Yes, you read that correctly. I did not write Web 2.0. Of course, that’s not because it’s not relevant – it’s terribly relevant – but because this newer term encompasses Web 2.0 and then some. So what exactly do I mean by Mobile 2.0 and why is it important? Cutting to the chase, here are some things we all know: first, ordinary feature phones are dying a fast death and smartphone shipments are rising as iOS and Android become increasingly popular with others, such as Windows Phone 7, hot in pursuit. Second, people are increasingly using their phones to do tasks they earlier used their laptops or desktops for: hotel search, ticket bookings, banking, emails, etc. Third, smartphones are creating an all new category of the always connected traveler – a web-savvy, social-networking geek who isn’t afraid to declare to his virtual networks what he’s thinking or doing.
The future is mobile
Given the rapidly changing interactional/behavioural habits of the traveler, it has become important for airlines to target them where they can be found. Close your eyes and think for a moment about what the word mobile phone means to you: I’m quite certain that most of the readers here …

One of the bigger marketing challenges airlines face is to fill up the seats as quickly as possible, when launching a new destination. Typically, it takes over six months to reach a level where a flight is profitable. And this is after receiving marketing help from tourism agencies and also from airports – press releases to billboards in the terminals.

But as as we have long suspected, the traditional press release is rather dead and buried. Granted, it’s not dead in the truest sense of the word; however, it is undeniable that social technologies have morphed press-releases beyond recognition. Gone are the boring, wordy releases that used to accompany every major announcement in the industry. Welcome to the new age of social engagement!

Social media for route launches
Airlines these days have begun smartly leveraging the power of social media while making new product and route announcements. Forget the one-page release announcing the nature and benefits of the new route. These days, there are dedicated campaigns being run by airlines (as well as airports) to draw attention to their new routes and planes.

Witness the wide-ranging strategies adopted …

Cathay Pacific has proven to be one of the better full-service airlines over the past few years at engaging customers through social media. While most airlines scoff at the notion of giving anything away for—gasp!!—free (!!!), Cathay hasn’t been afraid to do this. And of course given the collective time and effort made by contest participants, when just a few are going to receive anything, I’d hardly say that “free” is the proper classification.
Contests to engage and develop advocates
As an engagement strategy, I believe that contests are far underused, given that they require targeted customers to opt in, take action, and when employed strategically, turn those customers into brand advocates. Given that airline analysts can easily predict what capacity goes unfilled, and the contest can be restricted to giving away those seats that would likely leave empty anyway, airlines can get a great return without giving away much. After all, what is the incremental cost of a butt in a seat that would otherwise go empty—ten, twenty dollars, tops?

I was a huge fan of Cathay’s “Why I Love Japan” contest. They also had an innovative contest where participants submitted dessert recipes, with the winning concoction actually being …

SimpliFlying Heroes is now just over one year old, in which time we have honored the nine of the world’s best individuals engaging airline customers. And on completing this first anniversary, we asked for some feedback from the industry folks and while they said they were very inspired by the stories shared, the asked if there could be public voting for Heroes, instead of just nomination. And we thought that’s a great idea!

Hence, from July 2011 onwards, you will be able to vote for the SimpliFlying Hero each month, from three nominees we put together (or you suggest). Additionally, we have decided that all SimpliFlying Heroes deserve a six month free membership to SimpliFlying Tribes, as opposed to the current one month. And that’s in addition to all the fame and the coveted certificate.

So without much further ado, please allow me to reveal the SimpliFlying Heroes nominees for July 2011 (…drumroll…): Jill Fletcher from Virgin America, Alison Russo from Lufthansa USA and Ali Bullock from Cathay Pacific.

Here’s a brief description of each of the nominee’s work at their respective airlines.
Jill Fletcher, Virgin America
Virgin America has been on the cutting edge of experimenting with social media …

Continuing our coverage and analysis of the dynamic social media landscape for airlines, we’ve released the April 2011 Airlines on Twitter report with Eezeer. Data around airlines on Twitter this month reveals a few stark facts:

99.8% of all tweets are about service item issues – like flight delays, baggage inquiries and other customer service issues that’d typically go to the call center
While the number of airlines on Twitter has increased 10% to 184, 27 of all airlines make up 80% of the tweets (this number stood at 30 last month)
While Delta still remains the airline receiving and sending most tweets, it only replied to 11% of the tweets it received, as compared to 18.2% last month
While there’s a 250% increase in tweets about Timeliness, it is also the worst rated item in terms of satisfaction, with a score of -81.6
Air New Zealand has the highest global satisfaction score of 107.6 this month, unseating Cathay Pacific, which scored 107.7 last month

More interesting data and facts in the infographic below. Enjoy!
…

The Backstory
These are very exciting times in the airline industry. Last month, I shared a number of vital statistics about airlines’ twitter usage at a keynote in San Francisco [view presentation]. While those gave a good overview of how the industry is using the platform, one key aspect was lacking – the social media landscape for is constantly evolving, and a report produced once doesn’t do it justice. While we felt we should produce an ongoing report on that, we didn’t really have a data source for all the latest and greatest statistics.

That’s when Arnaud from Eezeer got in touch [remember? Eezeer = real-time airline reviews], and mentioned that they’re looking to produce a monthly twitter report from all the data they’ve been gathering from travelers. One thing led to another, and the end result was this first infographic that you see below – full of startling data about how airlines (and travelers) use Twitter. The best part is that this report will be released monthly – so look out for this every month in our infographics section (latest by the 5th of each month).
Airlines on Twitter – Oh…the stories data tells
While you drool …

How would you like to be served a dessert on a flight, which you created yourself? Well, now you can actually do that thanks to Cathay Pacific. The airline is encouraging its Facebook fans to submit photos and recipes of Asian desserts they’ve created, to win Business Class tickets (read review here) to Hong Kong (I wouldn’t mind that at all!), and the chance to have it served in-flight.

A fantastic way of involving the customer in the brand – what I call brand co-creation, which is now possible thanks to social media. I’m up for some home-made dessert – are you?

I still stand by my belief that Cathay Pacific is way ahead on social media, when compared to most other legacy airlines. What do you think? Anyone with a sweet tooth thinks this is a good idea? Let’s hear it in Comments or over on Twitter
P.S: Special thanks to Dennis from CX to drop me a line on this!

At the Aviation Outlook Summit in Sydney early this month, where I delivered a keynote on airlines + social media branding, the first day was mostly doom and gloom whereas the second day was much more up-beat. Not surprisingly, executives from legacy carriers like Qantas, Air New Zealand and the European Commission spoke on the first day, and up-beat executives from rising stars like AirAsia X, Oman Air and Gold Coast Airport spoke on the second day. That got me thinking…are legacy airlines dead? I now believe they are. Here’s why.
1. Legacy airline brands come with legacy baggage
Unions, legacy systems, government bureaucracy, old planes, old workforce, high costs, bankruptcy… these are all words that can be easily associated with Air India, Alitalia, Japan Airlines, Air Canada and many more legacy airlines. And these are all aspects that do not allow these airlines to function efficiently in the current climate.

The airline industry has evolved drastically in the past decade. With each new shock (9/11, SARS, H1N1…) we see new stars emerging, which have streamlined costs, efficient operations and specifically targeted markets they go after. And they beat the hell out of monolithic airlines that legacy carriers have become. Just read …

Continuing this week’s Cathay Pacific Special on SimpliFlying, I’d like to share some of my own ideas on how the forward-thinking legacy airline based out of Hong Kong can add wings to their People micro-site through social media.

As mentioned in my review of the website earlier this week, the site not only features informal bios written in first person, but also formal and informal shots of everyone from flight attendants to baggage handlers. It’s good for getting acquainted with the faces behind the scenes at one of the world’s best airlines. But as I browsed through the profiles, I felt I wanted to do more…I felt like literally getting in touch with some of these people, with whom I could relate to. So here are three proposed next steps for the Cathay Pacific people micro-site.

Allow active interactions among visitors: One of the key enablers of engagement in social media is that anyone can share his or her thoughts about anything, in public, and garner responses. On the People site, visitors can currently share the URL on …

Think about this. You’re being helped by a very courteous flight attendant on your flight from New York to Mumbai, via Hong Kong. But there’s no way that you’re ever going to meet her again. You want to know her better, but there’s just no way. Or how about that Customer Service Rep who was so helpful over the phone in helping you change your flights? Again, he was no more than just a voice.

That’s partly because airlines have acted like faceless organizations all this while. You seldom get to interact with the people behind the brand. And that’s exactly what Cathay Pacific has tried to overcome, with their micro-site showcasing its people.

Meet the people – in a different light
On the people site, you can get to know better not only Cathay’s customer-facing staff like the Pursers or the Customer Service officer at the airport, you can learn just as much about the cargo handlers and the aircraft dispatchers. The flash-based interactive website literally has people “flying around” and once you click on them, you encounter two …