This Friday July 30th in Sydney, learn how airports can leverage their social media for brand building. We’re presenting a Masterclass, the aim of which is to give airport executives a hands-on crash course into airport branding, ultimately helping airports to drive revenue and loyalty through social media conversations.  And you’ll discover the power of social media to engage travelers like Robert.

Participants will walk away with a 6-week plan for executing a social media strategy at their airports.

Introduction: Web 2.0 and Aviation

What is Web 2.0 and why is it an important medium?
Before and after Web 2.0 – how brand conversations have evolved
The basic tenet – building a community on Web 2.0
To start from scratch, or to leverage on existing social networks?
To sell, or not to sell through Web 2.0?
Risks, and how to overcome them?
How to get started with Web 2.0?
How airlines and airports around the world are using social media?
Case Study: JetBlue Airways
Case Study: Melbourne Airport

Deep Dive

Hands-on Simulation exercise
Finding mentions about their airports on Social Media
Finding mentions about airlines that fly their airports
How to identify influencers their airports, on social media
Basic sentiment analysis

Group Exercise …

Introducing the Passenger Experience IndexSM

Airport ROI is a good metric for airports. But in order to extend the opportunity of engaging with passengers as customers, we must focus on them as part of the metric. In so doing, a new measurement paradigm is needed, one which we call a “Passenger Experience Index” (PEI). This Index considers new opportunities of customer engagement that Social Media and new technologies bring to the equation.

The Passenger Experience Index (PEI) must include many new complex objectives and metrics. The passenger focuses on their entire travel experience, whereas current ASQ surveys only deal with airport physical aspects in airports. This should not be confused with the PEI. If we are looking for new opportunities to increase value to passengers while increasing revenue for the airport, then the PEI is the our focus point.

When the PEI is put into an application framework, it becomes what we call “Destination Marketing”. This is a perfect storm of continuous contact, opt in services, geo-location + itinerary, flight data and …

Now that we’ve posted our Top Twitter Airports and Top Facebook Airports, it’s appropriate to state the caveat. As one comment suggested, “we need to be careful with this type of analysis”. We agree completely. The lists were compiled with the purpose to determine which airports were using social media as part of their marketing programs. Now the hard part begins.

Airport social media marketing, to have the proper business impact, is a process of well defined strategy, tactics and execution. It must be applied appropriately and in the proper mix, using several key principles:

Core strategy development
Corporate blogging
Social media PR
Communities for feedback and research
Twitter and Facebook channels
Video as a strategic SM platform
Brand monitoring
Metrics measurement and data insights
Viral campaigns
SM 2.0 architectures

Many airports ‘deploy’ elements of social media marketing, such as, blogs, Twitter, Facebook. They do so because they feel that they are applying newest marketing techniques. But many do not fully understand the implications required to turn it into a measurable and meaningful result.

Social media is no longer an optional element in your airport’s marketing plan. It’s integral to effectively managing your brand, your airport and your reputation. As Chris Anderson, author or ‘The Long Tail’, said, “It’s …