The role of social media in the city brand management process: A comparison of official instagram accounts of İstanbul and Amsterdam

Nowadays, cities are competing with each other like product and service brands in order to gain an economic advantage under changing competition conditions. Cities can be managed as corporate brands with the motivation of attracting more visitors and profitable investments; to have more qualified workforce and to preserve and develop the values it possesses. For this reason, the influence of media in city branding, which is a part of the management process of the city brand, to promote the city cannot be denied. Due to the developments in technological devices, the rapid increase in internet usage rate and the fact that more and more people are active on online platforms with each passing day, city brands are also actively using social media. It can be said that Instagram has a role in reflecting the image of the city brand and its distinctive characteristics on social media. In this context, in order to reveal the role of social media in the process of city brand management, "oneistanbul" and "iamsterdam" Instagram accounts are compared as representatives of Istanbul and Amsterdam. By using the findings obtained from data evaluation by content analysis method, it is determined that Instagram, one of the social media channels, has a positive effect on city brand management. Keywords: brand, city brand, social media, Instagram, oneistanbul, iamsterdam