Factors Affecting Social Media Marketing of Iran’s Pro League Football Clubs

The study is to investigate the factors affecting the social media marketing of Iran’s pro league football clubs. The research method was qualitative and administered by using a grounded theory approach. Data was collected through interviews (n=19) which were conducted with top managers in football and media, faculty members with a focus on sport marketing, marketing and IT executives in league organization, media and marketing executives in football clubs, and social media experts that selected by judgment sampling. The internal validity was confirmed by providing feedback to the interviewees. In order to determine the reliability, Kappa coefficient in both initial and final coding stages were 0/769 and 0/768 respectively. Data were analyzed according to the open, axial and selective coding. The findings indicated that there were 64 effective factors in the marketing of social media marketing. These labels were categorized into nine concepts: structure, football nature, management, social media, communication and information technology, culture and society, legal and legal issues, economics, government and politics, and professional factors related to the sports industry. The Current limitations of social media marketing in football clubs have occurred under various situations. It is far from desired situation. According to the findings, executive strategies are being considered that can lead club managers to develop social media marketing clubs and achieve a desirable situation.