Simpli-Airports Series: Exploring Airport Social Successes

We often talk about the age of the Connected Traveler, a concept that holds all too true amongst airports that are embracing the need to connect with passengers and market their services better.  More and more, we are seeing increased adoption of a new type of airport marketing powered and enhanced by social media. Smart phones and iPads are now part of a the standard packing list for both business and leisure travelers; travelers today are more connected than ever before.  These same travelers tend to show a strong interest in social media platforms and usage rates are continuing to increase.

In September of this year, SimpliFlying surveyed 55 airports across the globe to gain a better understanding of how they are positioning social media within overall airport marketing, communications, and organizational plans with a focus on resource allocation and structure.

We shared some of those stats and facts in a recent post and now we want to explore a bit more about how some of those airports are leveraging social media to meet other specific marketing and business objectives.

One stat that we shared with you was that many airports have mapped the value of social media performance to business goals, among which the top three are 1) brand engagement 2) customer service 3) revenue. We also pointed out that over 55% of the airports surveyed invest fewer than 100 man-hours per month on social media, showing that most airports are still being conservative in investing resources in social media and that nearly 63% of the airports surveyed allocate less than $10,000 annually to social media. Our upcoming Blog Series will explore how airports are integrating social media into their performance goals, and doing it with various levels of resources and man-power.

Evolving Social Space

The depth of social media usage by businesses is quickly changing with the entry of new(er) social platforms and the growing response rates of users. Many airports are now using Twitter as a channel to have a conversation with guests rather than letting such conversations happen in the community without them, and leading social airports like Portland International Airport and the Toronto Pearson Airport are taking Twitter a step further and using it as a real-time customer service channel.

Airports, like many other organizations, are using Facebook to connect with passengers in their “own space” on a preferred social network and involve them on a deeper level than traditional marketing and communications tactics have allowed.  Airport twitter engagement often is about communication with passengers that are physically within the terminal and/or attempting to communicate with the airport in real-time.

By enhancing these channels for one-on-one communication with guests, an airport can work towards humanizing the travel experience and creating long-term customer affinity.

Identification of Social Media Best Practices in Airports

Clients often ask us to help them determine what airport is the best in social media, and to assist in the creation of social benchmarking goals.  Since it is difficult to ever narrow down what airport is the best in social media, in order to detect the current social leaders, we have identified 4 key areas in which airports are using social media well to help others to benchmark in the social space and to use as a guidepost for social growth.

In this Simpli-Airports Series, we will be exploring case studies around airports that are using social media well specific to each of these categories, as well as how they are allocating resources and budgets to these areas:

  • Week 1: Social Customer Service
  • Week 2: Surprise and Delight
  • Week 3: Social Interest and Photo-Sharing
  • Week 4: Social Crowd Sourcing

We look forward to conversing with you on how you can improve your airport social media programs in each of these focus areas.

Join us next week for the first section of this exciting blog series when we take a deeper look at Social Customer Service and share the leading efforts of a few specific airports.

Do you have an interesting airport case study that you would like us to share with our readers? Write us at: airports@simpliflying.com.

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