[Presentation] Social Customer Service for Airports

Last week I had the opportunity to be a part of the American Association of Airport Executive’s (AAAE) Social Media Summitin Alexandria, VA.  As to be expected from a AAAE Social Summit, the conference was a hit and I was delighted to be a part of this social information sharing forum. I was asked to facilitate a hands-on Twitter workshop for the attendees on day 1 and present on social customer service on Day 2 of the conference, but beyond my presentations, I took away a great deal of insights on some of the cool behind-the-scenes social things that airports are doing.

 

Tools and tips for supercharging your airport’s Twitter strategy

The conference was kicked off by our friend Ben Mutzabaugh of the USA Today Travel Column, Today in the Sky.  I was excited to catch up with Ben again, but was more even excited at the opportunity of hearing what he looks for from airport and airline social media channels when writing his column. Just a few of his behind the scene tips for airports: Let your customers behind “the velvet rope,” build anticipation, and share breaking news. After last year’s inaugural AAAE Social Media Summit, there were a lot of questions surrounding Twitter and the best tips and tools for monitoring and engaging. So this year AAAE dedicated a session to a Twitter workshop.  You can view the presentation from this hands-on session here. Feel free to email me if you’re interested in learning more about the tools I covered: from Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for day-to-day engagement and monitoring to finding geo-located Tweets on GeoChirp.com (many of these are free tools) that we discussed in the session.

Why airports need to engage the Connected Traveler

For the Social Customer Service Session, my main theme was around customer service for the connected traveler: The traveler who has access to the Internet throughout every single phase of travel – from the booking process, to taxis to in-flight wifi. A number of airports at the conference, including the Toronto Pearson Airport and the Portland International Airport are now using Twitter as a customer service channel, with call center staff trained to respond to social issues just as they would to a caller on the line or a passenger in the terminal.  Learn more about how the socially connected traveler is shifting the dynamics of how airports are thinking about customer service by viewing the presentation below.

Interested in picking up a few new ways in which airports are using social media? Be sure to view our newly released 2012 edition of the Top 10 Airports using Social Media.

If you would like to learn more about the presentation or about the ways in which you can begin integrate social media into your overall strategy to drive the business goals of your airport, please contact us at Airports@SimpliFlying.com.

 

Featured Image: Gatwick Airport

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