When promoting a service like travel to a niche market, many components come into play, such as media relations, advertising and marketing campaigns. While all are important to connect with target audiences, social media takes center stage when it comes to engaging with consumers and transforming them into effective brand ambassadors. This is especially true for the aviation industry as it faces the unstable landscape of fluctuating gas prices and a tough economy.
Through a savvy combination of social media tactics, PR professionals can effectively convey the benefits travelers will experience while flying with an airline. The messaging must clearly convince travelers they will benefit more from flying a specialized, niche airline rather than a more general, mass-market competitor. Social media, if used correctly, adds value to specialized brands by providing a glimpse of a company’s services, differentiators and advantages that will create an emotional bond with their consumers.
It’s essential to get loyal customers to become vocal about their experiences through sites such as Facebook and Twitter in order to effectively use social media. A well-executed social media campaign will not only attract the attention of new consumers, it will also encourage current customers to urge others to fly with the airline through social media sites.
The following is an analysis of two smaller players in the airline industry that have a specific audience and their use of social media. Alaska Airlines flies to many destinations in North America and still uses the features the brand was founded on, such as its caring customer service, to continually appeal to customers. Hawaiian Airlines only flies from the Western U.S. and South Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands, and heavily relies on social media to connect with customers.
We assessed both airlines’ social media strategies by grading them on the following factors: corporate engagement; creativity and original content; user engagement; fan following; brand building; and emotional bonding. Ultimately, we’re attempting to show if their social media strategy is fulfilling their objectives and identify the type of content they need to emphasize more in order to better achieve their goals.
— Social Media Report Card — |
||||
 |
 |
|||
| Comments | Grade | Category | Grade | Comments |
| Less customer engagement. Mostly use social media platforms to update flight status or other company updates. Twitter is primarily used for reactive customer engagement to answer questions/complaints. HOMEWORK: Be more appropriate with customer responses. | B | Engagement | A | Engagement with fans is active and friendly, with responses to almost every comment both positive and negative. They respond in a timely and appropriate manner. They have two different Twitter accounts, one for engagement and one for fare updates. The fares account also engages with customers, but does so less frequently. |
| Some creative content such as trivia and photos are available on the Facebook page, but there is limited creative content in the Twitter account. HOMEWORK: Make use of Facebook’s Timeline to help show the history of the brand and tell the interesting stories of Alaskan tourist attractions. Use Twitter for contests and much more diverse updates. | B- | Creativity/Original Content | A- | Content on Facebook is primarily written to announce contests/deals/updates in the company. It does post many interesting pictures, including historical images and advertisements. Twitter is much more original as they have creative contests such as a scavenger hunt using the hash tag #AlohaKNBR. They primarily post contest information on Twitter. |
| Fans are very engaged on the pages and like photos/posts. Fans share the information frequently. | A | User Engagement | A | Fans engage frequently on the page and like and share photos/posts. |
| Facebook: 167,642 likes Twitter: 54,585 followers | A | Fan Following (as of March 29, 2012) | A | Facebook: 140,077 likes @HawaiianAir: 33,074 followers @HawaiianFares: 12,955 followers |
| They have done a great job with posting/tweeting about ways to improve service and ways they are helping the environment. It’s also great that they promote their prestigious awards as it builds brand credibility. They also sign each tweet with the name of the customer care representative, which personalizes the brand. | A | Brand Building | A | Hawaiian Airlines does an excellent job of building their brand. Their mission is to grow the airline leveraging their passion for excellence, their customers, their people and the spirit of Hawaii into the tone of their posts. They are very quick to respond to customers, promote their employment opportunities and deal specials, and often say positive things about Hawaii. |
| A Veterans Day post told a story about their employees who served overseas. It received 715 “likes” and was shared 75 times. This created an emotional bond with the brand. | A | Emotional Bonding | A+ | People are constantly posting/tweeting about their love for the brand and the company reciprocates the love by sharing inspiring stories. |
| B+ | Overall Grade | A | ||
Overall, both airlines use social media to effectively build their brands. Facebook and Twitter updates align with company values and successfully amplify messaging such as environmental responsibility, passion for employees and community engagement.
The emotional bond with customers can be accredited, in part, to both airlines’ timely responsiveness to customer testimonials or complaints. Both airlines address every comment (positive or negative) and handle them appropriately with a reply or call to action. When a negative remark appears on Twitter, both airlines often respond by asking the customer to direct message them with their e-mail so a customer service representative may assist them. This enhances engagement by using social media as a platform to create personal dialogue with the customers.
Overall, both airlines deliver content in a thoughtful and deliberate manner to help create a personal relationship with their customers through social media.
CONTACT:
This Social Media Report Card was written by Huma Gruaz, founder and CEO of Alpaytac Marketing Communications/Public Relations. For any questions you can reach her at [email protected].