The use of influencers by sport brands to develop their online communities: impact on consumer behaviour.

Abstract

The rise of the internet and social media in the past years has led to the creation of online communities. The creation of these communities offers some new and easy ways for brands to engage with their customers. The sports industry is no exception to the creation of such communities. The community aspect for sports brands is important and the population likes to follow sports brands on social media. However, the most followed sports brands are mostly dedicated to sports teams or events. The academic research on the subject is also mainly focused on these types of sport communities. Sport brand communities that are not related to a team or event have not yet been studied in depth. Furthermore, the size of the influencer marketing industry is growing every year. This form of marketing offers a high return on investments compared to other more traditional forms of marketing. We have experienced an increase in the types of influencers that exists, each of them bringing different added value to the industry. They are a great tool to help brands achieve their goals, but many companies do not fully understand how to use influencer marketing at its best to obtain the desired results. Different types of sports influencers exist that could help sport brands develop their online communities, yet little academical research have been conducted on the impact of these types of influencers on consumer behaviour. In this research, we will discover how different types of influencers can have an impact on consumer behaviour and consequently be an asset for brands when developing their online communities. The first part of the research is dedicated to the literature review on different subjects such as online sport brand communities, the different types of sports influencers and consumer behaviour that will be useful for the completion of this work. This will allow us to formulate hypotheses in line with our research question. In the second part of this work, we will conduct a quantitative study in the form of an online survey. The analysis of the results suggests that the three types of sports influencers positively impact consumer behaviour of the members of online sports brands communities. It also suggests that the level of interactivity of the influencer with its community negatively impact consumers’ purchase intention. Finally, this work gives some conclusion as well as managerial and academical implications while exposing the limitations and proposing some idea for future research.