Since recently returning from the American Association of Airport Executive’s (Great Lakes Region) National Air Service Conference, my mind is buzzing about innovative ways that social media can be used to enhance an airport’s air service development efforts.

At the conference I moderated a panel that was focused on the importance of communicating to the generations and how social media has infiltrated into the air service spectrum of the industry. It is now more important than ever for airports to understand that the ways in which our passengers are communicating and understand that that has evolved to include social media. It is no longer enough to simply market a new route through traditional mediums;  social media needs to be at the forefront of the minds of airports as they are working to enhance air service.
Social Promotions and Route Launches
During the conference session, Justin Meyer, Manager of Air Service Development for the Kansas City International Airport shared how social media is not only changing the way the airport is communicating to passengers of all generations, but also about their recent efforts to launch new service on Alaska Airlines from MCI to Seattle, WA.  The airport had a pre-existing …

Engaging customers has always been tricky business for any company but even more so for airlines since they face geographically dispersed audiences that they need to inspire to travel.

In our view there are two key elements in this problem.  The first one is the need to be where the audience is and the second one is to find something that, while being relevant to the audience, is also able to inspire audience to part with cash and travel somewhere.
An Emerging social network
Just a few days ago we wrote about the high growth rates and airline marketing potential presented by Pinterest, the new image-based social bookmarking site. In particular we stressed how this new site had the potential to inspire travelers, and now we are seeing an early attempt by an airline to exploit this potential with the launch of the BMI Pinterest lottery.

 

Using Images Instead of Numbers for Lucky Draw
The UK-based airline created several different image boards featuring pictures from some of its destinations. Each board contains nine pins (images) that come associated with a number. To participate users have to …

Back in 2011, we published a Top 10 on the Best Social Loyalty Initiatives by Airlines that featured a location-based initiative by the British low cost carrier BmiBaby in partnership with Gowalla.  The campaign eventually evolved into a wider off-airport engagement strategy where  travel experts created virtual city tours based on Gowalla check-ins that allowed travelers to explore several different cities served by the airline.

Now, the airline has decided to further enhance its efforts to engage with people based on their location, by launching an Instagram campaign that allows communities of users to meet in person on trips sponsored by BmiBaby.
Instagram community meetings
Instagram is a free photo sharing application on iOS that allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filter, then share it on a variety of social networking services including Instagram’s own. BmiBaby was able to exploit a particular trend within the Instagram image sharing network: having “Instameets”.  Instameets are user-organized events where Instagramers take part in a “photo walk” and take pictures of a particular location or town, that are then shared on Instagram under a dedicated hashtag.
BmiBaby launched a campaign to celebrate the 4th World Instameet Day by providing free travel to members …

“Pinterest?  The name sounds familiar, I must have heard it somewhere, but how exactly is it going to help our airline? ”
“I’ve heard of it too but I’m not really sure of what it is and, please, don’t tell me that we need yet another social network!”
We’re pretty sure that something similar must have gone through the minds of many airline and airport marketers over the past few weeks. According to some sources, Pinterest, the newest kid on the social block, is driving more traffic to company pages than “big” social networks like Linkedin or Google+ and people are spending more time on this addictive social network than just about any other platform except Facebook and Twitter.
 

But, what does it all mean ?

It could have simply been just another social network, or just another link sharing site that happened to be good at generating traffic while being visually appealing.  But luckily for us, it isn’t just that!

From a technical point of view Pinterest is a social-bookmarking website or, in other words, a website that allows people to highlight and share …

Whether you attended Routes Americas 2012 in Nassau, Bahamas last week and are now wishing that you could return to the sunshine and relive the conference or you missed attending this year and are hoping for a recap, this post is just what you were looking for. Our comprehensive roundup will make you feel as though you never left.

Two things that SimpliFlying loves to see are conference #hashtags and the use of social media to increase audience engagement. Both of these things were in full
effect at Routes Americas.

Leading up to the conference I quickly learned which of the socially tapped-in industry players would be attending, and was able to follow their arrivals and expectations through twitter and the #RoutesAmericas hashtag. Throughout the event many tweeters also seemed to be following along with the conference #hashtag from afar.
Sunshine and (Aviation) Matchmaking
When I arrived in Nassau, I learned that Routes also had the foresight to offer attendees a conference specific smartphone application – something that proved to be invaluable for keeping up with agendas and re-caps. Our sources at UBM Aviation Routes tell us that while the use of a Routes conference app debuted at …

The guys at KLM just don’t rest, do they? Over the past year or two, they’ve churned out some of the most excellent social media initiatives designed to delight and engage customers while ensuring that they’re firmly in sight of ultimate business objectives such as driving revenue and loyalty as well.

KLM is well known for its social media initiatives, but the speed and quality of their campaigns is really starting to become something unique. Just a few days ago we reported about their “Meet and Seat” social-seating initiative and now they’ve surprised us again by creating a fun, and very shareable, initiative that will surely help create new positive associations with their brand. Read on:
Ever dreamed of becoming a stewardess? Or of dressing up as one?
Well, personally I haven’t, but since it’s Carnival, I decided to accept a fun assignment by trying out KLM’s latest initiative: their “Stewardress Yourself“ Facebook app. Eventually, I ended up taking some rather embarrassing (but admittedly entertaining) pictures of me as a SimpliStewardess.

The initiative has been launched trough a dedicated tab in KLM’s facebook page that houses a unique Facebook app designed to bring customers even closer to the brand. This is how …

The new kid on the social block
In the world of social media Google Plus is currently the youngest and least understood (albeit, fast rising in popularity) kid on the block. Over its relatively short life it has earned its fair share of both lovers and haters, generating an interesting debate on what it will become when it grows up, and whether it is worth investing in it.

When Google Plus was finally opened to businesses with the launch of its business pages there was a rush from companies all over the world to get a G+ page, but as our CEO Shashank Nigam warned in an article about the potential pitfalls for airlines using Google Plus, few of these companies seemed to have a clear idea of what to do with this new platform.
Let’s get some hard data
To get some clarity and hard data SimpliFlying did what it does best: walk the talk! We got ourselves a brand page on Google Plus and sent one of our team-members on a data-finding mission. While signs of progress on this particular social network is admittedly slow, after a week of relentless searching, we have come up with the first ever snapshot …

First, a bit of history. Social seating goes back a long time at SimpliFlying. We were actually the first to point out that choosing potential seating partners via an intelligent social seating system in an airplane would ultimately go mainstream – that was a product powered by our good friends at Satisfly. This was way back in 2009 – almost three years ago! Then in 2010, we discussed incorporating social media in the flying experience – and showcased Twitter seating charts.

Then, last year, there were significant indications of things to come with Malaysia Airlines allowing customers to sit next to their Facebook friends. However, a couple of months ago KLM announced that they would launch the first “truly” social seating system for airlines matching customer’s social profiles with those having similar profiles or interests.

So far, given the lack of details about how the system would exactly work, the announcement was both welcomed as well as met with trepidation by the online community. Some claimed they’d love to try this new system, saying that it would spare them long hours of boredom …

In marketing, we often talk about the value of brand associations, of being at the top of the mind of consumers and having the brand instantly connect with a feeling, memory etc. However, putting all this into practice is probably one of the hardest things in the industry. According to researchers, there can only be 3 brands in of a consumer per category… don’t believe me?
A short brand-recognition exercise
Let’s do a little exercise: name 3 brands of Cola.

Now let me guess: The first one that you thought of was: Coca Cola? And maybe the color red? The second one was: Pepsi, perhaps? And the third one?  Maybe you struggled a bit with this one, but probably it was the top selling “white label” brand from your local supermarket

Let’s do one more:

Think of good times (or more specifically, the recent holiday season) and name a brand of soft drinks.

I guess that you probably thought of something similar to the image below:

One last test:
Can you think of the holiday season and an airline/airport in the same breath?

Having troubles? Well it’s understandable since no airline …

We promised we’d make the New Year exciting for you. And here we are – delivering on the promise we made! After creating quite a buzz with our revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative that saw almost 3000 votes pour in over just a week, we’re back with something even more exciting. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show that we’re bringing you today (and every fortnight hereon)!

Today, we’re launching SimpliFlying Podcasts – a brand new product that should excite our readers, most of whom are travel marketers. Starting this Wednesday, SimpliFlying will be releasing Marketing Strategy podcasts for airline and airport marketers on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Each podcast will have great insights on the latest in marketing from the best minds in aviation.
Why you should listen to the podcasts
Helmed by Shashank Nigam, the CEO of SimpliFlying, every fortnight we will interview a well-known face from the world of aviation (mostly CxO level). The in-depth interviews will be followed by a detailed discussion of insights into the latest in airline and airport marketing by SimpliFlying staff.

The podcasts will be available …