The Role of Sentiment Analysis in the Place Brand

In this paper the authors, analyzing Scalea case on the net, aim to show that the place brand has changed the role moving from static and unidirectional communication tool to a semantic and semiotic space in which company and numerous and heterogeneous social agents (consumer and/or individual) exchange several information to meet their relative needs. In this scenario, the active role that the digital marketing tools can play a constant condition of bidirectional relationship becomes important. This kind of relationship amount to some conditions: the place is a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) in which the boundaries are both tangible components and intangible, cultural values that allow to create and maintain relationship with relevant stakeholders. The low level of boundaries shows a territorial/systemic capability to create/stimulate the spontaneous and/or planned creation of subsystems/holons with inter-linkable behaviors/aims to create relations between other subsystem and with the relevant stakeholders. From these last relations emerge perceptions that, in this work, the authors are considering “place brand”. On this epistemological basis, authors will apply sentiment analysis (i.e. opinion mining) to study the emergence of the ‘place – as – brand’ idea through Scalea’s city positioning on Twitter, collecting by hashtags users’ feedback through their ‘sentiments’ and experiences as results of their relations with territorial and/or holonic agents, in order to evaluate the city-brand positioning on the net. The expected results are mainly twofold: on the one hand, an enough number of Tweets which will help understanding Scalea’s place - brand positioning on the net, mainly positive and increasing over time; on the other, that even negative experiences help to potentially improve Scalea city offer (implementing services, facilities etc.).