Excerpt
Table of Contents
Table of Figures
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose
1.2. Outline of the study
2. Literature review
2.1. SM strategy target audience
2.2. SM channel choice
2.3. SM strategy goal / purpose
2.4. SM content monitoring
2.5. Brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication
2.6. Interaction between organizations and consumers on SM
3. Frame of reference
3.1. Research gap
3.2. Research questions
4. Methodology
4.1. Research Approach and Research Design
4.2. Data Sources and Sampling
4.3. Operationalization
4.4. Data Collection
4.5. Data Analysis Method
4.5.1. Content Analysis
4.5.2. Data Analysis Tool - Leximancer
5. Data Analysis and Results
5.1. Data Analysis of the Annual Reports of adidas and NIKE
5.1.1. SM Strategy Target Audience
5.1.2. SM Channel Choice
5.1.3. SM strategy goal / purpose
5.1.4. SM content monitoring
5.1.5. Brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication
5.1.6. Interaction between organizations and consumers on SM
5.2. Data analysis of the SM channels - adidas
5.2.1. Brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication
5.2.2. Interaction between adidas and consumers on SM
5.3. Data analysis of the SM channels - NIKE
5.3.2. Brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication
5.3.3. Interaction between NIKE and consumers on SM
6. Conclusions and discussion
7. Limitations
8. Bibliography
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Operationalization (created by the authors)
Figure 2:Data collection framework part 1 (owned by the authors)
Figure 3: Data collection framework part 2 (owned by the authors)
Figure 4: Analysis questions (created by the authors)
Figure 5: Leximancer results of concepts for adidas Facebook page:
Figure 6: Leximancer results of concepts for adidas Instagram page:
Figure 7: Leximancer related words to the concept “adidas”
Figure 8: Leximancer related words to the concept “business”
Figure 9: Leximancer related words to the concept “good looking”
Figure 10: Heat-map of themes on adidas Facebook page
Figure 11: heat-map of themes on adidas Instagram page
Figure 12: Leximancer concept results of NIKE Facebook comments
Figure 13: Leximancer concept results of NIKE Instagram comments
Figure 14: Leximancer related words to the concept “NIKE”
Figure 15: Leximancer related words to the concept “shoes”
Figure 16: Leximancer related words to the concept “Kobe Bryant”
Figure 17:Leximancer heat-map of themes on NIKE’s Facebook page
Figure 18: Leximancer heat-map of themes on NIKE’s Instagram
Figure 19: Summary of adidas and NIKE's success and/or failure by success factor
Abstract
Background: Social media (SM) strategies have gained major importance for the retailers in the last decade. The effective use of SM channels for marketing purposes leads to valuable information and insights about markets. However, many managers still fail to understand the importance of the possibilities of SM usage for strengthening brand perception. This might be due to the lack of commonly agreed SM success factors in academic research.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss SM success factors and to evaluate how the two world leading sports brands NIKE and adidas follow the application of the discussed success factors.
Method: Based on a literature review, the authors summarized the most commonly discussed SM success factors. Data collection was conducted in a consecutive, two step approach, first extracting relevant data from the annual reports, then withdrawing data from the companies SM channels through text mining.
The data was then analysed according to the success factors summarized from academic literature. Also NIKE’s and adidas’ accomplishments in achieving their goals set in the annual reports on SM were examined.
Conclusion: Adidas achieves a higher success rate than NIKE in laying out their SM strategy. Both adidas and NIKE cannot entirely live up to their ambitions, underperforming on SM in practice.
Keywords: Social media strategy, Social media success factors, NIKE, adidas
1. Introduction
The marketing world has undergone more changes during the last years than during the last 50 years (Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2014). The rapidly changing world and its digitalization led to developments in marketing that marketing managers did not have to consider 30 years ago such as social media (SM), where customers wish to interact with companies and mobile advertisement. The marketing media mix is shifting from traditional channels such as TV or print to digital and online media(Kotler, et al., 2015); (Nichols, 2013).
Organizations are challenged by the rise of SM and the variety of digital marketing channels. In this context, it is still unclear to outpoint the most important factors for SM success. There is no recipe or commonly agreed guidelines that guarantee success on SM channels (Effing & Spil, 2016).
The importance of digital marketing is shown by the fact that companies spend the majorities of their marketing budget on digital channels (Gartner, Inc., 2013). SM belongs to those digital channels and has expanded until the point where it is unthinkable to live without it anymore. SM is defined as ‘‘[...] a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological technological foundations of Web2, and allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content’’ (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 61). SM platforms are considered as an additional way of communication, which can be used for one- or two-way communications (Benthaus, et al., 2016). The two-way communication allows companies a new kind of communication, to become more visible and position themselves (Distaso, et al., 2015). Already 80% of the Fortune 500 companies are on Facebook (Shivley, 2014). Today's customers are demanding more and more presence of information through SM. Consequently, companies are under pressure to align their marketing strategy and information flow towards SM channels. Considering that SM is only a small aspect of a digital marketing strategy, marketing managers find themselves in the dilemma of understanding the new ways of communication and how to best use them.
It is observed that digital content marketing is increasing (Effing & Spil, 2016). Companies try to keep up with the speed that customers have embraced in their digital media use. However, for an efficient communication on SM channels, a planned, organised, and sustainable approach to meet the customers and interact with them is needed (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). Nevertheless, there is a lack of data or framework, which could help to develop and analyse SM strategies (Effing & Spil, 2016); (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). The success or failure of a SM strategy is dependent on many factors and often there is not one answer.
1.1. Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss SM success factors and to evaluate how the two world leading sports brands NIKE and adidas follow the application of the discussed success factors.
1.2. Outline of the study
In the following section, a literature review presents the theoretical background information about the definition of SM strategies in a marketing context and a collection of the SM success factors from several scholars. Further, the current state of research and the operationalisation of SM strategies is shown. Since there is no commonly agreed theory for successful SM strategies (Effing & Spil, 2016), (Kietzmann, et al., 2011) the selected factors are based on the extent of repetition in peer-reviewed articles. The factors built a theoretical framework for SM strategy evaluation. These factors are clustered by origin such as company documents (company positioning) and content from SM channels (customer perception). The data collection will focus on secondary data such as the annual reports of NIKE and adidas, as well as textual content on their SM channels Facebook and Instagram. The collected data will be analysed with the help of the text analysing tool Leximancer and the theoretical framework.
The results from the SM content and the results from the annual report will be applied on the theoretical framework. Finally, the outcomes will be evaluated whether they match or not and whether they meet the criteria of success factors.
2. Literature review
SM is defined by Kaplan & Haenlein (2010, p.61) as “[...] a group of Internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content”. Effing & Spill (2016) combined the two concepts into their own definition as “[...] a goal-directed planning process for creating user-generated content, driven by a group internet applications, to create a unique and valuable competitive position”(p.2).
Over the last couple of years SM has evolved from a communication channel among consumers to a professional tool for companies to interact with their customers. Consequently, it is important for companies to understand how to use SM channels in their favor. SM gained importance due to its reach to customers and opinion formation influence. Opinion leaders and influencers on SM can trigger snowball effects which can substantially damage the company’s reputation. (Benthaus, et al., 2016) Hence, it is not enough to be present on the SM channels. It requires maintenance and interaction which follow pre-set targets and is operationalised through a plan. As described above, SM interaction can not be ignored by companies anymore and is demanding for a SM strategy. To make SM strategies as beneficial as possible, a company requires some key factors for a successful strategy formulation. The conceptualization of a SM strategy differs from the environment the company is operating in and needs individual adjustment. Nevertheless, taking care of SM communication is a common issue for companies across all industries. The common ground of a SM concept is its framework consisting of standards, structures, and parameters of success. (Effing & Spill, 2016).
2.1. SM strategy target audience
One of the most important factors when looking at SM strategies is the target audience. Chaffey (2011) points out that managers have a habit of deciding which channels to use, such as Facebook or Instagram, before setting the target group. However, understanding the audience is an essential starting point to build a SM strategy (Chaffey, 2011). The target audience to be addressed builds the basis for choosing an appropriate medium to reach them (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Reaching out to customers in the most effective communication way, requires a company to conduct a thorough analysis of the operating marketing and segment its customers at the beginning of implementing their SM strategy (Chaffey, 2011). Organizations should be able to define the most relevant target group, and identify the percentage that this segment is involved in SM and Web 2.0 (Effing & Spil. 2016). From these insights SM channel choice can be derived as each group attracts a different media choice (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Therefore, it is relevant to understand the popularity among different SM channels when targeting specific audiences (Chaffey, 2011).
2.2. SM channel choice
According to Benthaus et al. (2016) a SM strategy is needed to engage with customers. A proper decision should be made for which SM channels the company will be actively involved with. The SM channel selection can be based on the engagement level of the target audience and the company’s purpose to communicate with the customers. (Benthaus, et al., 2016).
Effing & Spil (2016) suggest ‘‘The choice of the channel largely determines the effectiveness and even the appropriateness of communication through a certain SM channel’. Chaffey (2011) comes to similar results, explaining that customer segments and SM channel use are correlated. The selection of SM channels should be based on which target group a company wants to address. SM channels can be divided by its purpose as much as by its dedication. In SM there are channels dedicated to the masses such as Facebook and those that are specialised such as LinkedIn (Kietzmann, et al., 2011).
In order to determine a successful channel, a framework must be provided, where multiple SM channels are described with their features and capabilities (Effing & Spil. 2016). SM managers can then evaluate the different channels based on their offer and capabilities. Distaso et al. (2015) emphasises the coordination of cross-channel promotion when more than one channel is used. A centralised management of SM channels helps SM content to be perceived as cohesive and aligned with the overall strategy. It is crucial to align the different SM channels with each other to avoid confusion (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
2.3. SM strategy goal / purpose
SM strategy should be used as a driver of value creation (Bharadwaj, et al., 2013). Depending on where consumers need to be engaged in the customer journey or in the customer life cycle, different goals need to be set and different SM channels can fulfill the needed purpose (Chaffey, 2011). SM can be utilised in different ways: to gain new customers, maintain a relationship with current customers or to retain former customers, but also as option to promote products. Facebook for example offers the opportunity of self-presenting (Distaso, et al., 2015). Another purpose is the possibility to gain positioning and status through ratings, recommendations and reviews on SM channels. A third option is to utilise SM for customer service purposes. (Chaffey, 2011).
Consequently it is of very high importance for companies to define their goals and the purposes for their SM channels to make the communication effective. Effing and Spill (2016) describe that an alignment of SM communication with business goals leads to increased value. When goals are set, they need to be monitored and evaluated against their commercial benefit (Chaffey, 2011). Different goals can be set, such as increasing the number of followers while other objectives and purpose aim to improve the profitability or brand perception (Rowley, 2002). These goals need to be measurable to derive whether a SM strategy is successful or not (Effing & Spil, 2016). According to Kietzmann et al. (2011), many managers lack the ability to develop SM strategies which are based on measurable goals in alignment with the business.
2.4. SM content monitoring
Chaffey (2011) claims that there is a need to control SM in a way where positive comments are accelerated and negative comments are managed. However, most companies ignore negative comments and feedback on their SM channels (Distaso, et al., 2015). Companies need to understand the flow that affects the future position of a brand (McCarthy, et al., 2010). It is necessary to know where conversations about a brand, product or company are already taking place and where competitors are active (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). Insights can be derived from recorded SM content by tracking campaigns (Chaffey, 2011) and used to optimise the communication with consumers. These records need to be in a measurable form such as number of likes, responses, visitors, followers to see where the impact is the largest (Effing & Spil, 2016).
Another important aspects is the monitoring of these conversations and mitigating the risk of brand damaging. The communication on SM channels is out of the direct reach of a company and therefore it should be thoroughly monitored and realised what is happening out there. (Effing & Spil, p. 3, 2016). Even though it is impossible to control all SM content, it has to be channeled and managed (Distaso, et al., 2015). Companies need to develop a competence to monitor activities on SM channels to benefit from it and to engage positively with their customers (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). Carefully monitoring and listening to what is happening on SM channels in the public space prevents surprises, especially in times of crisis (Effing & Spil, 2016). Local events turn into global news through SM, whether companies like it or not. Local news must be monitored as much as global events to ensure to keep up with current news. (Berthon, et al., 2012). Minor local events might turn into global shitstorms, which can be prevented with the right management and monitoring strategy from the beginning.
2.5. Brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication
SM conversations can help to raise brand awareness, increase brand recognition and make the customers more loyal to a brand (Mohammadian & Mohammadreza, 2012). The rise of SM led to to companies having the opportunity expose themselves by engaging in SM and influence how the company is perceived by customers (Benthaus, et al., 2016). Companies which struggle to adapt and create a consumer-oriented communication are unlikely to succeed. Furthermore, organizations that fail to publish relevant information on their SM channels might damage their brand reputation and credibility (Effing & Spil, 2016). Kietzmann et al. (2012, p.247.) state ‘‘reputation can have different meanings on SM platforms. In most cases, reputation is a matter of trust’’. SM strategies are developed to affect the brand image, increase the trust and loyalty, which results in improving customer relationships (Braojos-Gomez, et al., 2015). Also, it is important to raise the consumers attention and sense of trustworthiness, authenticity of the company when interacting on SM (Distaso, et al., 2015). SM reputation is formed by the content someone produces (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). Brand perception is shaped by the activity level of followers who spread their impression of a company or brand through e.g. word-of-mouth (Benthaus, et al., 2016). The sheer number of followers does not reflect or contribute to building a company’s reputation. In order to be influential, the followers need to overcome passivity (Romero, et al., 2011). Engagement is the key differentiator of SM as communication channel, consequently reputation is not about the numbers of followers, but the people who engage with a brand (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). When an active follower posts a comment and this comment is then judged by peers and stimulates others to respond, it helps to boost SM performance. The scalability of SM content is its strength just as much as its risk (Berthon, et al., 2012).
2.6. Interaction between organizations and consumers on SM
Communication is the key to have a successful relationship with customers. Leveraging SM activities improves brand image and loyalty as well as firm’s revenues and SM capabilities(Braojos-Gomez, et al., 2015). Therefore, it is important to have a frequent communication to the customers (Mohammadian & Mohammadreza, 2012). Consumer oriented companies use SM as a tool to identify their target customers and interact with them. By doing so, these companies get a competitive advantage in reaching their customers faster. (Braojos-Gomez, et al., 2015). SM is a primary source to create customer relationships, however most companies use SM in a one-way approach (Distaso, et al., 2015). Already Hagle and Armstrong (1997) observed that a shift of power has taken place from companies being the content producers, to customers wanting to engage with companies in a two-way communication. Consumers changed their position from content consumers to content producers (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Nowadays, it is not the corporations themselves who shape their brand image any longer, it is the SM users who do it by sharing opinions and reviews (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). Castello (2016) emphasized to include the customer through dialogues. Further, to predict customer reactions and influence their actions, marketers require data from customers, which can be collected through SM dialogues (Mohammadian & Mohammadreza, 2012). In traditional marketing systems, marketers obtain information from the market, which takes time and expertise. In SM, the information from consumers behavior and habits is much more exact and less time needs to be spend on the data collection (Mohammadian & Mohammadreza,2 012).
Also, the company's responsiveness to real-time events encourages the consumer to interact. Bhardwaj et al. (2013) state that SM responsiveness to a new product is significant for the company’s competitive success. Some companies are hesitant to allow comments, as these are not always positive and need maintenance and monitoring. Nevertheless, allowing comments on their SM channels, gives the perception of open and transparent companies. Hence, to allow comments and respond to them appropriately seems most promising. (Distaso, et al., 2015).
3. Frame of reference
3.1. Research gap
SM is a fairly new phenomenon that has grown and increased in importance for businesses and consumers within the last decade. Based on the previous extensive literature review on what makes SM successful, it becomes clear that SM attracts the attention of many researchers. However, there is not an agreed, comprehensive recipe which summarises factors for a successful SM approach for companies to utilise. This research addresses a gap, which has not been closed by scholars so far, by summarising the most important success factors for SM interaction with consumers. These factors are collected from research formerly conducted by scholars. The uniqueness is based on the case approach and related practical implications for managers. The findings will be derived by looking into annual reports of NIKE and adidas where they describe their intentions how to utilise SM. These intentions will be compared with the suggested success factors by scholars, evaluating the company's success likelihood. Next it will be explored how much of the companies plans reach the customers on their SM channels Facebook and Instagram. This approach will lead to the ability to evaluate the company's success theoretically and also in practice.
3.2. Research questions
RQ1: Is NIKE’s SM strategy on Facebook and Instagram successfull in comparison to their set goals in the annual report and success factors pointed out by researchers?
RQ2: Is adidas’s SM strategy on Facebook and Instagram successfull in comparison to their set goals in the annual report and success factors pointed out by researchers?
4. Methodology
4.1. Research Approach and Research Design
The research approach undertaken in this study is deductive by examining already existing literature and building on those findings (Bryman & Bell, 2011), (Malhotra & Birks, 2003). The extraction of SM success factors can be found in the literature review. The authors collection of SM success factors were applied to NIKE’s and adidas’ statements from their annual reports 2015, and also examined on their SM channels Facebook and Instagram.
The most suitable research approach for this study was considered as a combined quantitative - and qualitative approach. At the beginning of the data collection, a content analysis of the annual reports of the two companies was conducted. Then comments posted by consumers on Facebook and Instagram were extracted through text mining by quantitatively calculating word counts from SM channel comments and clustering them into concepts. Followed by the qualitative analysis of interpreting the meanings of those concepts.
A content analysis is a suitable research technique for objective and systematic collection of data from several different sources such as the data from mass media in SM. (Bryman & Bell, 2011). In this case, a textual analysis and interpretation of the annual reports and SM channels was done.
4.2. Data Sources and Sampling
This research looked at the two world leading sports brands that were chosen due to their success in the market (World News Media, 2016), gender neutrality, appeal throughout all age groups and the increasing awareness for a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, these two companies are representatives of a highly competitive industry in which customers take SM use for granted. Retail has adapted to SM interaction with customers faster than other industries (Distaso, et al., 2015). Also, retailers are highly active on SM in comparison to other industries (Zhang, et al., 2010).
The origin of data explains whether it is primary or secondary data (Creswell, 2014). Primary data is new data, created by e.g. conducting interviews, surveys or observations, whereas secondary data describes information that has already been collected by someone else before (Bryman & Bell, 2011); (Creswell, 2014); (Ghauri & Grønhaug, 2005). The data sources were primary data sources as well as secondary data sources. The primary data was collected from NIKE’s and adidas’ SM channels, the secondary data was taken from NIKE’s and adidas’ annual reports.
The literature review and the resulting theoretical framework are entirely based on secondary data. Here, the emphasis was on reviewing peer-reviewed scientific articles only in order to be able to create a theoretical framework with a strong reliability and validity. The choice of reviewed articles supports the quality of the framework. Google Scholar and OneSearch were used as search tools for collecting secondary data. The keywords which were used for the literature review were SM success factors, digital business strategy, SM strategy, SM evaluation, SM success evaluation, SM success factors. It is to note that the search settings assured to show articles with all words from the keyword search. This was done to cover all relevant articles for the review. There was no filter for the timeframe set, however the focus lied on recent articles published between 2012 and 2016. As a first step of selecting the articles, a general screening of headlines was done. As a next step, the abstracts of those articles with were considered to be important where read.
Thereafter, primary data was collected by analysing the 2015 annual reports of NIKE and adidas. Besides the annual reports, content on their SM channels Facebook and Instagram were analysed with the text-analysis tool Leximancer. Leximancer is a web-based software that helps analysing a large amount of textual content by summarizing and conceptualizing keywords of the content (Leximancer Pty Ltd, 2016). The software is specialised in academic use and was therefore chosen as a supportive tool.
Leximancer was not used to analyse the annual reports of adidas and NIKE. This decision was taken as the annual reports were not used for its original purpose, to attract investors and share financial results. The data input into Leximancer would have lead to misleading results as the majority of input data is of financial nature. Hence, the annual reports needed manual analysis and interpretation to find the relevant, contextual text passages.
The population of this data collection consists of all SM followers of NIKE (www.facebook.com/NIKE; www.instagram.com/NIKE) and adidas (www.facebook.com/adidas; www.instagram.com/adidas) on Facebook and Instagram.
The data collection can be described as longitudinal cases as it was split into two periods within 2016. The year 2016 was chosen since the annual reports from 2015 describe where the companies want to be in the consecutive business years. The reports also describe the goals for the coming fiscal year. To examine NIKE’s and adidas’ SM channels, timeframes for the evaluation were set. Each period lasted two weeks. The first period of data collection was from 01.04.2016 until 14.04.2016 and the second period was from 01.12.2016 until 14.12.2016. Having collected data from two different periods of the year increased the reliability and validity of the results, since changes in the SM strategies could be taken into consideration, as well. Hereby, the choice of the periods was likely based on the condition to get data from two high-season periods like pre-summer and christmas sale season. The sample is build of all followers that actively participated on the SM channels during the two chosen periods. All comments, likes, dislikes, and other interactions were noticed and analyzed by the analysis tool Leximancer.
4.3. Operationalization
Figure 1 shows an operationalization of the SM success factors extracted from research. The review of literature led to a selection of critical SM success factors that were repeatedly mentioned by scholars. The factors which will be applied in the report are SM strategy target audience, SM strategy goal/purpose, SM content monitoring, brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication and Interaction between organizations and consumers on SM. The operationalization helps to understand the origin of the SM success factors. It lists the authors who agreed on the importance and the conceptual definitions of the success factors.
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Figure 1: Operationalization (created by the authors)
4.4. Data Collection
There are two data collection frameworks describing the method as a core structure and process as a base of the research. Figure 1 explains the first step of the data collection method. The first set of SM success factors, namely SM strategy target audience, SM strategy goal / purpose, and SM content monitoring were collected from the first data sources, which were the 2015 annual reports of NIKE and adidas.
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Figure 2:Data collection framework part 1 (owned by the authors)
Figure 1 visualizes the second part of the data collection, which will be collected after the first data collection step is finalised. The second set of factors, that is characteristics of attractive content creation on SM, brand image & reputation impacted by SM communication, and Interaction between organizations and consumers on SM is gathered by comments on the SM channels Facebook and Instagram of NIKE and adidas. It is important to mention that the data collection was focused on the general Facebook and Instagram profile for both companies. There are multiple profiles existing for adidas and NIKE, their segments and categories such as, NIKE/adidas Football , NIKE/adidas Woman etc.
The second data collection was done by the help of Leximancer a textual analysis tool. The two step approach was chosen to be able to feed the tool used in step two correctly. The insights from data collection step one helped to look out for certain criteria. Leximancer was chosen as tool since SM consist of large amounts of textual data, which needed exploring. Furthermore, are Leximancer’s results unbiased and allow for comparison of two different data sets, as the same, replicable method is applied.
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Figure 3: Data collection framework part 2 (owned by the authors)
4.5. Data Analysis Method
Figure 4 describes the questions applied to analyse and interpret the data collected. The questions were used when analysing the annual reports as well as interpreting the result extracted with Leximancer. The questions were derived from the insights gained during the literature review, reflecting implications for a successful SM strategy.
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Figure 4: Analysis questions (created by the authors)
4.5.1. Content Analysis
With the questions described above, the content analysis was conducted. The questions served as a guide, filtering and interpreting the data from the annual reports. First, the texts were scanned by searching for the keywords SM, marketing, and digital. After having extracted the relevant text passages, the documents were looked at more thoroughly, reading through each passage, looking for more relevant content. The text passages that were related to answering one of the guiding questions were extracted. The extracted passages were then clustered under each relevant question and interpreted by taking the scholars findings from the literature review into consideration.
4.5.2. Data Analysis Tool - Leximancer
Leximancer uses semantic and relational information with different algorithms. It statistically calculates how often each word is used and the co-occurrence between notions. Results are depicted as concept maps and their connection between different themes.(Zaitseva, 2012). The approach was to first look at the generated concept maps and identify the largest circles, which represent the most relevant concepts. Afterwards attention was put to how closely together the concepts are as a close distance means a direct connection. After having gained an understanding of the concepts and how they are connected, the concept ranking was explored to see the importance of the different concepts. Then the attention was put onto the themes Leximancer identified. “Themes are concept clusters that represent the most semantically connected groups of concepts. Theme name is the most prominent concept in the cluster.” (Zaitseva, 2012, p. 4). The size of the bubbles, which represent different themes is not relevant, it only shows the overlap with other themes. The themes are displayed as bubbles in a heat-map style. The warmer the bubble’s colour, the more important and talked about the theme (Leximancer Pty Ltd, 2016).
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