What’s the key to engaging customers in this time and age? For Martijn van der Zee, senior vice president of e-commerce at Air France KLM, the answer is simple: Get with the times, embrace failure and always listen to what your customers tell you.

We recently recorded a podcast with Martijn in which he shares some exclusive tidbits about KLM’s secrets to social media success: you can buy it at a special price of $19 here.

Late last year, a group of executives gathered for a social media presentation at a conference held in the Netherlands. Among the attendees was Martijn van der Zee, senior vice president of e-commerce at Air France KLM, who had with him a slide from a new initiative they were experimenting with. Little did he know how popular it would be at the conference – and on the Internet. Shortly after his presentation, the slide found its way online and became a viral hit, attracting millions of viewers worldwide.

The name of the initiative? Meet and Seat, a service that lets you use either Facebook or LinkedIn to view the profiles of other passengers on the same flight and choose your seat partner. The service …

In Part 2 of this exclusive interview, Laura Reis discusses her frank opinions on how airlines should (and shouldn’t) be using technology.

Laura is the president of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing strategy firm that she runs with her father Al Ries – the branding guru. Together, they have written four books on branding, with a fifth one coming out in February. She is also a frequently quoted marketing expert in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Advertising Age, and other publications. Finally, she shares her thoughts on airline branding at SimpliFlying.
Social networks? Airlines are “kidding themselves”
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“Who’s going to be on an airline’s social network? People will go to Facebook or MySpace if they want to socialize online.” This is what Laura feels about airlines’ foray into the social networking world. She believes that exceptions like Virgin might just pull it off, because of Richard Branson’s PR genius and bravado, but for any other airline, it’s “just ridiculous and doesn’t make any sense at all”.

As you must have realized from my previous articles on the topic, I’m a believer in the use of latest technologies …