“Urban Image New Media Communication Report (2024) Released: How Do Cities Leverage Hot Topics for Marketing?”

In recent years, creative approaches to city marketing have emerged continuously, with traffic empowering the communication value of cultural tourism on the rise. What characteristics does new media communication of city images, with cultural tourism as the core, exhibit? How effective is the influence of account operation and maintenance by local cultural tourism departments? What are the secrets behind successful “viral” city marketing cases?

On December 2, a roundtable meeting for the release of the 2024 City Image New Media Communication Report, jointly hosted by the Shenzhen City Communication Innovation Research Center, the Fudan University Media Literacy Research Center, and the Zhiwei Research Institute, was held at Shenzhen University. The “City Image New Media Communication Report (2024)” released at the meeting analyzed the current status of city marketing in the year, providing insights into trends in city image communication and the status and effects of city’s overseas communication. Several academic and industry guests from Fudan University, Renmin University of China, Shenzhen University, and Shenzhen Media Group discussed the Report and topics related to city marketing.

Currently, cultural tourism accounts across the country have comprehensively covered various platforms, totaling over a thousand accounts. In the first ten months of 2024, nearly 800,000 pieces of information were published across the internet. At the same time, social media and we-media platforms have provided channels for cultural tourism departments to directly communicate with tourists. Many cultural tourism accounts actively respond to tourist feedback or proactively seek opinions in the comment sections with an attitude of “listening.” The Report points out that the content published by various city cultural tourism accounts focuses on local cuisine, cultural exploration, natural scenery, and other city-specific resources, attempting to create a positive interaction and mutually promoting situation. To enhance public attention and increase account activity, numerous cultural tourism accounts utilize popular BGM, creative effects, invite celebrities and notables to endorse their locations, and seize opportunities presented by films, TV dramas, games, and social topics to promote, create buzz, and attract traffic for the cities.

Professor Zhang Zhi’an from the School of Journalism at Fudan University, while releasing and interpreting the Report, mentioned that an overview of the “viral” cities in 2024 reveals that most of these cities possess unique natural and cultural resources, such as the ancient architecture of Shanxi, the spicy hot pot of Tianshui, the scenery of Altay, and the historical culture of Luoyang. The visual impact brought by short videos helps to amplify their experiential scenes and cultural tourism charm, and the fission-style communication effect lays the foundation for creating “viral” videos. Furthermore, creative planning that combines “experience + emotional value” is an essential element for triggering traffic. Cities adept at seizing hot topics often leverage event marketing, emotional stimulation, and scene communication to showcase local cultural characteristics comprehensively and efficiently enhance service experiences, resulting in accelerated upgrades to their city images and reputations.

Regarding overseas communication, platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok are becoming new spaces for cultural tourism accounts to expand international communication. The Report observes and analyzes the cultural tourism accounts of hundreds of provinces and cities, with a total of over 20,000 posts in 2024. The related content primarily promotes the rich tourism resources of each location, emphasizing the use of charming elements that strike a chord to attract global tourists.

According to the Report’s analysis, from the perspective of platform differences, cultural tourism departments on the X platform tend to showcase magnificent landscapes and cultural attractions, while content on TikTok focuses more on using cuisine as a communication medium, with particular attention to cuisines whose production processes are listed as intangible cultural heritage. In terms of communication strategies, Shanghai’s overseas communication emphasizes diverse themes and creative content, fully demonstrating its inclusivity and international characteristics. Beijing cleverly leverages the perspective of “foreigners viewing China” for city promotion, successfully attracting significant attention. Regions like Guangxi utilize creative editing techniques such as video effects to attract the attention of foreign netizens. Xinjiang, Shanxi, Chongqing, and other places have achieved high international exposure through factors such as films, games, and celebrity effects.

During the discussion session, Professor Chao Naipeng, Dean of the School of Communication at Shenzhen University, stated, “New media communication of city images is particularly important. Future international communication can rely on cities to concentrate efforts, and research in this area can further analyze innovative cases based on data analysis.” Professor Lu Jiayin from the School of Journalism at Renmin University of China believes that city marketing based on cultural tourism communication requires a comprehensive strategy, and there is great potential in the field of city international communication. More multi-dimensional follow-up research can be conducted on the online images of Chinese cities.

Professor Xie Jing from the School of Journalism at Fudan University pointed out that some city marketing cases highlight the importance of building “communicable cities.” The construction of meta-communities, private communities, and micro-communities in the new media era is crucial for stimulating city vitality and shaping city images. The phenomena behind some popular cities reflect the event-driven characteristics of city communication and are core components of intercity, inter-provincial, and international communication circles. Associate Professor Zhang Yanhong from Dongguan University of Technology believes that enhancing the value of culture in empowering city communication is essential. She introduced the communication methods for city cultural dissemination through examples of her team’s practices in assisting rural revitalization, disseminating intangible cultural heritage, and unearthing village memories.

The experts participating in the meeting reached a consensus that small, medium, and large cities each have their unique characteristics, and the charm of first, second, and third-tier cities differs. Cities should focus on internal improvements during the normal development of cultural tourism, integrating and upgrading various elements such as cultural tourism, services, and transportation. When opportunities such as significant traffic arise, they can truly seize them and achieve the transformation from traffic to retention, and from short-lived popularity to long-term fame.