Public Marketing: Case of Self-governing Regions´ Brands in Online Environment

Abstract

Online environment, including brands of public institutions, is becoming a significant part of public administration. Nowadays, with a social media communication widespread, the public marketing managers representing self-governing regions are forced to work on their image and monitor and influence region´s brand behavior in the online environment. Therefore, an article aims on the current state of art in the field of public brand marketing and the nature of mentions of users (citizens) about this brand. The study employed data obtained with use of Brand24.com application which automatically collect the data on region´s brands behavior in the online environment. The analysis is oriented on following aspects: (1) brand´s mentions in online environment, (2) number of social media views and interactions raised over the brand, and (3) the level of positive and negative sentiment related to the brand. The research sample included 13 out of 14 regions existing in the Czech Republic, for research reasons the capitol city of Prague was excluded from the sample. The findings showed that high regional differences in brand awareness, brand´s social media reach as well as brand´s associated text sentiment exist. Besides of this, several implications for public marketing managers are presented in the study.