Activation of the groundswell in the segment of bicycle manufacturers

Abstract

In addition to the massive home office, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an enormous increase in the popularity of outdoor activities. This was also reflected in the very high demand for bicycles and accessories for cyclists, which led to the groundswell effect and an increase in fan interaction and engagement within the social media profiles of bicycle manufacturers. The research design in the present paper contains a consistent and synergistically balanced share of qualitative and quantitative methods. Within the theoretical background, methods of analysis of sources from leading authors are used, especially from articles based on leading scientific journals and proceedings. The practical part uses quantitative methods in the form of data collection through the tools Zoomsphere and Socialblade. The selection of assessed business entities consisted of a ranking of profitability and evaluation according to the leading portal designed for the segment of cyclists. The findings point to the content structure of profiles on social media in the segment of bicycle manufacturers. They also point to the content structure of the best contributions on these social media and to the recommendations in the form of categories for the bicycle manufacturers segment. The authors also define the best types of posts for future content in that segment. Domestic and global businesses in this segment require knowledge of the laws on social media in the form of user behavior and the groundswell effect. The limits of the findings are in the selection of business entities, which were selected on the basis of profitability and evaluation according to the leading cycling portal, also within the limits of social media analysis and management tools. Despite the above facts, the added value exceeds the limits within the author's contribution. The originality of the paper is based mainly on the fact that the selected segment from the point of view of the groundswell effect is unexplored. It is important to examine this segment, especially due to the high demand for products in this segment and the relentless interest in the form of user interactions.