As social media continues to dominate digital interactions, leveraging “chatter” and activity on these platforms is essential for shaping the strategic direction of place branding. But how to harness social media dynamics effectively, to benefit from the ability to influence public perception and engagement?
We asked our panel of place brand strategists about how social media activity can be utilized to influence the strategic direction of place branding. Here’s what they said (highlighting respondents with professional and / or business profiles).
Key Takeaways:
- Monitor social media to gain valuable insights.
- Engage with online communities for strategic direction.
- Use AI tools and data analysis for targeted branding.
Expert Opinions
Gustavo Koniszczer
FutureBrand | Visit professional profile
Understanding the dynamics of each social media platform, the type of content shared, and the audience engagement is crucial as the first step in leveraging its potential. Each platform is unique, and developing a place brand strategy requires careful consideration and decision-making about where it is desirable to establish a brand presence and activity.
There are several key strategic actions to consider:
- Monitoring conversations and sentiments around a place using social listening tools can provide invaluable real-time data and feedback. These tools are excellent sources of insights to capitalize on trends, address concerns, moderate negative references, and mitigate potential damage. At the same time, it can provide insights into how people value places they have visited and the conditions they seek when deciding to visit, live, or work in a location. Testimonial comments on social media constitute nowadays a credible available source of information that other users look for when conducting online research about a place.
- Engaging with your audience and storytelling can foster a sense of community, evoke emotions, and build trust among followers.
- Collaborating with influencers who align with your brand’s values and target audience can help generate positive perceptions, create authentic content, and enhance the brand’s credibility and reputation.
Social media is always active and constantly changing; therefore, any strategy seeking to leverage this ever-evolving environment must be adaptable and agile while maintaining its purpose, mission, and values.
Robert Govers
Anholt & Co | View professional profile
Through automated social media monitoring, AI tools, and data analysis, we can harness social media activity to guide strategic direction. Understanding audience sentiment and trends can lead to more targeted and effective place branding initiatives.
Steve Noakes (Guest Contributor)
Monitoring social media chatter can provide valuable insights. Analyzing trends and conversations can help shape strategic decisions and improve engagement.
José Pablo Arango
If we can learn from and use social media discussions to our advantage, we can effectively shape the strategic direction of place branding. Listening to and engaging with online communities is key.
Hila Oren
To effectively use social media chatter for place branding, start by paying attention to what people are saying about the place online. Listen to their comments and feedback to understand what they like and what could be improved. Engage with users by responding to their posts, sharing their photos and stories, and creating fun and interactive campaigns.
Working with influencers who genuinely appreciate the place can help spread the word to a wider audience. Use the information gathered from social media to adjust your marketing strategies, making sure they reflect what people love about the place. By staying connected with the community and adapting to their feedback, you can shape a more appealing and authentic brand image.
At the same time, creating short and to-the-point posts, followed by a stream of comments, can also act as an incredibly powerful branding tool. On New Year’s Eve, 2019, The Tel Aviv Municipality posted “Are you up?” on the Jerusalem Municipality FB page, suggesting there was no nightlife in Jerusalem, as opposed to the Tel Avivian Non-Stop City energy. Over hundreds of comments later, some from residents and some from the Municipalities themselves, both cities have managed to strengthen their brand.
Hjörtur Smárason
Listen. That is your biggest role, to listen to understand how your destination is experienced by the visitors, what impresses them (and this may be different from what the locals expected), what does not impress them, what the challenges and misconceptions are and what you can build on or improve. This is probably the greatest value social media can offer you, the ability to be a fly on the wall and listen in and gather data. So before you start spewing out your own message on social media, start by listening. Like in any good conversation.
The other question is: How do you create a buzz? Themes, hashtags, and influencers will continue to be a powerful force creating viral content. This has to be taken into account and integrated into the overall digital strategy of a place brand, how you involve them and how you encourage or nudge them to share content and anecdotes that reinforce the image that you are trying to create.
Trends on social media do have an impact on the overall image of your place and cannot be ignored if you want to have some level of control over your brand. You need to actively think about how you influence what content is created and in what context it is created.
Flexibility is key, but it has to be flexibility based on a sound foundation in your strategy and goals.
With thanks
To our panel of place thinkers and changemakers for sharing valuable insights on how to harness social media for effective place branding.
