My Research Study

Taylor Briceno

COM 317

Professor Stabb

A Social Media

Content Analysis

on the

Top Five

Most Followed

National Football League Teams

INTRODUCTION

• Coding - Categorizing qualitative or quantitative data to break down and generalize the material for proper analysis

Descriptive Coding

• Coined by Johnny Saldana in his 2009 communication theories novel The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers
• Breaks down large sums of textual information
• Categorically codes these large sums of text into one word/short phrase categories
• Ex. “In-Game Updates”

IMPORTANCE

Why is a content analysis on social media important?

• Social media is utilized by everyone today
• Organizations have to find a way to stand out
• Finding patterns and techniques in social media posting allows for an understanding for what does work, and what does not work

Social Media’s Prominence Today

• The major uprise of social media started with the dominance of websites like Myspace and Facebook, the two most visited websites in 2006 and 2008 respectively
• As of today:
• Twitter has 328 million users
• Facebook has over 2 billion users
• This reach is unheard of, and businesses/organizations are not only aware, but are flocking towards social media to use it for its advantages

The NFL and Social Media

• Today, every single one of the NFL’s 32 teams has their own Twitter account and Facebook page
• Even the NFL itself has its own social media account, which across these three platforms amount to a total of 50.2 million followers
• These teams now utilize social media greatly to their advantage to broadcast to fans news, player updates, roster changes, team activities, and to build their fan base through these networking websites as greatly as they can

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The problem?

Studies for this topic are few and far between

• When attempting to dive deeper into what has went into the knowledge of this topic, very little information was available
• Aside from a few related research studies, no one has ever done a public content analysis specifically on social media of NFL teams
• A content analysis is common with businesses and general standalone companies, so why not any sports teams?

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METHODOLOGY

NFL Teams Studied

• The five teams chosen for this study are:
• The Dallas Cowboys
• The New England Patriots
• The Pittsburgh Steelers
• The Green Bay Packers
• The Seattle Seahawks
• The Denver Broncos

Social Media Follower Totals

DATA COLLECTION PROCESS

What is being collected for this research study?

• Social media posts need to be collected from a snapshot of the season that allows for the most differentiation amongst posting
• The posts being collected will be from Facebook and Twitter
• These posts will then be coded appropriately
• Week 9 of 2017 NFL regular season was chosen as displaying the best amount of variation

Week 9 Team Details

• Dallas Cowboys - Normal regular season week
• New England Patriots - On a bye week
• Pittsburgh Steelers - On a bye week
• Green Bay Packers - Monday Night Football
• Denver Broncos - Shortened week due to MNF game week 8

Why is a content analysis on these NFL teams important?

Benefits to the top five NFL teams

• With a content analysis of their own social media accounts, these teams can now see:
• What makes up the most of their social media presence
• How they are dividing up their posts by topic
• What areas/topics do they need to expand on

Benefits to other teams around and outside of the NFL

• Aside from benefiting the teams analyzed, there are a few benefits to the other teams around the league and in other sports:
• What techniques/trends the most followed social media accounts in the NFL are using
• How these teams are splitting up their posts by topic
• What posts are seemingly more or less prominent for these teams than their own
• In general, what is proving to be successful for these teams’ social media accounts

THE CONTENT ANALYSIS

Coding Categories

Internal Team Analyzation

Roster/Team Updates

In-Game Updates

External Team Analyzation

Player Mentions

Dallas Cowboys’ Social Media

• Normally scheduled NFL regular season week
• Significant increase in live posting from Facebook to Twitter
• Leading categories are Player Mentions, Fan Morale, and ETA/ITAs
• Ezekiel Elliott legal news was considerable portion of posts

New England Patriots’ Social Media

• On a bye week > no In-Game Updates
• Jimmy Garoppolo/Brian Hoyer trade occurred this week > Roster Updates increase
• Fan Morale posts display significant increase / Player Mentions decreases on FB
• “PETriot of the Month” and Halloween themed fan appreciation heavily utilized

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Social Media

• On a bye week > No In-Game Updates
• Significant decrease in Roster/Game Updates without trading or IR updates
• Fan Morale posts increase with #FanFriday, Halloween posts, and an interactions
• Noticeable increase in ETAs and ITAs from Twitter to Facebook

Green Bay Packers’ Social Media

• Monday Night Football game > data collection time offset one day
• Leading categories are once again Player Mentions, Fan Morale, and ETA/ITAs
• In-Game Updates show significant increase from Facebook to Twitter
• Nearly identical results between Facebook and Twitter > More tweets than FB posts

Denver Broncos’ Social Media

• MNF game previous week > collection period: takeoff one day & add onto end of week
• Player Mentions, Fan Morale, and ETA/ITAs continue to be most frequent
• #BeatTheEagles and #BroncosCountry were very popular hashtags

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Collected Data Totals

• 1) Player Mentions
• 2) Fan Morale
• 3) Internal Team Analyzation
• 4) External Team Analyzation
• 5) Roster/Team Updates
• 6) Events
• 7) Promotions
• 8) Miscellaneous
• 9) In-Game Updates

• 1) Player Mentions
• 2) Fan Morale
• 3) Internal Team Analyzation
• 4) External Team Analyzation
• 5) In-Game Updates
• 6) Events
• 7) Roster/Team Updates
• 8) Promotions
• 9) Miscellaneous

Collected Data Totals

What the Data Shows

• Player Mentions is by far the most significant category when posting
• With percentage shares of 25.6% and 28.4%, it is safe to say player mentions are the most important aspect of social media posting for these NFL teams.
• This could be caused by the ability for this category to be easily combined with other categories in a singular post

What the Data Shows

• Posts categorized as In-Game Updates are much more relevant on Twitter than Facebook
• Facebook totaled up 17 posts categorized as In-Game Updates
• Ranked last in Facebook category rankings
• Twitter totaled up 78 posts categorized as In-Game Updates
• Ranked fifth in Twitter category rankings
• Twitter’s platform could be major catalyst of this trend
• Overall results skewed due to two teams with byes
• Roster/Team Updates was the only other category majorly affected by teams with bye weeks and also proved to be dependant on team situation/activity

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What the Data Shows

• Fan Morale posts proved to be the most surprising, heading itself as the #2 most frequently posted about category
• This proves that teams find correlated success between their posts engaging with and supporting their fan base and the success of their social media accounts
• Huge increase in posting importance when team is on bye week
• Posting percentage mean for teams without bye week: 16.6%
• Posting percentage mean for teams with bye week: 26.8%

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What the Data Shows

• Internal and External Team Analyzation posts were both the #3 and #4 options when posting to social media respectively
• Both had relatively the same relevance, but had to be separated for categorization due to the major difference between posts such as press conferences differentiating from posts highlighting analysts speaking on the team’s behalf.
• Only other categories aside from Player Mentions and Fan Morale to rack up over 100 posts on both social media sites
• The final two categories in the top four powerhouse categories when these NFL teams post on social media (behind the two categories above)

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What the Data Shows

• These last three categories proved to be the least relevant when posting
• This was expected with the Miscellaneous category, as this was only created to categorize outlier posts
• Events and Promotions are highly dependant on the frequency of these occurring within the team, so their posting significance is capped
• It can be assumed that these categories have little to no effect on the social media growth and success of these teams

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Possible Alterations

• Study all 32 teams rather than top five
• Conduct research across entire regular NFL season
• Record follower fluctuation week to week
• Code the data utilizing a different coding technique/theory
• Survey followers about their reasonings for following said accounts

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Questions, comments, or concerns?