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Now that we’ve posted our Top Twitter Airports and Top Facebook Airports, it’s appropriate to state the caveat. As one comment suggested, “we need to be careful with this type of analysis”. We agree completely. The lists were compiled with the purpose to determine which airports were using social media as part of their marketing programs. Now the hard part begins.
Airport social media marketing, to have the proper business impact, is a process of well defined strategy, tactics and execution. It must be applied appropriately and in the proper mix, using several key principles:
- Core strategy development
- Corporate blogging
- Social media PR
- Communities for feedback and research
- Twitter and Facebook channels
- Video as a strategic SM platform
- Brand monitoring
- Metrics measurement and data insights
- Viral campaigns
- SM 2.0 architectures
Many airports ‘deploy’ elements of social media marketing, such as, blogs, Twitter, Facebook. They do so because they feel that they are applying newest marketing techniques. But many do not fully understand the implications required to turn it into a measurable and meaningful result.
Social media is no longer an optional element in your airport’s marketing plan. It’s integral to effectively managing your brand, your airport and your reputation. As Chris Anderson, author or ‘The Long Tail’, said, “It’s not what you say your brand is, it’s what Google says it is.” We would further emphasize that your Brand and Services are owned by the community of passengers you serve above all else.
What is important in deploying a social media strategy is to understand how effective the program is and to what extent it is having on achieving the objectives of the airport’s marketing program. There are 8 core social media application areas identified to consider and you need to be sure you develop your marketing plans in line with your chosen strategy and have clear objectives in mind. And those are objectives that are measurable.
Social media is a critical tool for interacting with your customers, the traveling public, and for listening to customer issues. Listening is fine as one objective, but are there others in your marketing strategy?