Understanding the effect of social media marketing activities on football fans’ satisfaction and engagement: A study of Portuguese 2nd League Professional Football Clubs

Abstract

General use and acceptance of the Internet made social networks an indispensable means of communication between organizations and their target. Both individuals and companies create fan pages on online platforms, using them to interact with different receivers and develop personal and business opportunities. While many past studies have analyzed social media importance and growing acceptance, some questions related to the extension of social media platforms as marketing tools and their impact on brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and a relationship in time are still scarce. We want to continue this discussion by focusing on the impact of social media marketing activities on Facebook and football clubs' brand awareness, promoting fans' satisfaction and engagement. We seek to understand whether the Facebook pages of the Portuguese 2nd league football teams have an impact on satisfaction and on the quality of the relationship their fans develop with the club. This study reviews marketing literature on social media, focusing on Facebook, customer satisfaction, and engagement. To empirically test the effects of Facebook activities on fans' satisfaction and continuance intention, a structured questionnaire was applied to a sample of 272 participants, tested using SPSS Statistics version 24.0 and structural equation model - AMOS 24.0 for data analysis. Despite some limitations (sample and object of study), findings indicate that the majority of initiatives on social media marketing – Facebook- contribute in a positive way to supporters' satisfaction and engagement. Portuguese football club managers need to use Facebook as a way to communicate and promote lasting relationships with supporters.