Social Media for Business Aviation

Does your business need Social Media?

The answer is yes, yes and yes again. Social Media has become so important now that any business not using it is almost doomed to failure from the start. For those that are new to Social Media you are probably wondering what the phenomenon is all about - why is it so important?

What is Social Media?

Social Media is anything that allows for the sharing of information online between two or more people. Applications such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr all fall within the Social Media category, each with a different remit. Social Media does not have to be a large application - it can be a smaller micro site that a company uses to share information with people. Social Media goes hand in hand with viral marketing which is now replacing traditional marketing as a vehicle for promoting your brand.

What is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use existing Social Media networks to achieve a marketing objective. Viral promotions can take the form of videos, games, advertisements, books, brand able goods, images, messages, promotions etc.

The goal of viral marketing is to identify individuals with a high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create viral messages that appeal to this segment of the population.

An example of this is when Alaska Airlines saw a 32% spike in traffic to its web site earlier this year after running a “mystery fare sale” on Twitter, underscoring the power of viral messaging. “We watched the buzz in the Twitter stream, and that’s when we saw the value of Twitter,” says Andrea Schwarzenbach, manager of interactive marketing.

Southwest Airlines, which has long had a new media presence through its blog “Nuts About Southwest,” learned the value of social media tools last July, when it announced a two-day fare sale through Twitter instead of taking the paid-advertising route. The promotion resulted in the two highest traffic days on Southwest’s web site—and the top two revenue days in the airline’s history. Those records were broken again when a repeat Twitter sale was held in October. “It’s not just sheer volume, but the trend,” says Paula Berg, manager of emerging media. “It’s setting records.”

Did you know - 99% or retailers will have facebook pages and 91% will have twitter profiles by 2011

Is it just a fad?

This short video brings together facts that prove Social Media is not a fad. The video itself went "viral" and now has over 2 million views.

Why is it important for business?

Social Media is changing the way that we do business on the web. It gives a unique level of interaction between a business and its customers. Perviously if we wanted to find out information on a business or its products we would ask around our friends. Now that friend network just got a lot bigger with using tools like facebook, twitter etc.

Businesses that use Social Media to communicate with their clients provide a level of interaction that previously didn't exist. Now if a customer has a bad experience they can share it with the company instantaneously on Twitter. The company can also respond in an instant so for the client there is no more sitting on hold and waiting for a customer service representative that lives in another country and has never even seen the product they are complaining about.

Imagine the scenario- A passenger on a flight notices his reading lamp is broken, so, using the inflight wifi, he complains on Twitter. Within minutes, the airline’s ground staff has dispatched a flight attendant to fix the problem and has alerted maintenance at the destination airport. Corporate communications has passed the Tweet onto the customer service department, which contacts the passenger to apologize for the inconvenience. Now the passenger is happy as his voice has been heard and the problem addressed.

Because this "conversation" is on the World Wide Web, other customers can also see it and this gives a degree of openness and trust for an organisation that could previously only be achieved through years of hard work and recommendations. Social Media is still hard work but in a completely different way.

Is it really important in Aviation?

Yes - it is important in every business. There are many examples of Aviation companies using it. Most recently British Airways used Twitter to update customers on flight statuses with the Ash cloud over Europe. The Ash cloud was an Aviation nightmare and the logistics for handling information on flight cancellations and delays must have been a nightmare but BA had someone on hand to answer any questions by using their @BritishAirways tag. Replies were instant and customer specific. Check out some of their current questions and answers on http://twitter.com/BritishAirways. The following slideshow gives some good statistics on how airlines used Social Media in the Ash Cloud crisis to keep customers informed.

Virgin Arlines also uses Twitter but in addition Richard Branson has a section on the Virgin site for users to ask questions : http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/ask/ - this is another form of Social Media that keeps him in touch with his customers but also helps the customers to feel connected with Richard and the Virgin brand.

JetBlue has more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter, the micro-blogging site that allows users to update their networks in 140-character posts, called “Tweets.” That is more than any other airline, and among the higher number of followers of any corporation. JetBlue uses a team of 6 people in corporate communications to monitor the feeds until each passenger has left the airpot.

Below is an interesting Business Aviation podcast discussing how to integrate Social Media within the Aviation industry:

I'm still unsure

A lot of companies are still scared about using Social Media as they have "no control" over the information. This is true but you need to look at Social Media in a different way, People will be talking about your brand via Social Media whether you engage in it or not. It is far better to be involved in the conversation than to be oblivious that it is going on. Good or bad - you need to know what is being said about your business.

A case in point is a video posted to YouTube by musician Dave Carroll about his eight-month struggle to get compensation from United Airlines for a damaged guitar. The battle turned into a public relations nightmare for the carrier, as the video of Carroll’s song, “United Breaks Guitars,” was viewed more than 6.6 million times. That led to his story being picked up by major television news outlets. He even was called to Washington last year to testify at a congressional hearing on passenger rights.

United eventually offered Carroll compensation, but the episode underscored the need for airlines to be engaged with the online community and to step in quickly when an issue arises. “With social media, the airline has an opportunity to be part of the conversation,” Harteveldt says.

At www.flightcrewfinder.com we are heavily invested in social media for both our employers and crew. We actively use twitter, facebook, linkedin, rss etc to promote job listings and reach the widest network of qualified crew. We use a similar range of outlets to promote our registerd crew so that employers know where they can find crew that are suitable for their requirements. Our goal has always been to be the first "socially active" job site by providing users with everything they need in their job search. Articles to give them a broader knowledge, News to keep them updated with what is going on in the industry, a Forum to ask questions and network and polls to gauge popular opinions.

We believe in the value of social media and if you would like to see how you can get involved then click here.

If you would like to see more articles on how Social Media can help your business please vote below and if there is enough interest I will get writing............