The Final AFC RM

Declaration of Originality
&
Copyright Acknowledgment
Student’s Name & I.D:
Bruno Gabriel (3698862).
Course of Study:
BA (Hons) Sport Management.
Declaration of Originality:
This product is all my own work and has not been copied in any part or in whole from any
other source except where duly acknowledged. As such, all use of previously published work
(from books, journals, magazines, internet, etc) has been acknowledged within the main
report to an item in the References lists. I understand that cheating and plagiarism constitute
a breach of University Regulations and will be dealt with accordingly.
Copyright Acknowledgment:
I acknowledge that the copyright of this Project belongs to Coventry University.
Signed by the student: Date:

Bruno Gabriel, BA (Hons) Sport Management, 2014
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Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to express sincere gratitude to my dissertation supervisor Tom Bason
for his continued support, patience and taking the time to develop my project to the best of
my ability. I would also like to thank all the lecturers in the sport and event department for
challenging me through the three exceptional years here at Coventry University.
Finally I would like to thank all my peers and especially my family for their persistent
support and belief in me through my academic vocation.
Abstract
Instagram is a relatively new form of social media platform where users can easily share
their updates in an online community type environment. It has seen rapid growth in the
number of users as well as uploads since it was launched in October 2010. Despite the fact
that it is the most popular photo sharing application, it has attracted little attention from the
relationship marketing research community. This dissertation will present a quantitative
content analysis on Arsenal F.C’s use of relationship marketing techniques via Instagram.
Collection and analysis of secondary data has been the methodological path employed in this
study. This research will highlight the importance sport marketers should place on
understanding relationship marketing techniques through Instagram; in reference to
perpetually strengthening connections with consumers on this social media platform. This
dissertation also includes limitations of the study, along with recommendations based on the
data collected, for Sport marketers at Arsenal Football club.

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Title
The Analysis of the degree to which Relationship Marketing
strategies are applied through the scope of social media
platform, Instagram: The Arsenal F.C perspective.
Keywords:
Relationship marketing, Social media, Consumer engagement, Sports marketing, Heritage
marketing, Instagram, Arsenal Football Club.

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Table of Contents
Chapter Page
1. Introduction/Background…………………….....……………………. 7
1.1 Aims and Objectives………………..………………..….. 7
2. Literature Review…………………………………….………………. 8
2.1 Relationship Marketing literature: A historic overview….…... 9
2.2 Contemporary literature behind Relationship Marketing: The
introduction of Social Media…………….………………..
11
2.3 Social Media: Improving Relationship marketing in sport
organisations.….…….…………………………………..
16
3. Methodology………………………………………….……………… 19
3.1 Context………………………………………………… 19
3.2 Sample………………………………………………… 19
3.3 Data Collection & Analysis……..…………….………….. 20
3.3.1 Match related Content………….…................... 21
3.3.2 Consumer Engagement Content………….…….. 21
3.3.3 Exclusivity Content………….……………...... 22
3.3.4 Limitations………….……………………….. 25

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4. Findings and Discussion……………………….…………………….. 26
4.1 Data Analysis……………….………………………….. 27
4.2 Key Categories Comparison ……………….…………….. 29
4.3 Exclusivity Sub Category Analysis……………….…….…. 31
4.4 Consumer Engagement Sub Category Analysis……….……. 33
4.5 Match Related Sub Category Analysis……………….……. 37
5. Conclusion/Managerial Implications ……………………………...… 42
6. Recommendations……………………………………….…………… 44
6.1 User Generated Content…...……………………….…….. 44
6.1.1 Contests and Challenges Tangible reward tactics…. 44
6.1.2 Potential Contest (True Gooner Campaign)…...…. 45
6.2 During game Content……………………………………. 45
6.3 Historic Content...…………………………….………… 47
Reference List……………………………………………….………….. 48

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Appendices………………………………………….………………...… 54
Appendix A – Raw Data……………………....…………. 54
Appendix B – Arsenal Historic Content (Website).…...…….. 55
List of figures/Tables
Figure 1. Shift in marketing approaches (Christopher et al.,
1991)…………………………………..……………..... 11
Figure 2. Total number of likes in relation to total amount of
posts……………………………………….…………... 27
Figure 3. Total number of comments in relation to total amount
of posts………………………………………………… 28
Figure 4. Total number of posts of key typology categories…... 29
Figure 5. Total number of exclusivity content posts from Dec
2012 – Dec 2013…….………………………………….. 31
Figure 6. Total number of consumer engagement posts from
Dec 2012 – Dec 2013……….…………………………… 33
Figure 7. Total number of match related posts from
Dec 2012 – Dec 2013………………….………………… 37
Figure 8. Match content cycle…….………………………. 46
Table 1. Sub category explication…….…….……………... 23
Table 2. Formatted data example…………….….………… 23

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1. Introduction/Background
It has become the norm that this generation’s increasingly technology savvy sport
consumers expect infinite amounts of information and instant gratification from their
hyper sophisticated smart phone/ innovative mobile device infrastructures. Social media
creates a culture amongst sports consumers that is fundamentally community based, a
trend that is seemingly unstoppable and forever evolving. This research reflects and
provides a preliminary descriptive account of the social media marketing features and
theories associated with Relationship Marketing practices employed by top-tier football
team Arsenal F.C, through their Instagram profile. Highlighting implications this may
have on sport marketers choosing to use Instagram in a relationship marketing context.
This research will also enhance the understanding of ways in which Instagram is used to
associate with sports fans in the context of Relationship Marketing, as well as identifying
the opportunities available to be exploited through this social media platform.
1.1 Aim: To establish to what degree Arsenal F.C. uses Instagram as a relationship
marketing vehicle.
Objectives: Analyse posts from Arsenal F.C’s Instagram account.
Categorising posts into three inductive key categories.
Synthesise relationship marketing literature with data collected from Arsenals Instagram.
Provide relationship marketing recommendations based on collected data analysis.

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2. Literature Review
This literature review will be used to provide a comprehensive appreciation of past and
present trends and perspectives surrounding Relationship Marketing. It’ll be necessary to
analyse historical literature that is available from the viewpoint of relationship marketing that
has gained prominence in business society in the last two decades, with the meteoric increase
in usage of the internet (Social Networking) and its seemingly endless evolution and
prevalence. The second section will provide the coverage of literature in a more
contemporary context, throughout the field of current Relationships Marketing. Succeeding
this, the focus will be put on the comparison of literature illustrating a variety of theories and
definitions regarding the main aspects of Relationship Marketing, which reflect the two way
communications made possible through Social Media; that incorporates true feedback from
the consumer to the business; leading to outlining the importance and benefits of customer
feedback. Following this will be a focus on the way sports clubs have adopted and
incorporated relationship marketing and digital technologies into their strategic approach to
marketing, with a critical analysis into the supposed impact and opportunities this may have
yielded.

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2.1 RelationshipMarketing Literature: A historic overview
An article named ‘An Environmental Explanation of Relationship Marketing’ by
Adrian Palmer in the Journal of Relationship Marketing (2001), brings forth the
chronological and critical discussion about the ways in which relationship marketing has
changed. Palmer produces an environmental audit analysis used to explain the prevalence and
recent growth of Relationship Marketing. Palmer discuses the link between business and
customer that was weakened in the era of industrialization and mass marketing when the
management and owners of businesses became remote from their customers, with a poor
infrastructure available for keeping in touch with customers (Palmer, 2001) . Palmer
highlights how businesses/individuals with substantial influence in organisations moved
away from hierarchical structures with marketing strategy focused on products, to the
narrowing of the chasm of power differences between organisations and its consumers, to a
predominant integration of customer relationship scope to their strategies.
This idea was shared by Egan (2004), was the development of largely service led
economies as opposed to production led economies in western countries during late 80s,
which stamped the importance of rapidly growing attention to service organisations. The
most fundamental text in relation to the root ideas behind relationship marketing was the
flagship text published in the Journal of relationship marketing (1983) by Leonard. L. Berry,
which encompasses relationship marketing as the concerns attracting, maintaining and
building relationships with ones customers.

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Relationship marketing invests in formal marketing programming not only to attract new
customers but also to keep and improve the rapport with existing customers. According to
Petrov (1997), most sources credit Leonard berry with originating the conception of the
phrase ‘Relationship Marketing’.
Brodie et al. (2013) Agrees, stating that focus should be put on actual or potential
relationships between the business and its customer base with a concentration on customer
retention, highlighting the focus of relationship marketing being based on customer retention.
In Parasuraman’s (1992) Article he equally agrees with this concept and holds it as all the
activities directed toward establishing, developing and maintaining successful relationship
exchanges with consumers.
Critics of the relationship marketing concept are numerous, from academics, to
practitioners who fail to see results from implemented relationship marketing programmes.
Ehrenberg and Goodhart (2000) discuss Reports of declining levels of loyalty by customers
to organizations may be seen as evidence of the futility of relationship marketing programs,
or may serve to emphasize the need for a more focused attempt at retaining customers.
Others, for example Fitchett and McDonagh (2000) argue that the negation of ‘the external
natural environment’ to the periphery of conventional or exchange based marketing
management models has not been redressed by relationship marketing in any significant or
satisfactory fashion. This statement holds a relevant point however, for most businesses
primary interests are profits and survival. Not to the extent of a Milton Freidman view of
business objectives, however, relationship marketing related strategic approaches to
marketing are not yet at the forefront of most businesses marketing approaches.

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Zineldin (1998) proposes a somewhat more valid point stating that managers should not
always attempt to define marketing as an emancipatory concept for the consumer, via notions
such as the Marketing Concept, which professes to orientate organisational activities to
consumer satisfaction, there nevertheless remains an alternative discourse. This discourse
being that the organization will only prosper if the consumers’ needs and wants are
considered central to its activities. Having examined the majority of literature that presents a
critical viewpoint in regards to relationship marketing, it has been found that none have deep-
seated valid or strong enough arguments to oppose the extensive contemporary research that
dispels negative connotation of relationship marketing. This will be discussed in the
following section.
2.2 Contemporary literature behind RelationshipMarketing:The
introduction of SocialMedia.
Product
Focus
Sales
Focus
Competitive
Position Focus
Complexity
Product dominance, with
focus on mass production
aspects
Market dominance with
focus on marketing mix
Time
Pre 1900’s 1950’s 1980’s Post 2000’s
Service dominance
with main focus on
relationships aspects
Figure 1.
Shift in
marketing
approaches
(Christopher et
al., 1991)

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The idea of developing relationships with customers is not something revolutionarily,
except only recently many firms have come to significant realisations of the value
relationship marketing adds to the business-consumer experience. The speed of technological
advance and how people communicate and consume information has transformed everyday
experiences beyond belief. Figure 1.0 above highlights the development of central marketing
focus over the last hundred years, emphasising the long time marketing of the product alone
in the early 1900s, then in the 1990s, the adoption of relationship marketing, which now has
prevalence and is practiced most widely in the service are of business (Buhler & Nufer,
2010).
Marketing experts consider the change organisations have made from traditional
transactional marketing approaches, towards a more relationship-oriented one, the ‘paradigm
shift’ of recent years (Buhler & Nufer, 2010). The dimensions of customer care and quality
has risen, this has an inextricable link to advances in information and communication
technology throughout time, further facilitating the effectiveness of relationship marketing
(Nufer, 2006).
Emergent internet technology and social media has created a platform or medium in
which various applications of relationship marketing can flourish using a new two-way
dialogue platform of continuous communication with consumers. Known as relationship
marketing, this area of marketing has the central goal of retaining customers by achieving
long-term mutual satisfaction between an organization and its customers (Grönroos, 2004).

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The fundamental drive behind a continuous revisiting and reconnecting of consumers via
social networking lies in the ability of a sports organisation to offer information in an
effective, efficient, consistent and competitive way compared to rivals. This generation of
Sports consumers are connected to their sports teams through the social media web in such a
way that has never been seen before (Williams and Chinn, 2010). The novelty of social media
and its uses as a marketing tool has unsurprisingly become an area of indistinct interpretation
in terms of relationship marketing aims, leaving room for research and development. The
continuous dialogue between organisation and consumer must establish a listening to each
other, learning from each other, and ultimately reaching a common understanding (Peppers &
Rogers, 2011). According to Grönroos (1994), to achieve consumer perceived value,
communications must be tailored to the exact needs and wants of consumers; highlighting the
need for a co-created service with value.
In the works of Payne and Ballantyn (1991) Relationship Marketing benefits include
greater customer retention, increased loyalty, reduced marketing costs, greater profits, and
increased stability and security. Having said that, implementation of relationship marketing
is no easy endeavour, Peppers, Rogers, and Dorf (1999) confer that integration requires the
adoption of a strategic approach, which encompasses developing customer centric processes,
selecting and implementing technology solutions, employee empowerment, customer
information and knowledge generation capabilities to differentiate customers, and the ability
to learn from best practices.

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For a desired widespread social media exposure this strategic approach and consumer
centric information must be transferred into consumable content via a variety of platforms
that encompass three main social media categories (Newman et al., 2013):
(Publishing services) (Networking services) (Media services)
Publishing services refers to blogging, forums and wiki type websites. An avenue which
enables creative’s, individuals and organisations to publish ideas online. Networking services
connect like minded people as stated by Peck (2013) and make it easy to share thoughts and
ideas and learn about certain topics of interest. An example of a media sharing service would
be YouTube, a video sharing service, or Instagram a photo and video sharing service,
allowing users/organisations to upload posts with descriptions and leave feedback on others
uploads.
The social media networks foster an environment where consumers form strong
relationships in which the parties influence each other’s views, attitudes, knowledge,
information gathering, purchasing behaviour, and post-purchase assessments (Constantinides
& Fountain, 2008; Mangold & Faulds, 2009). This point seemingly starts to depict the power
shift from organisations to consumers, the ease of which, and how widespread a consumer’s
viewpoint can reach an audience, has trebled with the conception of social media. Long gone
are the days where word of mouth was the only means of consumers sharing their thoughts
and attitudes towards a product or service. This viewpoint is shared by Kotler et al., (2010)
stating that, the new social media environment has significantly affected power structures in
the marketplace, bringing about a significant migration of market power from businesses
toward customers. Consequently, the social media phenomenon has created a different
marketing landscape for marketers.

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Beech, Chadwick, and Tapp, (2000) discuss that traditional marketing of the past as one
way limited communication with static information avenues, in which marketers find
difficulty in personally identifying consumers needs and being able to interact with them
directly. In this day and age social media has brought the traditional offline customer
organization dyad to a new level that allows customer engagement and dynamic one-on-one
real-time dialogue (Drury, 2008).
Relationship markers must realise that the key to keeping the customer for the long haul is
to offer customers benefits they seek in the marketplace and to serve customers’ interests,
rather than simply the organisations profit interests (Grönroos, 1994). This interesting point
highlights the way in which organisations can use social media in an opportunistic nature to
mine information about their targeted consumers. Social media platforms can be argued to be
a rich source of unfiltered and raw marketing research databases, eliminating the need to
physically conduct vast amounts of consumer research. Hennig-Thurau et al., (2010) propose
the idea that technological advancement is a driving force behind the exponential amount of
consumer dialogue which is increasing due to the use of portable and wireless mobile
devices, which strongly facilitates this dialogue and enables marketers to reach large numbers
of consumers on their personal devices anywhere instantaneously.
Social media or web 2.0 has introduced a wide range of new advanced technology
applications including, contents syndication, tagging, blogging, web forums, customer ratings
and evaluation systems, virtual worlds, podcasting and online videos and so forth (Xiang and
Gretzel, 2009). Palmer (2010) continues this notion stating that the development of consumer
focused technology will call for a reinvigoration of consumer relationships.

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Palmer explains how these technological advances have opened a new dimension into how
organisations should approach their marketing efforts. Armano (2010) states how, much
cheaper and more accessible smart phones and tablet based devices are driving consumers to
be one step closer to being connected 24/7, and in more powerful ways than previously
possible, Hinton and Hjorth (2013) elaborate more on the reach of social media through
various platforms by stating social media bleeds across platforms, desktop computers, mobile
phones, laptops and tablets.
2.3 SocialMedia:Improving Relationshipmarketing in sport organisations
Sports clubs that want to bring added value to fans need to abort the transactional
attitude that dominated the market until recently and move towards a relational approach. The
latter implies that sports clubs have to shake hands with partners, interested individuals or
groups (stakeholders) to jointly create value and improve sports brand equity (Vlad, 2013).
This statement outlined by Vlad (2013) proposes that the integration of social media by sports
organisations creates opportunity to establish even stronger connections, in a sector where
consumers/fans already have tremendously strong emotional attachment to the
organisations/sport teams in general. This view is shared with Waters, Burke, Jackson &
Buning, (2010) who declare that sports consumers’ dedication and loyalty are far stronger
than the loyalty that any other customer exhibits to any other type of organisation.

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Sport organisations are now at the liberty to exploit the vast reach of social media. This
wasn’t always the case, traditionally, sport organizations have had difficulty maintaining
contacts and interacting on an ongoing basis with their customers (Rein et al., 2006). Stavros
also implies that the large use of social media by fans encourages sport organisations to
communicate with their global audiences and maintain and enhance relationships with them
(Stavros et al., 2008).
In such information-based marketing, as Beech, Chadwick, and Tapp (2000) indicated,
the interactive exchange of information, and the content, quality and speed of responses can
be a source of competitive advantage. This view of using social media as a means of
competitive advantage is reinforced by Berry (1995) in his work about the five Relationship
marketing strategies that develop relationships, he states that organisations should consider
creating a core service, customized to the individual, augmented with extra services,
attracting customers via price, and encouraging employees to provide good customer service.
Newman et al (2013) state that ultimately, these strategies result in the customer making
the decision to either continue or terminate his/her relationship with the organisation. It is
clear to see Berry’s approach may be outdated due to technological advancements in the
macro-environment since 1995. Garner et al (2010) recognises this and argues that social
media professionals must continuously add value to official communications by providing
innovate, unique or exclusive content unavailable elsewhere in order to solidify customer
loyalty and promote continued relationships. This is imperative to sporting organisations due
to the perishable nature of sports events.

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This is recognised by Newman et al (2013) who reason that it is vital that sport
organisations find creative ways to extend the life of each sporting event and to create
meaningful ways for the organisation to continue communicating with the consumer. In an
industry where the nature of the provided service is intangible and highly perishable it forces
people to move on to the next game or event as soon as the current one ends (Newman et al.,
2013). Social media can be used as the bridge between one sporting event to the next, due to
the constant two-way interactions on multiple social networking platforms. This is supported
by Lapio & Speter (2000) who state, the power of relationship marketing lies in its ability to
provide value continuously from several different sources, before, during and after a sporting
event.

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3. Methodology.
3.1 Context
This research was aimed to assess the degree, scope and nature of the use of relationship
marketing techniques/theories through Instagram posts by Arsenal F.C, with the ambition of
establishing initial categorisations of its different applications. Posts were sampled and
categorised, starting from Arsenal’s first post from December 2012, up until end of
December 2013. Due to the fact that Arsenal’s Instagram account is relatively new, it gives
this research a strong holistic overview of how Arsenal’s relationship marketing focus has
developed spanning across the first 13 months it’s been actively engaging with its consumers
on Instagram.
3.2 Sample
Prior to extracting data, a check on how many social media platforms Arsenal F.C posses
under its official control was conducted. Arsenal have an extensive presence on social media,
with official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Sina Weibo, YouTube, Google+, Tencent
Weibo and of course Instagram. Compared to the other social media platforms Arsenal’s
Instagram is in its infancy and possessed the least amount of followers and posts, which
highlighted an area where insightful research into the use of their Instagram account could
yield recommendations for future development in regards to relationship marketing
objectives. At the time of commencing this research Arsenal had posted 347 times, a
considerable figure which yielded a significant amount of data to analyse. The implications of
analysing a set sample of posts encourage reliability in the dataset.

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3.3 Data Collection& Analysis
Given that a post can connote more than one meaning, Arsenal’s posts where coded and
grouped into three inductive key categories, an element of grounded theory proposed by
Miles & Huberman (1983). Posts were labelled under a targeted mix of match related content,
consumer engagement content and exclusivity content. These three categories represent
techniques which are put forward in relationship marketing literature initially developed by
Berry (1983), that are used by organisations to foster loyalty, emotional connection, trust and
long term consumer engagement, which is the basis of relationship marketing, thus allowing
this research to develop a logical and analytical understanding of relationship marketing
strategies used by Arsenal F.C.
The seven sub-categories within the three main categories included Pre-match, During-
match, Post-match as (Match related content), Questions and Opinions, Contests and
Challenges as (Consumer engagement content) and Behind the Scenes, Historical Posts, as
(Exclusivity content). These sub categories where input into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
and each sampled post was categorised depending on the nature of the image and the attached
explanatory caption underneath the image. The amount of comments and likes each post
generated were also calculated, highlighting the popularity and level of consumer interaction
of each sampled post.
As previously mentioned in the literature review, Garner et al (2010) state that adding
value to online communications entails consistently providing unique and exclusive
information tailored to the consumer’s taste, which is unavailable elsewhere. This is the base

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on which customer loyalty and relationship solidification is formed. The three main
categories where used to analyse the way in which Arsenal used Instagram to employ these
ideas behind relationship marketing literature.
3.3.1 MatchrelatedContent
Match related content was a category used due to the nature of the organisation, Arsenal
are a football club which offer a perishable and intangible service to its consumers. The
category was used to identify how often and when match related Instagram posts where used
to pre-empt and elongate the main service event that is being provided (Football game),
which is an effective technique to not only maintain consumer demand/enthusiasm through
the waiting period between matches, but it also solidifies customer loyalty and promotes a
continued relationship between brand and fans.
3.3.2 Consumerengagement
Consumer engagement was used as a category to identify the ways in which Arsenal use
conversational language in posts, for example asking followers their opinions in respect to
anything Arsenal related. This is a method used to engage in communication/conversation,
educating fans, and entertaining fans. There has also been a recent trend in social media
marketing where organisations start contests and propose challenges to their followers. This
manner of engaging followers grows an organisations fan base, builds awareness, and turns
fans into secondary promoters of the brand, for example, by fans reposting pictures to win a
Instagram contest it exposes their content to their followers and so on.

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3.3.3 Exclusivity content
Exclusivity content was selected as a category to decipher in what way Arsenal uses
Instagram to maximise the number of “personal touches” and “Arsenal supporters only”
content in their posts, this is a relationship marketing technique used to excite and encourage
repeated consumption. Many North American sports organisations (Teams in NFL & NBA)
who have a far better grasp of sports social media marketing have successfully used this
technique, which has cultivated groups of teams with ‘die hard’ fan bases and a tribal
following.
On the following page table 1 Explicates the sub-categories used, and provides examples
of what type of content can be attributed to each sampled post. Table 2 shows an example of
the formatted Excel document used to quantify the analysed data.

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Table 1 - Sub category explication
Table 2 - Formatted data example
Type ofpost/
Abbreviation
Description Category
Pre-match (PM) Posts containing content in anticipation of a football match,
E.g. Images/Video of pre-match press conference or team
training
(Match
related
content)
During match (DM) Posts containing in-game images, E.g. Players celebrating a
goal/Match statistics
Post match (PTM) Posts containing post-match reaction E.g. Post match
interviews/Asking fans opinion of team performance
Questions &
Opinions (QO)
Questions probing for consumer opinion on a subject matter
E.g. Players performance, new signings etc.
(Consumer
engagement
content)
Contests &
Challenges (CC)
Challenging fans knowledge on team facts/ history. E.g.
“What day did AFC win the league at white hart lane?”
Behind the Scenes
(BTS)
Posts revealing or reporting the inner workings of the club,
which are characteristically private in nature E.g. Players
changing rooms.
(Exclusivity
content)
Historical (H) Post containing images of historic past happenings, triggering
nostalgic sentiment E.g. Photos of previous historic
success/teams and classic matches.
Date Likes Comments (PM) (DM) (PTM) (H) (QO) (CC) (BTS)
06/08/13 11300 309 1 1 1
07/08/13 11800 320 1 1
08/08/13 11500 197 1 1 1
09/08/13 13700 331 1 1 1
10/08/13 14800 181 1 1 1
11/08/13 16500 213 1 1
12/08/13 17400 371 1 1 1
13/08/13 12600 251 1 1
14/08/13 15400 372 1 1

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Due to the context of this study, a quantitative content analysis technique was chosen to
interpret how Arsenal F.C use Instagram in regards to relationship marketing. Using a similar
method as Holsti (1968), enabled the examination of artefacts of social communication,
defined as “any technique of making inferences by systematically and objectively identifying
special characteristics of messages” in this case the social communication artefact is
Instagram, and the characteristics would be the seven sub-categories used to decipher the
message portrayed in the Instagram post. Objective analysis of messages conveyed in the data
being analysed is accomplished by means of explicit rules called criteria of selection, which
have been formerly established before the actual analysis of the data.
The criteria of selection method used in this content analysis is sufficiently exhaustive to
account for each variation of the message portrayed in a single Instagram post, this criteria is
rigidly and consistently applied. This is what brings reliability to the research method, and
validations of eventual findings (Selltiz et al., 1967). This method of data analysis is
comprised of a blend between quantitative and qualitative techniques suggested by Smith
(1979). Quantitative due to calculating the number of likes, comments and summing up the
tally of categories each post was labelled under. And qualitative due to the decryption of
content in the caption beneath the Instagram post, the interpretive reading of the symbolism
underlying the physical data. This method allowed the research undertaken to be inexpensive
and cost effective, all relevant items and materials necessary consulted for this project are
rooted in secondary sources of relationship marketing literature, principally electronic journal
articles, published books and copious online articles from reliable and established sources,
along with Arsenal F.C’ Instagram profile which is open to all publics and is the focal point
of this study.

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3.3.4 Limitations
This study has used the number of likes and amount of comments and overall engagement
activity as a gauge on which ‘success’ in terms of relationship with fans is measured,
however this is only virtual and a slightly superficial indication of real relationship marketing
success. Further study recommendations would be to incorporate the full spectrum of
arsenals social media, to capture a holistic view of the direction in which Arsenals social
media relationship marketing is heading. Along with sampling a group of arsenal fans to
interview, to gain rich primary research unattainable through the current methodological
approach.

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4. Findings & Discussion
It is well known that photographs have been a part of the internet almost since its
inception, however, the use of photos on social networking sites has grown exponentially in
the last decade (Newman et al., 2013). Sharing photos online has grown in popularity for two
reasons: the positive psychological, social and relational element involved when sharing a
photo in an online community, as well as the fact that more people are purchasing camera
phones and using them to publish their personal photographs on online networking
platforms, and has now become the norm in today’s society.
As humans, we connect emotionally to images and video, more than audio or text. People
make decisions and take action quicker when prompted by visual stimuli, rather than by
deciphering information from text, this is why social media is progressively becoming more
and more image centric (Bradley, 2014). A recent study by SocialMediaExaminer
(2014) showed that image or video posts receive 120-180% more engagement than text based
posts, suggesting that visual digital marketing tactics are increasingly important in a company’s
relationship marketing strategy.
Many sport organisations have noted this rise in online photo sharing and have capitalised
on it by building relationships with fans via numerous photo sharing platforms. Playing on
the fact that images can instantly incite raw emotion thus establishing more of psychological
connection with followers, a view shared by Hubert (2013) as he states that images appeal to
emotions, strike a chord with consumers, and resonate across cultures. Arsenal being a
football club is in an extremely good position to use images/videos to provoke and add to the
tribal and loyal relationship football fans have with their chosen football club.

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NumberofPosts
NumberofLikes
The results yielded from this investigation give a substantial insight into the type of images
and videos utilised by Arsenal F.C in their proactive and reactive use of their Instagram
account. The large Excel dataset (seen in appendix A) which has been represented in scatter
graphs in this section, offers a view into the activity of Arsenals Instagram in regards to
relationship marketing.
4.1 Data Analysis
It can be seen here as time passed throughout the year, there was a gradual increase in the
amount of likes generated each month which positively correlates to the amounts of posts
published by Arsenal. This is due to the ongoing establishment of relationships with new
followers as Arsenal provides more content to be consumed. This positive correlation is also
evident in the amounts of comments amassed throughout the same period of time, as seen
below:
-
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Total Posts Likes
Figure 2. Total number of likes in relation to total amount of posts

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NumberofComments
NumberofPosts
This pair of graphs above show that the upsurge of posts published has incited ‘repeated
interactions’ from consumers in the form of an increase in likes and comment activity on
Arsenals Instagram account, which highlights reoccurring engagement, and is a fundamental
element in building a relationship with consumers (Chaffey, 2007). As stated by Berry (1995)
in the literature review of this study, he expresses that a series of follow up communications
adds perpetual value to the business consumer relationship.
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Total Posts Comments
Figure 3. Total number of comments in relation to total amount of posts

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NumberofPosts
4.2 Key CategoriesComparison
The scatter graph above displays the total number of posts of the three key typology
categories over the 13 month period. It can be easily seen that photos containing Exclusivity
content have the most share of the total, followed by consumer engagement, and then match
related content. This highlights that the success of Arsenal’s relationship with fans on
Instagram is spearheaded by photos of exclusive nature. The graph also indicates how
Arsenal’s tendency to post most frequently corresponds to the nature of the football season.
For example In February and March following a series of defeats in the FA Cup to lower
league team Blackburn and being kicked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich
(Sky Sports, 2013), resulted in an evident drop in post activity. This is also true for the drop
in activity in May when the football season ended, however in mid-June there was the
sharpest recorded rise in activity, which was mainly due to Arsenals pre-season tour of the
Asian continent.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Consumer
engagement
match related
content
exclusivity
content
Figure 4. Total number of posts of key typology categories

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The marketers at Arsenal recognised that this tour was a perfect opportunity to boost their
Instagram exposure, by pioneering a showcase of an international pre-season tour which not
only opened the gates for Arsenals marketers to build relationships through engagement with
domestic fans; who up until then had never had such an exclusive insight into pre-season
action, but also to establish online relationships with their global fan base in the three
countries visited (Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan).The image below is a prime example of a photo
categorised under exclusivity content during the first team’s Asiatic tour:
These types of photos play on supporters fascination with the players in their sports teams,
who are portrayed in today’s media as ‘elite’s’ and ‘superstars’. Getting an inside look into
the ordinary day to day of the extraordinary/celebrity is very touching and springs up positive
and empathetic feelings towards the player and managers, subsequently keeping the
consumers loyally connected to Arsenal’s Instagram account to continually consume these
types of glimpses into the ‘behind the scenes’ of the Arsenal team.
(ArsenalInstagram, 2014)

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NumberofPosts
4.3 Exclusivity Sub CategoryAnalysis
This graph offers an insight into what type of image was used most frequently in terms of the
amount of posts that contained the two exclusivity content sub categories. It is unsurprising
and evident to see that photos of behind the scenes at Arsenal were used most frequently,
however, what is particularly interesting is the lack of historic posts published by Arsenal.
Interesting due to the fact that when analysing the data to decipher which single post
generated the most likes, it was a post that contained historical qualities that generated 68,350
plus likes, the second highest value of likes generated by a single post. Example below:
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
History
BTS/Exclusive
Figure 5. Total number of exclusivity content posts

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This fact invites room for discussion as to why this photo was so popular with followers, it
also brings into question with regards to why Arsenal have not yet spotted this trend and
acted upon it to their advantage; This highlights room for marketing recommendations which
will be further discussed in the conclusion and recommendations section of this study. Just
like behind the scenes content, historical content evidently strikes a chord with Arsenals
followers, however, historic content will have an edge in solidifying arsenals Instagram
community to the brand, as it draws reference to the nostalgic successful past of pervious
Arsenal teams/players.
Historic content takes the approach of developing a relationship with consumers based on a
shared signification on which the consumers experience is founded, that is to say it brings
together individuals around a shared interest, emotion and passion (Heilbrunn 2003).
Reinforcing their social identity, this is important for fans to feel connected with their
supported team.
Brand to consumer relationships gradually develop into stronger bonds when a consumer
customer perceives that a mutual way of thinking exists between him/herself and the supplier
or service provider, this touches upon the concept of empathy, which is an important
dimension in the perceived quality of Arsenals Instagram account (Gronroos, 2000).

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NumberofPosts
4.4 Consumer EngagementSub CategoryAnalysis
This chart offers an insight into what type of image was used most frequently in terms of
the amount of posts that contained the two consumer engagement content sub categories.
This graph discloses that there is a vast difference between the posts holding Questions and
opinions (QO), compared to contests and challenges (CC).
It has been made evident that Arsenal has sustained continued increases of engagement via
likes and comments, this graph provides a clear indication that the majority of posts
published have had an element of (QO) contributing to the increases in engagement
throughout the 13 months. Arsenals marketers have detected the significant positive
difference that asking probing /conversation enticing questions (via photo captions) has had
in yielding the desired effect in boosting engagement activity.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Questions and
Opinions
Contests &
Challange
Figure 6. Total number of consumer engagement posts

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Arsenals marketers have taken advantage of the fact that sport touches fans in a unique and
powerful way, the majority of football fans are extremely opinionated and relish at the
opportunity to voice their thoughts about their clubs; asking for fans opinions and providing a
comments section allows for a genuine personal interactive exchange, which empowers
supporters, making them feel as if their opinions and ideas are valued to some extent.
The post below is a prime example of inviting consumer’s questions and opinions, which
fans then take the liberty in putting forward their views and inputs:
This frequent use of asking questions to invite engagement is essential for building
relationships. This is based on Chaffey’s (2007) Engagement theory, which states that
repeated interactions strengthens emotional, psychological or physical relations between the
organisation and the consumer.
(Question)
(Fans Answers)

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When asking fans how they feel about the club or probing them for an opinion, it leads
consumers away from superficial commentary into more complex and insightful
comments/conversations, an element of ‘Stable Exchange’ from Taylor’s (1987) Social
penetration theory. This type of conversation creates opportunity for the club to unearth large
quantities of rich information for market research which can be tailored into new ideas for the
Arsenals Instagram campaigns.
When interpreting this graph it is evident to see that posts labelled under the contests and
challenges sub category has a negative trend line. However when analysing which post
generated the most conversation in the comments section, data showed that it was one of only
18 posts that were branded under contests and challenges that produced 3680 comments;
followed by the second highest 3350, from a post that was also labelled under contest and
challenges. Example:
Above is the post in question, a simple guessing game that challenges followers to name the
first team player concealed in the all in one reindeer costume.
(Challenge/Contest)
(Sample of Replies)

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A simplistic but effective means of generating masses of engagement and online
traffic to the Instagram profile, consumers feel influenced by their counterparts within this
online community to take part and are instantly compelled to post a reply. This technique
produces a ripple effect in terms of engagement; for example when a follower comments on
Arsenals photo it notifies their followers via their ‘following activity’ timeline who then are
aware and are instantly notified about this exchange, giving them a choice to view the post at
their own leisure.
Arsenal now have 673,759 followers, if Arsenals marketers could contrive a way to entice
at least 50% of all followers to comment and like photo contest content, then the ripple effect
could amass a significant amount of awareness and potentially attract new followers.

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NumberofPosts
4.5 Match RelatedSub CategoryAnalysis
The graph above reveals how many published Pre-match (PM), During-match (DM) and
Post-match (PTM) posts were shared on arsenals Instagram account throughout the 13
months. It can be seen here that Pre-match content has been used most frequently, with posts
directly after the match following the same trend. Posts during matches however are rarely
used by Arsenal; this is where one of Arsenals biggest weaknesses lie in relations to Match
related posts.
0
5
10
15
20
25
Prematch
During match
Post Match
Figure 7. Total number of match related posts

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Here are some examples of Pre-match During-match and Post-match posts:
Pre-Match
During- Match

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The images above are an example of how arsenal use posts to generate a ‘narrative’ or
‘story’ of a specific football match, an approach that sparks a connection with the audience
and inspires then to act (Uganec, 2013). This approach employs a pull strategy to engage
consumers, a form of inbound marketing (Godin, 1999). Inbound marketing has currently
been one of the most effective marketing methods for doing business online, by publishing
the right content in the right place at the right time, Arsenals relationship marketing efforts
become helpful, entertaining, and relevant without being interruptive (Hupspot, 2013).
Post-Match

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There are four major themes to inbound marketing, which Arsenal seems to have employed
into their relationship marketing approach. Starting with:
Content creation (Creating targeted content that fulfil consumers wants and needs)
Arsenal produces content showcasing the ins and outs of the football club, with real match
related content, training photos and videos, which fans find fascinating and engaging.
Lifestyle marketing & Personalisation (Marketing around consumers lifestyle and preference)
Arsenal have recognised that fans go through stages as they interact with the football team,
(Pre-match, During-match, Post-match) and the content published by Arsenal mirrors fans
thoughts and feelings towards the club at that moment in time, for example the first picture
above plays on fans anticipation for the next game, the second plays on the shared elation
fans feel during a winning game, and the third is used as shared celebration when having won
a match. Marketing around this emotional affinity is paramount in attracting and retaining
sports consumers.
Multi channel (Approaching consumers where they are, through channels where they
prefer to interact with the company)
Instagram is the leading social media platform in terms of active engagement, having a
community an eighth of the size of parent company Facebook, Instagram registers 15 times
the engagement and double the engagement user base (L-2 Intelligence report, 2014), as
illustrated in the figures below, this inevitably predicts the further growth of Arsenals
already 677,000+ follower base in coming years, a channel ripe for relationship marketing
efforts to be directed through.

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The unpredictable nature of a football game facilitates Arsenals marketers to create
differing match related content depending on the outcome of every game, a way to keep
followers continually engaged. Players in training, during and after a game will produce
different play, stats, actions and goals which add to the never-ending amount of valuable
content in which arsenal marketers have wielded and exploited advantageously to build an
affinity with consumers via Instagram.
There are aspects of matches that are intangible, ephemeral and subjective, which makes
games very personal in nature (Newman et al., 2013), Arsenals marketers have utilised the
emotional content from games which may contrive a spectrum of feelings, from sheer elation
to deep disheartenment; and used it as a means of epithetical association with fans. This
emotional association is designed to establish and maintain a profitable, long term
relationship with fans (Newman et al., 2013).
(Source: L-2 Intelligence Report - Instagram 2014)

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5. Conclusion/ Managerial Implications
Instagram allows organisations to build loyal relationships with a concentrated sample of
consumers who are already interested in the organisation and its products. Essentially, in this
instance the consumers show themselves to the organisation, it is then up to the organisation
to retain a following online by providing exclusive, personalised and contemporary content,
as Arsenal have done.
Fundamentally Arsenals Instagram serves as an outlet to express the connection fans feel
towards the team with which they identify and consume the valued content on offer (Wann,
2006). According to Holbrook (1999) consumer value is an interactive relativistic preference
experience, interactive because the consumer interacts with the offer by consuming it;
preferential because it embodies a preference judgement; relative because it requires
comparison between this experience to a next; and experimental because value, which may
involve emotional, symbolic and socio-cultural benefits, can only be obtained by
experiencing the situation.
This relates to Arsenals Instagram, they deliver value that generates emotional, symbolic
and socio-cultural benefits. Developing social bonds between fans and generating a feeling of
being a part of a community with shared values e.g. friendship, sincerity, respect, pleasure
and positive emotions to each members lives. Social community based online platforms like
Instagram allows Arsenal to truly maintain rich relationships with much larger numbers of
their fans, essentially an intangible return of investment, which unlike monetary gains is
valuable in the long run as opposed to a short term benefit (Macarthy, 2013).

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This study has highlighted that Arsenal are implementing a substantial degree of varied
relationship marketing approaches via different types of photo content. The most popular
posts are undoubtedly the ones containing exclusivity and behind the scenes related images,
match content is used to a reasonable extent but there is room for improvement in the
approaches taken by arsenal, this can also be said for historic and the contests and challenges
sub-categories.

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6. Recommendations
6.1 User generatedcontent
Arsenal posting high quality and engaging photos on its Instagram is just the start of a
successful visual relationship marketing campaign. A recommendation for Arsenal would be
to take the initiative to generate more user generated content from their follower base. Brands
have now come to a realisation how effective user generated content is for marketing on
social platforms, this is where users upload multimedia as they interact with the brand;
essentially, unintentionally marketing the brand as well as exposing brand related content to
their personal followers. By utilising their fans enthusiasm and strong relational bond,
Arsenal can effectively turn followers into their brand ambassadors as they share photos and
videos from recent games, or other forms of consumer generated content.
6.6.1 Contestsand challenges
It has been mentioned by Newman et al., (2013) that sport organisations should have
effective well thought out tactics to utilise to coincide with a social media marketing
campaign. Having analysed Arsenals use of Instagram it is evident that they have not yet
incorporated photo competitions or contests with an incentivising tangible reward as a return
for competition participation. This is where content based Instagram photo campaigns would
coincide with Arsenal enhancing their relationship marketing efforts. Not only will
consumers feel part of a community when taking part in a contest of this nature, they’ll also
be producing heaps of arsenal related content which amplifies Arsenals brand awareness
exponentially, and allows fans to contribute and collaborate with the club in a way that has
never been possible before online platforms like Instagram (Ryan & Jones, 2012).

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6.1.2 Potentialcontest(True GoonerCampaign)
A competition where arsenal’s followers are given the incentive to post creative photos that
have an arsenal related context behind it, whilst using the hash-tag #TrueGooner to aid in
tracking the competition activity. Incentives could be free stadium tours, discounted
refreshments on match days or a chance to get their photos featured on the official Arsenal
Instagram profile. These types of contests promote user generated content and can also be
used to build stronger relationships with international fans, for example a contest that has the
hash-tag #GlobalGooners; with rewards containing free merchandise etc. It’s a simple enough
idea and a gesture to bring the most influential followers closer to the club. It shows that the
club genuinely cares about their fans and appreciates their efforts in the Social Media space.
6.2 During game content
Arsenal are missing an enormous opportunity by failing to take advantage of in game posts to
raise awareness during the live event, after all, the paramount interest that draws fans to the
club is the elite level of football being played. The use of during game posts is a great way to
provide a platform for a real-time experience, in which fans can engage with the club and
fellow fans, which increases the ‘social media community’ factor that comes with Instagram.
During-game post’s can also be a way of engaging with non-attending fans by making them
feel ‘part’ of the live game event, and as if Instagram is the ‘go to’ platform to not miss out
in the match time experience.

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The diagram above is a visual representation of the cycle of match content, for the cycle to
perpetuate in a continuous stream of content, every component must fulfil its purpose. This
cycle encapsulates the fans interest in the club, influencing fans to continually consume
match content, making them feel a part of every section of the Pre-game During-game and
Post-game narrative (Brito, 2013).
During Match
 Instagram Instant replay
 Live in game photos
 Half time statistics
Match Content Cycle
Pre Match
 Behind the scenes content
 Excitement arousing content
 Player statistics
 Pre game rival statistics
 Team sheets
 Pre match fan clips
PostMatch
 Post match statistics
 Post match interview
clips (Linked to full
interview on website)
 Post match fan reaction
clips
Figure 8

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6.3 Historic content
With a history stretching as far back as 1886, Arsenal has a vast catalogue of historic content
which is rarely exploited on Instagram. Retro branding is a powerful tool that can be used to
generate and regenerate brand loyalty (Hudson, 2011). Brands that have a rich heritage like
Arsenal can use their legacy to generate strong emotional connections about value and
performance in consumers’ minds (Ritson 2009). Educating fans through a narrative of
historic content will bond fans to the Arsenal brand by enhancing trust, reinforcing
perceptions of brand identity which fans identity with, thus creating positive relational
emotions (Merchant & Rose, 2013). Storytelling has an enchanting way to engage consumers
and allows the brand to become more than an entity, but to be an experience. Ultimately, a
brand story appeals to the consumer’s emotions, builds trust, and personifies the brand.
The lack of historic content places an opening for a final recommendation. As displayed in
(Appendix B), Arsenal has used historic content on their official website. Instagram can be a
platform where short clips containing historic content can be published in order to redirect
followers to the main website. With Instagram, fans will be able to consume historic content
on their mobile devices direct from their timeline, making consumption far more user friendly
then having to sign in to the arsenal website and browse for content.

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Appendices
Appendix A – Raw Data
Date
Likes/
Month
Comments/
Month (PM) (DM) (PTM) (QO) (CC) (H) (BTS)
Total
Posts/
Month
Total
Consumer
engagement
Total
match
related
content
Total
exclusivity
content
Dec-12 20,858 384 7 1 3 0 0 3 13 18 0 11 16
Jan-13 65,279 1,827 10 2 1 0 0 3 17 22 0 13 20
Feb-13 92,188 2,280 2 2 0 4 2 3 13 15 6 4 16
Mar-13 36,688 1,109 2 1 1 0 0 0 6 6 0 4 6
Apr-13 87,244 1,657 4 0 1 5 1 1 7 10 6 5 8
May-13 150,043 3,729 2 0 3 13 1 3 11 16 14 5 14
Jun-13 109,012 2,352 0 1 0 10 0 1 8 10 10 1 9
Jul-13 328,602 7,991 6 3 2 27 0 1 25 27 27 11 26
Aug-13 533,105 14,966 14 3 5 35 4 0 27 35 39 22 27
Sep-13 1,100,400 20,296 11 1 10 41 2 2 30 42 43 22 32
Oct-13 1,266,400 17,231 15 1 9 44 0 8 32 44 44 25 40
Nov-13 1,679,800 22,271 16 4 12 36 0 2 26 44 36 32 28
Dec-13 2,174,200 38,976 23 4 14 50 6 4 37 58 50 41 41

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