Airlines want to talk to you

Social media is the new communication carrier. It is the 21st century direct mail, but it allows users to let their voice be heard too. The technology has been seeping out from under the carpet of the cubicles of technology geeks and into the mainstream, and one of the most conservative industries has also adopted it: the airline industry. I did some research into how airlines are utilizing social media and was surprised to discover that:
1. most airlines have failed to realize that social media is also for less official messages
2. a lot of airlines are prolific advertisers on social media platforms, but they are poor at channeling traffic into sales
3. Twitter and Facebook appear to be great tools for disseminating time sensitive information
4. a lot of airlines have discovered that social media exists, but there are also a lot that are not present
5. not surprisingly, a lot of "younger" upstarts are more prone to use social media, but some "dinosaurs" are pretty good at it too
6. airlines need to find a balance of their use; I am a fan or follower of nearly every airline out there and I am drowning in information

This research is an exploration into how social media is used in the industry, and was presented at the Air Transport Research Conference in Porto this year. Here is the presentation that I gave.

Airline use of social media

View more presentations from hvassk.

IT+Communication=Brand strengthening

Company blogs are not the newest thing to hit the Internet anymore. Although, I am always pleased when I see them. It gives me the opportunity to learn more about the people in the company. And this is important, especially in the airline industry, as employees are the ONLY thing that competitors can never imitate. Employees and how they handle their customers are an airline's differentiators. Of course, this requires the necessary infrastructure, procedures, delegation, etc. A blog allows customers and other stakeholders to become more familiar with employees, learn about their functions, associate themselves with those that assist them during their travels. So, I just came across Delta Air Lines' blog, here. However, one thing that I have not seen yet, is an airline go the next step. Delta has created some animated shorts that are for pure pleasure and poke fun at the flying experience, here. These videos will help create a stronger brand awareness among passengers and make them laugh at the small annoyances that we experience during our journey; we've all had to do the lavatory dance or fight for the armrest. So, the cheap but powerful technology of YouTube is not only useful to get an immediate and powerful message across (JetBlue's CEO apologizing for their operational meltdown) but also as a marketing tool.

Edit: I just came across this video from JetBlue (here); it made me laugh