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Procedia Computer Science 104 ( 2017 ) 73 – 80
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
1877-0509 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the scientific committee of the international conference; ICTE 2016
doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2017.01.074
ScienceDirect
ICTE 2016, December 2016, Riga, Latvia
The Role of Social Media in Sports Communication Management:
an Analysis of Polish Top League Teams’ Strategy
Luis Ochoa Siguenciaa,*, Damian Hermana, Gilberto Marzanob, Piotr Rodaka
aThe Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Mikolowska 72A, Katowice, 40-065 Poland
bRezekne Higher Education Institution, Atbrivosanas aleja 115, Rezekne, 4600 Latvia
Abstract
Effective media relations and direct communication with customers are essential for all sports organizations. Successful
managers in sports field must have a clear understanding of how Information and Communication Technology works to manage
the communication process. Instagram can be a highly-targeted visual advertising channel for sports clubs. Nowadays, most
people use social media and have a profile on social networking sites.
This paper focuses on how Polish Top-league Clubs are using social media, especially Instagram, to communicate with fans and
supporters. Our research was carried out in three times. The first analysis was conducted in August 2014, the second in March
2015, and the last in October 2016. The study was based on both literature review and online search. Data comes from webpages
such as www.sportnaukowo.pl, www.ekstraklasa.org, www.stadiony.net, www.instagram.com.
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the scientific committee of the international conference; ICTE 2016.
Keywords: Instagram; Marketing; Polish top-league
1. Introduction
Nowadays, sports clubs ought to compete among them on many levels. One of the most popular arenas of
competition is marketing. In this respect, sports clubs need to use advanced and effective communication means. To
building a positive image, they often use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram – this is especially finalized
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 48(032) 207 52 23.
E-mail address: l.ochoa@awf.katowice.pl
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the scientific committee of the international conference; ICTE 2016
74 Luis Ochoa Siguencia et al. / Procedia Computer Science 104 ( 2017 ) 73 – 80
to inform their youngest fans on the club life reaching them online. Websites are today one of the main popular
ways for communicating1. Many fans access social networks and the websites created by clubs.
Instagram is a photo and short video sharing network launched in October 2010, where users directly follow
others to create a customized news feed of photos. It is now available on the operating systems Windows Phone,
iOS and Android, which allows users to capture images, use of digital filters to them and share them in different
social networking sites2.
Instagram as a social service, allows users to place images and short films and imposing on them simple filters.
In April of 2012. Services was acquired by Facebook. The data Mega panel / PBI shows that browser-based version
of Instagram has visited more than 2 million Polish users. Adding photos and videos on the site is possible only
through its mobile version3. In the first week of July 2015, Instagram improved photos and video resolution to
1080x1080 pixels 4 and this increased its popularity.
1. Instagram as a marketing tool for sports club in Polish major league
One of the most popular online marketing tools in social media is Instagram5. Specialists from e-marketing
through Instagram create and promote the brand and the image of the club, and also communicate with supporters of
the club.
What do clubs put on Instagram?
xPhotos and videos
xTraining and athletic competition
xPress conferences
xImportant events in the life of the club (transfer, the sponsor, presentation, etc.)
xPromotional and charity campaigns
xPersonal life of athletes
As shown by the elaborate statistical data by sportnaukowo.pl6, Instagram becomes every year more and more
popular in Poland and abroad. For professional sports clubs is a chance for the development of activities related to
communication with fans, as well as effective and efficient marketing7.
2. Most important features that characterize Instagram
As it was mentioned before Instagram is a photo/video social media closely associated with the application
bearing the same name, currently available on the different operating systems that allows users to capture images
and use of digital filters that gives them a unique style as well as provide them in various social networking sites
Facebook, among others with which it is closely integrated. In addition, there is a possibility to comment photos
placed by other users.
One of the characteristic features of the application is that the images taken using this application are square-
shaped. The huge popularity of applications has led to an increase in its marketing value, which caused that they
became one of the primary means of communication between users of the application. The application beyond
placing images also enables shooting short videos and posting them on the site.
xCost: The application Instagram is completely FREE
xLink: https://instagram.com/
xAuto-correct: None
xTransmission of documents: On any device with an installed application Instagram and access to the internet. It
gives the ability to send photos and short videos add short descriptions and comments
xSimultaneous editing: No function simultaneous editing, only the user who presented the photo / video on the
site has access to edit the document
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Luis Ochoa Siguencia et al. / Procedia Computer Science 104 ( 2017 ) 73 – 80
xNumber of collaborators: Gives the contact with a huge number of people, well managed gives great marketing
opportunities, particularly for companies with recognized products that not only depict something interesting
but also look good
xSupported file types: All kinds of photos and short films (3-15 sec.) taken in the application
xText chat / forum: No chat option only under the photo descriptions and comments
xInstallation: Currently, Instagram application can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website and then
install on your smartphone or tablet on mobile platforms: Android, iPhone, IOS
xAdvertising / Spam: No ads in the app
xRSS: Not applicable
xUpdates E-mail / pop ups: Information about the update, a newer version, as well as the notifications are sent
out as a message to our email address or notifications to your mobile device
xPublic / Private: Instagram allows only placing the descriptions under the picture as well as various comments
visible to all users, photos placed on this website is general available, there is the possibility of tracking users
that interest us most
xSoftware / Web-based: You must install the application to create an account rest is done online
3. Methodology and data analysis
The present study was based both on literature and websites analysis.
The data were taken from the pages:
xwww.sportnaukowo.pl
xwww.ekstraklasa.org
xwww.stadiony.net
xwww.instagram.com
To determine the size of the interdependence between the various factors Spearman's rank coefficient was used
ݎ
௦ൌͳെ
σௗ
మ
సభ
ሺమିଵሻ
where: n is the number of cases, diis the difference between the two ranks of each observation.
To determine the differences between two dependent variables Wilcoxon matched pairs test (Wilcoxon signed-
rank test) was used
ܹ ൌσሾݏ݃݊൫ݔଶǡ െݔଵǡ൯ܴሿ
ேೝ
ୀଵ
where: Nr – sample size, sgn – signum function, Ri – rank denotation.
Our research on Polish League clubs has been carried out in three times. The first analysis was conducted in
August 2014, the second in March 2015, and the third in October 2016 (see Fig. 1-4).
From data analysis emerged that most of the league clubs (9 of 16) in August 2014 have used Instagram. Two
years later, out of the 16 Polish top league clubs only one did not have an official account on Instagram. Legia
Warsaw as a club was using the portal most intensively in August 2014 posted 732 photos and videos, while in
March 2015 - 995. The second dose was engaging club Lechia GdaĔsk with the quantities of 545 in August and 974
in March, and then Gornik Zabrze with respectively 455 and 687 objects posted.
It should also be noted that all clubs which in August were using this social network - significantly increased the
number of placed images during the autumn round. Wilcoxon matched pairs test with the level of probability p =
0.002218 shows that there is a significant difference between the amount of posted photos on Instagram between the
two tests. Confirmation that the clubs increasingly use Instagram is also a Spearman rank order correlation that
shows the link at the level of 0.94 between the number of images posted by the clubs in August 2014 and March
(1)
(2)
76 Luis Ochoa Siguencia et al. / Procedia Computer Science 104 ( 2017 ) 73 – 80
2015. Even greater differences are noticeable between the results obtained after two years. The Wilcoxon test
amounts p = 0,0009 when correlation Spearmana 0.91 These results demonstrate dynamic changes in the use of
Instagram by football clubs.
Fig. 1. Number of photos posted until August 2014, March 2015 and October 2016 among major league clubs.
Posted photographs are inseparably connected to the amount of likes of individual photos or movies.
Fig. 2. The total amount of likes in August 2014 and March 2015 among major league clubs.
On the whole, most likes were collected by photos and videos posted on the profile of Legia Warsaw. In August
there were 9828 and in March already twice: 18077. Next club proved to be Wisla Krakow from 3344 and 5585
amounts in individual studies, and a third club, who managed to collect in the first survey of more than 3000 and in
the second over 4000 likes was Lech Poznan.
However, more interesting juxtaposition than the total amount of likes was the average number of likes on the
inserted picture. On average, most likes were collected on pictures of the Lech Poznan profile. On average, about 6
likes less in August and 3 likes less in March gained photos posted by Legia Warszawa. On the next places there are
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Luis Ochoa Siguencia et al. / Procedia Computer Science 104 ( 2017 ) 73 – 80
profiles of Wisla Krakow (11.4 and 12.4), Ruch Chorzow (8.9 and 6.9).
Fig. 3. Average number of likes for picture in August 2014 and March 2015 among major league clubs.
Research carried out in autumn 2016 showed a huge increase in the importance of Instagram as a way to
communicate with supporters. The calculations on the number of like’s, which on average they have been endowed
with photos posted on clubs’ portals in August 2016, they show more than one hundred fold increase in interest on
photographs posted by clubs. And so photos posted on Legii Warszawa profile were liked by an average of 2692
people, pictures of Lech Poznan on average by 1763 interested, and fans of Krakow has an average of 1030 people.
Fig. 4. Average number of likes for picture in August 2014 and March 2015 among major league clubs.
These quantities in themselves illustrate how much potential still lies in Instagram. It should be noted here that the
average number of likes on the photo should depend on the number of people supporting the club. And indeed, the
correlation between the number of fans attending matches of their team measured the average number of spectators
at the stadium8 and the average number of likes pictures inserted by the club in March is statistically significant (rs =
0.75 p <0.05). Recorded an even stronger correlation between the average number of those supporting a position in
78 Luis Ochoa Siguencia et al. / Procedia Computer Science 104 ( 2017 ) 73 – 80
the table after the season ended (rs = 0.93 p <0.05). So it is a good clubs strive for the highest position in the table.
Ranking level in the table is also affected by the amount likes in other way. Polish major league in 2013/14 season
adopted the rules of the competition - each of the 16 clubs should play 30 matches in the main round. Then in the
final round they are created 2 groups. In group A (see Fig. 5), there are clubs for the main round place from 1 to 8,
while in Group B - clubs from places 9 – 169. After the division of clubs in groups, it turned out that during the
season the average number of likes for the teams that ultimately completed the game in the bottom of the table was
reduced, but liking of clubs from the top of the table tended to rise10. This means that the current team play can
affect the behavior of supporters relating to their activity on Instagram.
Fig. 5. Average number of likes on the picture in August 2014 and March 2015 clubs divided into Group A and Group B final round.
However, recent studies have shown a visible increase in „like’ both group A and group B. But nevertheless
more visible more than twice the difference between the upper and lower group teams. In August 2016 an average of
926 „likes” has been observed on each picture among the teams playing for the Polish Championship compared to
403 “likes” on photos among the teams fighting from relegation (see Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. Average number of likes on the picture in March 2015 and August 2016 clubs divided into Group A and Group B final round.
4. Conclusion
Instagram is one of services that have revolutionized the way Marketers promote their products or services and
communicate with customers. The creators of Instagram should receive congratulations not only for the idea, but
also for the manner in which it was implemented. The application works quickly, does not result in errors, and its
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operation is very intuitive, allowing even the biggest laymen create interesting pictures with a large number of
simple to use filters.
In accordance with the principle concerning that one picture is worth a thousand words, the creators of the portal
have provided users with space and tools not only to share his view of the world, but also to get acquainted with the
reality seen through the eyes and soul of others.
The study have shown, that clubs in the last year have begun in the majority pay attention to the role that
Instagram can play in the clubs’ promotion; although there are still exceptions such as even the lack of official
profile on this online tool as one of the 16 the best clubs in Poland.
In most cases, activity clubs limit their Instagram activity to adding photos and short films. What is lacking is the
action to engage the fans. Some of the clubs run profile on Instagram and has not informed their fans. It also
happens that the clubs’ official websites are missing link to a profile on Instagram.
Actual information about how Instagram is used by the most football clubs from the Polish Top – league can be
found in the following websites:
xLegia Warszawa: http://instagram.com/legiawarszawa
xWisáa Kraków: http://instagram.com/wislakrakowsa
xLech PoznaĔ: http://instagram.com/lechpoznan1922
xLechia GdaĔsk: http://instagram.com/lechia_gdansk
xPogoĔ Szczecin: http://instagram.com/pogonszczecinsa
xGórnik Zabrze: http://instagram.com/gornikzabrzessa
xJagiellonia Biaáystok: http://instagram.com/jagielloniabialystok
xPodbeskidzie Bielsko Biaáa: http://instagram.com/tspodbeskidzie
xRuch Chorzów: http://instagram.com/ruchchorzow1920
xPiast Gliwice: https://instagram.com/piastgliwicesa
xGKS Beáchatów: http://instagram.com/gks_belchatow
xGórnik àĊczna: https://instagram.com/zielono_czarni
xCracovia Kraków: https://www.instagram.com/mkscracovia
xĝląsk Wrocáaw: https://www.instagram.com/slaskwroclaw.pl
xKorona Kielce: https://www.instagram.com/koronakielce
Polish clubs start to notice the potential and opportunity Instagram offers for marketing. In this paper we have
shown some important facts how Polish Top – league Clubs uses Instagram as a marketing channel. To do this
effectively the clubs analyze how to grow their audience and promote their clubs effectively on the social network.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice – Poland and the
Research and Innovation in Education Institute.
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Luis Ochoa Siguencia received Ph.D. in Research and Innovation in Education from the
“Balearic Islands University”, Mallorca – Spain. He is an Associate Professor and Researcher
at The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice – Poland, Department of
Tourism and Sport Management where teaches “Network communication management” and
“Information systems in sport & tourism’ and Editor in Chief of the “International Journal of
Applied Information and Communication Technology” published by Research and
Innovation in Education Institute in Czestochowa. Has extensive experience in both
commercial and academic cloud computing use, and EU Project management. His research
and development interests include information technology (IT) assisted education, Use of
Information and Communication Technologies in Education and Workplace.
Damian Herman is Ph.D. Academic researcher/teacher at Academy of Physical
Education, Department of Methodology, Statistics and Computer Science. Responsible for
the education quality in the department. Author / co-author of several articles on statistical
methods applied to sport and recreation, IT in tourism management and distance learning.
Has experience in European projects management.
Gilberto Marzano is Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Pedagogical Technologies
of Regional Institute of Research (REGI) at Rezekne University (Latvia). Member of the PhD
professors board at Udine University (Italy) on Economy, Ecology, Landscape and Territory.
He was an executive manager in private ICT companies and director of an R&D software
laboratory in Italy.
Piotr Rodak is Ph.D. candidate and academic worker at The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of
Physical Education in Katowice – Poland, Rector’s Plenipotentiary for International
Relations, President of the PhD Candidates University Government, experienced in
international projects and worldwide cooperation.
