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Want to know how to use Social Media in Business… Follow an Airline.

I am extremely impressed with how the following four airlines are using Social Media. So much so that I will go as far to say that Business Owners confused with how to use Social Media activities in their business should look towards the following four airlines for examples.

Four Airlines using Social Media Productively

• Southwest Airlines
• JetBlue Airways
• Delta Airlines
• Virgin America

These airlines are using Social Media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and some are Blogging. These all are great ways to get the online community involved… to get them motivated to travel, to get them talking about the airlines…. what they love and what they hate. To get them spreading the word of what airline they should be traveling.

Airlines are using Facebook

Facebook is an excellent way to engage customers. And, Virgin America is doing it well. Check out Virgin America’s amazing Facebook Page:

Their Facebook page reminds me very much of a website. Upon first getting to their facebook page you will first notice the amazing color. Which I feel keeps people there for a while checking things out. But, more than that there is a lot to do once you arrive. Even right there on their facebook page visitors can click links to search flights and check flight statuses. Plus, they can do a bunch of fun Facebook interactions.

On their Facebook Profile you will find:

• Fan Photos
• Videos / Fan Videos
• Customer reviews
• The Wall
• Discussion Board
• Company Information

Their Facebook Profile also offers:

• Search Flights
• Check In/ Travel Manager
• Flight Status
• Elevate – Their Loyalty Program
• Access to their Twitter Profile
• Access to their YouTube Profile

What makes their Facebook Profile stand out to me is the fact that they are encouraging their customers to engage with one another. They make it easy to not only build relationships with other customers, but with the airline themselves. Happy customers mean returning customers and it appears Virgin America gets that.

Airlines are using Flickr

Another great way these airlines are using Social Media to help their business is with Flickr.

Let’s face it when people travel they take pictures. Traveling is very personal. Many people are traveling with family or traveling to visit family. Either way they are making memories and they are counting on every moment of their excursion to be part of it…. including their travels there and back.

So, because of this reason it just makes sense for Flickr, a photo sharing community, to be part of the social media activities being used. And, it certainly is. Let’s look at JetBlue’s Flickr Group as an example…

JetBlue has a nice Flickr Group. In their group there are already 3,777 items…. both photos and videos. Members of this Flickr group can comment on each other photos and can add each other as friends…. encouraging relationship building. These members appear to be customers, fans and employees of JetBlue and from the comments are totally connecting.

The JetBlue Flickr group also has active discussion boards. This is a great place to start discussions in the same format as other message boards and forums. Ask questions, give opinions and even offer suggestions to the airlines or members of the community.

So, as you can see the memories don’t just sit in a photo album in a cabinet at home, but instead are being shared and enjoyed with others. Plus, around these wonderful photos relationships are being made…. it doesn’t get much better than that.

Airlines are using YouTube

Many people are very visual… I’m a very visual person. I love to look at videos when things are being explained to really get a feel of what they are talking about. And, there is no exception when it comes to traveling. If I’m going to be spending hours in the air I want to make sure I’m as comfortable as possible. I want to know exactly what I’m paying for…. video is a great way to do this. Plus, videos are very engaging and entertaining…. they truly hold the viewers attention.

The airlines are using YouTube splendidly. Let’s take Delta for example…

Apparently, Delta’s New In-Flight Safety Video caused a huge buzz in the YouTube world. FoxNews had posted,

“The safety video generated such a buzz after being posted on the Atlanta-based airline’s corporate blog and on the video Web site YouTube that admirers dubbed the 33-year-old Atlanta woman “Deltalina,” a combination of the airline’s name and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, who they say she resembles.”

DeltaAirLines on YouTube have tons of other videos to choose from as well. Including, Travel Guides where Delta employees showcase their favorite destinations around the globe.

Airlines are Using Twitter

If you spend any amount of time on Twitter it is hard to not notice somebody talking to or about airlines. Traveling takes a lot of planning and people will ask for suggestions and recommendations when it comes to something important like booking a flight. Also, when people are waiting on a flight or are in an airport during a long lay-over they don’t have much to do so instead they are spending time on Twitter commenting on what they are doing, eating, seeing. If they are happy… they Tweet that. If they are unhappy or disappointed… they will tweet that. Some Airlines are listening. Let’s use Southwest Air as an example…

SouthWestAir does a nice job at using Twitter to help their business. They use it in a number of ways…

• Travel Advisories
  

  

• Customer Service
• Points followers to interesting posts…. even if they are not SouthWest Air posts.
• Regular fun Chit Chat
• Informs SouthWest Customers of great places to eat at during lay-overs or delays.

Airlines are Blogging

And two of the airlines are blogging very well. You should check out both the Delta Blog and SouthWest’s Blog. They both are doing an excellent job. They blog regularly about everything from airline news to airport food to new airplanes to new airports. They are also making sure to list all of their other social profiles oin their blogs…. helping their fans and customers stay in contact with them all over the internet. Very Cool!!!

Let’s take a look at SouthWest’s Blog…. truly, their blog is exceptional. Not only is it extremely user-friendly and very easy to follow…. It is set up so wonderfully. Check it out…

Tell me this blog isn’t nice!! On the left you have little summaries of posts… and they post very regularly. And on the right hand side they have pictures from the Flickr Group and beneath that you have their video portion of their blog. Lower down on the blog you will see that you are able to listen to their podcasts… yes, SouthWest does podcasting too!!

And, the bottom half of their blog is just as good as the top part. Check this out….

The one area all Airlines need to work on…..

Using Twitter consistently as a Customer Service Tool.

Airlines have a chance to get personal with their customers and potential customers. They can calm down the lost traveler, entertain them when they are delayed, feed them when they are hungry. They can use their customer service skills to make an ornery traveler happy again. I’m not sure they are doing this. Even SouthWest that I used as an example above isn’t twittering enough. Sometimes they go days without a tweet and I’m sure there are people tweeting them and about them 24/7, so they are missing a lot…. a lot of good Customer Service via Twitter.

Even the other airlines that are using Twitter aren’t posting enough to be using it effectively. As much as the airlines are being talked about via Twitter they don’t respond nearly enough. I understand that they have a huge mass of customers and responding to all would be extremely difficult. But, in my mind they need to hire more people to cover this and to treat Twitter as a Customer Service Platform. The more happy customers the more returning customers. Even a question posted directly at some airlines go unanswered. As of the writing of this post my question has been unanswered 3 days later…

For the most part Airlines are using Social Media effectively

Even with the Twitter area that needs improving… I am totally impressed with how these four Airlines are using Social Media. They are keeping their customer’s engaged which keeps the Internet talking about them. As long as there is a talk about these airlines it keeps them on the mind of travelers and future travelers. Grant it, the talk should be good. But, if it is not all positive this is the Airline’s chance to step up…. to help the traveler, to make the traveler happy, to help them become content and satisfied. If the airlines aren’t responding they aren’t making the impression they should on their customers. If they won’t step up….. another airline will.

Unless you have been trapped on a deserted island I’m sure you have all heard of the CBS reality show Survivor. The basic premise of the show is that at least 16 strangers are put on a deserted piece of land and have to basically fend for themselves. They prepare their own shelters, find their own food, boil their own water. Occasionally, through winning challenges, they are provided with certain items that make their life without the mere basics easier and sometimes they even win luxuries such as gourmet meals. Each week someone is voted off of Survivor and the last one remaining is sole Survivor winning a Million Dollars.

Or, as CBS Survivor likes to say it… They must “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast” in order to win Survivor.

It appears that Survivor has a huge fan base…. almost cult like. And, after 17 seasons the fans are still watching every week. I find it fascinating that Survivor fans are still watching. After all, I stopped watching after the 2nd season. The 2nd season was amazing, but I found when I tuned in to watch the 3rd I was getting bored with the same thing…. I moved on. How come there weren’t so many others doing the same thing?? Well, I’ve come to a conclusion that Social Media has something to do with that!!

Social Media Engages the Survivor Fans

If you take a look at CBS’s Survivor website you will see that they have tons of things that viewers can participate in.

• Videos – Full episodes, Clips, Life after they are kicked off Survivor. Not only can you watch and enjoy, but you can also comment and see who else is commenting on the same videos.
• Photos – Amazing images taken from each episode. Again, make any comment that you would like. Communicate…. that’s what Social Media is all about.
• Ponderosa – Life after Survivor. Around the halfway point of survivor the people voted off of Survivor are part of a jury that will help choose the Ultimate Survivor & Winner of the Million Dollars. Instead of being sent home they are sent to Ponderosa…. a camp for the Jury. Here you can see videos shots of what the members of the Jury are doing. These are things you don’t get to see on the show. Very cool!!
• Cast – You can mark yourself as a fan of any of the Survivor participants and see who else in the Online Survivor Community is also a fan. This is a great way to choose which of the online community you want to be friends with.
• Forum / Message Board – Plenty of Survivor discussion going on here.
• Watch and Chat – Watch the latest episode of Survivor while chatting with other online survivor community members. This is by far my favorite social media activity on the Survivor Website.
• Friends / Profiles – Make friends and have private and public conversations with other fans of Survivor. I couldn’t find a page with the Survivor community members listed. Instead, you can find friends through the comments, forums or through the watch & chat. This isn’t the most user-friendly way, I know.

However, I was very surprised to not find a Survivor Blog on the CBS website.

No Survivor Blog??

I believe Survivor use to have a blog called the Survivors Strike Back Blog. It doesn’t appear that the blog is active any longer. I believe past Survivor participants wrote posts on the blog. Sounds like something the fans would have loved. My guess is that making sure the Survivor participants kept actively posting might have been a chore in itself. However, I’m not sure why there isn’t some kind of blog still active. I did find a very cool Survivor Blog, however it does not appear to be affiliated with CBS.

My Favorite Social Media Feature on Survivor Online

Watch and Chat was by far my most favorite feature of the Survivor site. Watch and Chat is a new feature on the Survivor website where you can watch the latest episode and chat at the same time with other members of the Survivor Community. You can chat with all the people in Watch and Chat, select just a few to chat with, or even choose to watch the episode alone. But, I believe watching it alone you are missing out on the coolest feature… chatting with others about the episode. Being caddy, being critical, being silly.

But, No Live Chat??

However, there was no live chat….. no way to watch the show on TV while it aired on Thursday night and chat with the Online Survivor Community while we all saw it for the first time!! I was so disappointed. Chatting with the survivor community while the show aired is what I looked forward to the most and I was shocked to find that the Survivor site had no live-chat feature. FAIL!!

I was thankful to discover another site that had Survivor Live Chat that I participated in while the show aired. They are a wonderful group of fans and I had a blast with them. Make sure to be there around 8:00 pm EST on Thursdays when Survivor airs and you are sure to have tons of fun!! The community there was awesome. They accepted me with open arms, asked me questions, let me join in on the conversations.

The Most Popular Social Media Feature on Survivor Online

It seems that the post popular Social Media activity on the Survivor site are the Forums. There are conversations, questions, games and even polls…. like this one:

There is even a section to ask Jeff Probst and the Cast of Survivors questions.

The community members are fans in the truest form. They are honest, loyal and as most fans are…. critical. And, why shouldn’t they be? They have invested their time and energy into all things Survivor. And, if CBS is listening these fans will tell them exactly what they like and what they don’t like; What they want to see more of and what they wish they never saw in the first place. So, I hope CBS is listening because fans are always brutally honest…. they have every reason to be. Being a fan is something they have devoted their precious time to and they LOVE their time with Survivor. The fans aren’t afraid to share their thoughts about the members of Survivor either. They will be blunt, they will be caddy, they say it just as they see it.

However, I can’t help but feel that if the forum is the most popular social media feature that it is possible that the Survivor site needs more Social Media features. Don’t get me wrong…. I love that the Survivor site has forums.  Forums are a great way to hold discussions with members, get answers from other community members, and to build relationships. Forums have their place and I’m glad to see them on the Survivor site, but they are quite “old school” Social Media.  I’d love to see the survivor site have more spontaneous discussions… more real time conversations.  I believe Live Chat will do the trick. If they aren’t providing the Social Media activities that the viewers are looking for they will look somewhere else…. like the live chat and blog I found elsewhere. So, that brings me to…..

What I would like to see on CBS Survivor Online

CBS is totally doing a good job to capture the viewers attention and get them conversing via Social Media, but there is definitely room for improvement. What I would like to see is a….

• Blog – Give your viewers a little more info. Maybe a Friday morning post…. day after the show airs of a little synopses of what happened in the show the night before. Maybe some gossip of past Survivors, Maybe a bit of “Where are they Now” of the past survivor participants, and maybe a bit of facts about the beautiful places that the survivor shows have been held. There are so many different directions they can go with this. Plus, the readers can comment and participate too. More conversations makes for a happier community.
• Live Chat – Please, please, please get live chat. Even if you don’t ever have a blog…. do live chat. Nothing fancy…. just a simple chat room that people can go in while the show airs on Thursday night. I truly believe it will bring in more fan engagement. You know where the Survivor fans are at 8:00 EST on Thursday night…. They are watching the program. Instead of not having anything going on at 8:00 pm on a Thursday night on your site…. open up Chat. Trust me, the fans will come and the community will grow… I truly believe that.

Have you ever been somewhere where there was no conversation? No laughing, no talking, no interacting….. just stagnation?! Without engagement what’s keeping you around? Absolutely nothing. CBS knows that in order to keep fans watching it takes more than just great shows. Fans want more. Fans want something for their time that they are dedicating to the shows…. Viewers are looking for interaction, conversation and relationships. CBS Survivor has figured that out and is providing the platform for interaction.

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You probably are already aware of what an amazing communication channel social
media is, but did you know that social media can also be a wonderful sales channel?

It’s True!! And, why not…. in order to bring about a sale there needs to be consumer trust. And, what is the best way to earn trust?!

Conversation & Relationship Building!!!

Enter Social Media…

Social Media is powerful. Consumers are in more control than ever before. The large companies are no longer the power-houses…. it’s the consumers. And, do you know why? Because of Social Media…. Because of Social Media Communities like Twitter.

Twitter is an amazing social media community that brings the power of the people together to talk about everything and anything in real time…. and they are.

Here are a few methods Companies large & small are taking advantage of Twitter as a Sales Channel. Check out their strategies & see which one is the best strategy for your business.

The Sweet Deal Shouter

• @woot
• @amazondealsThese are the companies that only tweet links to their deals & promotions. That is pretty much it. Most companies couldn’t get away with something likes this, however, it appears Woot and Amazon have earned their trust and respect already on their eCommerce websites to be able to do this.Keep in mind that Social Networking sites like Twitter are communities that thrive on conversations. “The Sweet Deal Shouter“ are shouting out links & not conversing at all, but seem to do amazingly well.
  

  The Sweet Deal Shouter

• Why this works for them:
  • Consumers trust and respect these Companies already
  • They have earned relationships with their consumers.
  • Due to the trust they earned consumers will buy from them already
  • Everyone loves a Sweet Deal
  • Amazon has some other cool profiles… Like one that will check on the Wii every second to see if they are available for purchase. It is a great way to assist consumers on finding the product for the Holidays.
• I would love to see more:
  • Customer Service – Answering Questions and offering Suggestions
  • Relationship Building through Interaction
  • Conversations

The Structured Informer

• Dell on TwitterDell is on Twitter in a major way. But, they don’t use Twitter the way most do…. with conversations. They use Twitter very much like “The Sweet Deal Shouter” above. However, the difference is that “The Structured Informer” uses Twitter as a sort of news feed for its followers. For example, if you are looking for Dell deals there is the Dell Outlet. If you are looking for deals for the small business or deals for the home…. they have Twitter profiles for just those deals. Or, maybe you are a gamer that wants to keep up with the updates for that type of news they have that too. Dell has about 17 different Twitter profiles that you can follow for those particular type of news. There are many choices for its Consumers. Why is this a good idea??


The Structured Informer

• Why this Works for Them:
  • Consumers can use their different Twitter profiles as a type of New Reader…. as a way to keep up with Dell News specifically that interests them.
  • Less Noisy – Just hear the news you want to hear & ignore the rest.
  • This is great for large businesses to keep people informed real time.
• I would love to see more:
  • Conversation between Business & Consumer
  • Lack of building “Relationships” on Twitter
  • Let’s get Personal
  • Customer Service Interaction

Tweet a Little of This & a Little of That

• @nordstrom
• @handbagplanet
• @buildabearThese companies’ online presence might be smaller than the other mentioned companies, but they understand the importance of social media conversation. They don’t just tweet their deals and promotions…. they converse. Through their conversations with consumers they are building relationships and earning trust. They are answering questions. Basically, they are using Twitter for Customer Service. When they tweet their deals and promotions they are making sales. They are earning these sales because they have earned the consumers trust….the good old fashioned way. Sure, it has a modern social media spin on it. But, the basics are the same. Earn the consumer’s trust = more business.
  

  Tweet a Little of This & a Little of That

• What do these companies do on Twitter to increase their sales? They…
  • Link to Sales, Promotions & Deals
  • Answer Questions
  • Offer Tips & Suggestions
  • Link to helpful blog posts & articles
  • Tons of customer service… better than what you might get in person.
  • Tons of interactions with consumers
  • Using Twitter Search as a Customer Service Tool – What do consumers
    need help with?
• Why this Works:
  • Perfect combination of news & interaction
  • They realize that interaction & business should go hand and hand
  • Great Word of Mouth Marketing… real time.
  • Great conversation gets re-tweeted throughout many different Twitter Profiles
  • Builds Trust through human relationship & interaction
  • Awesome Customer Service
  • Shows empathy – See a consumer struggling empathize & offer suggestions
  • Shows they are a caring Company
  • Clear up their mistakes publicly.
  • They realize that the consumer is the one in control

The Extreme Twittering Business

• @zapposZappos is one of the large companies that understands the importance of Social Media as a Consumer as a well as a Company. It is using Twitter to the extreme & thriving.Zappos even dedicated an entire website just to their twitter presence. The site is broken down into what others are saying about Zappos; What employees are talking about; What the CEO and COO are talking about; and even links to what people are talking about regarding the brands they sell at Zappos.
  

  The Extreme Twittering Business

• What is Zappos doing to increase sales
  • Answering Customer Questions
  • Keeping an eye what people are saying about their brand & responding to everything
  • Instant Feedback through real time discussions
  • Online Customer Service at its best!!
  • Converses about everything…. not just limited to the business, but everything.
  • Very personal…. see the personal side of the business
  • Pics…. personal pictures that show their real side.
  • Building trust through human interaction
  • Created an entire website dedicated to Twitter…. Twitter discussion from employees, customers and their brand.

You can see that all of the above companies are using Twitter differently. They all have their reasons & strategies to do what they are doing. But, most of us are not large companies like Amazon and Zappos.

So, what do I think is the best strategy for the average small business? I think the perfect combination is the “Little of This Little of That” Strategy. It is a great way to earn a consumer’s trust through interaction, conversation and wonderful customer service skills.

What Twitter Strategy are you going to use?