Airline Entertainment International, Sep 2012 - Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying, recommends that airlines “start by being pleasantly helpful and friendly where passengers are on social media and integrate customer service on these platforms.

1. The rise of social media has Survey, conducted by SITA and now in
created the opportunity not its 14th year, stated that 93% of airlines
only for airline marketing view investment in mobile services as a
teams to reach consumers in new, top priority between now and 2015,
engaging ways, but also for consumers and that 58% are planning major
to reach back. The question is whether projects. Nine out of 10 airlines also
airlines are listening and responding. plan to invest in social media by 2015.
As most experts will tell you, the secret Further, a recent study conducted
to social media success comes from by the Chaddick Institute of
being a part of the conversation. Metropolitan Development, at the
DePaul University in Chicago, revealed
Airlines already that iPads, Kindles and Nooks account
recognise the importance of mobile for 30% of all technology used in flight.
communication. The Airline IT Trends Gogo research has found that 153

2. million passengers had access to the become immediately available for
internet while in flight in 2011. viewing by anyone. For example, a
In other words, passengers are simple search on Twitter for a phrase
increasingly connected in flight and are such as ‘#flying’ yields a host of
able to communicate with friends, consumers actively talking about their
families and airline staff at the airport flying experience. Ergo, an airline can
and in the air. constantly monitor what passengers are
praising or complaining about.
Recognising the enormousness of
One of the most prominent social that opportunity, Delta Airlines
media tools is Twitter. Its attractiveness launched a specialised customer service
lies in its real-time and public nature. team under the Twitter account
As users tweet (send brief messages of @DeltaAssist. As passengers tweet
fewer than 140 characters) the tweets about problems, the @DeltaAssist team
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responds, within an average of 11
minutes, and begins resolving the
situation. Most importantly, the team is
empowered to take immediate action.
Pattie Simone, founder of
WomenCentric.net, interviewed Allison
Ausband, vice president of reservation
sales and customer care for Delta, last
year. Ausband commented in the
interview, “So the channel [Twitter]
really allows us to redirect them
[passengers] and reset their travel when
things do go wrong…As you think
i was not too
about Twitter being that customer
happy with my last
support channel for us, it truly allows
experience with them
somebody from Delta to be with them
throughout the whole travel ribbon.”
Virgin America is also known for
Meet
responding to comments on Twitter
and
made by passengers in-flight. In fact
seat
Virgin runs marketing campaigns
encouraging passengers to use Twitter
while flying. Besides the obvious word
of mouth advertising those campaigns
encourage, the ‘in the moment’
communication allows Virgin to put a
finger on the emotional pulse of flyers.

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Twitter and Facebook are obvious
Although Facebook is the top social places to start, but many passengers
network in terms of site traffic, it does may choose a less popular service.
not allow an airline to peek into For example, forum sites such as
passengers’ experiences as easily as FlyerTalk.com act as oases for ardent
other social media. To engage with the travellers, while Planely.com users can
airline, flyers must go to its Facebook meet fellow members at the airport or
page and leave a comment. Despite onboard. In order to reach the right
that, Facebook is still an important tool demographic, airlines must spend time
for allowing conversations to naturally discovering which services their
occur between people. passengers actively use.
Some airlines have also created less Regardless of the site, Shashank
conventional approaches to using social Nigam, CEO of airline social media
media to improve the flying experience. company SimpliFlying, recommends
For example, programmes such as that airlines “start by being pleasantly
KLM’s Meet & Seat and Malaysia helpful and friendly where passengers
Airlines’ MHBuddy give passengers the are on social media and integrate
option to select seats next to friends or customer service on these platforms.
colleagues with whom they are Disruptions such as flight delays are
connected on Facebook or LinkedIn. not uncommon, so being helpful by
One of the challenges with social initiating relevant updates to the
media is in discovering where passengers will make their experience
conversations are taking place online. more delightful.”

5. other hand, JetBlue and airBaltic use They aren’t open to the public,
Operationally, using social media as a the integrated model, where staff from tweetable and shareable with the click
customer service tool represents a shift different departments are trained to of a mouse. Online customer service,
for some airlines. Most airlines have perform social media functions.” by contrast, is public, on display.
already adopted social programmes, SimpliFlying reported last summer However this double-edged sword also
but as part of the corporate that airline social media team members allows airlines to receive recognition
communications department. Airlines respectively represented the following for compliments and expressions of
need to invest in moving offline departments: 44% were corporate gratitude for a job well done.
customer service teams and processes communications, 30% marketing, 13% Further, the mind-set to effectively
to an online environment. That shift customer service, 9% e-commerce and lead social conversations is different to
means investing in training and social 4% interactive. In his best-selling book the marketing views of years past. With
customer relationship management Good to Great, Jim Collins teaches the consumers empowered by social
(CRM) resources such as Radian6 and importance of the right people on the platforms, airlines must earn trust and
Simplify360, which allow the team to team. As social media is increasingly respect as a participant within a
listen, measure and ultimately engage used as a customer service tool, expect community where a single post, tweet,
better. to see more members of the team come video or comment can garner national
Nigam adds, “In a brief study that from a customer service rather than a attention and rebuke.
we did last year, there are two marketing background. “The moment that helped push
operation models that the top airlines Culturally, using social media as a social media initiatives to the forefront
on social media use. Virgin America customer service tool requires was the closure of European airspace
and WestJet use the dedicated model embracing a certain amount of loss of due to the Icelandic volcanic eruption
where staff are assigned to perform control. Offline customer service in 2010,” states Nigam. “This saw a
solely social media functions. On the complaints are handled in private. marked change in the social media

6. landscape for the aviation industry.
Suddenly, social media was important,
relevant and worthwhile. No longer
was it just a channel for marketing; it
was an important engagement and real-
time information dissemination tool to
customers.”
The
social revolution is no longer any such
thing. It has become a daily habit for
many travellers. The only revolution is
the one occurring within the airline
industry to embrace customer service
via social media, make use of the
available tools, and engage in the
conversation.
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