature and are becoming recurrent in order to keep up with the modern age we live in; in order to understand social media as an adopted marketing technique. There have been many studies already previously conducted, but none focusing on the way a sports betting company utilises their social media accounts. In sports betting PaddyPower dominate in terms of the way they use their social media, with the way in which they have created an online personality that appeals to its consumers.

3.2.1 Research Design:The design of this study is based around answering the question - How does the use of social media affect growth of sports betting companies? - For the purpose of this study, a multiple-case study approach will be undertaken. This will be in order to analyse the three selected sports betting companies (PaddyPower, SkyBet and Ladbrokes) in close detail. When conducting case study research, we draw from the work of Yin (2003) who defined case study research as a social science methodology that is implemented in real-life scenarios in order to understand or discover a phenomenon. Sports marketers however interpret that definition into an exploratory research technique used in sports marketing to intensively investigate a situation (Zikmund, 1991). Therefore, the decision to use a case study approach is justified, as the purpose of this study is to answer the following question - How does the use of social media affect growth of sports betting companies? – hoping to uncover the phenomenon surrounding how growth of sports betting companies is affected by social media.

3.2.2 Case Study Approach:In order to complete a multiple-case study, there is a five phase model outlined by Yin (2003). Phases one and two surround the design of the case study, phase three involves collecting evidence, phase four is where all analysis is carried out and phase five is where the findings and discussion take place. Within this model, there are three types of research to choose from; explanatory, exploratory and descriptive (Maylor & Blackmon, 2005). For this study I will be using the explanatory approach; in order to explain insight into how sports betting companies growth is affected by social media. In using this whole methodology, it allows the utilisation of its advantages, these being: case study approach allows insight through a variety of perspectives, allows multiple sources of evidence to be used; to which combined allow the in-depth study and analysis of a phenomenon by narrowing down what was a broad topic area (Yin, 2003. Andrew, Pedersen & McEvoy, 2011). There are however,


some disadvantages to a case study approach. Chaplin (1997) explained that although case study approach is a social science, the approach does however have a troubled history in social science as its scientific merit is contested; case studies can also be time consuming and costly (Shuttleworth, 2008).

It is important to remember that using a case study approach is unable to be generalised into a whole market, but can be seen to provide a valid insight into a specific part of that market such as sports betting which this study is aimed at.

3.2.3 Case Study Design: Phase one:

Phase one of the research design was designed to uncover whether social media can affect growth within the sports betting market, thus providing a theoretical background to the study and justification for its focus. In order to carry this out, document and journal analysis was implemented in order to create a database for the three chosen cases; to include as much information as possible. Reliable sources such as marketing journals (International Journal of Sport Communication) and social media analysis sites. Each article was analysed with key points identified and any themes or emerging patterns were highlighted. The database used in this study is inclusive of studies/articles/documents surrounding the use of social media by the three organisations chosen.

Phase two:

This phase allowed the identification of the theoretical implications to using social media. From conducting this phase, areas such as social media strategy, marketing and consumer behaviour and relationships were uncovered. This nature of identifying these areas were designed to portray the role in which social media can play within an organisation and how the development of marketing principles has led to evolving nature of social media. The analysis of his data was based on grounded theory methodology (Glaser & Strauss, 1967); which allowed the emergence of trends and areas for interpretation.

Phase three:

From the analysis carried out in phases one and two, the purpose of this research design was to allow the development of a framework for the data and analysis gathered, ensuring the aims and objectives were met in order to answer the research question. For this, a multiple-embedded case study approach was utilised. There were three case studies constructed to allow the role of social media in their organisation and how it affected growth to be analysed. This analysis was conducted in phase four of the research design.

Phase four:

The purpose of phase four of the research design was to take the data and previous analysis gathered in the previous phases, in order to be able to discuss and critically analyse it; uncovering whether or not growth is affected by social media within sports betting companies. The three case studies conducted consisted of only secondary data (from journals, articles etc.) therefore an explanatory case study research approach was undertaken in order to understand the ‘how’ within the research question of this study (Maylor & Blackmon, 2005; Yin, 2003).


Phase five:

The chosen methodological design was seen as the most beneficial for this study to be conducted and allow a contribution to existing research, there was an option to conduct a larger case study analysis, including more organisations in order to gain extensive detail into social media in sports betting and a more in-depth analysis. Other methods would have allowed a greater generalisability to the study, however the chosen approach has allowed for a more contextual representation.


Chapter 4.Chapter Overview: This chapter presents and analyses the key findings of this study. Drawing from the case study analysis, the chapter seeks to understand the ways in which the chosen sports betting companies use their social media accounts and the implications it has on their business. This chapter also seeks to uncover successful and failed attempts made by these companies to be used for analysis.

4.1 Case Study ONE: PaddyPowerPaddyPower are one of the powerhouses in sports betting and are the market leaders in terms of social media marketing. From secondary sources of research it is clear that there was something very unique in the way they operated online. They are a heavily customer orientated organisation, which has enable them to create a mischievous brand personality, that is readily available to its customer base and challenges perception via the brands personality, allowing them to differentiate from the competition. This adaptation of social media however, creates a paradigm shift in power from the organisation to the customer, meaning the customer is in control of the engagement with the organisation (Cooke, 2014).

PaddyPower have incorporated the “anywhere, anytime” aspect into their social media strategy. They do this by adopting a 24-hour/7 days a week approach as this allows them to be in constant communication with their customers. This enables the organisation to build strong relationships via social media because they are able to interact with customers in the customers preferred channel at a time and place that suits them; in fact, the customer is able to choose how and when they engage with PaddyPower and this leads to more frequent communication. This is what customers appear to want from an organisations social media account, a way to interact as if they were having a one-on-on conversation and from this they have aimed to secure brand loyalty by always being connected to their customer base.

The customer orientated nature of PaddyPower is evidenced in previous campaigns (of which they can have hundreds running at any one time) on Facebook such as the “We hear you” strategy, in which they used their social media account to find any issues and then based a strategy around solving this, thus catering to the customers wants, needs and desires. From this it is clear that PaddyPower have grasped the understanding of their market and are capable of delivering quality strategies to match.

The way in which PaddyPower presents itself on social media is unique. They are mischievous in nature as they are constantly pushing the acceptable boundaries in social engagement; this differentiation is heavily incorporated in their strategy. It is evident in the themes of PaddyPower’s social media posts/campaigns, mischievous, disruptive and controversial; to which they maintain and keep consistent. In doing so, the organisation creates the perception that they are more of an entertainment brand and a place where the customer can have fun. It is evident in the way their social media accounts are used that they portray themselves as more of a singular person communicating, rather than an organisation pushing sales.

The content of their posts on social media and the personality this creates for their brand is crucial to the success of PaddyPower, they keep it short, to the point and easy to digest and


because of this some researchers have argued that they have achieved content strategy perfection (Vale, 2014).

Furthering on from the point of PaddyPower adopting a customer orientated social media strategy. They encourage social interaction and engagement via constant innovation of their social media strategy; the creation of apps and online real-money betting games on Facebook allow them to do this efficiently (Farey-Jones, 2015). PaddyPower use a lot of customer analytics through their social media platforms in order to further understand their customers, thus enabling them to listen and act upon current campaign responses, allowing them to attract new customers and further build on the relationship they hold with current ones, whilst actively encouraging participation (Corry, 2012).

The way in which PaddyPower measure campaign success is unique as its not solely based on profit margins. They measure campaign success via media impressions (broadcast, online and print coverage), but more so on the amount of social buzz a campaign creates. They can attribute to some of their online success to their early presence in the online and social media market, they are one of the few organisations that seemed to have anticipated and planned for digital evolvement, allowing them to gain a competitive advantage (Lauchlan, 2014).

4.2 Case Study TWO: SkyBetSkyBet are another giant in sports betting and are heavily involved in social media, making it one of their key marketing strategies. They use their social media accounts in order to encourage online sales through the use of traditional marketing methods in an attempt to attract and retain their customer base. This is carried out through identifying trends and continuous online development, aswell as making themselves readily available to customers.

SkyBet continue to use traditional push marketing methods as their main social media strategy in order to attract and retain customers. This push method allows them to highlight current offers and promotions they have and broadcast it to their customer base. This type of content is still tailored to their customers, with campaigns such as “New Customer Offers” or “Existing Customer Offers”. Doing this allows Skybet to develop and maintain their relationship they have with their customers (Chalwin, 2013).

Thanks to developments in technology social media allows SkyBet to be in constant communication with their customers. This allows the organisation to change and adapt strategies based on responses generated to existing ones. This shows a paradigm shift in power between SkyBet and their customers; with the customer having all the power as they now choose when and how to interact with an organisation (Chalwin, 2013; Cooke 2014).

Social media is a great tool for analysing a market in order to gets customer feedback on campaigns, to which SkyBet utilise to identify trends in the market or in consumer behaviour. This enables them to accommodate to the wants, needs and desires of their customer (Chalwin, 2013) in order to create high impact social media campaigns and shift focus onto the quality of these campaigns. In reference to SkyBet’s campaigns, they collaborate with marketing agencies such as Adobe in order to make use of their analysis tools and services in order to best tailor campaigns (Adobe Marketing Cloud 2013).


4.3 Case study THREE: LadbrokesLadbrokes are the most recognised sports betting organisation in the market, however they were later in utilising social media as a marketing tool. They use their social media accounts in order to develop customer online experience, understand and develop relationships in order to drive customer satisfaction. There is a notable paradigm shift in power as the customer becomes more in charge of what they want from an organisation and when they interact with them.

The building and maintaining of relationships with customers is a key part of Ladbrokes social media strategy. They adopt an always on online approach so that their customers are able to contact them whenever required, whilst allowing the organisation to post and push promotions more frequently. This also enables them to further understand the market in order to cater to the needs and wants of their customer through targeted marketing campaigns. With this strategy they are also able to handle and resolve any complaints or help requests made via social media more efficiently (Benjamin, 2012).

Ladbrokes are investing heavily into technological development aspects of their strategy, as they were late to react to the change in consumer behaviour of wanting everything online and easily accessible. This investment aims to move away from being solely focused on profits and help drive customer satisfaction to which, they incorporate a unique unified experience across all of their social media platforms. In doing this, it gives the customer a sense of consistency and validity to their campaigns (Benjamin, 2012) Furthering this they create specific online content such as quiz’s and polls in order to encourage customer participation (Admedia, 2014)

4.4 Case Study Summary:After conducting these three case studies, which allowed an insight into how different organisations (from within the same market) use their social media accounts to generate growth, there were key similarities and differences in strategies implemented.

In looking at the three case studies, a key similarity of a heavily customer orientated strategy emerged. All three cases showed that the customer was at the forefront of their social media strategies; from acquiring new customers to maintaining existing customers. These strategies all had similar trends and that was to cater to the needs, wants and desires of their customer and one of the ways they attempted that was to make themselves readily available, adopting an “always on” approach. This allowed the customer access to each organisation via social media anytime and anywhere. This strategy allows the response time from the organisation to be quicker and more efficient, in hopes to drive customer satisfaction.

Another similar strategy was targeted content design. In implementing this strategy it allowed the organisations to create and develop content that was relevant to their customers; as this would encourage participation and interaction. The targeted approach enabled a more personal relationship between the organisations and their customers. In doing this it creates strong, lasting relationships which can be acquitted to brand loyalty; which is vital in such a saturated market.

There are however, clear differences in strategy as expected from the three case studies. A key difference would be the way in which each organisation reacted to changing consumer behaviour. PaddyPower were strongest at this as they had implemented a development strategy which enabled them to be at the forefront of social media use. SkyBet were more


reactive to the change due to having no strategy in place ready to deal with the surge in social media usage. Ladbrokes appeared to be the slowest as they have been heavily investing in technology in order to keep up with their competitors. PaddyPower were therefore able to utilise the fact they were at the forefront and amass a huge social media presence compared to their competitors.

The way in which the organisations used their accounts was different, PaddyPower used their accounts for more entertainment value whereas SkyBet and Ladbrokes used theirs to push promotions and an aspect of direct selling to their customer. This ties in with the nature of their social media campaigns, with the mischievous PaddyPower again opting for the more fun, entertaining approach to social media marketing. This can however be attributed to a certain unique selling point of each company, as they are all different in nature.


Chapter 5.Chapter Overview:This Chapter presents the conclusions of this study, highlighting key points for a successful social media strategy in order to attain growth. This Chapter discusses future directions for this study and concludes with recommendations for best practice in using social media.

5.1 Conclusion and recommendations

The use of social media as a marketing tool to affect growth represents a significant opportunity for organisations, especially within sports marketing. The increasingly evolving nature of social media along with changes in consumers communication habits has increased its popularity, it has in effect become word-of-mouth communication within the digital age; allowing organisations that utilise it to capitalise on the vast customer reach it possesses.

The use of social media has huge implications for an organisation as it is, for many consumers, the most visible aspect of a brand. Those that are effective in the use of their social media can create a strong persona that consumers can identify with, encourage interaction and are able to develop customer relationships that drive brand loyalty. However not all social media interactions are of a positive nature the wrong campaign; careless use of words, failing to understand your consumers or not being in tune with consumer sentiment can damage a brand; fortunately there are ways in which negative implications can be remedied. From research carried out within the case studies, there are two approaches in which social media marketing can drive business growth. The first is to use accounts to create a brand persona that consumers can identify with, is engaging and delivers a benefit such as entertainment, a sense of fun, or provides something that consumers can share with their friends. This is the approach that PaddyPower have enjoyed great success from following; this success being measured in regards to social buzz and online activity. The other approach would be the way in which SkyBet and Ladbrokes use their accounts as a media channel primarily for promotional purposes; being able to communicate offers directly to their audience anytime and anywhere. Both of these approaches serve the purpose of attaining growth and outlined within the case studies have had aspects of success.

The advancement of social media allows organisations to communicate with their customers on a constant basis and on a much more personal level as the social media users are sharing useful personal information; their preferences, likes and dislikes and their location to name a few. Organisations can use this information to drive their relationship marketing on a much more personal level and deliver content that is more relevant to create and maintain strong relationships. In a saturated market, such as Sports Betting customer retention is key as there are many competitors for customers to choose from. Strong relationships will drive brand loyalty, and ultimately advocacy, so are a key goal for successful organisations. Social Media Marketing and relationship Marketing can work hand-in-hand to drive not just acquisition of new customers but the development of loyal customers that are often the primary source of business revenue.

Successful organisations have understood that social media, the proliferation of digital devices and a change in consumer’s media consumption has created a paradigm shift towards the customer holding the power within the relationship. It is now the customer who


can pick and choose the time and place that is most convenient for them to engage and interact with an organisation, they have the freedom to move quickly between competitors and can, through social media, express their dissatisfaction with an organisation to thousands of followers within a few seconds In this era of customer empowerment organisations must be creative and considered in their use of social media, the persona they create and the campaigns they deliver in order to encourage consumers to engage with them and ultimately spend with them"

5.2 Contribution to Knowledge:As previously mentioned throughout this study, social media has been described as a new marketing concept by fellow researchers and academics. This has led to discussions surrounding the definition of the term. This study has sought to uncover a new definition for the term In order to allow future researchers to continue and expand upon. From this study we take the definition “social media can be defined as an online platform created for and used by regular people to freely use, express, publish and access information anywhere and anytime.” And add in “and organisations” to create the definition, social media can be defined as an online platform created for and used by regular people and organisations to freely use, express, publish and access information anywhere and anytime. This addition to the definition is due to this research specifically focusing on the way an organisation uses its social media accounts and therefore it means that it’s not just “people” as a singularity that are using it.

5.3 Future Direction: If this study was to be taken further or conducted in a different manner, the use of primary research would be a worthy addition. This would be to gain an understanding from the industry experts or a business representative through interviews. This would add to the existing knowledge gained and could even shape it further in hopes to narrow down a specific answer.


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7.0 Appendices:

Appendix A: PaddyPower Case Study Database Notes

Linkhumans.com “How PaddyPower uses social media”

- Use social media to entertain their target market- Short, to the point and easily digestible content – some researchers believe they

have achieved content strategy perfection- Have amassed great understanding of their market - Interact with users of a personal level; the use of twitter allowing them to become

more frequent in engagement- Adopt an open, friendly natured online persona that interacts with consumers as they

are a person not an organisation, being called “Paddy”- Themes of their social media campaigns are consistent; Mischief (generates social

buzz), disruptive (putting their own spin on a story) and controversy (constantly pushing the boundaries)

- Measure their campaign success via media coverage (broadcast, online and print) aswell as how much social buzz is created on social media

- Most say their strategy is the “winning formula to social media”

Marketing Magazine; Daniel Forey-Jones (2015) “Paddy’s record results show the power of marketing”

- PaddyPower claim a 28% growth in online customer acquisition - They push the boundaries in social engagement- World Cup publicity stunt and Stephen Hawkins’ study generated around 148,000

new online customers in under 4 weeks- Rainbow laces campaign for homosexual footballers; generated double the amount

of social media impressions- Did have to shut down/rename in-play betting games on Facebook

Taylorherring.com “Skyjacking the Ryder Cup: PaddyPower take twitter to the skies

- Ryder Cup ambush – putting customer tweets into the sky via planes; visible to millions

- “sky tweeting became the most successful ambush marketing campaign ever”- This stunt trended on twitter twice – over 68,000 mentions- Increased social footprint by 3.6%

SBC Case Study: Sam Cooke (2014) “PaddyPower – social inspection”

- Use social media to entertain and shock customers- Use twitter to engage more frequently and promote betting promotions- Main focus is online marketing – development of apps allows a reach to an extensive

audience- 2008-2012 online betting industry rose in value by 80%- Aim for brand loyalty, completely connected to consumers via social media - Innovative nature to their social media strategy – real money betting game on

Facebook – encouraging social interaction- Often controversial, which is ideal for PaddyPower as they view all media as good

media whether its of a positive/negative nature doesn’t matter to them


- Embraced the digital world quicker and more efficient than their rivals

David Moth @ Econsultancy

- Marketing strategy is aimed to be of a controversial nature- Constantly innovating their marketing strategy - View themselves as an entertainment brand- Measure effectiveness via media coverage across all platforms- Have failed attempts at campaigns- SEE CHART FOR DETAILS

John Divitt (2012)

- They set clear goals; aren’t afraid to fail- Supported by experts- Aim to target the right consumer at the right time to get them to convert- Accept that being social is about being social - They stay on top of their product and expect change constantly - Use social media as a marketing partner in order to leverage their consumer studies- Built a strategy around social engagement - Listen and act upon consumer responses to their current campaigns (understanding

of their market)

Will Corry (2012) “PaddyPower’s approach to paid social – goals set and where social fits into their marketing mix”

- Helped by partnering with marketing agencies in order to design and execute a campaign

- Can have hundreds of campaigns running at once

Creative Brief: Crispin Porter & Bogusky

- Mischievous in nature- Gives the punters a voice in a saturated market to target their wants and needs- “We hear You” slogan- Have enjoyed an increased amount of online growth and follower/like counts

Stuart Lauchlan (2014): “PaddyPower’s digital marketing gamble scores in World Cup campaign”

- Focused on securing and maintaining customers- Heavy use of customer analytics- Focus on social media outreach- Got involved and planned for digital evolvement leading them to be successful in the

multi-channel world

Andy Vale (2014): “PaddyPower: hard work behind the most fun job in social media”

- Constantly having trending topics- Base campaigns around what consumers are talking about/relating to/mega sporting

events- Adopts an always on approach (24/7)- Work around the clock to create content based on breaking news


ADMEDIA:

- Not just an online business, they do have domestic campaigns in operation in high street stores and other local areas in order to encourage the use of their online aspects.

Appendix B: SkyBet Case Study Database Notes

Marketing Magazine; Emma Chalwin (2013) “customers are king in the digital world”

- Use social media to identify trends- Respond via social media – create close relationships- Tailor their content- Development of apps and social media pages- Used to attract and maintain customers for low costs- Target high impact social campaigns allowing a focus on content quality- Always available

Adobe Marketing Cloud:

- Uses traditional marketing to drive new customer traffic to online- Reacted to changes in consumer behaviour- Campaigns for new customers and the retention of existing ones- Incorporate the use of Adobe solutions and Adobe social – use the data from these

to create campaigns

Appendix C: Ladbrokes Case Study Database Notes

Content marketing association:

- Creating new campaigns in order to get consumers to interact online with them (via quiz’s and polls)

Aditi technologies and Ladbrokes: “Digital transformation case study)

- Anytime anywhere approach- Ability to constantly release content- Improve quality- Unified experience across all platforms- Understanding customer behaviour- Build relationships- Resolve complaints quicker and more efficient- Personalise content- Enjoy global online growth

“Ladbrokes corporate responsibility report 2013)

- Understand customer satisfaction- Heavily invest in technology specialists in order to understand online product better- Drive customer experience- Continued development online- Create relatable campaigns

Marketing magazine: Kim Benjamin (2012) “Brand health check: Ladbrokes”


- Slower to catch up in the digital and online era- Has been costly to implement in the start-up- Retention scheme is solely focused on price/odds- Remedy: engage more via social media – encourage online play rather than high-

street shops- Understand the changing nature of its customer- Remedy: focus on differentiation – analyse the target market more efficiently –

encourage a more lively innovative nature.


dissertation - social media marketing

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