1) Social media is revolutionizing how airlines communicate with customers, who now expect transparency, consistency, and responsiveness. 2) Airlines are using social media for marketing, customer service, and crisis management. They must balance engagement with consistency in brand messaging. 3) Case studies show how Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, and others effectively used social media during crises and to strengthen customer relationships.

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SOCIAL
MEDIA
GUIDE
FOR 2010
How is Social Media Shaping the Airline Industry?
Social media is revolutionizing the airlines can demonstrate as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and wikis
way consumers expect to transparency and encourage their offer unparalleled levels of
communicate with brands. From happy flyers to spread the word engagement with customers, airlines
customer service to public relations about what airline their influence can damage their reputation by using
to marketing messages, consumers groups should be using. social media in the wrong ways. For
now demand transparency, instance, a clear line has to be drawn
consistency, and for their favorite Social media is no longer the “new” between what is “too little” and “too
brands to listen and respond to their thing, especially for airlines. JetBlue much”. This is not always an easy
thoughts, opinions, suggestions, has over one and a half million task. Throughout this industry guide,
praises, and complaints. Although followers on Twitter. Lufthansa allows you’ll learn what airlines are doing,
the airline industry’s 2010 customer passengers to update their Twitter or how they’re finding success, pitfalls
satisfaction levels as scored by J.D. Facebook status about where they to avoid, and what you should be
Power and Associates remain below are in the sky. AirAsia drives buzz doing in the social media space.
their 2006 levels, airlines are using about its new destinations through
social media to change perceptions, custom micro-sites. As more and
contents:
more airlines join the social media
and customer satisfaction is trending
sphere, customers are expecting to
how airlines are changing 1
upward for the first time in 3 years.
In the airline industry, companies can be virtually connected with their common uses and benefits 2
interact with their customers to talk preferred airline. case studies 3
about their brands, what they love The heady growth of social media has mistakes and next steps 6
about flying, and what they hate. brought its own advantages and
Through engaging and viral content, disadvantages. While platforms such
social media solutions ROCR vs. ROI With social media, some of the most valuable metrics evaluate
your brand’s interaction with its consumers. For example, Southwest’s social
guide for airlines media team says they measure by Return on Customer Relations, rather than
Return on Investment. In other words, social media is another way for
r 2010 Southwest to enhance their reputation for excellent customer service in order
to build loyal brand evangelists that eventually result in higher sales.
.

2. Airline checklist
Five things your social media
team should be doing
1. Develop a Facebook Page
Create a Facebook page, and be sure
to continuously add new content and
respond to posts.
2. Join the Conversation on Twitter
Actively involve yourself in a Twitter
account, & show participation by
following, re-tweeting, and mention
others. Twitter is also an excellent
customer service tool.
3. Communicate With Your Audience
Most Commonly Uses of Internal activity: Airlines are using Create a blog where citizens can find
social media to show off their
Social Media for Airlines company culture and connect their
more information on your industry
such as tips and trends, destination
employees, while providing spotlights, or other interesting and
Marketing: Airlines are using specific
guidelines to employees for how the relevant news.
Twitter feeds to send out fare sales
brand should be discussed online.
and discount information, or they’re
creating social media-specific 4. Don’t Forget Multimedia
Use sites such as Flickr and YouTube to
promotions for their fans, followers, Key Benefits of Social promote your message by uploading
or subscribers. Airlines are also using
social media to distribute press Media & Airlines photos and videos for the public to
releases or other company news. access and encouraging others to do
As the industry continues to progress the same.
Customer Service: Many airlines use more and more, airlines have seen the
Twitter and Facebook to answer impact social media can have on their 5. Remember it’s a Conversation
questions and handle minor brands. The following is a list of Talk to your readers like you would
complaints. When major complaints possible benefits that can result by the talk to real people. Bring in your own
arise, companies use a combination use of an effective social media personality, and use content that is
of social sites, including Twitter, strategy: open-ended and inviting.
YouTube, Facebook, or their blog, to
 Provides a cost-effective way
publicly acknowledge, explain, and fix
the situation.
to boost site traffic Don’t Forget…
 Has a viral effect –
passionate flyers will spread Using these tools incorrectly, such as
Crisis management: When
the word through their social faking posts or spamming, can damage
unexpected weather conditions, an
media accounts your brand’s reputation, and that
emergency landing, or other major
 Engages flyers in a new way damage isn’t easy to undo. As airlines
activities occur that cause delays or
 Allows brands to effectively reach into the social media tool bag,
explanations from airlines and
require real-time updates for their deal with crisis situations or they must be aware of the impact of
consumers, airlines are using social rumors quickly their actions and understand how these
media to influence the conversation  Lets airlines seek out vocal tools work.
and calm any resulting chaos. unhappy flyers and publically
handle complaints

3. Airlines Using Social West Virginia, due to a hole in the traffic that it went down, they moved
side of the fuselage. The plane the post to another site so people
Media landed safely and no passengers were could still read it. When negative
harmed, but Southwest’s social media comments came in on the blog post,
In this burgeoning digital world where team acted immediately by logging they didn’t remove the comments,
we need to make “connections” more on to their social sites and monitoring but instead remained true to their
than “impressions,” more, if not mentions about their brand to see if stance on transparency. Finally, they
most, of your customers are the situation was gaining traction in had a Southwest Vice President call
communicating with friends, family, conversation. A Twitter message was Kevin Smith on the phone to resolve
and colleagues online. Social media ready and waiting to be tweeted once the situation. By the end of the day
channels are changing the way the Twitterverse started talking about on Sunday, the incident was over.
airlines do business, and forever the emergency landing 2 hours after
altering how brands attract and retain it occurred. As soon as a media Southwest has gained positive media
and loyal base. With the evolution of outlet published a story, Southwest attention for their social media
platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, posted a statement with the facts efforts, including a widely-distributed
Flickr, and YouTube, airlines have the about what had happened. As a viral video that was found by listening
opportunity to develop result, they reached their Twitter to their followers on Twitter. As
unprecedented relationships with audience with their side of the story Southwest moves into the future,
past, current, and potential flyers. they plan to create a stronger
connection between online and
By evaluating airlines’ participation offline activities. For example, in
in social media, we can clearly recent months, they have tweeted or
establish a positive relationship posted an invite on Facebook for
between level of involvement and people to meet at a certain place in a
success. Listed below are a few certain city and the first round of
examples of airlines who have drinks is on Southwest. By moving
effectively implemented the use of their online interactions to face-to-
social media strategies to improve face interactions, an even strong
their current position among their before their followers even had a bond is built between the brand and
audience. chance to see it on the evening news. its audience, creating a stronger level
of brand loyalty.
Another social media-specific crisis
Case Study: Southwest occurred when writer, actor, and
Airlines director Kevin Smith (also known as Case Study: JetBlue
Silent Bob) shared his negative
Southwest Airlines represents one of Southwest experience repeatedly and JetBlue is another social media
the industry’s early adopters of social passionately with his 1.6 million innovator in the airline industry.
media. Their social media team, led Twitter followers. In this situation, They claim the highest number of
by Christi Day and Paula Berg, is a Smith was removed for a Southwest Twitter followers among airlines with
division of the corporate Airlines flight after the captain 1, 594,109 followers.
communications department and deemed him too large to fly in one
manages activity across the brand’s seat. Smith was made to leave his
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and seat, gather his things, and get off the
Flickr accounts. Southwest’s social plane before takeoff. Although the
media focus is on transparency and incident really gained traction on
return on customer satisfaction. Sunday, February 14th, Valentine’s
Day and a weekend, Southwest
One area Southwest is particularly tweeted back multiple times with
good at is using social media to Kevin Smith. They apologized for the
handle crisis situations. One such situation and explained their
example includes a situation where a company policy on Twitter, and then
Southwest plane had to make an posted a blog about the situation. JetBlue’s real foray into social media
emergency landing in Charlestown, When the blog received so much also came after a crisis incident.

4. When a JetBlue planes were stuck on
the tarmac during a 2007 ice storm,
passengers were stranded on the
tarmac with no way to get them in
the air or back to the gate. After a
slew of media coverage, JetBlue
responded to the PR crisis by creating
a customer bill of rights, sending
every customer an apology email and
having their CEO talk to mainstream
media outlets. JetBlue then posted a
video from their CEO on YouTube
entitled “The JetBlue Promise,” which
featured the CEO talking about what
happened, what JetBlue was going to
do to fix it, and encouraging
customers to keep JetBlue
accountable to their promises. Two their customers, they are preparing the customer and learn a valuable
months later, after a different storm, the brand to handle any new lesson about how to handle customer
JetBlue posted another video that emerging media activity in the future. service interactions in the social
updated consumers on the progress sphere. General complaints or minor
that had been made with their venting such as “Frontier sucks” is
promises. While JetBlue still received Case Study: now handled by the customer service
negative feedback on the video, they team, but glaring complaints or major
also received a large amount of
Frontier/Midwest Airlines incidents are passed along to the
positive comments from flyers corporate communications team.
Through research, Midwest Airlines
thanking them for their honesty and
(soon to merge with Frontier)
letting JetBlue know they would give
discovered an underserved market
the brand a second chance.
consisting of baby boomer women
Case Study: Alaska
JetBlue uses a single branded Twitter
with time and money, but hesitations Airlines
to go on trips with their friends. The
account as much as possible to deal
airlines viewed blogging as a key Alaska Airlines’ social media presence
with customer service activity. To
solution in reaching this market and also arrived after a crisis. When a
create as personalized and efficient of
developed “Travels with Tish” in volcanic eruption happened near
an experience as possible for their
2006. The blog featured reviews on Anchorage in 2009, flight delays were
followers, they use CoTweet to assign
different cities for weekend getaways unpredictable and unavoidable, and
posts to the appropriate person,
with girl friends. Through Tish’s the airline needed a way to inform
make notes on profiles of users they
blogging about her personal their customers about changes in
regularly interact with, schedule
experiences in cities served by real-time. The company turned to
tweets, or collaborate with members
Midwest, the company saw a 10:1 Twitter and successfully gave flyers
from across various departments in
return-on-investment through the latest updates while calming their
the company, such as route
conversion rates. nerves.
specialists, marketing personnel, or
customer service representatives.
Frontier Airlines began using social
media after an angry blogger tried to
As JetBlue moves forward into the
fly standby, but got delayed for six
future, they are dedicated to staying
hours. He began a customer service
focused on the lessons they can learn
Twitter feed for the bran and wrote
from social media tools, rather than
an angry blog post about the
the specific tools themselves. Social
company’s customer service. While
media’s landscape is constantly
the company didn’t immediately
changing, but as JetBlue focuses on
create their own customer service
the best ways to engage and serve
Twitter account, they did reach out to

5. Soon after, the airline began page. The new tab powered by celebrity tweets such as Rainn Wilson
arranging Tweet-ups, where the Alvenda is called the “Ticket helped spread the word. Within an
airline’s Twitter followers gathered to Window.” Delta plans to expand the hour, American Airlines used their
meet each other or participate in Ticket Window to other social media @AAirwaves Twitter account to
aviation geek night (where they could sites, including online banner ads to correct the rumors before too much
experience the airline’s flight allow full booking capabilities within confusion ensued.
simulator.) the airline’s advertisements. Other
social media-savvy airlines are
The airline currently struggles to expected to follow suit. Mistakes Airlines are
balance conversational tweets with
organizational ones, which leads to Making with Social
an inconsistent brand personality and Media
image. In the future, Alaska Airlines
would like to come across on Given the viral nature of social media,
conversational tones in order to build it is inevitable that some individuals or
stronger relationships with their entities may find that the incorrect use
audience. of it has actually damaged their
reputations. One of the most widely
Case Study: Delta known examples of this is with the US
Airways/Dave Carroll guitar incident
Delta recently announced their and accompanying YouTube video.
creation of a social media lab to
oversee its Twitter accounts and test In July 2008, musician Dave Carroll
other tools as the carrier looks for departed Chicago’s O’Hare
new ways to engage and listen to its In the past, Delta has scene success International Airport and watched as
customers and distribute its on YouTube with a viral safety video his checked Taylor guitar was thrown
messages. The lab includes two featuring an attractive women onto the plane. After reaching his
corporate communications dubbed by fans as “Deltalina” and destination, Carroll discovered his
representatives, two marketing another viral video of a Northwest $3,500 guitar was indeed broken.
representatives, and one customer plane being re-painted and branded
insight representative, and is for Delta after the Delta/Northwest
overseen by Delta’s VP of reservation, Merger.
Senior VP of corporate
communications, and Senior VP of Case Study: American
Marketing. Delta will use
@DeltaAssist to handle customers’
Airlines
questions, comments, and concerns.
Right now, the account is only open American increased their marketing
from 8a.m. to 9:30p.m., but Delta to minority groups in 2009 by
plans to have 24/7 representatives on launching Black Atlas, a community
hand in the future. website where African-American
travelers can share stories, reviews, After nearly a year of going back-and-
The social media lab is also reaching travel tips, videos, and photos or forth with United, Carroll took his
out to different groups and book American Airlines flights. The complaints online with his original
employees at Delta to tighten their site received critique due to a 2-day song and viral video, “United Breaks
social media structure, increase delay and approval process for all Guitars.” A year later, the video has
collaboration, and keep everyone posts. received 8,901,551 views, an
operating under the same social incredible amount of media
media guidelines. When Haiti was devastated by the attention, and is still receiving views
January 2010 earthquake, rumors and comments daily.
In August 2010, Delta became the flew across Twitter that American
first airline to let flyers fully book a Airlines was offering free flights to United responded on Twitter to let
flight directly from Delta’s Facebook Haiti for doctors and nurses. Notable people know they had contacted

6. Carroll and offered to replace the To help airlines understand the We have created a list of tools that
guitar, but he wanted the money to potential pitfalls of social media, we we recommend you consider engaging
go to charity, so they went that route have identified common guidelines in, which will positively affect your
instead. United also said they would that airlines can use to thwart negative brand’s reputation and boost buzz.
begin using the video for training feedback from their community:
purposes.  Create a Facebook page –
 Be upfront about any be sure to continuously add
Unfortunately for United, the damage advertisers or sponsored engaging content and respond
was already done and continues to content. to posts.
run rampant today. If United had  Don’t use manipulation or  Actively involve yourself in a
taken a page from JetBlue’s book by bribery to gain positive Twitter account, & show
apologizing and recommitting their feedback or to hide participation by following
brand to its customers or had the complaints others. Consider using Twitter
airline’s focus been on customer  Be transparent about your as a customer service tool.
service to begin with, the incident mission, motives, and methods.  Create a blog where your
could have been greatly downplayed.  Provide consistent, valuable audience can find industry-
content and interact with your related tips and trends,
So what does this all mean? While it’s audience. behind-the-scenes company
clear that airlines can accomplish  Monitor your brand information, or destination
several organizational goals and thoroughly and respond to spotlights, while
through social media, there are pitfalls complaints before they go communicating their opinion on
that these sites need to be aware of. viral or spin out of control current topics.
 Train your employees on what  Use sites such as Flickr and
Using these tools incorrectly, such as
to do or say about your brand YouTube to promote your site,
ignoring rules about transparency and
in the social media space, by uploading photos and
trust, can do more damage to a
both daily and in a crisis videos for your audience to
brand’s reputation and media
situation access and link to their own
attention than taking the extra time to
accounts.
understand your audience’s
expectations and remaining patient as
How Should YOU Use  Create a social media policy
to discuss who in your
social media contributes to your long- Social Media? company may talk about the
term growth plan. As airlines reach
Social Media is an excellent tool to brand online, in what
into the social media tool bag, they
positively promote your airline to your situations, and in what context.
must be aware of the impact of their
actions and understand exactly how desired audience, by allowing them to
these tools work. become actively involved.
Many social media campaigns transcend across channels such as marketing, public relations, and
about us
sometimes eve customer service, depending on the goals of the campaign. To effectively manage
these needs, a social media agency must essentially be an extension of the client, involved with
various communication channels within the client’s organization in order to communicate the right
content and the right time.
Social Media Solutions prides itself on becoming an extension of your business. Not only will we work
your account as if we were promoting our own business, but we will also continue to brainstorm and
develop new online marketing and social media strategies to optimize your business.
Social Media Solutions | www.socialmediasolutionsllc.com | Orlando, FL | contact@socialmediasolutionsllc.com