Comparison of social media interactions with fans and followers of FC Tokyo, Monterrey Rayados and...

7/28/2019 Comparison of social media interactions with fans and followers of FC Tokyo, Monterrey Rayados and FC Spartak

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ComparisonofsocialmediainteractionswithfansandfollowersofFC

Tokyo,MonterreyRayadosandFCSpartakMoscowthroughFacebook,

TwitterandYouTube

Author:SebastianoMereu

Contact:@sebinomics(Twitter)Dateofpublishing:11April2013

Publishedatwww.90minutesjapan.com

Introduction

Footballisaglobalphenomenonthatcanbeenjoyedwithoutgeographicalboundaries.Clubsanywhereintheworldentertainaudiencesinstadiums,onTV,andthrough

differentproducts,andtrytospreadtheirbrandwhileinteractingwithpeopleof

interestononlinechannels.Someclubsdoitmoreeffectivelythanothersandcanthereforeprovidemorefertilegroundfortheirbrandtoengagefansandprospective

customers(Brownetal.,2007).

Certainclubsenjoytheloyaltyoflegionsoffansinonepartoftheworld,whereasthey

areratherunknowninotherregions.Furthermore,itseemsobviousthatinthe21stcentury,fansandfollowersareorganizedthroughsocialmediaplatformsuchas

Facebooktoovercomegeographicalbarriers(Zhang,2010).However,withoutproperincentivesbytheclub,socialmediacanonlyprovidelimitedpossibleinteractionand

flowofinformation.

Aninformaldiscussionheldinearly2013byinternationalaficionadosoftheJ.Leagueon

TwitterprovedthatinternationalfanssharetheopinionthatinformationonJapanese

footballinEnglishisratherscarce.SoontheassumptionwasmadethatclubsoutsideofJapandoabetterjobatspreadinginformationabouttheclubandinteractingwithfans.

Thatassumptionwasthestepping-stoneforthehypothesisofthisresearch:

ProfessionalfootballclubsoutsideofJapanaremoreengagedininteractionswith

fansandfollowers,becausetheyusesocialmediachannelsmoreeffectively.

Methodology

Theanswertotheresearchquestion,AreprofessionalfootballclubsoutsideofJapanmoreengagedininteractionswithfansandfollowers?wastobefoundbyfocusingthe

researchonthreeclubsthathavesimilarchancestoreachandengagewithpeoplein

theirrespectivemetropolitanareasthroughcommunitymanagementanddifferentmediachannelsnation-wide.Thefollowingfactorswereconsideredtoprovidesimilar

chancestoeachfootballclub:

Populationofthecountryandhomecity Capacityofhomestadium Accesstothesamesocialmediachannels(Facebook,TwitterandYouTube) Allcommunicationtofansandfollowersistobedoneintheclubsdomestic

language


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Inordertocomparethreeclubsoperatinginsimilarcircumstances,clubsfromcountries

withasimilarsizeinpopulationandGDPneedtobechosen.Afterconsultingalistofcountriesrankedbypopulation(Wikipedia,2013)clubsfromRussia,JapanandMexico

withcountrypopulationsof143million(Russia),127million(Japan)and112million

(Mexico)respectivelywerechosen.Thecountriesareranked9th(Russia),10th(Japan),

and11th(Mexico).Theabove-mentionedcountrieswereranked3rd(Japan),10th(Russia)and14th(Mexico)intermsofGDPbytheUnitedNations(2012),whichcanbe

arelativemeasurethatfootballfansandconsumersingeneralhavesimilarpossibilitiestoaccessandenjoyfootballintheirrespectivecountries.TheFIFA/Coca-ColaWorld

Rankingwasnotconsideredforthisresearch,sincetherankingfocusesonnationalteamsandisanirrelevantfactorforthiscomparison.

Requirements

Requirementsthathadtobemetforaclubtoqualifyforthecomparison:

Competinginatop-tierdivisionsince2012 Citypopulationlargerthan1millioninmostrecentcensusfigures Stadiumcapacitylargerthan20,000 OfficialcommunicationchannelsonFacebook,TwitterandYouTubeindomestic

language;domesticlanguagenotbeingEnglish

Thecomparisonrequiresaclubtobecompetinginatop-tierdivisionsince2012to

makesureallclubsreceivethemaximumamountoffootballadvertisingandpromotion

intheirhomemarket.Inaddition,aclubisrequiredtouseFacebook,TwitterandYouTubeasonlinecommunicationplatformsintheirdomesticlanguagetoqualifyfor

thecomparison.Thechoicefellontheabove-mentionedplatforms,becauseFacebookandTwitterarethemostpopuloussocialnetworksasofMarch2013(eBizMBA,2013)

andeasilyaccessibleinmanycountries.YouTubeisconsideredtobeamust-useplatformforanyorganizationpublishinginformation.StatisticsshowthatYouTubereachestrafficof4billionviewsperday(Perez,2012),whichprovesthattheplatform

canbringalotofweighttotheonlinecommunicationmixofanorganization.Theother

requirementswerechosenrandomlyforguidance.

Choicesforthethreeclubsweremaderandomlyaftervisitingofficialclubwebsitesandotheronlinesources.Afterscanningvariousonlinesourcestheconclusioncouldbe

drawnthatmanyJ.Leagueteamslackengagementinabove-mentionedsocialmedia

platforms.ThismadeitimpossibletochooseoneofthemorepopularandsuccessfulJ.Leagueclubsforthisresearch.Therefore,thechoicefellonaclubthathasneverwon

theJ.LeaguesDivision1championshipandonlyparticipatedintheAFCChampionsLeagueonceintheirprofessionalcareer:FCTokyo.However,duetothelocationoftheclubandthefactthattheiraverageattendanceintheirhomestadiumhasbeencounting

morethan22,000peoplepermatchsince2001,exceptfor2011whentheclubwasrelegatedtoJ.LeagueDivision2,thesemightgivesomeextraleveragetothepossibility

ofcommunicationwiththeirfansandfollowers.

MoreteamsinRussiaandMexicometallthesetrequirementsforthisresearch.Japan

seemstolagintotalsocialmediaparticipation(Delo,2012),whereasRussianand

Mexicanclubsseemtobemoreopentowardsnewmedia.


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Engagement

Allengagementfiguresweregathereduntil25March20138:00PMCentralEuropeanTime(CET)forFacebookandYouTube,and6:40PMCETforTwitterrespectivelyand

wereanalyzedfortheperiod15to25March2013.

FacebookFour(4)metricswerechosentoevaluatethesocialmarketingreachandpersonalinvolvementwithFacebookfansinconversations:postsbytheofficialclubfanpage,likes,comments,andshares(Munn,2013).Allfiguresweregatheredseparatelyfora

moreaccurateanalysis.Thenatureofthecontentoftheposts(picture,video,advertizing,etc.)anditsqualitywerenotconsidered.

Twitter

ThemetricforthelevelofengagementonTwitterisofdifferentnaturethantheonefor

Facebook.Insteadofmeasuringtheengagementlevelofthefanstowardstheclub,the

researchonTwitterwantstogatherinformationofhowtheclubsengagewiththeir

followers.Thereasonisbasedontimeconstraintsforthisresearchandtheaccessibilityofthenecessarydata.

TomeasuretheengagementperformanceoftheclubswithfollowersonTwitter,three

(3)metricswithoutboundcharacteristicswerechosen:retweetsbytheofficialclubaccount,mentionsofotherTwitteraccountsintweets,andrepliesbytheclubaccountto

tweetsbyothers.Itisessentialforabrandtolistentothecommunityandrespondwith

usefulandrelevantcontent(Wilson,2013).Allfigures(forretweets,mentions,andreplies)weresummedupinonenumber,sinceanykindofengagementonTwitteris

presentedverysimilarformatinanytweet.Hence,creatingonefigurethataggregatesthelevelofengagementistherightthingtodointhecaseofTwitter.

YouTube

YouTubedoesnotprovideeasyaccesstotheamountoflikesandcommentsofvideosin

theformofalist.Videoshavetobeaccessedindividually,whichwouldhavemadethe

workloadforthisresearchunbearableinregardtothetimeconstraint.Therefore,theassessmentoftheengagementlevelwasrestrictedtolikesandcommentsofthethree(3)

mostpopularvideosofeachclubsindividualYouTubechannel.Forthisresearchthefollowingthreefactorswerenotconsidered:dislikes,dateofuploadofthevideos,and

possiblegeographicrestrictions.

Tab.1:Requirementstobemetforresearchcomparison

FCTokyo ClubdeFtbolMonterrey FCSpartakMoscow

Competingin

top-tiersince

2012

(J.LeagueDivision1)

1960

(LigaMXPrimeraDivisin)

1978

(RussianPr.Leaguesince2001)

Citypopulation13,185,502

(TokyoMetropolis)

4,080,329

(Metro)11,510,097

Stadiumcapacity50,100

(AjinomotoStadium)

32,854

(EstadioTecnolgico)

78,360

(LuzhnikiStadium)

OfficialFacebook facebook.com/fctokyo facebook.com/rayadosoficial facebook.com/fcspartak

OfficialTwitter twitter.com/fctokyo_express twitter.com/RayadosCom twitter.com/fcsm_official

OfficialYouTube youtube.com/fctokyochannel youtube.com/rayadosoficial youtube.com/FCSMofficial


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AnalysisandDiscussion

Communicationthroughonlinechannelsisessentialtokeepfansandfollowersinvolved

withabrandandmakesurevaluableinformationisspreadacrossdifferentmedia

channels(Scarborough,2013).Themostpopularsocialmediachannelstodayare

FacebookandTwitterwithestimated750millionuniquevisitorspermonthinthecaseofFacebookand250millionuniquevisitorspermonthonTwitter(eBizMBA,2013).Furthermore,thesesocialnetworksareeasilyaccessibleindifferentcountriesandoffer

easyaccessthroughmobiledevices.

YouTube,currentlybeingthesecond-largestsearchengineontheweb,afterGoogle,

(Kostalampros,2013)isanotheronlinecommunicationchannel,whichsuccessfulorganizationscannotdowithout(Thaw,2007).Eventhoughtheplatformisnot

necessarilyusedasasocialnetworkbybrands,theembeddingoptiongivesYouTube

videosanultimateviralpotential,whichisessentialforanybrandthatwantstospreaditsaudio-visualcontentthroughouttheInternet(Lewis,2013).

Facebook:Analysis

AcloserlookattheFacebookbehaviorofourthreereferenceclubsandtheirfansshows

thatFCSpartakMoscowaccumulated469,219pagelikesuntil25March2013,followedbyMonterreyRayadoswith213,220likes,andFCTokyofarbehindbothofthemwith

9,234likes.However,onefactorthatwasnotconsideredhereiswhenexactlythe

Facebookfanpageforeachfootballclubwasstarted.Thiscouldhaveacertainimpactontheaccumulationoflikes,butisnotofimportanceforthisresearch,sincethefocusof

theresearchlieswiththeengagementleveloftherespectivechannelsinthetime-span

of10days.

ToexplorethesocialmarketingreachandpersonalinvolvementwithFacebookfansinconversationsinthetimeperiodbetween15and25March2013,thefollowingfour(4)metricswerechosen:

Postsbytheofficialclubfanpage

PostspublishedbytheadministratorofaFacebookfanpageareacrucialmarketing

communicationsinstrumentandthelifeandbloodofafanpage.Therightbalancebetweeninformation,entertainment,andeducationneedstobefoundforthebest

possibleuserexperience(Selwyn,2009).

FromtheclubschosenforthisresearchMonterreyRayadospublishedthemostposts

withinourgiventime-spanwith185outofanaccumulated220postsacrossallthreeclubs.Thenumberequatesto84percentofallpostspublishedbetweenthethreeclubs.

FCSpartakMoscowposted21posts(10percent)andFCTokyo14posts(6percent).

Likes

Facebookoffersthepossibilitytolikepublishedposts.The213,220fansofthe

MonterreyRayadosFacebookfanpageshowedmostengagementbyclicking116,060timesonalikebuttononapost.Thatequatesto96.25percentofalllikesgiventothe

threeanalyzedfanpages,giventhatthesumofalllikesamountsto120,588.The469,219fansoftheFCSpartakMoscowfanpagelikedtheclubsposts3,149times,which

translatesto2.6percentofthewhole;andtheengagementofFCTokyos9,234fans

reached1.14percent,or1,379likes.


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Comments

AnotherwayhowfanscanengagewiththeclubsFacebookfanpageisbycommentingonposts.MonterreyRayadoswereabletogenerate9,060commentsoverthe10daysof

thisresearch.Thisfiguretranslatesto96.43percentofthe9,395commentsinaggregate

writtentothethreeclubfanpagesunderanalysis.FCSpartakMoscowreceived328

comments(3.49percent)bytheirfansandFCTokyowasabletobringfanstocomment7times(0.07percent).

Shares

Facebookoffersuserstheoptiontosharepostswiththeirfriends,anditisinanyfanpageadministratorsinteresttohavetheirpostssharedandspreadacrossFacebookto

generatemorelikes,trafficandanyotherkindofengagement(Mustonen,2009).Asit

wasshowninthecaseoflikesonpostsandcomments,fansofMonterreyRayadossharedmostpostswiththeirfriendsonFacebook.Thetotalamountofsharesacrossall

clubsis9,113andMonterreyfansshared8,948(98.19percent)ofallposts.FCSpartak

Moscowwasabletomotivateitsfanstoshare161posts(1.77percent)andFCTokyo

merelyclicked4timesonthesharebutton,whichequatesto0.04percentofallpostsshared.

Facebook:Discussion

ThefiguresgatheredinFacebookforthisresearchshowthatahigheramountoffanpagelikesdoesnottranslateintoahigherengagementwithfans,inthiscase.The

FacebookfanpageofFCSpartakMoscowsports469,219likes,whichequateto67.84

percentbetweenthethreeclubs,butfanengagementinregardtolikesofposts,commentsandsharesareconsiderablylowerthantheengagementoffansofthe

MontereyRayadosFacebookfanpage,whoamountto213,220fans,or30.83percentbetweenthethreeclubs.WithlessthanhalfoftheamountoflikesofFCSpartak

Moscow,MonterreyRayadosareabletoleadtherankingwith96.25percentoflikesreceivedonall220postsacrossthethreereferenceclubs,96.43percentofcommentsreceivedonposts,and98.19percentofallsharedposts.

Nocorrelationbetweenfanpage-likesandfan-engagement

Thereisnocorrelationbetweenthefanpagelikesandtheengagementinthis

comparison.FCSpartakMoscowowns67.84percentofthe691,673likesinaggregate,buttheirlikesonposts,commentsandsharesonlyreachedandengagementof2.61,

3.49and1.77percentrespectively.Ontheotherhand,MonterreyRayadosreachedan

engagementofmorethan96percentinallmetricswithamere30.84percentoflikes.

Thisprovestobestronglyefficient,sinceMonterreyRayadospublished84percentofallposts,comparedtothe10percentofFCSpartakMoscowand6percentofFCTokyo.The

RussianandJapaneseclubspentlessresourcesinthepublishingoftheposts,butwhencomparedtotheiroutcomestheresourceswerewasted,sinceineffectivelyused.FC

Tokyopublished14posts(6percentofthewholesum)andgeneratedonly1.14percentofthelikesonposts,0.07percentcomments,and0.04percentofallshares.

Possiblecorrelationbetweenamountofpostsandfan-engagement

Apossiblecorrelationcanbefoundbetweentheamountofpostspublishedbya

Facebookfanpageandthefanengagement.Inthiscomparison,themorepostsare

publishedonapage,thehighertheengagementoffans.Therefore,moreopportunityforengagementshouldbecreated,ifhigherengagementratesaretobeattained.Onemight


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arguethattoomuchpostingmightupsetfans.Nonetheless,itprovedtobetheright

strategyinthecaseofthisresearch.

Tab.2:ComparisonFacebook


Fanpagelikes

(lifetime)9,234 213,220 469,210

%ofthesum 1.34 30.83 67.84

Postspublished

(15-25March)14 185 21

%ofthesum 6 84 10

Likesonposts

(15-25March)1,379 116,060 3,149

%ofthesum 1.14 96.25 2.61

Comments

(15-25March)7 9,060 328

%ofthesum 0.07 96.43 3.49

Shares

(15-25March)4 8,948 161

%ofthesum 0.04 98.19 1.77

Twitter:Analysis

TheprevioussectionportrayedFCSpartakMoscowastheclubwiththemostFacebook

fans,butwitharelativelylowlevelofengagementonthesocialnetworkincomparisontotheirMexicancounterpart,MonterreyRayados.FCTokyohasanirrelevantlevelof

engagementonFacebookcomparedtotheothertwoclubs.

TheanalysisonTwittershowsthatMonterreyRayadoshave196,159followers,which

translatesto55.97percentoffollowersacrossthethreeclubs.TheofficialTwitter

accountofFCSpartakMoscowisfollowedby106,930users(30.51percent)andFCTokyohasafollowingof47,386users,whichequatesto13.52percent.Thethreeclubs

tweeteda264tweetsinaggregateinthetimeperiod15to25March2013,withMonterreytweeting164times(62.12percent),FCSpartakMoscowsendingout90

tweets(34.09percent),andFCTokyopushingout10messages(3.79percent).

Theengagementlevelinthiscaseismeasureddifferentlythanintheprevioussection.

Insteadofmeasuringtheengagementoffanswithaclubsofficialchannel,asdoneintheFacebookanalysis,thisTwitteranalysisgathereddataonhowthethreereferenceclubsengagewiththeirfollowers.Theengagementfigureincludesalloutboundretweets,

mentionsandrepliesmultiplementionsinonetweetcountasone(1)bytheclubtotheTwitterplatformintheabove-mentionedtimeperiod.

MonterreyRayadosarethemostinteractingclubinthisTwittercomparisonwith120engagingtweets,whichtranslateto79.47percentofthe151timesoneofthethreeclubs

engagedinaconversationonTwitter.FCSpartakMoscowengaged31times(20.53

percent)andFCTokyodidnotengagewithanyone(0percent)insaidtimeperiod.


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Twitter:Discussion

Twitterisasocialnetworkthatreliesonconnectionsandengagementtofosterrelationshipsandmakeitmorefuntofollowabrand(Javaetal.,2007).Ifnoshout-outs

aremade,thentheTwitterfeedstaysafeedthatpushesoutinformationanddoesnot

turnintoaplacewhereatwo-wayonlinecommunicationtakesplace.Afteracloserlook

attheactivitiesoftheclubsonTwitter,itbecameapparentthatFCTokyoonlyusedtheirTwitteraccounttopushoutnewsarticlesandothernewsflashestothemasses.

MonterreyRayados,ontheotherhand,tweetmatchupdatesandarenotafraidtogetintouchwithfollowers.Thisrequiresmorecommitmentonthehumanresourcesside,

sinceareal-timeconversationshouldbeguaranteed,especiallyduringmatches.

Forone-waycommunication,socialmediamanagementsoftwaresuchasHootSuiteor

TweetDeckcanbeusedtoscheduleautomatedtweets(orFacebookupdatesetc.),whichcansupportthedailyjoboftheresponsiblepersonforonlinecommunications.

Nonetheless,thelevelofengagementfromtheclubtoitsfollowingisarguablythemost

essentialfactortoboostengagementfromfollowersbacktotheclub,andtherefore,itis

acrucialactivityforabrand(Kreutzeretal.,2010).

Tab.3:ComparisonTwitter


Tweets

(lifetime)1,227 22,180 9,802

%ofthesum 3.69 66.79 29.52

Tweets

(15-25March)10 164 90

%ofthesum 3.79 62.12 34.09

Followers(lifetime)

47,386 196,159 106,930

%ofthesum 13.52 55.97 30.51

Engagement

(15-25March)0 120 31

%ofthesum 0.00 79.47 20.53

YouTube:Analysis

FCSpartakMoscowhaspublished268YouTubevideossincetheystartedtheirchannel

on7July2010.Thatis53.39percentofthe502videospublishedamongthethreeclubs,

sincethefirstofthemjoinedYouTubein2011.MonterreyRayadosfollowshortlybehindwith197videos(39.24percent)publishedsince4October2010.FCTokyo

published37videos(7.37percent)sincetheinceptionofitschannelon20July2011.FC

SpartakMoscownotonlyuploadedmostvideos,theclubalsogatheredmostsubscribers(39,658/77.80percentofthewhole)andthehighestamountofviewsonalluploaded

videos(6,636,594/81.78percent).ThefiguresfortheMonterreyRayadosYouTubechannelamountto8,962subscribers(17.58percent)and1,268,443totalviews(15.63

percent).FCTokyoreached2,352subscribers(4.61percent)and210,041totalviews

(2.59percent).However,FCTokyojoinedYouTubeoneyearlaterthanFCSpartakMoscowandninemonthsafterMonterreyRayados,whichcanhaveanimpactonthe

numberofsubscriptionsandvideoviews.

Thelevelofengagementwasassessedbyanalyzinglikesandcommentsofthethree

mostpopularvideosofeachclubsYouTubechannel,withoutconsideringdislikes,date


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ofupload,andifthevideoswererestrictedtospecificregions.EventhoughFCSpartak

Moscowoutperformedbothotherclubsintheabove-analyzedmetrics,MonterreyRayadosgatheredmostlikesonthetopthreevideoswith2,070likes(52.73percentof

thewhole).However,FCSpartakMoscowwasnotfarbehindwith1,776likes(45.24

percent).FCTokyowasabletogather80likes(2.04percent),whereasitisimportantto

notethatone(1)oftheirtopthreevideoshadthelike-functiondisabled.

Inthecaseofcomment-engagement,userswhowatchedFCSpartakMoscowvideoscommented2,310times(69.45percent),whereasMonterreyRayadosreceived1,016

comments(30.55percent).PeoplewerenotabletocommentonanyofthetopthreeFCTokyovideos,becausetheclubsYouTubechanneladministratordisabledthecomments

function.

Tab.4:ComparisonYouTube


Videosintotal 37 197 268

%ofthesum 7.37 39.24 53.39

Subscribers

(lifetime)2,352 8,962 39,658

%ofthesum 4.61 17.58 77.80

Totalviewsonall

videos(lifetime)210,041 1,268,443 6,636,594

%ofthesum 2.59 15.63 81.78

Engagementon3mostpopularvideos(a)

Likes 80(b) 2,070 1,776

%ofthesum 2.04 52.73 45.24

Comments Commentsdisabled 1,016 2,310

%ofthesum 0.00 30.55 69.45

Datejoinedor1st

videoupload20July2011 4October2010 7July2010

(a)Restrictedtolikesandcommentsofthethree(3)mostpopularvideosofeachclubsYouTubechannel,withoutconsidering

thedislikes,whenthevideoswereuploaded,andifthevideoswererestrictedtospecificregions.(b)Onlytwo(2)outofthethree(3)mostpopularvideoshavethelike-functionon.

YouTube:Discussion

AccordingtoHalveyandKeane(2007),thenumberofsubscribersincreaseswith

respecttoviewsandthenfallsoffafteracertainpoint.Theyalsonotethatthenumberof

subscribersthataYouTubechannelhasincreaseswiththenumberofvideosuploadedontothechannel.Thecorrelationbetweentheamountofsubscribersourreference

clubshaveontheirrespectiveYouTubechannelsandtheamountoftotalviewsalso

existsinourcomparison.Hence,itishighlyrecommendabletouploadahighnumberofvideostogrowthesubscriberbaseandgeneratemoreviews.Withmoreviewsmore

opportunityforcommentingandlikingiscreated.

ThemetricthatstandsoutmostistheamountoflikesgiventotheMonterreyRayados

videos,whichishigherthantheamountgiventoFCSpartakMoscow,despiteallother


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Monterreymetricsbeinglower.Afairassumptioncouldbethatthetopthreevideosof

FCSpartakMoscowarelessemotionalandsparkedlesspositivereactionsthantheMonterreyRayadosvideos.Maybetheygeneratedmoredislikes;however,thatisa

metricnotcoveredinthisresearch.

Conclusion

Three(3)footballclubsfromdifferentcontinentswithsimilarmarketingandcommunicationopportunitiesintheirrespectivemarketswerechosentoassesstheir

engagementsandinteractionswithfansandfollowersonthreesocialmediaplatforms.

ThefootballclubsareFCSpartakMoscow,MonterreyRayadosandFCTokyo,andthesocialmediaplatformsanalyzedforthisresearchareFacebook,TwitterandYouTube.

Afterdecidingonasetofrequirements,whichhadtobemetbyeachclubtoqualifyfortheresearch,individualengagementmetricsforeachsocialmediaplatformwere

elaboratedanddatawasgatheredforengagementlevelsinthetime-span15-25March

2013.

ThenatureoftheengagementanalysisonFacebookwasbasedonhowfansreactto

updatesbytheclubontheirrespectiveFacebookfanpages.TheanalysisforTwitterengagementwasbasedonhowtheclubtriestoengagewithfollowersbyretweeting,

replyingandmentioningotherTwitterusers.ThenatureoftheengagementonYouTubewasassessedbyhowmanylikesandcommentsthethreemostpopularYouTubevideos

ofeachindividualclubhavegeneratedsincetheirdateofupload.

Facebook

TherearetwomainfindingsintheFacebookanalysis.Firstly,theresearchshowedthat

thereisnocorrelationbetweentheamountoffanpage-likesofourchosenclubsandfan-engagement.FCSpartakMoscowhad469,210likes,butneverreachedmorethan

3.49percentofengagementincomparisontotheothertwoclubs,whereasMonterreyRayadosalwaysreachedmorethan96percentofengagementwithonly213,220page

likes.

Thesecondfindingisthatthereisapossiblecorrelationbetweentheamountoffanpage

postsandfan-engagement.MonterreyRayadosposted84percentofallpostsacrossthe

threeanalyzedfanpagesandreceivedmorethan96percentofengagementacrossallmeasuredmetrics.FCSpartakMoscowpublished10percentofthepostsandreached

faninvolvementofaround3percentonallmetrics.

Twitter

TheTwitteranalysisshowedthattheMonterreyRayadosaccountisthemostactivecomparedtoFCTokyoandFCSpartakMoscow.TheMexicanclubtweetsmoremessages

thantheothertwoclubsandengagesexcessivelymorewithitsfollowers.Overthe

periodoften(10)days,Monterreyengagedin120tweets,whereasFCSpartakMoscowinvolveditsfollowersin31tweets,andFCTokyonotonce.Manycompanieshave

realizedbynowthatTwitterisatwo-waycommunicationtoolusedtoengagestakeholdersandspreadonesbrand(Rybalkoetal.,2010).Accordingtothisanalysis,

FCTokyousesTwitterasjustanothermediachanneltopushoutlinkstonewsinstead

ofusingitasatooltoconnectwithfansandpeopleofinterest.


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YouTube

DuringtheanalysisofthethreeYouTubechannels,itsoonbecameapparentthatFCTokyohasadifferentattitudetowardstheplatformthanthetwootherclubs.Allthree

mostpopularFCTokyovideoshavethecommentsoptiondisabledandoneofthevideos

hasalsotheratingoptiondisabled.Thisisaclearsignofcommunicationblockonthe

sideoftheclub,whichcandisgruntleviewers.Inaddition,FCTokyohasuploaded37videos,whichgenerated210,041views.

Incomparison,FCSpartakMoscowandMonterreyRayadosuploaded268and197

videosrespectively,andgenerated6.6millionand1.2millionviews.TheresearchshowsthatthemorevideosareuploadedontoaYouTubechannelthemoreusersareto

subscribeandthemorevideoviewsaregenerated.Itisthereforeadvisabletoproduce

andpublishasmanyvideosaspossible.

Inconclusion,wecansaythatMonterreyRayadosisthemostengaginganddialogue-

orientedclubofthethreeclubschosenforthiscomparison.Theymightnotnecessarily

havethefarthestreachinthefirstinstance,buttheyarestronginbuildingtieswithfansandfollowersthroughdialogueandseemtobeabletocontinuouslyengagethem.FCSpartakMoscowisstrongatgatheringmassesoffanpagelikers,subscribersand

followers,butlagsbehindMonterreywhenitcomestoactualengagement.FCTokyois

byfarthesttheleastinteractiveclubofourthreereferenceclubs.Bydisablingcommunicationoptionsandnotengagingwithfollowers,informationwillnotbecarried

ontothewebandcanthereforenotreachpeopleofinterest.

Communicationcanbelookedatfromaculturalpointofview,anditmightbeargued

thatMexicansaremoreoutgoingthanAsians,anditisthereforeeasierforthemtoengageinonlinedialogues.Suchananalysiswouldbedefinitelyofinterestforfurther

researchandcouldgivefurtherinsightsintothismatter.

Accordingtoourresearch,theanswerourresearchquestion,Areprofessionalfootball

clubsoutsideofJapanmoreengagedininteractionswithfansandfollowers?is:

Yes,professionalfootballclubsoutsideofJapanaremorecommittedandengaged

ininteractionswithfansandfollowers,becausetheyusesocialmediachannels

moreoftenandmoreeffectively.

Nonetheless,furtherresearchisneededtoassessthereasoninmoredetail.Possible

researchcouldincludeanevaluationoftheeffectculturehasonthecommunication

behaviorofclubswithadifferentculturalbackground,aswellasacomparisonoftheengagementlevelofclubsfromthesameleague.


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