Social Media and Digital Marketing in College Athletics ...

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Social Media and Digital Marketing in College Athletics Blake Newsock

Penn State University

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Introduction The digital shift is here and it is real. People are migrating from television to digital, they are utilizing mobile devices for entertainment and social media has become a powerful tool for strategic communications and athletic marketing departments to strengthen the brand and promote sports programs. Over the years, the NCAA has been implementing rules and regulations to create a fair and equal playing field. Regardless of the rules implemented, it could be argued that nothing has had more of an impact on leveling the playing field in collegiate athletics than social media and digital marketing. Using Division I Football Bowl Series (FBS) national championships over the last 148 years as a benchmark, the historical data indicates success on the field has been one sided in terms of teams winning national championships. The first NCAA football national championship was awarded in 1869 and since then, there have been 130 national championships won by a total of nineteen teams, "the power nineteen" (Richmond, 2015). This finding is significant because it suggests the game was one sided as it is related to the disproportion of FBS programs winning a national championship. Over the last few years, there has been a shift among teams winning national championships, which could be argued as a correlation with social media and digital marketing as primary communications and marketing strategies. Clemson football is a fine example of a program that is not in the traditional power nineteen who recently won the NCAA Division I FBS National Championship and has used social media and digital marketing as a key component, among their marketing strategies, to accomplish this objective. The Creative Services Department at Clemson has been recognized as one of the most influential and widely followed brands among social media in all of sports (Social 100, n.d.). They are an example of a program who understands the power and

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opportunities social media offers such as improving brand awareness, reaching new users such as fans and recruits, and their engagement with users has helped build strong relationships to build a successful program on and off the field. Over the last few years Clemson has been able to completely change their culture with regards to perception and brand recognition, build new and innovative facilities, and compete at the highest of levels. Clemson and their strategies will be discussed more in depth, although it is important to share an example of a program who uses social media and has been able to utilize the benefits associated with it to level the playing field.

The power and opportunities social media and digital marketing offers stretches beyond college football as we see corporate organizations, professional sports teams, and other college sports programs changing their communications strategies to maximize these opportunities. Thus, it is imperative that all college sports programs, such as softball, lacrosse, and all collegiate sports programs, recognize and incorporate social media and digital marketing in their marketing and communication strategies if they intend to compete at a high level, create positive outcomes for their student athletes, and create a culture that satisfies the needs of internal and external constituents.

The Digital Shift and Social Media There are many different forms of social media, ranging from social networking, microblogging, video sharing, blogs, photo sharing, audio sharing, and others. These different forms of social media are important for athletic departments and sports programs to understand because each medium is tailored to specific audiences with specific needs and can help build relationships across different platforms. According to Dixon et al. (2015) social media has been defined as the tools, platforms, and applications that enable consumers to connect, communicate, and collaborate with others through the distribution of media (physical, electronic, or verbal),

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concept (art or information), and social interface (intimate direct or community engagement) (Dixon et al., 2015). Social media creates the opportunity to exchange information from creator to user instantaneously and in a wide variety of ways, such as sharing of exclusive video content, graphics, photos, and news.

Looking at the rate at which technology has changed and gained popularity over the years, social media actually dates back to 1969 started by CompuServe followed by the first email being sent in 1971 (Marrouat, 2013). Even though social media has been around for many decades, it took a long time especially in terms of technological time to get to where it is today. Technological time is referring to Moore's Law which is a computing term originating in 1970 by Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel, who theorized processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers would double every two years (Moore's Law, n.d.). The iPhone created by Apple is a great real-world example of Moore's Law. The iPhone 7, which came out two years after the iPhone 6, doubled from 1 GB of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Random Access Memory (RAM) to 2 GB of GPU RAM (Kelly, 2016). For those who are developing video content, this expanded capacity is great news because as users are demanding the ability to multitask and watch high quality seamless videos such as 4K video, developers can distribute this content to users to meet their demands. The increased performance of a graphics processor compiled with a Wi-Fi and cellular processor, which is three times better than the iPhone 6, allows users to connect with friends, stream content at a fraction of buffering time and thus users are more likely to continue to demand more and more content ranging from video and photo, to news and updates from their favorite brands. These technological advancements are very interesting, especially as it relates to the popularity of social media.

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Using radio, TV, internet, IPod, and Facebook as a comparison in terms of changes in consumption and technological innovation, it took radio 38 years, television thirteen years, internet four years, and iPod three years to reach 50 million users, and it took Facebook less than nine months to reach 100 million users (Marrouat, 2013). As of 2014, Facebook is the most used mobile app with over 115 million users (Perez, 2014). By utilizing user app preferences as an example of user behavior combined with the fact that mobile app usage increased 52 percent from 2013 to 2014, it could be implied that Moore's Law should be considered when creating content and marketing strategies because technological innovation plays a role regarding the way and rate at which users consume information (Perez, 2014). Also, these data indicate that consumers are likely to continue to use social media via mobile devices resulting in more demand for timely news updates and digital content. Athletic programs, more now than ever, can reach users at a much faster rate than anything that has existed in the past because of user trends. This is significant because the opportunities to improve brand awareness, reach new users, and engage with current users are enhanced because of user behaviors, and thus it is important to account for user behavior trends and shifts in order to maximize opportunities.

An example of a powerful company in sports that has recognized the power of the digital shift as of recently was ESPN. Unfortunately for ESPN, user trends not only have evolved with regards to mobile consumption related to social media and app preferences, consumers have also been cutting cable and shifted to digital only television providers. According to Atkinson (2017), approximately fifteen million U.S. homes have broadband but do not pay for television packages and it is projected this will expand to 28 million U.S. homes by the year 2021 (Atkinson, 2017). Unfortunately, ESPN failed to forecast this trend or simply neglected to consider the power of technological innovation and user power and unfortunately, they had to cut budgets and layoff

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over 100 on-air personalities and writers as a response to this trend (Garcia & Pallotta, 2017). Therefore, a company that was valued at $50 billion in 2014, lost nearly $35 billion dollars over the last three years as a result of neglecting user demands. Among other things, users have much more power than they once had and it is imperative to recognize their needs in order to sustain and perform at a high level (Forbes, 2017).

Due to technological advances and changes in user behavior, online video streaming such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, sports apps such as Watch ESPN, and NBC Live Extra have enabled users to watch movies, shows, and sports wherever and whenever they want. Being able to watch videos via mobile apps are on the rise and according to Freier (2016), 48 percent of people view video content via mobile apps such as YouTube and Twitter. Also, adding to this statistic is the fact that 62 percent of consumers discover video content through YouTube, followed by social media at 33 percent, search results at 20 percent, and advertising at 14 percent (Freier, 2016). Freier (2016) also stated, 48 percent of millennials view videos solely on their mobile devices and 74 percent of millennials follow brands on YouTube which indicates that student athletes and recruits are more likely to receive a branded message or marketing promotion via videos directed through social media or video streaming platform via mobile devices (Freier, 2016). It is projected digital advertising is likely to increase due to the shift in consumer behavior and these data indicate users love to watch videos on demand using their mobile devices, indicating the importance of utilizing digital marketing strategies to promote athletic programs. The financial hardships at ESPN also imply large brands must acknowledge user trends and find ways to reach them in order to sustain and thrive. Therefore, financially successful programs such as Duke basketball, Alabama football, and others must recognize the shift in power from supplier to user.

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Social Media for Strategic Communications This rapid growth and change in sources of consumption from television and even desktop computers, to mobile devices indicates consumers are going to continue to demand for timely updates and content from their favorite brands. Based on research presented from Sukhraj (2016) 91 percent of mobile users felt ease of access to content was important; therefore, it is critical to have a plan in place that accounts for user needs and behaviors, including having a strategy and distribution plan in place that focuses on providing content to users rather than having them search for it (Sukhraj, 2016). As users continue to demand mobile content, the shift from traditional marketing advertising strategies, such as radio and print to digital advertising, such as video promotions, graphics, and photos directed towards mobile users, are likely to increase. Digital advertising offers many positives such as the ability to track user behavior through pixels or a tag which is described by Long (2016) "In the context of marketing/advertising tags and pixels, they are often collecting some information about the visitor to a website and their behavior on the site" (Long, 2016, para 7). Pixels or tags gauge user trends and reveal a wide range of data, such as what device consumers use to purchase products, at what time are they most likely to purchase, and if there is a hold in the purchase, what caused the consumer to stop in the process (Long, 2016). Similarly, more athletic programs will shift marketing strategies to complement this demand and utilize digital advertising as a primary source to improve brand awareness and engage with the digital community. Sukhraj (2016) reported that 80 percent of internet users own mobile devices, the chances to sell a product via mobile is up 64 percent as compared to desktop, and mobile is likely to account for 50 percent of all digital advertisement budgets (Sukhraj, 2016).

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This increase is important because conversion, which is defined by Kirkpatrick (2012) as "The point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action," (para. 6); indicating that by utilizing social media and digital marketing, athletic programs are more likely to reach potential recruits, sell tickets to games, and improve brand awareness via social apps and YouTube when compared to desktop internet ads, radio, and print. In other words, athletic programs that create digital content designed to be consumed via social media and on mobile devices are more likely to achieve their marketing goals as compared to other methods. Data presented by Sukhraj (2016) is influential in the sports marketing industry and as the numbers regarding mobile consumption, mobile ad spending, and mobile conversion rates continue to rise, it is likely programs who do not recognize the power of social media could be in a similar situation as ESPN was this past year.

The positive takeaway from the statistics presented by Dixon, Martinez, and Martin (2015) was that out of 158 marketing staff members surveyed, over 60 percent stated they had a social media strategy plan in place and they perceived social media as the most effective marketing tool. Their research indicates there is an awareness of the significance of using social media as a key marketing strategy and it is apparent the shift from traditional marketing strategies to digital marketing is upon us. Thus, administrators, coaches, and professionals who create and implement digital content intended to be shared to recruits, fans, and student athletes must acknowledge the opportunity digital media offers. As the benefits and opportunities have been presented and recognized, it is essential to understand the range of athletic programs using social media and digital marketing, the specific strategies they are using, and methods they are using to measure success associated with social media utilization. As stated previously, using the FBS national championships as a benchmark regarding success on the competitive field as a

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