When does sponsorship-related content engage fans? Evidence from football clubs on Instagram

Purpose This study examines when sponsorship- and sales-oriented social media content undermines fan engagement and when audiences continue to interact despite salient commercial intent. Specifically, it investigates how the engagement effects of embedded commercial cues depend on the dominant brand association narratives framing football clubs' Instagram posts. Design/methodology/approach The analysis draws on 4,176 Instagram posts published by all clubs competing in the Polish Ekstraklasa. Posts were content-coded according to dominant brand association narratives and analyzed using fixed-effects panel regression models. Fan engagement was operationalized through likes and comments, capturing low- and high-effort interaction behaviors. Findings Results show that sponsorship-related and sales-oriented content is associated with lower fan engagement. However, these negative patterns vary systematically across narrative contexts. When commercial cues are embedded in narratives emphasizing team success, match-related information, fan community, or stadium experiences, the decline in likes is significantly attenuated and, in some cases, fully offset. In contrast, narratives centered on youth academies amplify disengagement. Moderating effects are substantially weaker for comments, indicating that narrative context primarily buffers low-effort engagement. Research limitations/implications The study advances persuasion-based explanations of social media engagement by demonstrating that responses to commercial content are conditioned by narrative-level brand associations rather than driven solely by the recognition of persuasive intent. It extends the Persuasion Knowledge Model by identifying narrative context as a key boundary condition shaping engagement outcomes in sport social media communication. Originality/value The study advances persuasion-based explanations of social media engagement by showing that audience responses to commercial content depend on narrative-level brand associations rather than solely on the recognition of persuasive intent. By identifying narrative context as a key boundary condition, the findings extend the Persuasion Knowledge Model and demonstrate how meaning-rich communication frames shape engagement outcomes in sport social media environments.