EVALUATING THE CORPORATE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF SPORTS CLUBS IN THE NEW MEDIA

1. MuglaSıtkı KocmanUniversity, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Mugla, Turkey. 2. Istanbul Gelisim University, Department of Sport Management, Istanbul, Turkey. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

The Universe and the Sampling of the Study:-The universe of the study consist of all the sports clubs in Turkey. The starting point of the study consists of the report released by the website socialbakers.com, which conducts statistical analyses in the field of new media, and which is frequently referred to in scientific studies. Their report gives the number of the followers of the sports clubs 609 in Turkey on Facebook. The data in this website are prepared as based on the interest of the followers in the brands or institutions. In this context, there are three sports clubs in the first ten place in Facebook followers report. In this context, the sampling of the study consists of the corporate media accounts of the three sports clubs in Turkey, which have the most followers and supporters in the new media, Galatasaray Sports Club, Fenerbahçe Sports Club and Beşiktaş Gymnastics Club.

The Problem of the Study:-
The problem of the study is determining the strategic corporate communication activities,and the management of these activities, which are applied in official social media accounts of these clubs in the new media, which is the new means of corporate communication by the sports clubs, especially the public relations departments or the corporate communication practitioners of these clubs.

Data Collection Tool:-
In examining the social networks,the grading system, which was used by Gibsonet al. (2003) in their study "Election Campaigning on the WWW in the US and the UK: A Comparative Analysis",was used as the basis. The study consists of two parts, the first part has the title Functions with the subtitles; The Method,Information Flow, Collecting the Sources, Communication Network, Participation, and the Campaign; and the second part has the title Presentation with the subtitles; Visuality, Accessibility, Strolling, Actuality, and Visibility. By considering the specific technical structure and the contents of the social networks,small changes were made in the index and grading system, which was used by Gibson et al. In terms of the efficiency of the study, the data obtained via the abovementioned social networks were graded, and the other communication messages which were spread via other means of communication were not considered.

Collection of the Study Data:-
The data collection was performed by the researcher himself. The social media networks of the three sports clubs, which were included in the study, i.e. the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ andYouTubeaccounts were examined by the researcher for 3 months and the necessary data were collected.

The Limitations of the Study:-
The limitations of the study are being conducted with three sports clubs and the social network accounts of these sports clubs,Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ andYouTube; and the study date being between October and December.
The Assumption of the Study:-It has been assumed that the sports clubs, which constitute the sampling of the study, represent the universe of the study. In addition, it has also been assumed that the data collection tool used in the study is the best and accurate data collection tool in achieving the purpose of the study and the desired results.

Findings:-
When  610 that the highest points of the clubs are collected from the Facebook accounts. Again,the "Who is Who", and the "Investment Info of the Club" sub-titles are not included in any social media account of the three sports clubs. In the Collecting the Resources sub-title, it is observed that there is Membership Index in all social media accounts of the clubs except for the Google+ andYouTubeaccounts.The links on the communicationnetwork vary between 0-5 points. It was determined that the most points were obtained in the Twitter accounts by the clubs from the external communication links in which the national and international partners were included, and from the internal communication links in which the other institutions were included. In the sub-title where the conveyance method of the campaigns are examined, it is interesting that the three clubs received full points in the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Table2 Internal Communication  14  7  5  21  17  16  1  1  11  8  4  5  8  8  External Communication  5  3  5  52  52  42  0  0  1

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When we consider Table 3, which shows the detailed data on the Presentation Part, it is observed that the sports clubs share "Animated Images", "Pictures" and "Videos" provided that they are allowed by the social media under the Visuality sub-title. It is also observed that they do not have any contents in LinkedInaccounts. When the accounts are examined in terms of being updated, it is observed that the clubs share the most up-to-date information in Facebook and Twitter accounts; and Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe Sports clubs do not share any up-to-date data in their LinkedIn accounts. In addition, it is also observed that Fenerbahçe uploads new content in the YouTube account once in every two weeks. Table3   Everyday

Discussion:-
The sports clubs included in the study are interested more in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ andYouTube, since their contents are not complex, it is easy to create an account without too much effort and it is free of charge. LinkedIn,which is a means of social media, show differences in terms of its function when compared with the other social media accounts. Again, videos about the clubs are shared with the members by creating an account in YouTube. The mostdistinctivedifference of the YouTube account is that the sports clubs do not consider it as an 612 interactive means of communication. All of the clubs except one of them do not prepare the contents to allow the members write comments.
It is also another interesting point that football is considered as having the most important role in the development of the media services in our country, which is the case in many other countries in the world. Here, the justification of this is presented as the means of information and communication technologies being prepared and presented according to a certain demographic structure or according to fanatic groups. Men, who are in their mid-twenties or thirties, constitute the highest customer group in football and in the new media technologies, and the target market that has emerged as a result of these new technologies, is important for the sports media industry. In this context, it is important that the new media products and services from the digital TV broadcasting to 3G mobile phones must be prepared according to the benefits of this target group. This situation is obvious in the advertisement and sponsorship of some brands like NTL, Telewest, BSkyB, Granada Media,BT, Vodafone, Orenge, O2, T-Mobile, Nokia and Siemens spend the majority of their financial assets to gain the British football supporters (Beech and Chadwick 2007).
When conducted a study in which the relation between football and the new media was examined and reported that there were struggles to establish a connection between the football fans and the new communication technologies. In this context, it was also observed that the demands of the supporters were covered by the football industry (Çavuşoğluet al.2011). Sports clubs have to conductexplorations and make decisions before they show up in the means of new media, and define their new media strategies. The clubs which do not have any new media strategies may face great problems in accompanying the new media dynamics. In general terms, the new media strategy defines the targets, aims, identity, the language and the style in the webpage, the properties of the target audience, the characteristics of the internal and external resources, and the scope of the reports of the club for the accounts in the new media. The new media strategies are very important for sports clubs since there are always institutions, people or groups that may be influenced by these strategies either in a positive or in a negative manner.

Göksel and Serarslan (2015):-
One of the most importantmanagerial activities is, without doubt, the feedback showing the results of the work that has been done so far. In the grading of the new media accounts, the tactics such as being open and clear to the virtual world, active usage rate in order to ensure participation, the distribution of the sharing being spread like in the viral marketing. All that aside, it is known that the number of the followers of the sports clubs in official social media accounts, and the duration spent on these pages, likes, sharing, comments and other interaction activities are also important. In addition, social marketing is important in forming a sports culture for the sports clubs. Kargün et al.
(2015) conducted a study and reported that social marketing had a specific importance in increasing the sports conscience. It was reported that the NBA teams had interactiveand informative sharing on their accounts in order to make use of the new media platforms (Wysocki 2012).

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Kietzmann et al.(2011) conducted a study and determined that most NBA teams had various accounts in social media and these accounts were managed from one single center. It was also reported that the most-preferred new media tools were Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn. In this context, when we consider the popularity of the social media accounts in Turkey, which is the main subject of our study, it is possible to claim that our findings overlap with the results reported by Kietzmann et al. and that we have reached our goals in this study.

Conclusion:-
It has been determined with the research on the new media tools that Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş sports clubs have official Facebook, Twitter, Google+ andYouTubeaccounts. It has also been determined that except for Beşiktaş Sports Club, the other clubs have official LinkedIn pages. In the research, the following results have been reached in the detailed analyses of the new media accounts:  It has been determined that the number of the followers of the sports clubs, which are included in the scope of the study, increased with each passing day.  Sports clubs are in constant communication with their supporters via the new media tools.  The supporters/customers and the sports clubs mostly prefer Facebook in the new media, and Twitter is in the second row after Facebook.  It has also been observed that the sports clubs and their followers are not interested much in LinkedIn. Beşiktaş sports club does not even have a LinkedIn account.  It has been determined that Beşiktaş sports club uses Google+ account in the most active manner. Galatasaray and then Fenerbahçe follow Beşiktaş in this context.  It has been determined that the sports clubs care much for conveying the visual identity in their official new media accounts.  It has been observed that the most informative account on the corporate history is Beşiktaş sports club in social media accounts.  The corporate philosophy, missions, and the visions of the three sports clubs, which were included in the study, are not given in a sufficient manner for the followers in their accounts.  The managers or the professional employees of the sports clubs are not mentioned clearly.  It has also been determined that, except for the compulsory notifications made to the Enlightening the Public Platform, sports clubs do not share their investment profiles in social networks.  The ticket prices of the clubs in various sports branches are not available on social media accounts except for Facebook and Twitter.Only Beşiktaş sports club mentions this information on its Google+ account.  Sports clubs mention the contact information and provide the links to their other new media links on their Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ accounts.  The e-mail addresses are not shared except for Facebook and Google+ instead, the official websites ofthe clubsarementioned in all networks.  It has been determined that only Galatasaray sports club has an e-magazine on its official Facebook account.  The clubs included in the study upload videos on their new media tools and these videos are easily watched by their followers.  The accounts of the clubs on social media areupdated every day except for LinkedIn andYouTubeaccounts.

Recommendations:-
In the light of the conclusions obtained in the study, the recommendations to the sports clubs, to the corporate communicationexecutives and to the scientists, who are planning new studies, are as follows:  The targets, corporate philosophy, mission, vision and considerations of the sports clubs, which must be known by the followers, must be given more place on the new media accounts.  It has been determined that the main slogan, which provides information on the corporate identity and which shows the targets of these ports club at that time by reflecting the corporate culture, are not given sufficient place on the majority of the social networks.  In the evaluation made in terms of the communicationnetwork functions, it has been observed that sports clubs share the required contact information on social networks. However, there is no information on the subbranches, which exist in the club in managerial terms (marketing, accountancy, etc.), and this prevents reaching the right person at the right time in a quick manner.  When the new media accounts are evaluated in terms of accessibility it has been observed that one of the most important issues is the contents being provided in foreign language. It is considered that especially the sports 614 clubs that compete in international area in different sports branches must have new media accounts in various foreign languages, mainly English;and determine the countries in which they have the most followers. By doing so, they will not fall back from the far-eastern market.  The researchers who are planning to conduct studies on public relations in sports and social media as a means of corporate communicationmust also include small-scale sports clubs to reveal the differences.