FINNISH SPORT SPONSORSHIP AND SPONSORED SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

Estonian Business School

Department of Marketing and Communication

FINNISH SPORT SPONSORSHIP AND SPONSORED

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

CASE: LIIGA ICE HOCKEY TEAMS

Master’s Thesis

by

Laura Peltonen

Supervisor: Katri Kerem, PhD

Tallinn 2016

ii

I herewith declare that I have written the Master’s Thesis independently. References

have been indicated for all the publications, claims, opinions and different sources by

other authors.

April 18.5.2016 ……………………./Laura Peltonen/

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DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my Juhana, of course.

…

I would like to thank my family, my friends, and my colleagues

who have always been there to support my dreams.

Also, I would like to especially thank Emmi who is always there for a friend.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION .............................................................................................................. iii

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ vi

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ viii

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1

1. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................................................... 4

1.1. Sport Marketing ................................................................................................... 4

1.1.1. Definition of Sport Marketing ...................................................................... 4

1.1.2. Sport Marketing and Social Media ............................................................... 6

1.2. Sport Sponsorship ............................................................................................... 7

1.2.1. Definition of Sport Sponsorship ................................................................... 7

1.2.2. Sponsorship Process ..................................................................................... 8

1.3. Social Media and Marketing ............................................................................. 13

1.3.1. Definition of Social Media ......................................................................... 13

1.3.2. Social Media Marketing ............................................................................. 13

1.3.3. Overview of the Social Media Platforms.................................................... 15

1.3.4. Marketing Measurements in Social Media ................................................. 18

1.4. Sport Sponsorship in Social Media ................................................................... 20

1.4.1. Sports Consumers in Social Media ............................................................. 20

1.4.2. Sponsored Content in Social Media ........................................................... 22

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................................. 24

2.1. The Field of Study ............................................................................................. 25

2.1.1. Finnish Sponsorship Market ....................................................................... 25

2.1.2. Case: Liiga Ice Hockey Teams ................................................................... 27

2.2. Research Methodology and Design ................................................................... 28

2.2.1. Research Sample ......................................................................................... 31

2.2.2. Definition of the Data ................................................................................. 33

2.2.3. Data Collection ........................................................................................... 35

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2.2.4. Data Analysis .............................................................................................. 38

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................................. 41

3.1. Results ............................................................................................................... 42

3.1.1. Liiga Ice Hockey Teams’ Sponsored Social Media Content ...................... 42

3.1.2. Sponsored Social Media Content and Engagement .................................... 44

3.1.3. Benchmark results: NHL Ice Hockey Teams ............................................. 46

3.1.4. Engaging Factors of Sponsored Social Media Content .............................. 50

3.2. Discussion ......................................................................................................... 55

CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 59

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 61

APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................. 70

1. The number of collected sponsored content posts per ice hockey team in different

social media platforms ............................................................................................. 70

2. The sizes of the social communities of Liiga ice hockey teams in Twitter,

Facebook and Instagram. .......................................................................................... 71

3. The quantitative data collection tool. ................................................................... 72

4. The qualitative data collection tool. ..................................................................... 73

5. Published sponsored content posts and average engagement rate per social media

platform (Liiga teams) .............................................................................................. 74

6. The amount of published sponsored content posts by content type. .................... 75

7. Top 10% of the sponsored content posts with the highest engagement rate (Liiga

teams) ....................................................................................................................... 76

8. Bottom 10% of the sponsored content posts with the lowest engagement rate

(Liiga teams) ............................................................................................................ 77

9. Example content: Behind the scenes .................................................................... 78

10. Example content: Charity campaigns ................................................................. 79

11. Example content: Fans meet players .................................................................. 80

12. Example content: Consumer and company competitions .................................. 81

13. Example content: Conditional Benefits .............................................................. 82

14. Example of inconsistent content: Competition .................................................. 83

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Social media platform types and different social media platforms................ 16

Table 2. Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ origins ..................................................... 28

Table 3. Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ social communities and the number of

followers in January 2016 ............................................................................................ 32

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Blueprint for Strategic Sponsorship. .............................................................. 8

Figure 2. Sponsorship Process model ............................................................................ 9

Figure 3. Communication channels used to leverage sponsorship programs in 2013 . 12

Figure 4. Comparison of Nordic Sponsorship Markets from 2009-2014 .................... 25

Figure 5. Research Design ........................................................................................... 30

Figure 6.The data collection schedule 2015-2016. ...................................................... 36

Figure 7. Distribution of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ sponsored content posts

per platform .................................................................................................................. 37

Figure 8. The number of different types of sponsored content posts Liiga and NHL ice

hockey teams published in different social media platforms. ...................................... 38

Figure 9. Published sponsored content posts and the average engagement rate (%),

Liiga ice hockey teams ................................................................................................. 42

Figure 10. The number of different types of sponsored content posts Liiga ice hockey

teams published on different social media platforms................................................... 44

Figure 11. Liiga ice hockey team specific engagement rate(av) by social media

platform ........................................................................................................................ 45

Figure 12. The average of engagement each different content type received in

different social media platforms. ................................................................................. 46

Figure 13. The monthly average of published sponsored social media content posts

and the average engagement rate, Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams .......................... 47

Figure 14. The number of different types of sponsored content posts NHL ice hockey

teams published on different social media platforms................................................... 48

Figure 15. Comparison of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ social media platform

specific engagement rates (average) ............................................................................ 49

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ABSTRACT

Peltonen, L. Finnish Sport Sponsorship and Sponsored Social Media Content, Case:

Liiga Ice Hockey Teams, Estonian Business School, Tallinn 2016, 91 pages, 15 figures,

3 tables, 72 sources, in English.

SPORT SPONSORSHIP, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, SPONSOR, RIGHTS-

HOLDER, SPORTS CONSUMER, SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT, SOCIAL MEDIA

ENGAGEMENT.

In Finnish sports marketing sports organizations' social media networks are used to

connect sponsoring brands with the fans. The main objective of this thesis is to help

rights-holders and sponsors to recognize and create engaging sponsored social media

content that generates desired reaction and engagement among the target audience. This

thesis is a case study that investigates how different content factors affect the

willingness of Finnish sports consumers to engage with sponsored content posts

published by the rights-holders. The research focuses on investigating sponsored posts

published by Liiga ice hockey teams on their social media platforms and the reaction

they create among the target audience. The case organizations, Liiga ice hockey teams,

are 15 Finnish ice hockey teams that compete in Liiga, Finnish top professional ice

hockey league. To offer an international benchmark to the research also three NHL ice

hockey teams and the sponsored posts published on their social media platforms are

included.

The research was conducted by analysing the collected social media content posts with

explanatory sequential mixed research method which combines both quantitative and

qualitative methods. Based on the research results suggestions and recommendations

are given on how sponsored social media content could be developed and targeted more

effectively.

INTRODUCTION

Social media has been an important part of sports marketing already for several years

and one of the most important trends in sports sponsorship. In Finnish sports marketing,

social media is enabling different sports organizations and athletes to reach their fans

easily through their own networks. Social media platforms are used to share

information, to interact and to entertain the fans. Sports organizations’ social media

networks can also be used to connect sponsoring brands with the fans. When social

media is used systematically as an interaction channel it can bring sponsors closer to

their target audiences with clear relevance creating a meaningful engagement. However,

creating higher target audience engagement requires sponsors and rights-holders to

cooperate closely in order to create added value through sponsorship activations. The

key to the success lies in understanding what kind of sponsored content triggers

meaningful target audience engagement. (IEG 2015)

In Finland sports sponsorship is an important source of revenue for sports organizations

and because of this one would assume that sponsors would be exploiting the possibilities

offered by social media (Koljonen 2012, 29). However according to research conducted

in 2012 it was found that less than 50% of active Finnish sponsors use social media as

a sponsorship activation channel (Sponsorointi & Tapahtumamarkkinointi ry 2012).

One reason behind the reluctant use of social media for sponsorship activations may be

the difficulty in recognizing and creating content that would benefit all the stakeholders

involved; the sponsor, the rights-holder, and the sports consumer.

The main objective of the thesis is to provide an answer to the main research problem;

what kind of sponsored social media content, published in the rights-holders’ social

media platforms, is the most engaging among the Finnish sports consumers? The

analysis is conducted on the sponsored social media content posts published on the

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social media platforms of Liiga ice hockey teams and analyzed comprehensively by

including sponsor, rights-holder, and sports consumer aspects. To offer an international

benchmark to the results secondary research objects, three NHL ice hockey teams, were

added to the research. There has not been similar research in this scale carried out and

published on this particular topic of the Finnish sports market.

Following research questions were created to frame and specify the research approach

of this study:

1. Which social media platform and what content type is the most used for

publishing sponsored social media content among the Liiga and ice hockey

teams?

2. What kind of similarities and differences the most and the least engaging

sponsored content posts of Liiga ice hockey teams have?

3. What kind of similarities and differences the most engaging sponsored content

posts of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams have?

4. What kind of content factors affects the sports consumers' willingness to engage

with sponsored social media content?

The thesis intends to help rights-holders and sponsors to recognize and create engaging

sponsored social media content that generates the desired reaction among the target

audience. Useful and authentic sponsored social media content is able to offer value to

the sports consumers, engage the sports consumers and favourably influence their

perception of the sponsor. However, the creation of such content requires knowledge of

the target audience, clear sponsorship objectives and cooperation between the sponsor

and the rights-holder.

The author has reviewed and analyzed previously conducted researches and academic

journals on the topics of sports marketing, sports sponsorship, and social media

marketing. The theoretical overview can be found from the chapter 1. The research was

conducted in the form of a case study by combining both quantitative and qualitative

data analysis. The research methodology is introduced in chapter 2. The research results

are based on sponsored social media content posts published by Liiga and NHL ice

hockey teams. The results of the research and discussions can be found from the chapter

3.

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As social media is still rather new and fractionally exploited in the Finnish sports

sponsorships, this research is able to offer a deeper understanding of how Finnish sports

consumers react to sponsored social media content in different social media platforms.

The research analyzes sports consumers' interest and preferences when it comes to

sponsored social media content they receive from the social media platforms of their

favourite sports teams. Research on this topic is needed to recognize what kind of

sponsored social media content is able to offer value to the sports consumer and at the

same time benefit the sponsor and the rights-holder. For the sponsors, the research can

give an understanding of what is the most engaging way to reach their target audience

through the rights-holders' social media platforms and create a memorable and positive

impression. At the same time, the research clarifies the role the rights-holder has in

enabling the development of the sponsored content.

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1. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1.1. Sport Marketing

In this chapter, the concept of sports marketing will be introduced. The main purpose is

to understand how sports marketing has evolved due to the changes in consumer

behaviour and technological development in the business environment. The main

opportunities and challenges sports marketing is facing at the moment will be also

discussed. Sports marketing could be described as a result of growing global sports

industry that through the years of evolvement has started to require even more structured

and reasoned management processes. Processes that are specially designed for such an

industry that sports have grown to be and for such that keeps on adapting according to

the emerging changes (Shilbury et al. 2009, 15).

The main focus of sports marketing is to sell and develop sport as a product to

consumers. The means of marketing are endless and vary from branding to advertising,

merchandising, promotion and events. The science of marketing itself does not separate

sports marketing from marketing in general but the sport as a product does (Sports

networker 2012). There are several special qualities that make sports special as a

product and for that reason sport marketing requires certain abilities from the marketer.

For the marketer sports can be an unpredictable and uncontrollable product. At the same

time sports could be describes as a special, emotional and even very personal experience

for the consumer (Mullin et al. 2014, 20).

1.1.1. Definition of Sport Marketing

According to Mullin, Hardy, and Sutton sports marketing could be defined as following:

Sports marketing has developed two major thrusts: the marketing of sports products

and services directly to the consumer of sport and the marketing of other consumer and

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industrial products or services using partnerships and promotions with sports

properties. (Mullin et al. 2014, 13)

This definition is supported by the research of Fullerton and Merz (2008, 2). They also

divide the concept of sports marketing into the marketing of sports and marketing

through sports. Marketing of sports is usually used by sports organizations which aim

to secure and develop the position of their sport. In comparison marketing through sport

involves partnerships with companies in the form of sponsorship. Sponsorships enable

companies to exploit the sport in order to reach a specific target audience. (Shilbury et

al. 2009, 247) This definition is also supported by Lefever who defines sponsorship as

“the process in which companies make use of popular and alternative sports, and the

athletes prominent within those sports, to connect with consumers.” (Lefever 2010, 11)

Based on these definitions of sports marketing has three main stakeholders that need to

be considered. In the heart of these stakeholders are the consumers. In the context of

the sports marketing, the consumers could also be called sports fans. There are many

different levels of being a fan but the simplest way to divide fans could be separating

them into two groups. First group is consisted of fans who are consumers interested in

the sport and follow it on some level and the second group consists of fanatics who

rigorously attend the sports events and follow the sport actively.

The second stakeholder group consists of the actual sports organizations, such as sports

teams, which aim to maintain and develop the sport they represent. All sports

organizations are in competition of the time and money of the consumer with other

forms of sports and entertainment. Sports organizations are marketing the sport to the

consumers (Shilbury et al. 2009, 248). The existing fans and fanatics are the target

audience that sports organizations are able to reach with less effort than for example

people who are just interested of the sport but not actively following or participating.

Fans and fanatics of the sport form the actual core audience of the sport. In the

sponsorship partnerships, sport organizations represent the rights-holders.

The last stakeholder group consists of different organizations that are the sponsors of

the sport or the partners of the sports organization. Most of the sponsor organizations

are different companies marketing their brand through the sport to the consumers

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(Mullin et al. 2014, 233). Their aim is to reach their target audience through the chosen

sport and advertise their products or services to them. There are several ways to activate

sponsorship but the main idea is that the sponsor receives the access to the exploitable

commercial potential that the rights-holder is able to offer. (Belzer 2013) This

commercial potential can be much more diverse than a company's logo presented in a

sports context (Desbordes and Richelieu 2012, 49).

1.1.2. Sport Marketing and Social Media

The emergence and expansion of the new media and the decline of the traditional media

have forced the marketing communications to evolve and change. New media has many

forms and channels such as social media, blogs, search engine optimization, content

marketing, video marketing, apps and websites (Perrin 2012). Sports marketing still

seems to be adjusting to these changes as the fragmentation of the media has created a

lot of challenges as well as opportunities for the sports marketers. According to

Santomier’s analysis:

“New media facilitates the aggregation of consumers across multiple platforms on a

global scale while communicating a brand’s message and building relationships with

consumers.” (Santomier 2008, 26)

It could be said that sports marketing has changed from simple to more complex and

from marketing to communication. The once so well selling media exposure of sports

is not enough for sponsors anymore. To exist, modern sponsorship investments require

the permission to exploit the emotional impact of the sport in order to build brand

awareness and provide content possibilities that create proved returns, according to

Chris Conway (2014).

A simple TV-commercial or signboard visibility in a broadcasted sports event as a

return to sponsorship investment used to be enough for sponsors. However, as the way

sport is consumed has changed so has the ways it should be produced, marketed and

delivered. Sports marketing is now integrating multiple channels and communicating

instead of informing. These changes mean that the marketing is more targeted and even

created together with the consumer. If the interaction between consumer and brand is

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through integrated marketing channels, the brand is able to reach larger audiences and

exploit sport longer and more effectively. (Santomier 2008, 25)

Social networks have taken an important role as a platform of interaction in the modern

sports marketing as consumers choose to be involved. For consumers, this means not

only the possibility of a more personal relationship with sports teams or individual

athletes but also with other fans and sponsoring brands. Social network platforms have

created brands a better way of understanding their own brand image and how to affect

it. (PWC 2011)

In 2014, Fidelman listed five ways sports market industry is about to change forever.

Most of the major changes have to do with new media and especially with social media.

He forecasts that sponsorships, in general, are moving to the online environment as the

actual marketplaces are moving there. He also emphasizes the importance of social

media influencers in the sense of product sales. Social media influencers have straight

channel to their followers who are in this case the potential customers. In the most

optimistic situation, the consumers are willing to invite the brand into their lives and

they treat the advertisements rather as entertainment. Eventually, online environment

will enable accurate ROI calculations where the engagement and impact play the key

roles. (Fidelman 2014)

1.2. Sport Sponsorship

In this chapter, the concept of sport sponsorship is introduced in depth. The main

purpose is to define sponsorship, understand the basic sponsorship process, introduce

the stakeholders involved, list the main goals of the cooperation and the most effective

means to achieve them.

1.2.1. Definition of Sport Sponsorship

In the chapter 1.1.1. the concept of Sports Marketing was defined and divided into two

dimensions: marketing of sport and marketing through sport (Fullerton and Merz 2008,

2). Sponsorship is marketing through sport and business relationship forms the core of

this marketing communication platform. Sponsorship relationship exists between a

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provider of funds (sponsor) and individual, event or organization (rights-holder) in

search for mutual benefits. (Lagae 2003, 11) (ICC 2003) European Sponsorship

Association (ESA) has defined sponsorship in the following way:

Any commercial agreement by which a sponsor, for the mutual benefit of the sponsor

and sponsored party, contractually provides financing or other support in order to

establish an association between the sponsor’s image, brands or products and a

sponsorship property in return for rights to promote this association and/or for the

granting of certain agreed direct or indirect benefits. (ESA 2014)

Marketing industry associations ESA and ICC share the same comprehensive definition

of sponsorship and emphasize the mutual benefits of the cooperation. Wim Lagae and

David Shilbury emphasize the business nature of sponsorship and the fact that

sponsorship should not be confused with charity or patronage in any level. Sponsorship

always seeks for mutual benefits for the parties involved and is a formation of a

reciprocal relationship. (Shilbury et al. 2009, 246; Lagae 2003, 35)

1.2.2. Sponsorship Process

The sponsorship process offers understanding of the overall partnership and its effects

to the stakeholders and to the target audience. The theories combined in this chapter are

built on Kodadek’s (2014) Blueprint for Strategic Sponsorship and on Liukkonen’s

(2014, 19) Sponsorship process model. Kodadek’s model consists of six separate but

connected steps presented in Figure 1. This model will be the base for the structure of

this sub-chapter due to its coherent representation of the sponsorship process.

Figure 1. Blueprint for Strategic Sponsorship.

Source: Janus Kodadek. (online source) http://www.slideshare.net/jkodadek/blueprint-

for-strategic-sponsorship-26358392 (21.09.2015). Drawing by the author.

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Liukkonen's sponsorship process model in Figure 2. presents the sponsorship process

that includes both stakeholders, the sponsor, and the rights-holder. The model describes

the process from the point of searching a partner until the development of the co-

operation (2014). What makes this model important is the visualization of the steps

before the co-operation and during the co-operation. The model visualizes clearly the

importance of the starting point of the co-operation between the rights-holder and the

sponsor.

Figure 2. Sponsorship Process model

Source: Liukkonen (online source)

https://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/74321/Liukkonen_Sofia.pdf?se

quence=1 (08.10.15). Drawing by the author.

When Kodadek’s and Liukkonen’s models are compared, it is possible to find similar

proceeding of steps with slightly different terms. The meaning of these terms is opened

next.

Authenticate and Correlate

These first steps, named as authenticate and correlate by Kodadek (2014), consist of

defining sponsorship objectives and understanding the connection between the sponsor,

the target audience, and the rights-holder. Usually in the beginning of the process the

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sponsor and the rights-holder are mapping out the suitable partners individually

(Liukkonen 2014, 19). In many cases the first initiative to the sponsorship comes from

the rights-holder. For this reason the ability to offer competitive partnership possibilities

to the potential sponsor is essential in the market where companies receive multiple

sponsorship proposals (Arthur et al. 1997, 2).

After finding the suitable partner, the main purpose of the correlation is to ensure that

the planned sponsorship enables the parties involved to reach their objectives equally.

The compatibility of the sponsor’s brand and the brand of the rights-holder can be called

as sponsor fit (Ipsos Reid 2014). Compatibility of sponsorship has an important role in

communicating the intended message to the target audience. The compatibility ensures

that the sponsor’s brand image matches with the values, interests and lifestyles of the

target audience (Lee and Cho 2009, 5). Brand should be able to receive a detailed target

audience profile from the rights-holder and for this reason, rights-holder should know

their own product and audience (Ratilainen 2015).

In sports sponsorships, sponsor's objectives are usually focused on two main goals

which are brand building and sales growth. Brand related objectives can involve

improving or changing the brand image in the minds of the consumers. The objectives

can also include corporate responsibility objectives or new positioning strategies.

Positioning strategies aim to help the sponsor to stand out from the competitive brands

by reaching new or larger audiences. Eventually, all the activations which have been

conducted in order to achieve these objectives also aim to increase sales. However, there

can be a distinction between brand building objectives and sales growth objectives.

Sponsorship may enable the brand to reach new target audiences and if the sponsorship

is conducted successfully it way lead to sales growth. (Shilbury et al. 2009, 63)

Activation Plan and Collaboration

Activation plan is an essential part of the sponsorship process as it ensures that the actual

activations are able to transmit the wanted message about the brand to the target

audience. The main goal of the sponsorship activations is to show that the brand is

committed to the rights-holder and to the audience (Kodadek 2014). Sponsorship

activation planning could be also described as sponsorship agreement negotiation

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(Liukkonen 2014, 19). At this point, the interaction and collaboration between the

sponsor and the rights-holder could not be emphasized enough as it creates the

opportunity for the brand to create an actual bond with the audience. In practice, this

collaboration includes creating activations together with the rights-holder to ensure the

benefits to all stakeholders involved. When activations are created in collaboration they

are more likely to serve the goals of the sponsor and rights-holder as well as enhance

the experience of the consumer in the most natural way. (Kodadek 2014)

Best practice activations are able to present the value brand is offering to the consumers

and engage with them in a natural unforced way. The main purpose of the activations

should be to enhance the consumer experience in some way or decrease the negative

aspects of the experience. Planning should always be built on the sponsorship goals to

ensure the possibility to actually succeed. Planning also includes deciding on the

measurement tools for the evaluation process. (Kodadek 2014)

Activation and Evaluation

The activation is the part of the sponsorship process where the sponsorship comes to

live and meets the target audience (Kodadek 2014). Very rarely there is a situation

where one-time activation is able to reach the target audience as there are usually several

types of consumer groups among the audience. For this reason, it is necessary to take

all the different groups into consideration and conduct activations that do not alienate

any of these groups. (Goodman 2014) Multiple communication channels offer the

sponsor a great opportunity to connect with different types of target groups and in

Figure 3 IEG has listed the most popular marketing communication tools used to

activate sponsorships.

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Figure 3. Communication channels used to leverage sponsorship programs in 2013

Source: IEG (online source) http://www.sponsorship.com/iegsr/2013/01/28/Best-

Practices--Sponsorship-Activation.aspx (10.9.2015). Drawing by the author.

The importance of the ability to engage and interact with the target audience has become

more important and it could be also described as the new norm of a successful

sponsorship activation. The role of social media platforms in sponsorships has increased

due to the consumers' ability to engage with the content and co-create the content. At

the same time, the evaluation of the sponsorship activations is easier than ever with

available digital tools. The evaluation of sponsorship should be consistent from the first

activation till the end. At this point of the sponsorship process, the pre-established

objectives act as the measurement of the ROO (return on objectives) (Kodadek 2014).

Sponsorship success can be evaluated based on the activation channel and the objective

of the activation. The importance of matching the pre-established objectives with

suitable measurements in the activation planning phase is vital to conduct the evaluation

of the sponsorship.

The purpose of the evaluation is to find out whether the sponsorship investment to the

activations was profitable or not. Liukkonen introduces development as the final step in

the sponsorship process model and this step leans heavily to the evaluation results

(Liukkonen 2014, 19). It is impossible to evaluate whether the sponsorship should be

continued or not without measurement results. Measuring and evaluating is the base for

long-term sponsorship partnerships which are developed to evolve according to the

consumer needs and to reach higher goals as the partnership continues.

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1.3. Social Media and Marketing

In Chapter 1.1. current trends in sports marketing were discussed and social media had

a special place among them. In this subchapter social media, social media marketing,

and social media networks are defined from the marketer’s point of view.

1.3.1. Definition of Social Media

Social media has developed fiercely in the recent years and it is still changing

constantly. Social media’s core identity and effect could be defined as “the

democratization of content and the shift in the role people play in the process of reading

and disseminating information (and thus creating and sharing content)” (Anjum et al.

2012, 96). Many people consider social media as a very modern creation of the Internet

boom era even though its development started already in the 70's and 80's. Nevertheless,

the late 90's was the time of the so called explosion of Internet and the beginning to

social media networking on the large scale. The development of the social media is

usually linked to new technological innovations and creation of new web applications.

A good example of the technological development is the development of mobile devices

and mobile computing which has made the use of social media even more

comprehensive in people's lives. (Digital Trends 2014)

Social media includes a wide range of different web applications that were established

to allow the individual web users to create and exchange content such as information,

knowledge, and opinions in the form or words, pictures, videos and audios within their

communities (Safko et al. 2009, 4; Weber 2009, 4-6). Social media was introduced in

the Web 2.0 and as a result was born a new world of unpaid media (Kaplan 2010, 59-

61). Based on these definitions it is possible to say that social media is the enabler of

interaction or two-way communication between consumers and marketers. And for this

reason the traditional marketing rules do not apply as such in social media.

1.3.2. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has a lot of similarities with traditional marketing. However,

interactivity, the role of the individual consumer, behavioural complexity of the

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consumer and a number of different channels makes the social media special and

different. What is common to all the different definitions of social media is the emphasis

on advertising in the form of discussion and sharing over the Internet. In the following

definition, Gunelius mentions marketing means, purposes, and tools to define the

concept.

…any form of direct or indirect marketing that is used to build awareness, recognition,

recall, and action for a brand, business, product, person, or other entity and is carried

out using the tools of the social Web, such as blogging, micro-blogging, social

networking, social bookmarking, and content sharing.” (Gunelius 2011 ; Anjum et al.

2012, 97)

Gunelius’ definition has a practical approach and it gives a clear understanding of why

and how social media marketing is conducted. Nevertheless, this definition does not

emphasize nor explain what kind of influence marketer wants to create among

consumers and what the preferred reaction is. Chary’s explains that the social media is

a process where the aim of the marketer is to gain visitors to their web page or gain

attention with their content that would preferably trigger a reaction where the reader

would share and communicate the message within their social networks (2014, 1).

When this process is successful it enables the content released by the brand reach a lot

more consumers and reach the marketer's goals through electronic word of mouth (E-

WoM).

The definitions give an understanding of the basic meaning behind the concept of social

media marketing. However, in order to get a deeper understanding it is necessary to

analyse the benefits and the challenges of social media marketing. One way to do this

is to compare the concept of social media marketing to the traditional marketing. The

main element that has increased due to the emergence of social media is the level of

engagement. The social media tools and platforms used together with the chosen

message thrive for creating higher engagement level within the target audience (Page

2011). One of the major traits of social media marketing is putting the focus on building

relationships with target audiences. This means that the social media marketers focus

on generating and increasing engagement above all (Guneysel 2014). Return on

investments is a commonly used in traditional marketing but it has lost its purpose in an

environment where all the efforts are used to connect with the potential customer by

being present where they are and acting as the facilitator for communication,

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collaboration, education and entertainment (Safko 2009, 4). This can also be seen from

the development of brand websites which used to be like printed advertisements with

technological features. Nowadays most brand websites facilitate and encourage

discussion instead of just conveying a wanted message.

More and more often businesses include social media as a part of their integrated

marketing communication in order to connect with their target markets (Anjum 2012,

97). This development can also be seen in the annual marketing budgets where social

media is increasing its share (Guneysel 2014). Traditional marketing still exist strong

but as the society adopts new behaviours there is a major challenge for the marketer to

adjust to the changing consumer behaviour (Page 2011).

Consumers on social media do not want to see marketing or hear about the brand but

instead, they are looking for inspiration to their lives, solutions to their problems and

just interesting information (Safko 2009, 6). Marketers who are able to help their

followers find solutions instead of trying to sell their products or services are usually

the ones who gather the appreciation, engagement and loyalty among the customers.

Social media should be used first of all to connect with a potential customer and not for

selling. One key benefit of social media is the instant feedback. You are able to learn

more and faster about your customers' needs and desires by following the conversation.

At the same time if you exploit the social media analytics you gain insights of your

customer, of the potential customers and even of the people who you should not waste

your marketing efforts on (Chary 2014, 3).

1.3.3. Overview of the Social Media Platforms

The platforms chosen to be defined and analysed in this subchapter are based on the

results of Sponsor Insight's annual Navigator-research which's sample size and structure

represents the population of Finland. In the research, the respondents were asked to

answer the question of which social media platforms they use at least weekly. Based on

the research Facebook is the most used platform with 79% of the respondents, the next

most popular is YouTube with 49% of the respondents and in the third place are both

Twitter and Instagram with 11%. (Sponsor Insight 2015) The only one of these four

16

channels I will only introduce very briefly is YouTube as its role in the research will

not be as important as the others’.

There exist several different types of social media platforms and like you are able to see

in Table 1 under each type, there is a great number of different individual platforms.

The number of different platforms, as well as platform types, is increasing constantly

as new platforms emerge.

Table 1. Social media platform types and different social media platforms

Myers, A. (2012) Web source: http://decidedlysocial.com/13-types-of-social-media-

platforms-and-counting/. (11.11.2015)

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking platform which had allowed

individuals as well as organisations to create their personal profiles since 2006.

According to Statista's (2015) statistics, there were 2,7 million Facebook users in

Finland in 2015 and it is estimated that the number will grow to 3 million users in three

following years. The main features of the platform are the ability to upload, review,

response to content and share others' content. The interaction happens by liking, sharing

or commenting content posts (Wallace et al. 2011). The main reason individuals join

and are active on Facebook is to keep in touch with their already existing friends (Boyd

and Ellison 2008).

17

According to Wallace et al. Facebook is used by brands to improve the brand image and

brand communications (2011). In sports marketing, this is often done by providing

information, pictures or promoting events to the fans and potential customers

(Witkemper et al. 2012, 171). On Facebook, as on any social networking site, marketers

should add advertisements with caution as it can be seen as invading into users' space

and time uninvited. First of all, in an environment with multiple other advertisers, there

is a risk of being unnoticed. According to research by Greenlight, 44% of Facebook

users choose to avoid clicking any links or posts that have been sponsored (Garun 2012).

For organisations, Facebooks offers free information on the organisations own page

statistics as well as demographic information about their followers (Wallace et al.

2011).

YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing platform that was launched in 2005. It allows users to

search, watch, share and edit videos. According to the Realtime Report's (2013)

statistics in 2013, YouTube was the fourth most visited website in Finland. YouTube is

used by individuals as well as organisations and brands.

Twitter

Twitter is one of the most popular micro-blogging sites in the world which allows

individuals as well as organisations to create their personal profiles. It was established

in 2006 and it has grown steadily since then. In Finland Twitter has approximately 500

000 users (Sponsor Insight 2015). In Twitter, the interaction between the users is limited

by using a maximum of 140 characters per post. The limitation of the length of the

messages makes it a quick source of information when compared to other types of social

media platforms. Also posting pictures is possible as well as re-tweeting others' posts.

The idea behind limiting the length of the post is to create a platform where reading

information does not require too much effort. Twitter enables people to follow others

and this way by posting content the user is able to reach the followers. For organisations

and brands, Twitter is a suitable channel for informing their followers and other users

in real time. The aim often is to keep the Twitter users connected to the brand with

regular tweeting (Witkemper et al. 2012, 172).

18

Instagram

Instagram is a photo-sharing mobile platform that was established in 2010 as a smart

phone app. According to several types of research in Finland approximately 11-15% of

internet users are using Instagram frequently (Sponsor Insight 2015) (Bennett 2014).

The platform allows individuals and organisations who have created their own profile

to upload, edit and share photos or short 15 second long videos with other users. The

platforms also allow users to publish the content simultaneously on Facebook, Twitter,

and other social media platforms. The interaction in Instagram is based on liking or

commenting on the shared photo or video content (Rouse 2012). What makes Instagram

different from Facebook or Twitter is the very simple usage and focus only on pictures

and short videos.

For organisations and brands who wish to do marketing on Instagram, there are two

options available. The first one is to create an own profile and gather own group of

followers of whom 100 per cent will receive your content to their Instagram feed. This

way you are able to reach users who have chosen to follow you and not push your

content to people who might not be interested (Cohen 2015). The second option is to

buy advertising space from Instagram and include your content randomly on individual

users' feeds. Recently advertisement content possibilities were included in Instagram.

This second option can be a risky investment as the reaction of users towards sponsored

content has been mostly negative (Rogers 2015).

1.3.4. Marketing Measurements in Social Media

In most cases the overall business goals of companies are to lower costs, increase

customer satisfaction and ultimately gain profits with the chosen tactics (Sterne 2010,

5) (Williams and Chinn 2010,6). However in order for brands to drive sales from social

media platforms it requires them to understand how these social media platforms

operate, what kind of marketing objectives can be achieved through them and how.

Social media platforms offer a lot of different kind of measurement opportunities and

analytical insights brands can exploit in order to analyse the success of their content or

19

social media campaigns. However, the problem of understanding of the numbers arises

if there is no comparison or context to them. In order to gain real metrics, brands need

to do comparisons within their own previous results and by comparing their results to

competitors. For this reason, the importance of context as well as defined objectives is

essential (Sterne 2010, 7). Social media platforms such as Facebook offers detailed

insights for their business users. However, when in need of comparison the businesses

should focus on analysing the open information they are able to receive from their

competitors from the platforms and compare these metrics.

According to Luke Chitwood (2013), there are five most important metrics to be tracked

when operating in social media and two of them are offered as public information in

social media platforms to anyone. The first measurement is reach, which means the

number of people you are able to reach with your content. The easiest way of tracking

the growth of your audience is to follow the progress of the amount of followers of your

organization's page. It is important to focus on the growth of the audience but also to

the number of followers leaving and trying to analyse the reasons for the progress.

The second metric is engagement and this metric measures the reactions of the audience

in numbers such as likes, comments, and shares based on the platform. The simple

number of engagement is not valid as a metric but instead, it is important to track the

average engagement rate. Simple average engagement rate can be used to make

comparisons between competitors ability to engage their audience. Average

engagement rate is calculated by dividing the total number of engagement per post with

the total audience (Smitha 2013). The number shows the percentage of followers who

engage with your content and who does not (Chitwood 2013). Engagement, however,

goes beyond numbers and requires further analysis from the businesses as one of the

most important customer insight is offered by consumer comments. The objective is to

gain an understanding of your audience preferences and create value accordingly. Based

on the discussions and interactions businesses are able to analyse whether the

engagement is positive or negative and react when required (Prager 2014).

One of the metrics Chitwood mentions is conversion rate. This metric tracks traffic from

social media to brand's website and a percentage of visitors who for example purchase

a product (Chitwood 2013). This way it is possible to track the number of leads the

20

content published in social media is able to create. The conversion rate is available from

webpage analytical tools and social media platforms do not offer it as part of their

analytics. However, this is one of the most important metrics in order to measure the

effects of social media marketing to the company's revenues.

In social media, everything starts with a network the organization is able to gather and

the level of interaction it is able to inspire. That is why the most practical level of goals

in social media marketing should evolve around the followers and engagement. Prager

discusses in her article about the key performance indicators (KPI's) of social media

platforms. Key performance indicators help marketer to understand which measurable

metrics serve brand's larger goals. The first KPI's she introduces are the follower growth

and the conversion rate. A lot of followers alone do not serve any brand's ultimate goal

of increasing profits but it enables the brands to reach a number of people. It could be

stated that if a brand is able to increase the size of its network, it is also increasing its

reach and brand awareness. Nevertheless, the real challenge for the marketer is to

convert the reached consumers to its own website or web store to make a purchase that

will lead to the ultimate goal of increasing profitability. (Prager 2014)

1.4. Sport Sponsorship in Social Media

The goal of this chapter is to conclude what sponsors need to consider when creating

social media content to the right-holders' social media platforms. The chapter will start

with analysis of sports consumers' social media behaviour and motivations in order to

gain an understanding of how sponsors should approach them. The next analysis in this

chapter will focus on defining sponsored content and how to evaluate individual content

posts in terms of engagement.

1.4.1. Sports Consumers in Social Media

Defining sports consumer and sports consumer behaviour has been found difficult by

previous researchers. The difficulty arises from multiple different channels and ways to

experience sports (Stewart et al. 2003, 206). Usually, behavioural categories in sports

marketing are divided based on the consumers' interest and participation level when it

comes to the sport and more specifically to the team or athlete they support. According

21

to Williams and Chinn the main trait that categorizes sports consumer is his or her desire

and involvement level for a long-term relationship with the team or athlete (2010, 171).

This chapter focuses on analysing the behaviour of sports consumers who actively

follow their favourite sports teams in social media platforms. The aspects analysed

based on previous research are sports consumers' needs, wants and expectations when

it comes to the sports teams' social media content and especially sponsored content.

Also, the aim is to find out what content characteristics encourage sports consumer to

engage.

In 2014, Synergy conducted a research in cooperation with Loughborough University

that aimed to find out how young and tech-savvy sports fans behave in social media and

how they react towards different types of content. The research was conducted by

interviewing 500 sports fans aged between 16 and 25. Even though the sample

represents only small age group it is able to give some answers of sports fan behaviour.

It also provides some guidelines to sponsors on how to analyse their content based on

their objectives. The research sample was divided into three categories which were

massive fans, average fans and small fans based on the time devoted to the sports in

social media. The research results argued that male sports fans, in general, are more

valuable to the sponsors because they devote 22% more time on sports than women in

social media. According to the research a massive fan spends approximately two and a

half hours a day in social media and 72% of this time is spent on sports. When it comes

to the youngest participants it was found out that social media has a greater effect on

their fanship towards a sports team than with older participants. (Robinson and Saker

2014, 3-14)

The research was also able to find congruent needs and wants the respondents had when

it comes to the content in the social media platforms of the sports teams they follow.

The key drivers for these young consumers to use social media were the ability to

receive information immediately and as easily as possible. Unfortunately for sponsoring

brands less than 15% of the participants found branded content engaging. At the same

time the team's content was found engaging by 40%. According to the participants

branded content seems to lack authenticity and in-depth knowledge about the team and

the athletes. This in-depth knowledge was more likely to be offered by the team or the

athletes themselves. (Robinson and Saker 2014, 7-14) The lacking aspects of branded

22

content is actually the main characteristics of quality content according to definition by

Wysocki who researched the role of social media in sports communication (2012, 16).

One of the most important aspects increasing the authenticity of social media content

by sports marketers is the presence of shared values between the consumers, the team

and the sponsoring brands. (Williams and Chinn 2010)

The research of Robinson and Saker did not analyse actual content posts but instead

interviewed fans who actively used social media. However, the authors of the research

make a very clear suggestion to brands of how to find out what kind of content works

best for their objectives. "In order to understand how to make the most of the content

on these platforms, it is essential to understand which content sports fans find most

engaging” (Robinson and Saker 2014, 4). Companies who have previous experience in

sponsoring and creating branded content can actually find out what kind of content

engages their audience most efficiently by analysing the branded content against their

competitors. It should be remembered that there are differences between sports

consumers and their preferences as there are differences in sponsoring brands and their

objectives.

1.4.2. Sponsored Content in Social Media

Sonderman and Tran define sponsored content in a following way “content that takes

the form and qualities of the publisher’s original content and offers useful or

entertaining information as a way of favourably influencing the perception of the

sponsor brand” (Sonderman and Tran 2013).

Sponsored content should not be confused with advertorials, press releases or with

content marketing because first of all the goal of sponsored content is that the consumer

knows and appreciates the brand’s involvement. In other words sponsored content’s

goal is not to be hidden in the message. Secondly sponsored content puts the consumers’

interest before the brands interest and aims to be entertaining, useful or/and authentic

for the reader. Lastly sponsored content is not created nor published alone by the brand

but instead in close cooperation with the rights-holder. (Sonderman and Tran 2013). In

social media marketing branded content in practice appears among the right-holder's

own original content in the form supported by the platform. Social media platforms

23

have differences in the terms of content type opportunities but the most common types

are text, pictures, links and videos. (Wysocki et al. 2012, 16)

For sponsored content to be considered effective it is necessary to take the three main

stakeholder groups into consideration in the designing process. These stakeholder

groups are the rights-holder, the sponsor and above all the fans. IEG's article argues that

the success behind effective sponsored content is measured by how engaged fans feel

about it. They rationalize this by the fact that sponsoring brand is after attention and

impressions among a target audience it is only able to reach through the rights-holder's

social media platforms. At the same time, engaged fans are the only ones who are truly

able to offer the attention and impressions to the sponsors. (IEGSR 2015) This is why

the designing process of the sponsored content should always start by analysing the

target audience and finding a way to provide them value. In this equation, the rights-

holders holds the key to the target audience knowledge, to the channel to reach them

and to the background information about the team. Without the rights-holder, the

sponsor will not be able to design engaging sponsored content nor will it be able to

reach the audience.

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2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

This thesis is a case study that combines sports sponsor and sports consumer oriented

data in order to find answers to the research problem and research questions. The main

research problem of this study aims to find out what kind of sponsored social media

content, published in the rights-holders’ social media platforms, is the most engaging

among the Finnish sports consumers. The data collection has been conducted in social

media and both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used.

The research method chosen for this case study is explanatory sequential mixed research

method that combines both quantitative and qualitative methods. In this case study the

quantitative research results were used to build detailed background of the case and then

qualitative content analysis was used to explain the findings in depth. (Creswell 2014,

19) (Macnamara 2005, 5) The main goal with combining the methods was the

assumption that “collecting diverse types of data provides more complete understanding

of a research problem than either quantitative or qualitative data alone.” (Creswell

2014, 19)

In this research, the publicly available data was collected from chosen social media

platforms manually and then organized and filtered. The process continued with

categorizing the data based on chosen attributes and then analysed based on chosen

themes (Aptel Research 2015). Social media offers numerical data suitable for

quantitative research as well as more complex content and behaviour related data

suitable for qualitative research. According to Tuten and Solomon (2014, 267), social

media research is often used to provide new ideas for marketers but also for assessing

how campaigns and brand communication is perceived by the target audience. The

focus of this research was on gaining insights of the sponsored content posts sports

teams publish in social media and how sports consumers react towards it. (Recourse

Center 2015).

25

The chapter 2.1. introduces the field of study and the research objects. In chapter 2.2.

the details of the research methods of the research, the research design, the sample of

the research, the data collection, and data analysis processes are further explained.

2.1. The Field of Study

This chapter introduces the background information of the case of the thesis. The

chapter begins with an overview of the Finnish sponsorship market and then continues

with the introduction of the research objects, Liiga and ice hockey teams.

2.1.1. Finnish Sponsorship Market

According to IEG's annual statistics, the sponsorship spending globally amounts up to

57,5 billion US dollars and is growing by 4.1% second year in a row. (IEG 2015) In

Finland, the sponsorship market has not been following the speed of global growth

trend. Finnish sponsorship research company Sponsor Insight has compared the size of

the Finnish sponsorship market to the Swedish and Norwegian markets. The

comparison between 2009 and 2014 can be seen in Figure 4 (Virkkunen 2015). The

growth of the sponsorship spending in the Finnish market has been almost non-existent

and dependent of yearly economic fluctuations. The size of the Finnish Sponsorship

Market in 2015 was 212 million euros (Hakola 2016).

Figure 4. Comparison of Nordic Sponsorship Markets from 2009-2014

Market development of Sweden, Norway and Finland between 2009 and 2014. Source:

Klaus Virkkunen, Sponsor Insight Finland. (20.09.2015) (reprinted with permission)

26

However, Finnish advertisers' association's annual research found out that in 2015 18%

of Finnish companies were planning to increase their sponsorship. This means the total

market has a possibility to grow in the following years. In Finland, the largest amount

of sponsorship spending is allocated to sports. According to Mainostajat (2015)

approximately 64% is allocated to sports when the rest is divided between culture and

for example social organizations. Among sports, the Finnish sponsorship market

favours ice hockey. Of the total sponsorship spending approximately 12% goes to ice

hockey and this is the largest percentage allocated to an individual sport. In 2014, the

Finnish companies sponsored ice hockey with approximately 45 million euros (Sponsor

Insight 2015).

The popularity of ice hockey among sponsoring companies is easy to explain by

comparing the popularity of different sports among the Finnish consumers. In Finland

ice hockey has been the most attractive sport for six years in a row according to annual

Sponsor Navigator research conducted by Sponsor Insight (Sponsor Insight 2015).

When the sport is popular among the general population it tends to have more fans.

Large audience encourages advertising through that particular sport as it enables brands

to reach larger audiences. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that popular sports

gather multiple sponsors and the sponsor impact may decrease as the consumer focus

spalls.

Sponsorship goals are closely related to the sponsorship executions and they have an

important role in defining the measurements of success. The primary goals of Finnish

sponsors are brand building, increasing the visibility of the brand, reach the target

audience and increase the sales (Virkkunen 2012). The main ways Finnish sponsors

measure their sponsorship results are visibility, sales, and their own brand awareness

measurements (Mainostajat 2015).

In 2015 approximately 57% of Finnish sponsors reached or exceeded their sponsorship

goals and only 7% admitted to having failed. According to these findings nearly 30%

of Finnish companies did not have any goals for their sponsorships. (Mainostajat 2015)

These results indicate that the companies with no sponsorship goals, might be struggling

to manage the overall sponsorship investments and the partnerships with the rights-

holders. There can be multiple reasons, such as the lack of overall integration of the

27

sponsorship or simply lack of time. Nevertheless, the lack of goals often indicates a lack

of measurements. Without measuring the performance of sponsorship activations, it is

impossible to know if the sponsorship investments ever returned as value.

Activations of the sponsorship are a way to create value for the consumer and make an

impact. The most popular way Finnish companies activate their sponsorship is to exploit

the rights-holders' available channels as well as their events or other communication

channels. At the same time, among the sponsoring companies 16% do not exploit or

activate their sponsorship deals in any way. In 2012, research found out that less than

50 per cent of the Finnish sponsoring companies used social media to activate their

sponsorships (Virkkunen 2012). Some of the companies expect that the brand visibility

through the sponsorship in social media is managed by the rights-holder in their social

media platforms (Mainostajat 2015).

This leads us to the Finnish rights-holders and their role in the sponsorship. In 2015,

Sponsor Insight conducted a research of what Finnish companies expect from the sports

organisations they sponsor. Finnish companies expect and wish for active partners

whom with they are able to communicate systematically and who are able to offer them

tailor-made partnership deals with sponsorship activation ideas. The responsibility of

the rights-holders lies on enabling the brand to meet the consumer and offering the most

natural ways for the brand to create value for the consumer. (Ratilainen 2015)

2.1.2. Case: Liiga Ice Hockey Teams

Liiga, originally named SM-Liiga, has been the Finnish top professional ice hockey

league since 1975. Liiga consists of 15 ice hockey teams competing of the Finnish

Championship in ice-hockey. Liiga is an organization that organizes the championship

matches and is owned by the playing teams. The Liiga-season begins annually in

September and ends in April. Each team plays approximately 60 matches per season

and six best teams proceed to the playoffs.

The fifteen teams playing in Liiga in the season 2015/2016 are located in different parts

of Finland and the teams and their locations are listed in Table 2. All the fifteen ice

hockey teams negotiate their own sponsorship agreements with companies and

28

organizations. It should be noted that Liiga also as a Finnish Championship organizer

has its own sponsors but teams are not taking any part in these negotiations. All the

teams have their own websites as well as social media pages in several platforms, such

as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. (Wikipedia 2016)

Table 2. Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ origins

Source: liiga.fi, nhl.com.

To broaden the scope of the thesis and to offer international comparison, three NHL ice

hockey teams were added to the research. NHL, in other words, National Hockey

League consists of 30 different ice hockey teams located in the United States of America

and Canada. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 and it is considered

to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world. The three selected teams

and their locations can be found in Table 2. in the right column. (Wikipedia 2016)

2.2. Research Methodology and Design

This research design was created to give a clear structure for collecting and analysing

data in order to find answers to the research problem and research questions of this case

study. In this case study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gain a

complete understanding of the research problem and to find reliable answers to the

research questions.

29

In this case study, the quantitative research method was used as a supportive method to

build a detailed background of the case for further qualitative content analysis. The

quantitative data was analysed through frequency analysis and qualitative data through

content analysis, which focused on theme and pattern interpretation of text and images.

The needed data was collected by observing the research objects’ sponsored content

posts and social media users' reaction towards these posts. Data collection process of

this thesis is focusing on observing social media data. The research tools used in the

thesis were specifically developed and are presented in details in chapter 2.2.3.

The research process (presented in the figure 5) is divided into two main parts based on

the chosen research method. The first part is the quantitative research, which begun with

defining the data requirements in order to determine the research objects before the

actual data collection. After the research objects were selected the channels for the data

collection were chosen. The channels for the data collection were chosen based on the

research objects and the channels they all were found using. Data collection schedule

per channel for the primary research objects and benchmark objects were determined

based on a trial data collection process conducted before the actual research process.

This way it was ensured that the collection schedule lasted long enough to collect

needed amount of data for reliable results.

30

Figure 5. Research Design

Design developed for social media content research. Drawing and design by the author.

31

The quantitative phase continued by data handling the process, which was divided into

two main parts; data collection and data rating. Data collection was conducted by

collecting pre-determined information about Liiga ice hockey teams' and NHL ice

hockey teams' sponsored social media content posts for the quantitative analysis. This

included the social media user reactions. At the same time, all the selected posts were

copied and saved for the quantitative analysis. This part of the research was mostly

focused on collecting and organizing quantitative data from Liiga and NHL ice hockey

teams' social media platforms in order to answer to the first research question. Data

rating was conducted by determining the engagement level for each piece of recorded

content by using engagement rate calculation. This was necessary in order to find an

answer to the second research question. In this phase also the collected posts were

organized based on the engagement rate. The last part of the process was the data

analysis which was based on both, quantitative and qualitative data. The sponsored

content posts for the qualitative analysis were chosen based on the quantitative data

analysis. The qualitative data analysis was conducted in the form of content analysis.

The data analysis phase was conducted in order to answer the last two research

questions.

2.2.1. Research Sample

The research sample in this case study was selected with purposive sampling, which is

a non-probability sampling technique. With this particular sampling technique the

research focuses on particular characteristics of a population that will enable to find

answers to the research problem. This sample technique is often used in mixed method

research designs and it does not aim to represent any population (Laerd Dissertation

2012). According to Tuten and Solomon (2014, 274) in social media research, it is not

possible to identify unique people as units in a defined population. Instead the

population should be identified as the social communities to which our audience

belongs. This is where the social media research sampling differs from traditional

marketing research. The sampling frame should be then created based on the description

of the selected social communities. In this chapter, the research sample is presented by

briefly identifying the chosen social communities and their audience.

32

The defining of the research sample was based on the main research problem of this

study. The research problem raised one main sample requirement which needed to be

fulfilled to provide reliable results. The requirement was that the audience of which the

sample is taken should represent Finnish sports consumers in social media. The decision

to limit the selection of social communities only to Finnish ice hockey teams that play

in Liiga was made by the author due to two major facts. In Finland ice hockey is the

most popular sport among the sports consumers and it also gathers more sponsors than

any other sport when measured financially. With this information, it was more likely to

find the suitable sponsored content posts from the chosen social media platforms and

find information of how sports consumers react towards this content. Also, this ensured

that the collected data of the audiences of different ice hockey teams would be

comparable to each other.

All the Liiga ice hockey teams and their social communities on Twitter, Instagram and

Facebook were observed for a total of two months to collect and analyse the data

primarily for the quantitative data analysis. Each team has their own official social

media communities and the sizes vary. In Table 3 all the social communities included

in the research are presented by the number of the followers of each social media

platform. The table includes both the Liiga ice hockey teams as well as the selected

NHL ice hockey teams.

Table 3. Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ social communities and the number of

followers in January 2016

The data collected from the ice hockey teams’ social media platforms.

33

The sizes of social communities of the different teams vary significantly when

compared based on a number of followers. The differences in the sizes of the

communities by platform as well as in the total number of followers can be seen in the

Appendix 1 where all the Liiga ice hockey teams and their communities are compared.

Even though the entire communities were observed in terms of their engagement

towards sponsored social media content, it should be noted that the further analysis

focuses only the users who choose to engage in a way or another. The size of this

engaging group is estimated by percentage per channel as in social media it is difficult

to identify individual users reliably. The combined size of the social community

included in this research consisted approximately of 860 000 Liiga ice hockey teams’

followers and 9 600 000 followers of three NHL ice hockey teams.

After the quantitative sampling, the sample for the qualitative analyse was drawn from

the quantitative results. It should be noted that sampling for qualitative analysis is not

required to meet the statistically valid formula of quantitative analysis (Macnamara

2005, 18).

2.2.2. Definition of the Data

Before the data collection phase of the research, it was vital to define what kind of data

is collected and analysed. The defined data requirements were solely based on the

research problem of the study. The first two data requirements were that the collected

data needs to be sponsored social media content that is published on the selected rights-

holders' social media platforms. Sponsored social media content can be understood in a

two different ways and for that reason at this point it is important to separate the two

different views. In social media terminology sponsored content means using social

media for ad placement by paying to the platforms in order to reach individual users

(Fontein 2015). However when talking about sponsored content that is published in the

rights-holders social media platforms the social media terminology refers to this as

branded content in order not to mix the two different approaches. When using branded

content instead of sponsored content the brand is in cooperation with the publishing

party to reach their followers or specific social community instead of paying the

platform from reaching individual users. In sports marketing brand's logo visibility is

34

seen as exposure marketing to provide brand awareness. In contrast, content marketing

is a result of integrated partnership between the rights-holder and the sponsor. Content

marketing creates value for the fans through different kinds of content posts that offer

the fan more than brand visuals. Content marketing aims for creating interaction and

engagement between the brand and the fans (Reider 2014).

For the purposes of this research, the collected data is defined as sponsored social media

content and it includes all the social media posts of the selected research objects that

can be connected to a sponsoring brand. The form of the collected content was not

limited by the research and all the forms the platforms support were collected. However,

the collected data definition does not include paid social media advertisements nor

advertisements the rights-holder publish on their own platforms. In this case, exposure

marketing is considered as advertising as the published post does not offer any

recognizable value by itself to the fans.

The next important step of defining the data is to define the data source which in this

case were limited to three social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The reason to choose these platforms as a data source was the fact that all the selected

research objects, the 18 ice hockey teams, have their own official social media pages on

these platforms and they use the pages to communicate and interact with their fans. This

ensured that research object-specific results would be comparable to the other research

objects. The data was only collected from the official pages of the selected ice hockey

teams and this was ensured by selecting only platforms that were linked to the official

web-pages of the teams.

The last major data collection requirement was to understand how to measure the

engagement level of the content among the sports consumer. Chapter 1.3.4. introduced

engagement as the main measurement to separate efficient and inefficient social media

content (Robinson and Saker 2014, 13). For this reason, it was necessary not only to

collect the sponsored content posts but also all the available engagement data about the

fans' reaction. All the publicly available engagement measurements were chosen to be

collected and they are the number of comments, likes/favourites and shares/re-tweets

per content. Also the comments sponsored content posts received were collected by

number and as an original text for further analysis. This was necessary in order to get

35

in-depth knowledge of the sports consumers’ attitudes towards the sponsored content

posts. Listening to consumer conversations in social media is a way to understand what

kind of content is preferred and creates value in the eyes of the consumer (Tuten and

Solomon 2014)

2.2.3. Data Collection

The time frame of the data collection process was designed according to the official ice

hockey seasons of Liiga and NHL in order to collect the data when the teams are playing

and being the most active in social media with their sponsors. As a result, it was assumed

that also the sports fans are following their favourite teams actively during this time and

engaging on social media more than during off-season. The data collection schedule

was divided in such a manner that each primary research objects' three social media

platforms were followed for a total of two months and in contrast the secondary research

objects for a total of one month.

During the data collection process a total of 99 months of social media posts in the

chosen social media platforms were read. Among this data, a total of 477 sponsored

social media content posts were collected according to the data definition presented in

the chapter 2.2.2. 380 of these content posts were published by Liiga and 97 by NHL

ice hockey teams. The collection was conducted manually by the researcher due to the

lack of suitable automated data collection tool that would enable data collection without

the permission of the platform admin to the unlimited access to the social media

accounts of the research objects. The manual data collection method made the collection

process time consuming and for this reason, the data collection schedule was spread to

several months but at the same time ensuring that the results of individual research

objects would be comparable to the other objects. Collection began in November 2015

and ended in February 2016. The social media platforms specific data collection

schedule is presented in details in the Figure 6 and reliability and validity of the research

will be discussed further in chapter 2.2.5.

36

Figure 6.The data collection schedule 2015-2016.

Figure shows which platforms were measured during which months. Drawing by the

author.

For the collection of the selected social media posts, two separate collection tools were

created that enabled to collect, organize, filter and eventually analyse the collected

quantitative as well as qualitative data. The first data collection tool focused on enabling

the collection of the quantitative data and it was important that this same tool was

created in a manner that would also enable organizing, filtering and analysing the data.

The tool was created on an Excel-sheet where a data specific table for the quantitative

measurements was listed. Each collected content needed to be marked to the Excel-

sheet on its own line with the following information; a specific collection number tight

to the collection month, the team's social media platform and a number of followers, the

type and publishing time of the content, the engagement numbers and the tone of the

comments. Also, automated calculation of the engagement rate was included in the tool

to enable later on the organizing of the data. The collection tool is presented in Appendix

2.

The second data collection tool was focused on recording the collected content posts so

after the collection they would be easily accessible for further qualitative analysis or for

data inspection if required. This was also necessary due to the fact that some social

media platforms such as Twitter only save posts for a limited time period and after that

they are not accessible anymore on the platform. During the data collection process, a

screenshot was taken from each collected content and of the engagement measurements

such as the comments. All the sponsored video posts were watched and also a screenshot

was taken of them. Recording or saving the videos was not necessary after viewing

them once and collecting them in the form of a screenshot. All the screenshots were

saved and each content was marked with a collection number and collection month so

the content could be later on connected to the correct information on the excel sheet.

The qualitative data collection tool is presented in Appendix 3.

37

In this research, the publicly available data was collected from chosen social media

platforms manually and then organized and filtered. The process continued with

categorizing the data based on the chosen attributes and then analysed based on chosen

themes. During the data collection process the selected 15 Finnish ice hockey teams and

their official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages were investigated and all the

sponsored content posts were collected. The division of the collected content posts per

platform in percentages is presented in the Figure 7. The amount of collected sponsored

social media content posts in different platforms per team are presented in the appendix

1.

Figure 7. Distribution of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ sponsored content

posts per platform

Drawing by the author.

In practise collection was conducted on a Excel-sheet by giving each collected content

a collection number. On this Excel-sheet, there were certain details the data collector

needed to write down. In addition to the collection number the included details were the

name of the team, the name of the social media platform, the number of followers, the

type of the content (photo, text, link, video), the posting date of the content, the posting

time of the content, the name of the sponsor of the content, number of likes, number of

comments, number of shares if applicable and whether the majority of the comments

were negative or positive. The amount of different types of collected content posts and

the platforms they were published on are displayed in the Figure 8.

38

Figure 8. The number of different types of sponsored content posts Liiga and

NHL ice hockey teams published in different social media platforms.

Results of data collection period of two months. Drawing by the author.

2.2.4. Data Analysis

Quantitative frequency analysis, which was conducted first, focused on measuring and

counting numerical data on chosen attributes. The second phase of analysis, the

qualitative content analysis, focused on analysing the contextual factors in the collected

social media content posts.

Quantitative Data Analysis: Data Rating / Data Mining

In this research, the collected data from social media is based on the sponsored content

posts of selected sports teams and for this reason, the data analysis could be defined as

content analysis that is organised and researched in quantitative research manner. The

quantitative content analysis refers to "a method of studying and analysing

communication in a systematic, objective, and quantitative manner for the purpose of

measuring variables” (Kerlinger 1986; Binsbergen 2013). It could be also described as

a way to transform observations of found categories into quantitative statistical data

(Binsbergen 2013). In this research the quantitative analysis is conducted as frequency

analysis which deals with the number of occurrences (frequency) and analyzes measures

of central tendency, dispersion and percentiles (Research Optimus 2016).

39

After the data collection, the data analysis begun by ranking the collected content posts

against each other based on the engagement rate. Engagement rate was calculated by

finding out what percentage of the followers had engaged with that particular content.

This way the engagement was made proportional so that the size of the network did not

distort the results.

The purpose of the engagement rate is to measure what share of the audience engaged

with the content and it represents the main measurement used in quantitative data

ranking. There are two different ways to calculate the engagement rate. The first one is

dividing the total engagement of the posted content with the reach of that particular

content. This is an opportunity only when the research data has the availability to the

insights, which in this research was not possible. For that reason, the chosen

engagement rate calculation was done with the publicly available data by dividing the

total engagement with the total number of the followers. (Smitha 2013) By choosing to

measure the engagement rate with publicly available data meant that in future the

research results can be easily compared to competitors or other actors from different

industry without the access to platform insights.

After organizing the data based on the engagement the aim was to analyse whether there

are certain content attributes that affect more to the level of positive engagement and to

the different ways to engage. These attributes included, for example, the platform, the

content type, the amount of the content posts and the publishing team. The quantitative

analysis main purpose was to build up a detailed background of the case and support

the qualitative analysis. The quantitative data analyses included both overall data as

well as team specific data analyses to offer an understanding of differences between the

teams but at the same time to offer a way to generalize and simplify the results.

Qualitative data analysis

In this research, the qualitative content analysis tries to determine the likely meaning of

the content to the audiences. The focus of the qualitative content analysis is more

complex than only the text, it also analyses the audience, the media, and the contextual

factors. (Macnamara 2005, 5-6)

40

Qualitative content analysis was conducted as a continuation to the quantitative

frequency analysis based on the engagement rate data ranking. The aim was to find

answers to the research questions and find out if it would be possible determine factors

in sponsored content that enable positive engagement and higher engagement rate

among the target audience. The main goal of the qualitative approach is to understand

what about the content encourages the audience to engage and if the most engaging

content posts have similar traits and value propositions. During the qualitative analysis,

the sponsored content posts selected based on the engagement rate were re-read and

pre-listed. It should be noted that analysed content did not only consist of text but also

of photos, videos, links, and combinations of them.

During the qualitative content analysis, three main techniques were used to yield results.

These techniques were listed based on the Content Research Methodology of Jim

Macnamara's (2005, 18). The first technique is to seek for the most typical examples

from the data. In this research, this would mean the most typical or most common traits

of the most engaging sponsored content posts. The second technique is to present

negative examples and make comparisons to the most engaging sponsored content posts

in order to find differences or similarities. This was a suitable technique to make

comparisons between the content posts in general and also a comparison between

different teams' content posts and find some audience specific engagement behaviours.

The last technique is to try to seek inconsistent examples among the selected content.

This would mean seeking to find examples of sponsored content posts that perform

better or worse than similar posts in general.

The main content trait that was analysed in a qualitative manner was the way the sponsor

was articulated to the target audience in the content. Also, it was important to analyse

what kind of value the content aimed to convey to the audience and how they have

perceived it. The audience involvement and perception were analysed by looking deeper

into the engagement data and especially the comments the content posts had received.

41

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The main goal of this chapter is to give answers to the research problem of what kind

of sponsored social media content, published in the rights-holders’ social media

platforms, is the most engaging among the Finnish sports consumers. The chosen

method for this study was explanatory sequential mixed research method which

combines quantitative frequency analysis and qualitative content analysis. All the

research results are based on the sponsored social media content posts of the primary

and the secondary research objects. The primary research objects in this research are

15 Finnish Liiga ice hockey teams and the secondary research objects are 3 NHL ice

hockey teams.

The data collection period of the primary research objects lasted for two months and for

the secondary research objects for one month. The collection was conducted between

November 2015 and February 2016 on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and

Instagram. In total 477 sponsored social media content posts were found and collected

for the data analysis, of which 380 (79.7%) were collected from Liiga ice hockey teams’

social media platforms and the remaining 97 (20.3%) from NHL ice hockey teams’

social media platforms.

First sub-chapter present the results on to each of the following research questions and

the second sub-chapter Discussions analyses and interprets the overall results.

1. Which social media platform and what content type is the most used for

publishing sponsored social media content among the Liiga ice hockey teams?

2. What kind of similarities and differences the most and the least engaging

sponsored content posts of Liiga ice hockey teams have?

3. What kind of similarities and differences the most engaging sponsored content

posts of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams have?

42

4. What kind of content factors affect the sports consumers’ willingness to engage

with sponsored social media content?

3.1. Results

3.1.1. Liiga Ice Hockey Teams’ Sponsored Social Media Content

The quantitative frequency analysis results presented in this sub-chapter analyses how

often, in which platform and with what content type the sponsors currently activate

sponsorships in the rights-holders social media platforms.

On average individual Liiga ice hockey team published 13 pieces of sponsored content

per month. However, during the data collection period, the team specific amount of

published sponsored content posts varied between 1 and 27 posts per month. The

differences between the amounts of published sponsored content posts between Liiga

ice hockey teams during the data collection period of two months are displayed in

Figure 9. where the teams are organized starting from least active to the most active.

Figure 9. Published sponsored content posts and the average engagement rate

(%), Liiga ice hockey teams

Results of data collection period of two months. Social media platforms included:

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Drawing by the author.

43

On average the most used social media platform for publishing sponsored content posts

among Liiga ice hockey teams is Twitter. Approximately 42% of all the collected

sponsored content posts of Liiga teams were published on Twitter, 36% on Facebook

and 22% on Instagram. The average results are displayed in Figure 7. Even though the

average results indicate Twitter as the most used platform for publishing sponsored

social media content, it should be noted that the role of individual platforms differ when

it comes to individual Liiga ice hockey teams. For example, JYP is an example of a

team that published the majority of sponsored content posts in Instagram (47%), 35%

on Twitter and 18% on Facebook. The amount of sponsored content posts published by

individual Liiga teams on different platforms can be viewed in Appendix 5.

The vast majority of the sponsored content posts published in the right-holders social

media platforms were pictures. According to the research results, 66.5% of all the

sponsored content posts published by Liiga ice hockey teams were pictures. At the same

time, 15% of their sponsored posts were links, 10.4% were text and 8.1% were videos.

Again, there are significant differences between the content types Liiga ice hockey

teams use on different social media platforms for publishing the sponsored posts. This

can be easily seen in Figure 10 which displays the comparison of the average amount

of different content types published in different social media platforms. Picture content

or combination content including a picture is the most common content type in all

platforms. For example in Instagram, the picture is the only content type present in the

analysed data. Liiga ice hockey teams use sponsored text content only in Twitter and

video content only on Facebook. Links are used on both Facebook and Twitter.

44

Figure 10. The number of different types of sponsored content posts Liiga ice

hockey teams published on different social media platforms.

Results of data collection period of two months. Drawing by the author.

3.1.2. Sponsored Social Media Content and Engagement

Like the previous results indicated, on average the rights-holders publish most of the

sponsored content posts on Twitter and as a photo content. With engagement rate

analysis it is possible to determine what kind of content type in which platform makes

the sports consumer the most compelled to engage. The average engagement rate among

the Liiga teams is 1.92% when all the social media platforms are included. In other

words, this means that on average an individual ice hockey team is capable of reaching

engagement rate of 1.92% by publishing a sponsored content post. When the team

specific engagement rates were compared to the amount of sponsored content post they

published, it became obvious that there is no correlation between engagement rate and

a number of published content posts. This can be seen in Figure 9. In other words, the

amount of sponsored content posts published does not affect the willingness of sports

consumer to engage with the content.

From the frequency analysis, it became evident that the most of the sponsored content

posts are published on Twitter. However, when the platform specific and team specific

engagement rate levels were compared, the results indicated that sports consumer feel

the least compelled to engage with sponsored content published on Twitter. Twitter had

the lowest platform specific average engagement rate of 0.10% and the lowest team

specific engagement rate among all Liiga teams. Sponsored content published in

Instagram is able to engage significantly more sports consumers than in Twitter or

45

Facebook. The average engagement rate in Instagram is 7.00% and in Facebook 0.94%.

The team specific engagement rates support the average results and the rates are

displayed in Figure 11. Instagram is the most engaging social media platform for

sponsored content among all Liiga teams, excluding Kookoo, which did not publish any

sponsored content posts in Instagram during the data collection period.

Figure 11. Liiga ice hockey team specific engagement rate(av) by social media

platform

Drawing by the author.

When rights-holders publish sponsored content it is most often published as a picture

content. From the quantitative analysis, it was found that on average also sports

consumer engages the most with picture content. However, according to the results,

there is a difference in the level of engagement based on the platform the picture content

is published in. The engagement each content type receives on average per platform are

presented in Figure 12. and the results clearly indicate that the highest engagement per

sponsored picture content is reached through Instagram. On average sponsored picture

content receives 7 comments and 765 likes when published in Instagram. In Facebook

sponsored picture content receives 45 shares, 62 comment, and 358 likes. At the same

time on Twitter, which is the most used platform by rights-holders for sponsored

content, sponsored picture receives on average only 4 shares, 0 comments, and 18 likes.

46

Figure 12. The average of engagement each different content type received in

different social media platforms.

Liiga ice hockey teams’ average results. Drawing by the author.

10% (total of 47 posts) of the most and the least engaging sponsored content posts and

their content types were compared to find out how important role the platform and the

content type has when it comes to the sports consumers’ willingness to engage. The

detailed quantitative data of the most engaging posts is displayed in a table in Appendix

7 and of the least engaging in Appendix 8. The results indicated that 93.6% of the most

engaging sponsored content post were published in Instagram and the rest in Facebook.

All of them were picture content posts. Among the least engaging content posts 95.8%

were published in Twitter and the rest in Facebook. 63.8% of the least engaging content

posts were pictures. The results indicate that even though the picture content on average

is the most engaging sponsored content type, the platform the content type is published

in affects more to the engagement level than the content type alone.

3.1.3. Benchmark results: NHL Ice Hockey Teams

The main purpose of having a secondary research object in this research was to find out

if there are differences in the way sponsored social media activations are conducted in

Finland and internationally. Also the way sports consumers engage in Finland and

internationally were compared. This chapter presents the results to the third research

question of; what kind of similarities and differences Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’

the most engaging sponsored content posts have? Following benchmark results should

47

be viewed as directional because the secondary research object sample was not identical

to the primary research object sample.

On average NHL team publishes 32 sponsored social media content posts per month.

This average amount of published sponsored posts is almost 2.5 times more than what

Liiga teams publish. However, like displayed in Figure 13 the amount published by

individual team varies between 11 and 62 sponsored content posts per month.

Figure 13. The monthly average of published sponsored social media content posts

and the average engagement rate, Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams

Results of 15 Liiga ice hockey teams (blue bars) and 3 NHL ice hockey team (green

bars). Social media platforms included: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Drawing by

the author.

The overall average results of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ frequency analysis

resemble each other’s remarkably. Similarly to Liiga, the most used platform for

publishing sponsored content posts among NHL teams is Twitter followed by

Facebook. Among NHL teams also, Instagram is the least used. The detailed results of

the platform analysis can be viewed from the Figure 7. Also, the most used content type

for sponsored content posts for NHL teams was similar to Liiga, picture content. The

amount of video content posts is the main difference between Liiga and NHL teams.

According to the analysis 34% of NHL ice hockey teams' sponsored posts are videos

which are proportionally 25.9% more than what Liiga ice hockey teams publish. NHL

teams publish sponsored video content mainly in Twitter and Facebook. Whereas Liiga

teams do not publish any sponsored videos on Twitter. Another difference between the

48

sponsored content posts published by Liiga and NHL is the share of picture content

posts published on Facebook. 29% of sponsored content posts Liiga teams publish in

Facebook are pictures whereas only 5.6% of the Sponsored content posts published by

NHL teams on Facebook are pictures. The types of posts per platform, NHL ice hockey

teams published, are displayed in Figure 14.

Figure 14. The number of different types of sponsored content posts NHL ice

hockey teams published on different social media platforms.

Results of data collection period of one month. Drawing by the author.

When the average engagement rates of Liiga (1.92%) and NHL (0.51%) are compared

it is clear that on average Liiga teams are able to engage a larger percentage of their

social media community with sponsored content. According to the results Instagram is

the most engaging platform and picture the most engaging content type for publishing

social media content also for NHL teams. The comparison of platform specific average

engagement rates are displayed in the Figure 15. Among NHL teams, Twitter was also

the most used platform for publishing sponsored content but at the same time, the sports

consumers feel least compelled to engage in Twitter.

49

Figure 15. Comparison of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams’ social media

platform specific engagement rates (average)

Drawing by the author.

The top sponsored content posts, which means 10% of the Liiga and NHL ice hockey

teams’ posts with the highest engagement rates, were compared to distinguish engaging

contextual factors.

Exploitation of players' images in sponsored content posts can be distinguished as a

contextual factor that encourages sports consumers to engage with the content. Both

Liiga and NHL teams' top sponsored content posts had several examples of such content

and it can be stated that using players' images in sponsored content enables higher

engagement rate. Among the top collected posts, there was a very clear pattern of how

sponsors exploit the images of the players. Usually, this is conducted by using already

existing ice hockey match images provided by the rights-holder and pairing the picture

with the sponsor's logo. Examples of such content executions are a birthday wish from

a sponsor or an admiration of a players smile from a dental company.

Approximately 40% of the top sponsored content posts of NHL teams were built around

sponsored giveaways promised to match participants during the next ice hockey match.

Giveaways are a contextual factor that not only encourages the sports consumers to

engage with the content but also to participate in the next match. This very common

7,00%

0,74%

0,10%

2,25%

0,18% 0,04%0,00%

1,00%

2,00%

3,00%

4,00%

5,00%

6,00%

7,00%

8,00%

Instagram Facebook Twitter

Liiga NHL

50

and engaging content among the NHL teams did not exist among Liiga ice hockey

teams’ sponsored content posts.

In contrast, the top sponsored content posts of Liiga ice hockey teams had a few

sponsored competition posts for the fans where the fans could win tickets to the

matches. NHL ice hockey teams also had competitions for the fans but the target

audience was totally different than the target audience of Liiga ice hockey teams. Liiga

ice hockey teams seem to target their competitions to fans in general and the NHL ice

hockey teams targeted their competitions specifically to children and families with

children. Approximately 30% of the most engaging sponsored NHL posts were

competitions targeted to children and families.

Sponsored content posts that evolved around charity campaigns were very common

among the sponsored content posts of Liiga and NHL teams. However, the charity

content posts were only among Liiga team’s top sponsored content posts. Proportionally

sponsored charity content is able to engage more Finnish sports consumers than the

North-American sports consumers in social media. None of the sponsored charity posts

did not engage enough to be considered as NHL teams’ top sponsored posts. The same

situation was with sponsored posts that enabled the fan and player meetings. These

content posts were among the top sponsored posts of Liiga ice hockey teams but did not

fit into the top sponsored posts of NHL ice hockey teams.

3.1.4. Engaging Factors of Sponsored Social Media Content

The main goal of the qualitative content analysis was to analyse what kind of content

factors increase the engagement level of sponsored social media content. This was done

by analysing content traits that enable higher engagement. Approximately 13% (60

posts) of all the collected the sponsored content posts with the highest engagement rate

as well as with the lowest engagement rate, were analysed. The analysis was conducted

to discover how different content factors affect the content's ability to encourage

engagement. During the analysis, the focus was on analysing the sponsored content

posts’ contextual factors, articulation of the sponsor, the transmitted value and sports

consumers’ perception.

51

The most engaging sponsored social media content

The research results indicated that it is possible to recognize distinctive factors among

the most engaging sponsored content posts and based on them the posts can be divided

into three groups. The first group of the most engaging sponsored content posts was

pictures displaying one or several players in a situation where the fans were not used to

seeing them. It could be stated that ice hockey fans are used to seeing picture content

from the ice hockey matches where the players are covered with their match gears. The

example content posts in Appendix 9, offer fans a bit different type of pictures where

the players are wearing their personal clothes in a shopping mall or even in their own

home. In this type of content, the sponsor or sponsor's products or services may be part

of the picture or the caption of the picture but sponsor's presence visually does not

overcome the players. The first content example in Appendix 9 is a picture post of three

Kärpät players holding sponsored jeans. However, to the fans, it also has another

meaning. For them, the content is showing three of their favourite players who had just

won gold medals in the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships a week ago. Also, the

players are posing in their personal clothes.

Usually, the content with this type of in-depth knowledge about the team is offered by

the rights-holder. However in this content type, the sponsors offer the fans a glimpse

behind the scenes, shows the players as their own personalities and this is something an

ice hockey match is not able to offer them. Creation of this type of content requires

cooperation from the rights-holder and the sponsor as sponsor alone is not able to access

such content. With this type of content, the sponsor is able to exploit the image and

popularity of the players to favourably influence the perception of the brand. Creating

assimilation between the sponsor and the team in a manner that puts the consumer

interest first does not only benefit the sponsor. It can also enrich the fan experience

which may lead to an increase in the number of followers and higher engagement. The

posts, displaying the players, are good examples of content which' contextual factors

affect sports consumers' willingness to engage. The mentioned content with Kärpät

players in Appendix 9 is a good example of the difference the player as a part of the

content may have to the engagement rate. The current trend or the popularity of a player

is a contextual factor that can be only understood by knowing the sport and the sport

consumer preferences.

52

Three examples of the second group of the most engaging content posts are displayed

in Appendix 10. The content in this group of posts is based on a charity campaign or

charity event organized by the rights-holder in cooperation with a charity organization.

All of these engaging example posts display results of a charity campaign which were

accomplished with the help of fans and again the sponsor is present but not in the leading

role.

With this type of content, the rights-holder and sponsor express their gratitude to the

fans who have participated in the charity. The fans are embraced and appreciated as a

part of the community. Also, the shared values between the team, sponsor, and the fans

are emphasized. For the fans, this type of sponsored content shows a different, more

compassionate side of the ice hockey team in an authentic way. When this type sponsor

activation is shared to social media it has a potential to engage social media users

outside the team's regular target audience. The sponsor, in this case, the charity

organization, receives visibility and attention to their cause with the cooperation. To be

able to offer such content to the fans the sponsor and the rights-holder have needed to

cooperate closely.

The third group among the most engaging sponsored content posts is displayed in

Appendix 11 with three examples of picture posts where fans meet their favourite

players. Sponsor's role in these posts is to act as the enabler of the meeting and to bring

fans closer to their idols. However, the sponsor is not visible in the picture but only

mentioned in the caption of the picture. A great example of this type content posts comes

from Liiga team JYP and its sponsor Lindab. During the data collection period, Lindab

published together with JYP a total of 26 sponsored posts that displayed fan families

meeting the players and enjoying the matches. The overall engagement rate of these

posts was 4.13% which is clearly higher than the overall average engagement rate of all

Liiga teams' posts, which was 1.93%. 10 out of 26 content posts sponsored by Lindab

were among the top 10% of most engaging Liiga-content posts. Two examples of the

content sponsored by Lindab are displayed in Appendix 11.

This content is a great example of a content where the sponsors put the consumer

interest first and are more likely to influence favourably to the consumers perception of

53

the sponsor's brand. High engagement rate in this type of content indicates an

appreciation of the brands involvement from the fans. Creation of this type of content

requires cooperation from the rights-holder and the sponsor. Sponsor alone is not able

to offer such value to the fans.

The least engaging sponsored social media content

The qualitative analysis continued with analysing the sponsored content posts with the

lowest engagement rate. The result indicated that there can be distinguished two

different content groups that have factors that decrease the sports consumers’

willingness to engage. The first group consisted of sponsored content posts that aimed

to encourage engagement through competition or with competition related content.

Three examples of the competition based content can be found from the Appendix 12.

Among the examples, the competitions are aimed at businesses, customers of a certain

sponsor and for the general audience. However, in addition to the example posts, many

different forms of competitions were found as the majority of the least engaging posts

were based on competitions. The competition content posts had three clear content types

among them. The first content tried to challenge people to participate in the competition,

the next one updated the situation in the competition and the last one informed the result

of the competition. In many cases, the competitions were held during the intermissions

at the arena and competition results were updated to Twitter or Facebook in real-time

in a similar manner as the ice hockey match results. Some of the sponsors had decided

to limit the competition participants with pre-requirements such as the participant needs

to be a member of an organization or a business representative. In these content posts,

the sponsor was articulated either in a text format or in the picture without any

connecting elements to the team.

The main problem that arises from competitions held during the ice hockey matches is

the situation where the people present in the ice hockey match are not following the

sponsored competitions. Instead, they are enjoying other arena services. At the same

time, the people following the game from social media feed in real-time do not find this

type of content entertaining, informative or even connected to the actual game. Also,

some of the competitions restricted the participants to businesses. As a result, the target

audience of such content becomes limited and diminished mainly because social media

54

is based on personal user accounts. The formation of content displayed in the examples

could be done without any connection to the team and the missing assimilating elements

may cause a decrease in the authenticity and perceived value in the eyes of the fan.

Another group among the least engaging sponsored content posts were based on

conditional benefits offered by the sponsor. Two examples of such content posts are

displayed in Appendix 13. This sponsored content type is very close to an advertisement

as the sponsor’s main objective seems to be easy sales. The fans are encouraged to buy

with a promised discount or the sponsor aims to reward the fans who already are their

customers with a discount. These content posts are usually a picture displaying the

conditional benefit, the sponsor's logo, and the rights-holders logo.

Through this type of content, the sponsor offers value only to those who are willing to

make a purchase. This is why the target audience most likely experiences the benefits

of such content as conditional. However, it should be noted that the type of the

conditional benefit may have a positive influence on the outcome of such content but it

always depends on the perceived value by the fans. These types of posts do not convey

any additional value through the content. Also, the creation of this type of content does

not require close cooperation nor timely efforts from the rights-holder and the sponsor.

The effects are very similar to the previous content group where the missing

assimilating elements may have caused a decrease in the authenticity and perceived

value in the eyes of the fan.

Inconsistent examples

The last part of the qualitative analysis was conducted to find out if any inconsistency

would be present among the collected sponsored content posts. Inconsistent sponsored

posts would not fit the general findings of the qualitative analysis. Earlier in this chapter

competition based sponsored posts were classified as low engagement posts as this was

the general trend in the data. However the content displayed in Appendix 14 is a great

example of content that does not differ from other competition based content posts but

has reached remarkable high engagement rate. In the example sponsored content the

fans can enter a prize draw and compete from free tickets to an ice hockey match with

liking the content. What makes the content different for the fans is the fact that the ice

55

hockey match is the 60th birthday of the hosting team. In this content, the sponsor is

visible in the content picture as well as in the picture caption as the enabler of the

competition.

It is important to consider that all the content posts have contextual factors that can

affect how it performs among the target audience. For the sports consumer, this type of

content celebrates the team and its accomplishments. There might not be a need for any

added value in order for them to feel the willingness to engage. For the sponsors' these

types of special matches or celebrations are a great way to get extra exposure with small

contribution when it comes to the content creation. It could be assumed that if this

content would have been a competition for a regular match the engagement rate would

not have been so high.

3.2. Discussion

Currently Liiga ice hockey teams publish very different amounts of sponsored content

posts in their social media platforms. When the frequency analysis results and the

average engagement rates per team are compared, the results indicate that the

engagement level is not connected to the amount of sponsored content posts but instead

to other variables. It is clear that some of the teams exploit social media platforms for

sponsorships more than the others. This research did not investigate the motivations of

the teams, whether to use or not to use social media for sponsorship activations. Instead

it focused on identifying content factors that increase the willingness of the sports

consumers’ to engage with the sponsored social media content.

In Chapter 1.3. it was argued that social media marketers should focus on building

relationships through engagement. Based on the frequency analysis and engagement

rate results, Liiga ice hockey teams are able to engage on average the least sports

consumers on Twitter, where they publish the most of their sponsored content posts.

Significantly the highest average engagement rate among social media platforms was

on Instagram, where Liiga teams publish the least of their social media content posts.

In addition to the most engaging platform, the most engaging content type was

investigated. Currently picture is the most used and the most engaging sponsored social

56

media content type. However, it was also discovered that the most as well as least

engaging posts, were pictures. The main difference between the most and the least

engaging sponsored picture posts was the platform they were published in. This

indicates that the content type alone does not have impact on how engaging the content

is but may have an impact when combined with a specific platform. Based on the results

a sponsored picture content published in Instagram is more like to receive higher

engagement rate than any other content type published in any other platform.

In chapter 1.4. it was discussed that engaged fans are the only ones who are able to offer

the sponsors what they are after in social media; the attention and impressions. Based

on this assumption and on the results of this research, it would make more sense for the

teams to direct majority of the sponsored content posts to Instagram instead of Twitter.

With the current content this would more likely enable the sponsors to reach their

sponsorship objectives. However, to engage more sports consumers and to offer more

attractive social media activation possibilities to sponsors on Twitter and Facebook,

Liiga teams should focus on adding different engaging factors to the content.

The main factor required for being able to create engaging sponsored social media

content is a close cooperation between the sponsor and the rights-holder. This was

something that connected all the most engaging sponsored content posts found in this

research. This was also discussed in chapter 1.4. as the role of the rights-holder was

emphasized as the enabler of engaging sponsorship activations. The content that is

created as a result of close cooperation is able to offer the sports consumers more value

than content that clearly does not assimilate the sponsor to the ice hockey team. Rights-

holder is responsible for offering the exploitable commercial potential to the sponsor

like discussed in chapter 1.1. The value may be offered in many different ways but there

are several factors Finnish sports consumers seem to appreciate above all in the

sponsored content posts and these factors are authenticity, behind the scenes

information and shared values. In chapter 1.4. it was argued that by offering content

that the sports consumer values the sponsor do not only enrich the fan experience but

also favourably influences the perception of the brand.

The findings of the research indicated that the main way for sponsored content to be

perceived as authentic is by showing the willingness of the sponsor to put the interests

57

of the sports consumer first. When sports consumers spend time on following their

favorite ice hockey team and engaging with its content they are interested in the team.

Fans are interested about the players and about the community but not about the

sponsor. In sponsored social media content the role of the sponsor should never

overcome the actual content. Authentic and in-depth knowledge of the team is usually

published rather by the team itself than by the sponsor (See chapter 1.4.1.). The results

of content analysis emphasizes the role of rights-holder as an enabler of authentic and

useful sponsored social media content.

Behind the scenes-type of information is a way of offering value through sponsored

content to the sports consumers. This content type is a result of the brand actually

connecting with the team in a way or another and it automatically creates assimilation

between the sponsor and the team. The sports consumers want to know their team and

players better and if the sponsor is able to offer them this benefit it most likely will

benefit the sponsor. Like discussed in chapter 1.1. this type of content has the ability to

bring the fan closer to the team as well as to the sponsor and that is the real value.

Joint charity campaign or any other joint activity that connects the sponsor and the fan

with the help of the rights-holder is also one of the main ways to create engaging

sponsored content according to the research results. However, for sponsored content to

carry the intended message the values between the sponsor, rights-holder, and fans need

to match (see chapter 1.2.). For the fans, it is important to see the more compassioned

side of the ice hockey team, to be able to form more humane image and assimilate

themselves to the team. This type of sponsored social media content evolves around

shared values and doing-together atmosphere. Emphasizing shared values in social

media content is also one very influential way to increase the authenticity of the content

like discussed in chapter 1.4. This type of content is an example of a situation where the

fans openly appreciate the sponsor's involvement.

When creating sponsored social media content there are several contextual factors that

may decrease the engagement of the content. When creating sponsored social media

content, the content should be targeted to sports consumers rather than businesses or

limited audiences, such as customers of the sponsor. Limiting the target audience with

the sponsored content usually leads to low engagement as the message in the content

58

does not touch most of the people viewing it. Another key issue when publishing

sponsored social media content on the social media platform of a rights-holder is the

assimilation between the sponsor and rights-holder. Like explained in the chapter 1.2.2.

compatibility and assimilation ensure that the sponsor's brand image matches with the

values, interests, and lifestyles of the target audience. The assimilation could be created

visually or verbally but without the assimilation and the authenticity, the perceived

value decreases in the eyes of the sports consumer.

The main findings from the benchmarking between Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams

indicate that on average Liiga ice hockey teams are able to reach higher engagement

rate among their social media communities with sponsored posts than NHL ice hockey

teams. For that reason, the NHL team's sponsored content did not provide any

international best practice examples that could be recommended to Liiga teams.

Otherwise, the results of Liiga and NHL ice hockey teams resembled each others

remarkably. The proportional results of Liiga and NHL are very similar when the most

used content type and social media platform for publishing social media content are

compared.

59

CONCLUSIONS

This thesis posed the question: what kind of sponsored social media content, published

in the rights-holders’ social media platforms, is the most engaging among the Finnish

sports consumers? To find answer to this question a research was conducted by using

explanatory sequential mixed research method. The research combined both

quantitative and qualitative methods in order to analyse sponsored social media content

posts. The social media content was collected from the social media platforms of 15

Liiga and 3 NHL ice hockey teams.

The literature review was based on previous theories and research about sports

marketing, sports sponsorship and social media marketing. The results of previous

studies argued that close cooperation between the sponsor and the rights-holder is the

base for engaging sponsorship activations (Kodadek). Robinson and Saker suggested

that in order to create engaging social media content it is necessary to understand the

needs and wants of a sports consumer. Williams and Chinn presented a theory how

successfully communicated shared values have the ability to increase the authenticity

and engagement of sponsored content.

The research findings of this thesis support the results of previous studies and are

aligned with ideas presented in the existing literature. The Findings indicate that rights-

holders and sponsors are able to influence the effectivity and usefulness of the

sponsored social media content, published in the rights-holders’ social media platforms.

This can be done by understanding what kind of content offers the most value to the

sports consumer. The research findings are based on both quantitative and qualitative

analysis. The main findings from quantitative frequency analysis indicated that

sponsored picture content published on the social media platform Instagram is the most

engaging among the Finnish sports consumers. Whether this is a result of well-targeted

content or more sensitively engaging target audience than it other social media

60

platforms, was not investigated in this research. However, the fact that least of the

sponsored content posts were published in the most engaging social media platform

indicates that Finnish sponsors and rights-holders are not fully aware which platform

and what kind of content would serve their sponsors’ objectives most effectively.

The main findings from the qualitative analysis indicated that several connecting factors

can be identified among the best performing sponsored content posts. Finnish sports

consumers are more likely to engage with content that genuinely brings them closer to

the sports team or athletes. According to the findings, Finnish sports consumers prefer

sponsored content that puts the consumers' interests first, offers knowledge about the

team rather than about the sponsor, and conveys the values shared by the sports team,

the consumers, and the sponsor.

Three NHL ice hockey teams were added to the research in order to gain directional

international benchmark results. It was expected that the benchmarking would have

offered international best practise examples. However, the results indicate Liiga ice

hockey teams are able to engage more of their followers proportionally with sponsored

content than NHL ice hockey teams.

This thesis could be of interest to both, rights-holders and sponsoring companies who

operate in sports marketing. This study offers sports marketers understanding of their

target audience’s preferences in social media and helps them to create and publish more

engaging sponsored social media content.

As a result of this thesis, further research might well be conducted in order to estimate

the return on investment sponsorship activations published on social media are able to

offer to the sponsor. Research in this topic would enable estimation of the value the

rights-holders are able to offer the sponsors with the sponsored social media activations.

61

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ting.pdf. (11.11.2015)

Wysocki, M. 2012. The Role of Social Media in Sports Communication: An Analysis

of NBA Teams’ Strategy. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON, DC. (online)

https://www.american.edu/soc/communication/upload/Capstone-Wysocki.pdf.

(12.2.2016)

70

APPENDIXES

Appendix 1. The number of collected sponsored content posts per

ice hockey team in different social media platforms Teams Facebook Twitter Instagram TOTAL

Chicago Blackhawks 18 35 9 62

HIFK 25 19 11 55

HPK 15 23 6 44

JYP 8 15 20 43

TPS 7 27 6 40

Tappara 15 19 1 35

Saipa 15 13 5 33

Boston Bruins 0 17 7 24

Blues 7 6 9 22

LUKKO 7 7 5 19

Pelicans 11 7 1 19

Ilves 6 7 5 18

Ässät 12 4 1 17

KalPa 3 1

13

Anaheim Ducks 8 0 3 11

KooKoo 2 8 0 10

Vaasan Sport 3 2 4 9

Kärpät 1 1 1 3

TOTAL 163 211 103 477

71

Appendix 2. The sizes of the social communities of Liiga ice

hockey teams in Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

-

20 000

40 000

60 000

80 000

100 000

120 000

140 000

160 000

180 000

Liiga - followers

Twitter

Intagram

Facebook

72

Appendix 3. The quantitative data collection tool. Designed by the author.

73

Appendix 4. The qualitative data collection tool. Used for recording the collected qualitative data. Picture was taken by the author.

74

Appendix 5. Published sponsored content posts and average

engagement rate per social media platform (Liiga teams)

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

75

Appendix 6. The amount of published sponsored content

posts by content type.

Overall data

Liiga ice hockey teams’ data

NHL ice hockey teams’ data

76

Appendix 7. Top 10% of the sponsored content posts with the

highest engagement rate (Liiga teams)

Collectio

n

number

Collectio

n month Team Platform Followers

photo/lin

k/text Date Sponsor

Total

engagemen

t (Likes) (Comments) (Shares)

positive

/

negative

Engagement

rate (%)

181 January Kärpät Instagram 21900 picture 18.-24.1.2016Mick's multibrand store 4859 4740 119 0 positive 22,18721 %

56 NovemberTappara FB 50540 picture 19.11.2015 VRJ Group 9791 5133 3595 1063 positive 19,37277 %

56 December Tappara FB 50540 picture 8.12.2015 Delete Group 7585 6103 411 1071 positive 15,00791 %

186 January Tappara Instagram 12200 picture 25.-31.1.2016Pappila Pekkala Group 1808 1642 166 0 positive 14,81967 %

54 December Tappara FB 50540 picture 25.11.2015 Pancho Villa 6545 4891 550 1104 positive 12,95014 %

182 January Pelicans Instagram 3579 picture 11.-17.1.2016DNA 384 382 2 0 positive 10,72925 %

164 January Ilves Instagram 11200 picture 11.-17.1.2016Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto 1183 1176 7 0 positive 10,56250 %

184 January Saipa Instagram 6805 picture 11.-17.1.2016K-Rauta 643 643 0 0 9,44893 %

160 December Saipa Instagram 6805 picture 14.-20.12.2015K-Supermarket Lehmus 592 590 2 0 positive 8,69949 %

180 January KalPA Instagram 7185 picture 11.-17.1.2016Hope Ry 624 624 0 0 8,68476 %

172 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Kekäle 806 803 3 0 positive 8,50660 %

158 December LUKKO Instagram 6440 picture 1.-6.12.2015 Prisma Rauma 545 543 2 0 positive 8,46273 %

157 December LUKKO Instagram 6440 picture 7.-13.12.2015Prisma Rauma 544 543 1 0 positive 8,44720 %

166 December TPS Instagram 9982 picture 14.-20.12.2015Terveystalo 831 810 21 0 positive 8,32498 %

191 January Ässät Instagram 7471 picture 18.-24.1.2016Länsi-Suomen OP 611 608 3 0 positive 8,17829 %

133 December HIFK Instagram 26600 picture 7.-13.12.2015Turkish Airlines 2172 2146 26 0 positive/negative8,16541 %

188 January TPS Instagram 9982 picture 18.-24.1.2016Silja Line 811 804 7 0 positive 8,12462 %

177 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 4.-10.1.2016 Lindab 769 766 3 0 positive 8,11609 %

163 January Ilves Instagram 11200 picture 11.-17.1.2016Reebok 904 897 7 0 positive 8,07143 %

167 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Lindab 759 759 0 0 8,01055 %

155 December LUKKO Instagram 6440 picture 21.-27.12.2015Prisma 508 508 0 0 7,88820 %

169 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Hartwall 746 745 1 0 positive 7,87335 %

165 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 25.-31.1.2016Lindab 745 741 4 0 positive 7,86280 %

179 January KalPa Instagram 7185 picture 18.-24.1.2016Hope Ry 564 564 0 0 7,84969 %

154 December LUKKO Instagram 6440 picture 21.-27.12.2015KJL-muutot 500 499 1 0 poitive 7,76398 %

170 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Lindab 729 727 2 0 positive 7,69393 %

178 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 4.-10.1.2016 Lindab 729 724 5 0 positive 7,69393 %

166 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 25.-31.1.2016Lindab 713 712 1 0 positive 7,52507 %

173 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Lindab 712 712 0 0 7,51451 %

73 December Blues Instagram 9667 picture 14.-20.12.2015Espoon kaupungin sosiaalivirasto 723 719 4 0 positive 7,47905 %

175 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 11.-17.1.2016Lindab 699 696 3 0 positive 7,37731 %

141 December JYP Instagram 9475 picture 21.-27.12.2015Lindab 694 694 0 0 7,32454 %

176 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 11.-17.1.2016Lindab 686 685 1 0 positive 7,24011 %

71 NovemberBlues Instagram 9667 picture 16.-22-11-2015LähiTapiola 693 687 6 0 7,16872 %

75 December Blues Instagram 9667 picture 14.-20.12.2015Espoon kaupungin sosiaalivirasto 692 687 5 0 positive 7,15837 %

74 December Blues Instagram 9667 picture 14.-20.12.2015Neste 685 678 7 0 positive 7,08596 %

159 December Saipa Instagram 6805 picture 21.-27.12.2015McDonald's Lappeenranta 473 470 3 0 positive 6,95077 %

174 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 11.-17.1.2016HK 658 657 1 0 positive 6,94459 %

171 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Lindab 658 658 0 0 6,94459 %

137 December HPK Instagram 5188 picture 21.-27.12.2015McDonald's Hämeenlinna 360 360 0 0 6,93909 %

142 December JYP Instagram 9475 picture 21.-27.12.2015Reumalapset ry 656 651 5 0 positive 6,92348 %

136 December HPK Instagram 5188 picture 21.-27.12.2015Säästöpankki 359 357 2 0 positive 6,91981 %

168 January JYP Instagram 9475 picture 18.-24.1.2016Lindab 651 647 4 0 positive 6,87071 %

130 December HIFK Instagram 26600 picture 14.-20.12.2015Santa Claus Finland 1817 1806 11 0 positive 6,83083 %

146 December JYP Instagram 9475 picture 7.-13.12.2015OP 641 638 3 0 positive 6,76517 %

158 January HIFK Instagram 26600 picture 18.-24.1.2016Turkish Airlines 1773 1766 7 0 positive 6,66541 %

70 NovemberBlues Instagram 9667 picture 16.-22.11.2015LähiTapiola 644 638 6 0 6,66184 %

77

Appendix 8. Bottom 10% of the sponsored content posts with

the lowest engagement rate (Liiga teams)

Collection

month Team Platform Followers

photo/link

/text Date Time Sponsor

Total

engagement (Likes) (Comments) (Shares)

positive /

negative

Engagement

rate (%)

February HPK Twitter 7853 picture 10.2.2016 10:49 Vekka 3 3 0 0 0,03820 %

February Saipa Twitter 10800 picture 12.2.2016 12:34 Imatran autokatsastus 4 4 0 0 0,03704 %

January Ilves Twitter 11100 picture 14.1.2016 6:48 Kiilto 4 3 0 1 0,03604 %

December Ilves Twitter 11100 picture 30.12.2015 6:02 Kiilto 4 2 0 2 0,03604 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 8.1.2016 8:09 Bar Edison 4 4 0 0 0,03540 %

January Tappara Twitter 12200 text 26.1.2016 9:03 DNA 4 4 0 0 0,03279 %

December LUKKO Twitter 9151 picture, link 17.12.2015 0:54 S-ryhmä 3 3 0 0 0,03278 %

December Pelicans Twitter 9422 picture 16.12.2015 10:17 DNA 3 3 0 0 0,03184 %

November Saipa FB 31505 picture 20.11.2015 21:38 UK Koskimies 9 9 0 0 0,02857 %

January Saipa Twitter 10700 text 13.1.2016 4:02 Etelä-Saimaa 3 2 0 1 0,02804 %

January Ilves Twitter 11100 picture 27.1.2016 6:32 Kiilto 3 2 0 1 0,02703 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 20.1.2016 7:50 Asomet Oy 3 3 0 0 0,02655 %

December TPS Twitter 11300 picture 18.12.2015 8:01 Bar Edison 3 3 0 0 0,02655 %

February TPS Twitter 11400 picture 3.2.2016 4:44 Ravintola Rock 3 3 0 0 0,02632 %

December KooKoo Twitter 3878 link 26.12.2015 12:06 Kouvolan Sanomat 1 0 0 1 0,02579 %

December HPK Twitter 7783 picture 17.12.2015 Ekocoil 2 2 0 0 0,02570 %

January HPK Twitter 7783 picture 31.1.2016 Hämeen LVIS-laitehuolto 2 2 0 0 0,02570 %

January HPK Twitter 7783 picture 31.1.2016 Jukolan Apteekki 2 2 0 0 0,02570 %

January HPK Twitter 7783 picture 26.1.2016 Kerho-ravintola 2 2 0 0 0,02570 %

January HPK Twitter 7783 picture 5.1.2016 Lakstedin puutarha 2 2 0 0 0,02570 %

February HPK Twitter 7853 picture 10.2.2016 8:43 Vekka 2 2 0 0 0,02547 %

January Tappara Twitter 12200 text 16.1.2016 12:32 DNA 3 3 0 0 0,02459 %

February Tappara Twitter 12300 text 3.2.2016 9:07 DNA 3 3 0 0 0,02439 %

December Saipa Twitter 10700 picture 26.12.2015 12:23 Auto-Suni 2 2 0 0 0,01869 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 13.1.2016 10:23 DNA 2 2 0 0 0,01770 %

February TPS Twitter 11400 picture 4.2.2016 8:28 Brevini 2 2 0 0 0,01754 %

February TPS Twitter 11400 picture 10.2.2016 10:07 DNA 2 2 0 0 0,01754 %

December Tappara Twitter 12200 text 29.12.2015 9:11 DNA 2 2 0 0 0,01639 %

February Tappara Twitter 12300 text 12.2.2016 3:08 DNA 2 2 0 0 0,01626 %

November Saipa FB 31505 picture 20.11.2015 21:48 Etelä-Saimaa 5 5 0 0 0,01587 %

February HPK Twitter 7853 picture 6.2.2016 7:28 Jukolan Apteekki 1 1 0 0 0,01273 %

January Pelicans Twitter 9422 text 27.1.2016 10:20 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,01061 %

December Pelicans Twitter 9422 text 16.12.2015 10:08 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,01061 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 26.1.2016 7:57 Bar Edison 1 1 0 0 0,00885 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 15.1.2016 10:22 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,00885 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 15.1.2016 10:19 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,00885 %

February TPS Twitter 11400 picture 4.2.2016 10:10 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,00877 %

December Tappara Twitter 12200 text 29.12.2015 0:09 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,00820 %

February Tappara Twitter 12300 text 3.2.2016 3:37 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,00813 %

February Tappara Twitter 12300 text 3.2.2016 9:09 DNA 1 1 0 0 0,00813 %

December KalPa Twitter 7908 text, link 30.12.2015 23:07 OP 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

December Pelicans Twitter 9422 picture 29.12.2015 10:22 DNA 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

December Pelicans Twitter 9422 text 29.12.2015 10:23 DNA 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

January Tappara Twitter 12200 text 26.1.2016 9:04 DNA 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

January Tappara Twitter 12200 text 17.1.2016 5:45 DNA 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

January Tappara Twitter 12200 text 17.1.2016 5:44 DNA 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

January TPS Twitter 11300 picture 15.1.2016 7:51 Bar Edison 0 0 0 0 0,00000 %

78

Appendix 9. Example content: Behind the scenes

79

Appendix 10. Example content: Charity campaigns

80

Appendix 11. Example content: Fans meet players

81

Appendix 12. Example content: Consumer and company

competitions

82

Appendix 13. Example content: Conditional Benefits

83

Appendix 14. Example of inconsistent content: Competition