Place Marketing in Conditions of the Forming Digital Economy

The paper aims to systematise principal concepts in the field of digital marketing and virtual po? tential of a territory. The authors suggest their own interpretation of the concept “digital place market? ing”. On the basis of the theories of digital economy the authors identify peculiarities and fundamental changes occurring in the sphere of place marketing and branding in the era of digitalisation. The research considers the possibility of using digital channels of interaction in marketing of territories and reveals their advantages. The paper discusses the concept and structure of virtual potential of a territory and formulates a methodological approach to its analysis. Having performed a comparative analysis of of? ficial portals of the largest cities of the Russian Federation with the use of a set of e-metrics, and analysis of the representation of the largest cities of the Russian Federation in various social networks the authors conclude that it is necessary to form an integral concept of digital identity of the Russian largest cities.