Any branding initiative that doesn’t bring in a return-on-effort is not worth doing. Because then it becomes a hindrance. “Oh, I need to upload the photos onto the Facebook album” shouldn’t end up in deferment of important business-driving efforts. But then again, if uploading photos on Facebook is linked to the business objectives itself, then it’s a different conversation altogether.

At the Online Marketing for Travel Summit in Miami, I am shared my ideas on how travel firms (not just airlines) can drive conversion in online and social marketing. These are the slides from that presentation, with three specific ideas.

Converting Youtube lookers to bookers, using the Annotation tool in YouTube videos
Driving conversion by adding third party reviews in the booking engine
Using Flip.to for driving loyalty by getting people to share their travel plans

Enjoy the presentation! I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts on this, and how you drive conversion in your organization. Let’s discuss in the comments section, and on Twitter (@simpliflying)…

Virgin America created a splash today, by launching its first international destination, Toronto, on Twitter! They did not spend a cent on traditional advertising for this launch, and I personally think this is one of the smarter uses of social media I’ve seen by an airline in recent times.

The sweetener is that the first 500 people to book tickets using their Twitter ID would be able to redeem a 50% discount (still valid as of 2pm EDT, 20 Feb). If they’re not “following” the airline on Twitter, they will auto-follow. Even the official press release re-directed recipients to the Twitter URL.
“The first 500 Twitter followers who receive the airline’s expansion Tweet can score a 50 percent discount on flights to Toronto for travel June 23-November 17, 2010.*  Virgin America is the only airline based in Silicon Valley, and its inventive use of technology, social media and design has made it a favorite among tech-forward flyers.  For more: www.twitter.com/virginamerica”.
The press release was followed by a single Tweet. And that’s it. That’s a very simple route-launch for you.

What …

Three continents, three encounters, same story
Story 1, Los Angeles, early March 2010: Early last month, after a 22 hour flight from Singapore to Los Angeles, I was picked up by someone who works at Boeing, has a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from Stanford, and an MBA from UC Irvine. In the six hours I had in LA, he introduced me to another very talented friend of his, who drove us to a vantage point from where we could see all of the LAX runways. We ended up spotting planes for over an hour.

Then we drove to the famous “In & Out” to spot more planes, before heading to a restaurant under the flight path of landing planes, for dinner. For a plane freak like me, this was like putting a kid in a candy store – all day long!

Story 2, Santiago de Chile, late March 2010: I had spent my first day in Santiago mostly sleeping in the hotel, as opposed to checking out the city. In the evening, I met with an airline industry veteran, who not only met me for …

I’ve been a guest writer for Mashable.com for a few months now, and my latest article was about how airlines can drive revenue from social media. Those of you who’ve attended my keynote presentation (view slides) on the topic know that I classify this as the holy grail for airlines – something not many have been able to achieve, and there are no “numbers” released from airlines on their social media efforts either.This article seeks inspiration from the likes of Dell, who made $6.4million for selling on Twitter, and applies the lessons to airlines.  Here’s a quick summary of the article and you can read the full version over at Mashable. Clear distressed inventory using real-time mediums like Twitter, e.g. JetBlue Cheeps and United TwaresIntegrate independent social media reviews in the booking path – to boost conversion Integrate with social media travel tools like TripIt – Leverage on the loads of travel information publicly available, like travel plans, to send specific deals to peopleCreate private online communities – exclusive “velvet-rope” clubs of your most …

Let me begin by clarifying that this article is not about whether Lufthansa’s MySkyStatus will take off or not. It has already taken off. Because the amount of discussion I’ve had about it with my friends from around the world, online and offline, is phenomenal. Just today, my status updates on Facebook by this app generated over 30 comments by friends from Dubai to Chicago (check out the screenshot below for a sample set). It’s thanks to these friends that I’ve been inspired to write this article.
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 …

Twitter has a huge aviation community – from airlines and airports, to cabin crew and aviation enthusiasts. Whether you like to fly a plane or just watch planes fly, there are lots of aviation geeks on Twitter with whom you can converse about your passions or just listen.

Many of these (very interesting) Tweeps are tapping into Twitter’s real-time network to offer up travel tips, airline recommendations (or warnings), and an inside look at life in the cockpit (or cabin). Personally, I have made some amazingly talented new friends on Twitter, whom I wouldn’t have known otherwise, from Melbourne to Muscat.

This list has 11 great aviation geeks to follow on Twitter, however please feel free to suggest others in the comments (or if you tweet on things that fly, leave your own Twitter info – for individuals only, not companies). These are in no particular order.

And you can certainly start with this list if you’re looking to follow my 11 suggested steps to lead the social media strategy for your airline!

Of course, if you aren’t following us on Twitter yet, we’re @simpliflying.


11 airline Journalists/Bloggers …

I’ve been seeing a lot of airlines jump into social media lately – especially on Twitter. But once they do that, most of them run around like a headless chicken – or at least that how it appears to the outsider viewer. Let me share with you a couple of examples.

Emirates Airlines – which pitches itself as one of the best in the world, joined Twitter at the start of the year, and posted 19 updates about their destinations – all on the same day (see pic below). And at the other end of the spectrum, JetBlue does quite a good job of engaging over half a million of its followers with a mix of witty remarks, contests and deals. But all of them seem to be figuring out what to do. So here’s an analogy that might explain things a little.

Why Social Media = BBQ Cookout Party
At a BBQ cookout party, people are with those they trust, with those they consider friends. They give advice, seek advice (often on BBQ cooking), share thoughts and stories, laugh a little and have fun. What they DO NOT do …