As coordinator of social media marketing at Lufthansa’s USA office, Alison Russo has been a key player in the launch of both these products, along with Lufthansa’s success on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. It was not surprising, therefore, when she won comprehensively in our SimpliFlying Hero Poll for July 2011 with almost 60% of the votes.

Well-planned beginnings

Much of Alison’s (and Lufthansa’s) success can probably be attributed to the great amount of time and planning that is put in by the team at every turn. Right off the bat, when Lufthansa first started its social media journey, it realized that it was important to define a set of clear goals for each platform and each country. After that it was important to find the right people to ensure that those goals were met. Every step of the way, the idea was to leave as little as possible to chance.

Indeed, Alison believes that although social media might appear to be a godsend, in that it moves at supersonic speeds, engages customers like never before, and requires little financial investment. However, it does require a significant time investment. This time is needed to find a niche, develop a solid strategy, and come up with useful products. It is also needed to build the right support team, to learn your customers’ needs, to build relationships with your advocates, and to build a voice. As you can see, the list is not short.

Take Off

Lufthansa’s first foray into social media in the US was with an official Lurker in a FlyerTalk forum, which was then succeeded by a concurrent launch of its official Twitter stream and MySkyStatus. Lufthansa’s social media objectives then (and now) were an extension of their existing marketing objectives, namely, to establish a brand presence in the US market, build customer loyalty, convert customers to brand advocates, and to help customers become better connected travelers.

But, you may ask, how did Lufthansa come up with MySkyStatus, and later Cloudstream, when other competitors were focusing on achieving their objectives through the regular Twitter and Facebook paths? For Lufthansa, customer engagement, above all, has been the main priority from the beginning. In fact, Lufthansa aims to be the Most Linked Airline Brand. This is because, according to a research driven initiative by Miles & More International, customer engagement is a primary objective for customer retention.

As such, Lufthansa found MySkyStatus and Cloudstream to be excellent opportunities to engage (and retain) their customers. In fact, both products are measured not according to the revenue they earn (they are free), but rather on customer engagement metrics such as the time spent on the product, the number of returning vs. new customers, profile creation, sharing activity, and how and why customers use these products.

Lessons learnt

Today, one can undoubtedly say that Lufthansa’s customer-centric social media strategy has been a roaring success. In the course of their journey so far, there have been pitfalls and many lessons along with them. Above all, Alison has learned that there is no one size fits all strategy for an international organization like Lufthansa. Every organization communicates and engages with its customer base differently, which is why it is important for any social media team to stick to its strategy once it is defined, regardless of what its competitors are doing.

Alison also acknowledges that SimpliFlying has been a great resource and learning ground for the “best practices, guidance and insights into the ever changing social media landscape”.

A Look Ahead

In the future, Lufthansa plans on looking deeper into how social media activities can be translated into sales, while keeping its core objectives unchanged. As Alison puts it:

“While it [social media marketing] differs from traditional marketing in how we present our product to customers, can we, within the framework of social networks and via social currency, influence purchasing decisions and generate revenue?”

That is the central question that Lufthansa will continue to contend with into the future, while keeping an open-minded approach to the rapidly evolving social media sphere.

SimpliFlying hopes that Lufthansa will continue to enjoy success in its ventures into the future, and congratulates Alison once again for winning the SimpliFlying Hero award.

Know someone who’s worthy of being a SimpliFlying Hero?

Simpliflying Heroes are individuals recognized for outstanding social media use in the world of aviation. Do you know of somebody who uses social media effectively in their airline or airport to achieve specific business results? Or do you think you fit the bill?

Then go ahead and fill up the SimpliFlying Heroes nomination form. By filling out the nomination form, you bring them a step closer to being recognized by SimpliFlying for their efforts.

• Lufthansa’s CloudStream carry-on solution allows you to read SimpliFlying in-flight
• [Slides] Social Media Strategy for Lufthansa – how a legacy airline built a strong customer engagement model
• Lufthansa shares love with their 100,000 Facebook fans by giving miles
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero for July 2011 – Virgin America vs Lufthansa USA vs Cathay Pacific
• Does the latest social media application by Lufthansa have wings? 10 things I would do to ensure MySkyStatus flies

If you recall, the Lufthansa USA Marketing team has been behind some significant efforts in the past year, like Cloudstream – the digital carry on, and MySkyStatus – which updates your social status real-time, as you’re flying!

The presentation was made by Nicola Lange, the airline’s marketing head honcho for the Americas. Yes, it’s the same Nicola, who famously invited the guy who lost the iPhone4 prototype on a free Lufthansa flight to have beer in Germany! (Yes, Germans have a good sense of humor too

After her presentation, I had a chat with her, about the impressive work her team has put in, bringing a legacy airline into the brave new world of social media. And she kindly agreed to allow me to publish her presentation from the conference SimpliFlying readers. As you’ll see, there are a number of gems of wisdom in this presentation that will be useful in helping you craft your social media and customer engagement strategy. One such screenshot is highlighted below, and the full presentation is embedded in this article as well.

I’m sure you’d have learnt a lot of things from this presentation by Lufthansa. What’re some of your tips/lessons learnt by implementing social media in your organization? Let’s hear it in the Comments or over on Twitter!

• The buzz from #socialindia about our presentation on how airlines drive results from social media
• Join me in Istanbul, for IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium (two passes up for grabs!)
• SimpliFlying and Airline Business launch social media conference for airlines and airports [Plus: how you can win two passes]
• Keynote from IATA Commercial Symposium 2009 – Driving revenue for airlines from real-time customer insights on social media
• Driving social media ROI for airlines, airports and travel businesses – Keynote presentation from #SMtravel11

Too often, airlines get sucked into just asking more and more from their fans, without stopping to give back. And what better timing, than the Thanksgiving period (it’s the Canadian one today, US one in a couple of weeks).

I’m sure this will drive engagement not just one the social media front for Lufthansa, but also spur activity on the Miles and More program, and not just for the winners.

Bloody brilliant!

So, what do you think about Lufthansa’s effort? Serious social business, or hot air? Let’s discuss in comments, and over on Twitter

Special thanks to Khoa, one of my most respected aviation geeks, for this tip-off.

• [Slides] Social Media Strategy for Lufthansa – how a legacy airline built a strong customer engagement model
• SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence for Airlines – Winners, photos and finalist presentations
• American Airlines’ AAdvantage Facebook Fans grow 84 fold in 54 hours. The most successful campaign ever by an airline?
• What makes Lufthansa a successful airline brand in India?
• Lufthansa’s CloudStream carry-on solution allows you to read SimpliFlying in-flight

These presentations were made at the SimpliFlying-Airline Business ‘Social media for the aviation industry‘ conference held in London on Oct 1, 2010. You can view all the Live activity from the conference here.

Categories and winners

• Best Social Media Campaign - Lufthansa’s “innovative” MySkyStatus
• Best Use of Social Media for Crisis Management - SAS Scandinavian Airlines - for communication during the #ashcloud chaos
• Best Use of Social Media to drive Revenue - Malaysia Airlines’ 72 Hours Merdeka promotion
• Simplyflying Hero of the Year - Aurelie Valtat, Eurocontrol’s online communications manager for her social media management of the ashcloud chaos to the aviation industry

View more presentations from Shashank Nigam

Moments from the conference

Congratulations once again to all the winners, and thanks to the attendees and organizers for their participation. If you weren’t able to join us this year, there’s surely the next time!

Special thanks to John Norris for contributing some of the photos above

• Exclusive Interview: How Eurocontrol battled the ashcloud crisis through social media
• Simpliflying Hero, May 2010: Aurelie Valtat from Eurocontrol
• Presentation on airlines and social media from FTMA & Freddies 2009, now available
• Crises Management for airlines and airports in the age of social media- Presentation from ACI Europe
• SimpliFlying and Airline Business launch social media conference for airlines and airports [Plus: how you can win two passes]

So then, what should an ideal frequent flyer program look like to make it truly work for the airline brand? Taking inspiration from the best loyalty programs in the world, as well as my own observations from the two conferences in Miami I spoke at last week, here are some thoughts.

What would make me a loyal traveler with an airline?

1. Simplicity – How often do you know exactly what you can redeem from the points earned from your next flight? What if it was as simple as for every $1 spent, you will be able to redeem $0.01 off your next ticket or a partner purchase? I think keeping the earning-burning process as simple as possible would attract many more customers for the airline’s loyalty programs, than currently possible. I think Westjet’s new loyalty program s doing a good job at this.
2. Comparability – Most travelers these days are part of multiple loyalty programs. When I choose to be “loyal” to an airline, I would love it if at the time of booking, I’m shown how many miles I’d earn on that specific flight, as compared to the competing airlines (which I can choose), and what can I redeem those for? This would boost retention, because more customers would “stick” to your loyalty program, than others’. I’m yet to see an airline that does this well.
   



3. Extensibility of benefits to beyond the airport and the plane – Currently, benefits are concentrated in priority security lines at airports, airline lounges and optional upgrades in-flight. How about cultivating new touch-points in the travel life cycle where the elite travelers are pampered online and offline before even traveling. How about allowing them to earn points if they “check-in” on Foursquare at the airline office, or building a travel app like Lufthansa’s MySkyStatus that offer true value to the customer? Airlines like Qantas (screenshot above) and Etihad are venturing in this space.

So, what’s your favorite FFP and why? What would your ideal FFP would look like? One that can be offered by LCCs as well?  Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• [Infographic] The future of loyalty programs will be powered by social media
• Top 10 branding insights from the best airline loyalty programs at the Freddies 2008
• Five lessons from the most innovative loyalty programs in the world – Inspired from Loyalty 2010
• Is social loyalty the next phase of development for frequent flyer programs?
• Randy Petersen of Flyertalk on social media and frequent flyers – Part 2 of 2

MySkyStatus – what’s the fuss about?

For the unaware, MySkyStatus is a tool that posts your flight info (altitude, location and arrival updates) automatically to Facebook and/or Twitter while you fly. And you guessed it, it’s the real-time nature of this app that’s making it go viral. And as you can see below, the updates can generate quite a discussion.

At first glance,  MySkyStatus is true value add for the customer. But the application is not perfect – and it need not be perfect in its first release anyway. However, there are some small tweaks that can be made, as well as some enhancements, which will make MySkyStatus a win-win proposition for both Lufthansa and the customer. And if I was the Product Manager, here are the ten things I’d do to ensure that the application flies.

Four things Lufthansa should tweak on MySkyStatus 1.0

1. Cut down on the Lufthansa branding: The most confusing aspect of this application seems to be the overdose of Lufthansa (LH) branding. The website is in LH colors, along with the logo and each update ends with “Powered by Lufthansa”. I think it’s confuses the user if this service is exclusively for LH flights. This is accentuated by the fact that other than the three “Add a flight”, “Confirm”, “Preview” links, everything leads to the LH website. It’d be much better if there was just a small link to the LH website, and just a small “Powered by Lufthansa” button on the website. I think a link in the update is more than enough.
2. State clearly that the updates are not real-time. It’s just predicted path: Although it appears that the application is tracking a flight in real-time, it actually isn’t the case – something I realized when a friend’s flight was delayed and the updates were being sent out while he sat at the airport. In social media, a lack of information is often construed as mis-information. And LH can avoid this by putting in a disclaimer that updates are not based on dynamic data. Transparency is king on the social web.
3. Be a bit more specific about the locations. “Flying over Asia” isn’t really insightful. If LH can tweak the system a little to give more specific locations, the updates might be more interesting.
4. Connect users with the people behind the app. One big advantage social media applications have is the ability to facilitate 1-1 communications. And I personally would love to meet the people behind the app. But that’s not an option right now. Just digging around, I could only find out that @kateobriennyc was somehow involved in the development process. It’ll be great to “meet” the others too.

Six things Lufthansa should add to MySkyStatus 2.0

1. Track the users. LH is probably already doing this, but keeping track of all the Twitter users and Facebook users who sign up for the application can be beneficial for mining in the future. If not for flying habits, then just as an independent source of data for LH to analyze when planning its own routes and capacity.
2. Apply basic analytics.  How about applying basic analytics to determine the most popular route? Seeing what segment of travelers visit certain destinations during certain months? The options are endless.
3. Ask for LH FFP numbers. How about putting in a field where travelers can input their LH frequent flier number? This would allow LH insight into when its own FFP members are not flying LH on certain routes – and generally airlines do not have any insight into this data.
4. Allow people to earn LH FFP miles when they fly on any partner airline. It may be just 10 miles per flight, but at lease something. If I’m in an adventurous mood, I’d even open it up to passengers on any airline! And give them half of what I’d give them for flying an LH partner airline. Ultimately, I’m getting them enticed into the LH FFP cycle. Unless they earn, they won’t redeem. And everyone likes miles, no matter how little.
5. Destination specific data-mining. I’d have the Revenue Management team cross-check with their highest yielding destinations or lowest yielding and give those who use MySkyStatus an incentive to fly LH the next time round? Good way to acquire new customers, isn’t it?
6. Partner with the likes of TripIt, AirValid and FlightMemory. These are websites where travelers already track their mileage and review airlines. How about partnering with these sites to provide additional value to travelers?

So, what do you think? Is this a good initiative by Lufthansa? Will it fly? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

Special thanks to @singabai , @smarketer , @frittatun , @bretthenry and @martinmorjet for providing fodder for this article.

• Malaysia Airlines takes booking and check-in to Facebook. And now, you can sit next to your friend too!
• [Slides] Social Media Strategy for Lufthansa – how a legacy airline built a strong customer engagement model
• Lufthansa shares love with their 100,000 Facebook fans by giving miles
• Lufthansa’s CloudStream carry-on solution allows you to read SimpliFlying in-flight
• 5 Ways Airlines Can Drive Revenue with Social Media (Mashable.com)