Towards a Community Inspired Place-Brand

A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a tagline. And, in the case of place-brand, a brand is the inherent set of experiences that are understood and lived by the community. Technology has not only changed the way we communicate; it has in many ways destabilized organizational control over brands, making organic brand creation not only important, but also essential. This paper studies how social media can be used as an essential tool in the place-branding process. Using Twitter content for the basis of gathering data illustrating authentic community dialogue, and comparing the results to in-person interviews, the commonalities that have emerged from my analysis support the use of social media as a tool for the place-branding process. While this process can be a valuable tool for practitioners to capture and articulate many different perceived characteristics about the place and provide an avenue for reflecting on cultural understanding, the organic nature of the content analyzed in this study also suggests limitations on the depth of information that can be gathered in this way, and suggests that a more ‘directed’ approach to the place-branding process may produce more robust results. Running Head: TOWARDS A COMMUNITY-INSPIRED PLACE BRAND 1