Southwest Airlines has successfully utilized social media, especially Twitter, to engage customers and build its brand. It has over 1 million Twitter followers and encourages customers to share both positive and negative flight experiences. Southwest monitors social media comments and responds quickly to address customer issues. It also uses social media to advertise promotions. By taking a customer-focused approach and responding to customers in a personal way, Southwest has developed a strong online reputation and social media presence.

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The world is aflutter with buzz about Twitter. Over the last four years, Twitter has
seen 16 percent growth and maintained a 4-7 percent edge over Facebook each year.
(Wexler, 2013) That's a lot of numbers that back up this point -- over the last four years,
Fortune 500 companies are joining Twitter faster than Facebook.
Fortune 500 companies were early adopters of Facebook, but when computer
titan Hewlett Packard (number 15 on the Fortune 500) entered the social media world, it
went straight to Twitter because it is cleaner, faster and smoother. (Slegg, 2013) The
success lies in simplicity. Twitter only requires you to master 140 characters -- it's an
incredibly low barrier. By comparison, Facebook is complicated.
Twitter can also be used as a proactive tool for brands. It's not just about
reacting to customer service complaints, but the true power of Twitter lies in reaching
out to engage audiences and turning them into brand ambassadors. This can be done
subtly and cheaply through Twitter. As brands have realized this, Twitter has become
the cornerstone of successful social media and communication strategies.
One company that has embraced Twitter is Southwest Airlines (Southwest).
Southwest Airlines is huge online:
 12 million monthly visits to its website
 1 million Twitter followers
 1.3 million Facebook likers
 29,000 reviewers on its Travel Guide
It makes a lot of sense for these companies to be able to interact with those
disgruntled customers and try to make them happy if possible – and so that friends of
disgruntled customers can also see that the company is attempting to fix the issue.
Many of these telecommunications companies have a great rep when it comes to
dealing with social media and their interactions on it, even if they don't necessarily have
a great overall rep, but are making plenty of inroads with a large and active social media
presence. (Kerr, 2013) Southwest seems to be very comfortable and even excited with
its newfound ability to engage its vendors, partners, customers, and others in ways that
could not have been imagined. Judging by the increased use of tools, fans, and
followers, they are making some very powerful new connections.
Southwest is building quite the online reputation and is one of only two airlines
(the other being Jet Blue) to get it right. Southwest has developed a social media
campaign worth paying attention to. They reach out to bloggers, brand fanatics, avid
travelers and employees to help contribute content to Twitter. (Brown, 2011)
Southwest encourages travelers to share their flight experiences – both good and bad.
Twitter also serves as a means of advertising new promotions; such as cheap airline
tickets (which is very popular with the savvy, air traveler) and answers to any questions
travelers may have via Twitter.
Southwest successfully nailed what’s typically a big challenge for brands:
knowing its customers well enough to understand when they’ll already be thinking about
its brand. The challenge? While this is an ideal situation for a brand, there’s no easy
formula for doing it well. It really does take intense understanding of the marketplace in
order to identify opportunities to observe how customers interact with the brand even
when the brand isn’t formally present. Southwest is particularly adept at replying to

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fans’ questions and customer service issues, but they also post exclusive deals and
new promotions and host contests.
Figure 1 Sample Tweets
Southwest clearly prizes customer service across all of its social media channels.
The social media team includes a chief Twitter officer who tracks Twitter comments and
monitors a Facebook group, an online representative who fact checks and interacts with
bloggers, and another who takes charge of the company’s presence on sites such as
YouTube, Flickr, and LinkedIn. So if someone posts a complaint in cyberspace, the
company can respond in a personal way. The Twitter site advises that the airline “will
not address specific customer service issues on this site,” but it is a frequent mode by
which it finds out about customer concerns, and it does post some more general

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customer service replies. (Jane, 2012) By sending out personalized tweets and
responding quickly to customer issues, as well as apologizing when it makes a mistake,
Southwest proves that it is a company made up of humans.
With all the content Southwest creates to keep its presence fresh, a collaborative
approach is vital. There’s internal collaboration: marketing creates the feel for its social
media channels, and the communications team (through its emerging media group)
drives content. The legal and investor relations departments are also closely involved.
All emerging media team employees complete customer service training to ensure they
are well-prepared to address customer questions and issues directly and expeditiously.
Southwest also reaches out specifically to influencers: travel bloggers, brand fanatics,
avid travelers, and importantly, employees all contribute content. (Brown, 2011)
Few companies have harnessed the power of social media as well as Southwest
Airlines. This no nonsense, budget airliner has seen real dollars come from their use of
funny, practical, down to earthy branding translated through popular social media
channels.
 Blogging – Nuts About Southwest receives more than 70,000 unique hits a
month thanks to their fun, quirky and constantly updated blog about
everything from cheap flight specials to employee hobbies to customer
interviews. What gives the site a bit of a kick is its use of different types of
media to get the message across including videos, podcasts, stories,
interviews and polls. (Southwest Airlines, 2013)
 Facebook – Fans are what make this Facebook page. While Southwest
doesn’t actively respond to every or even most posts, users help each other
out. (Southwest Airlines, 2013)
 Twitter – With over 1 MILLION followers, their twitter account is one of the
channels most active. A staff of two is constantly answering and RT
questions, comments and concerns from customers. Their quick replies and
helpful, timely tips are what make this Twitter account so great! (Southwest
Airlines, 2013)
 Linkedin – Southwest encourages all of its employees to take an active role in
their social media. Currently over 12,000 employees are connected to
Southwest via LinkedIn. (Southwest Airlines, 2013)
 YouTube – Fun and real, most of these videos are made by customers. Some
of the more famous videos show off Southwest’s employees who are
encouraged to show their colors and be themselves. This is the real
backbone of the company and what makes all of their social media stand out.
(Southwest Airlines, 2013)
So what can you take away from Southwest’s use of social media? Be real, be
fun and be active. Focus on the customer experience and really provide some utility to
them. Bring the social back to social media.

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Building Buzz for a Blog
I’ve added a link into my email signature inviting people to read the latest blog
post. This simple practice reminds them you have a blog, and may intrigue them
enough to click the link. In addition to using Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn
to promote my blog I want to challenge myself to try some other outside of the box
methods.
Pinterest - The benefit of pinning to a contributor board is increased exposure.
When you pin to a contributor board, fellow contributors see the pin and so do their
followers. The more members and followers a group board has, the more people will
see the pin.
Some things to consider:
 Choose an interesting image to pin
 Make sure the title of post is visible on the image chosen
 Add keywords to the description
 Use hashtags
 If someone is mentioned in the blog post, @ mention them on Pinterest
 Pinterest will add the URL to the blog post
Instagram - has a constantly updating feed of images that is viewed by over 100
million monthly users. Sharing the main blog image, overlaid with the post title, is a
great way to drive organic traffic to the blog. As a bonus, I can leverage the sheer
volume of Instagram traffic by using the same blog post image shared to Pinterest.
Instagram is also very hashtag-friendly.

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References
Brown, M. (2011, January 31). Southwest Airlines Social Media Strategy - Lessons for
All Organizations. Retrieved from Social Media Today:
http://socialmediatoday.com/mikebrown-brainzooming/266092/southwest-
airlines-social-media-strategy-lessons-all-organizations
Jane, K. (2012, July 20). Southwest Airlines if Flying High on Twitter. Retrieved from
Contently: http://contently.com/strategist/2012/07/20/southwest-airlines-is-flying-
high-on-twitter/
Kerr, D. (2013, July 24). Fortune 500 companies give social media a thumbs-up.
Retrieved from CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57595401-93/fortune-
500-companies-give-social-media-a-thumbs-up/
Slegg, J. (2013, July 25). Fortune 500 Social Media: 77% Active on Twitter; 70% on
Facebook. Retrieved from Search Engine Watch:
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2284930/Fortune-500-Social-Media-77-
Active-on-Twitter-70-on-Facebook
Southwest Airlines. (2013, November 18). Nuts About Southwest. Retrieved from Blog
Southwest: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/
Southwest Airlines. (2013, November 18). Southwest Airlines. Retrieved from
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Southwest
Southwest Airlines. (2013, November 18). Southwest Airlines. Retrieved from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/southwestair
Southwest Airlines. (2013, November 18). Southwest Airlines. Retrieved from You
Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NutsAboutSouthwest
Southwest Airlines. (2013, November 18). Southwest Airlines. Retrieved from LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/company/4599?trk=vsrp_companies_hero_name&trkInfo
=VSRPsearchId%3A186662261384799273081%2CVSRPtargetId%3A4599%2C
VSRPcmpt%3Ahero
Wexler, A. (2013, November 7). Twitter Triumph: 100% of Fortune 500 Will Soon Tweet.
Retrieved from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-
wexler/twitter-triumph-100-of-fo_b_4235213.html