Persistence

“One of the most popular aspects of this year’s World Routes was the additional programme of presentations that ran alongside the traditional one-to-one meetings. These explored a variety of pertinent subject, although the social media briefings were of particular interest to many delegates”, UBM Aviation Routes Ltd. have written today in their newsletter “The Hub – Your essential weekly route development update”.

“If you missed these presentations or simply want refreshing of their content, we have uploaded them to Routesonline so you can view tham at your own leisure. Please click here to view these documents.“

Sven from solterbeck.net did talk about “How can companies sceptical of social media see the benefits and how should they use it to their benefit?”. His presentation can be downloaded here.

This presentation was a premiere. While he presented, Sven has posted his theses simultaneously in Twitter – in one single shot. The Social Media Presenter (Version “Gruga”) is developed by solterbeck.net and enables a speaker to show his presentation on one hand and to tweet content or pictures on the other hand. It shall be part of an “Unified Publishing” suite, we are currently working on.

World Route Development Forum this year has taken the opportunity to set up a couple of briefing on different aspects of social media. During the conference, which has been finished today, seven experts did present their findings on how important the new media are for the aviation industry.

I was at least the last speaker. Hence I was able to sum up a bit the words from the other social media geeks. Mark Scourse from 3Sixty pointed out in his presentation from an airport perspective, that it is better to have genuine fans on the appropriate channel like Twitter or Facebook than thousands of never really reacting followers. Then the community, reached by an airport, could be an asset for talks with the airlines concerning new routes.

Justin Meyer, marketing manager and aviation geek from Kansas City International Airport (KCI) as well Julian Carr, MD of the airline bmibaby, told us from the old days, where passengers sat down with books and newspapers, waiting for the flight. Today more and more passengers are being online during their stay at the airport. Carr said: “Smartphone + social media + brands online = disinhibition.” Moreover it was never easier than today to communicate with executives via Twitter, Facebook, what else. KCI is an excellent example, which engagement with customers can be achieved, when passion, patience and committment is driving the communication. Even if negative feedback from user side is arriving the social media guys from the airport, some few friendly words may help to turn this critism into a positive way.

Shashank Nigam from Simpliflying gave his statement on important it is to prepare yourself as an airline or airport in case of a crisis. It may take only a few minutes, that a picture or a Tweet from a crisis scene is online. Instant feedback, full transparancy and dormant blogs for crisis cases help to get the media buzz under control without getting your legacy web sites running into denial of service.

According to Bernard Lavelle, Sales Director at London City Airport (LCY), users are “new researchers” for route development. “Engage as well with internal champions to ensure support within their companies.” Routes Online has tweeted on Wednesday (Update 05.10.11), that a video of Bernard “should be online by the end of next week. Check our weekly The HUB newsletter for updates”.

Finally Christi McNeill, emerging media strategy specialist at Southwest Airlines, gave us some good examples how employees share their behind the scene knowledge for passengers.

One presentation we have missed. Dr. Mathew McDougall (CEO at Digital Jungle) was in Berlin to give us a bit more insight into the Chinese Social Media Universe. As Matt told me, in China social media users are much more keen on having “big numbers” of followers, even if they have to pay for followers. His presentation slides one can find here. His book with the same title is walking “through the Chinese internet landscape and then drill down into the social media platforms that marketers need to consider when engaging with a Chinese audience”.

Lost in social media? Sceptical? Be encouraged!

I have had the last session today. Did presenting my thoughts on how companies sceptical of social media can see the benefit. In one word: You can not run away from Social Media. It is essential, not whether to do but how to do. You cannot avoid that people are talking about your company. With everything an airport or airline is going to public they will be noticed in social media. Sometimes this exceed the view on passengers. Target group of an airport for example are airlines, handler, destinations, authorities and brand embassadors. So what might be the reason for being sceptical on social media? Often the use of social media is a result of a certain kind of appropriation. It is not like that, that you could go through stream an messages comming with Twitter, reading bit for bit. You would be lost. You would like to get rid of this. The catching of information is by the way and selective. Experts are used to get aware accidentially of the buzz and trends. Monitoring tools help to categorize this stream of information.

Socialmediaguide.com found out 50 definitions about social media. My favourite is the “digital word of mouth”. This shows the mechanism of these tools and on the other side the necessity to put your service up for discussion . How you cause that conversation happen.

My presentation content has been posted instantly into Twitter

This afternoon was as a premiere of getting a presentation in realtime into Twitter. The Social Media Presenter (Version “Gruga”) is developed by solterbeck.net and enables a speaker to show his presentation on one hand and to tweet content or pictures on the other hand. It shall be part of an “Unified Publishing” suite, we are currently working on.

My presentation on “How companies sceptical of social media can see the benefit” is online.

Our tweets on the other Social Media Briefing sessions

• RT @mark_scourse: Interesting @ChristiMcNeill at #worldroutes about how #southwest uses employee blogs to give a ‘behind the scenes’ view for passengers 2011-10-04T12:18:38+02:00
• @ChristiMcNeill @SouthwestAir #WorldRoutes Luv at 30.000 feet http://t.co/IJ05bhwy 2011-10-04T11:58:31+02:00
• @ChristiMcNeill @SouthwestAir Twitter is a media pitching tool #WorldRoutes 2011-10-04T11:52:01+02:00
• @christiMcNeill @SouthwestAir has set up a Facebook Station Fanpage see eg LAX Station http://t.co/506LQzgz #WorldRoutes 2011-10-04T11:49:19+02:00
• @ChristiMcNeill : Every SM task is done inhouse. That makes @SouthwestAir streams authentic #WorldRoutes 2011-10-04T11:43:01+02:00
• @ChristiMcNeill @SouthwestAir social media initiative started 2005/6 with a TV show #WorldRoutes 2011-10-04T11:37:37+02:00
• RT @mark_scourse: Dinner with Facebook – 3Sixty Internet Ltd http://t.co/kJDEwu8b via @3sixtyagency 2011-10-04T11:02:32+02:00
• @londoncityair: Social media part of overall communication strategy. If you gonna use social media, use it properly. #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:43:38+02:00
• @londoncityair stated: a lot of tweets more than 5/day would cut off the interaction with users #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:41:24+02:00
• RT @BernieBaldwin: @LondonCityAir produces abbout 5 tweets a day. Just right amount, says Lavelle at #WorldRoutes. 2011-10-04T10:38:40+02:00
• RT @BernieBaldwin: @LondonCityAir very unusually actually has a loyalty element – not common for airports, says Bernard Lavelle at #WorldRoutes. 2011-10-04T10:34:51+02:00
• @londoncityair social media is still in its infancy for route development #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:25:18+02:00
• @londoncityair recalls what @mark_scourse said yday: Get the airport’s SM engagement as an asset to convince airlines to fly in #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:24:07+02:00
• @londoncityair Engage with Internal champions to secure support within their company for a new route #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:20:44+02:00
• @londoncityair users are the “new researchers” for route development #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:16:30+02:00
• @londoncityair is starting to engage people, to get feedback on routes whether on Twitter or Facebook #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:14:51+02:00
• @londoncityair Users tell about where they are, what they think, what they want … targeting inti brand building #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:12:58+02:00
• @londoncityair social media strategy means: building 1-2-1 relationships with potential and existing users #worldroutes 2011-10-04T10:11:59+02:00
• RT @karenbryan: 5 Reasons I Love Ryanair: http://t.co/je1wTkSn 2011-10-04T09:51:55+02:00
• @jjfcarr @bmiBaby_com is doing somehow like Seneca: if you want s.b. to fly tell him about destination #worldroutes 2011-10-03T16:54:33+02:00
• @jjfcarr @bmiBaby_com is 4 route news, updates, offers; inspiring cust. 2 travel (destination tweets) or influencer relations #worldroutes 2011-10-03T16:53:41+02:00
• @jjfcarr quoted “140 best twitter feeds” from Time Magazine please refer to http://t.co/jbZHDI1s 2011-10-03T16:52:11+02:00
• @jjfcarr quoted @simpliflying: Pax sent 6 times more tweets than airlines responding on. #worldroutes 2011-10-03T16:51:14+02:00
• @jjfcarr talked about Amadeus study “Always connected traveller” (the source: http://t.co/wmhgLqW0 ) #worldroutes 2011-10-03T16:50:30+02:00
• @jjfcarr : smartphone + social media use + brands online = disinhibition #worldroutes 2011-10-03T16:49:35+02:00
• @jjfcarr and BMIbaby is having 2 yrs experience in social media. People do trust more in social media than in traditional press #worldroutes 2011-10-03T16:48:46+02:00
• RT @simpliflying: My interview about Social Media for airlines to @TheHUBRoutes at #WorldRoutes in Berlin this morning. http://t.co/czRWuiyB 2011-10-03T16:36:41+02:00
• RT @mark_scourse: @jjfcarr #worldroutes no hiding from the social media conversation! http://t.co/pVtQOmYe 2011-10-03T16:27:29+02:00
• @fg_editor I’m feeling like an aussie, 25+ degrees and talking about christmas ;-) #worldroutes 2011-10-03T13:48:29+02:00
• RT @BernieBaldwin: @Simpliflying discussing “Crisis Management using social media” at #WorldRoutes. Says you’re more likely to he… (cont) http://t.co/Kv1MxyiE 2011-10-03T13:47:16+02:00
• RT @mark_scourse: @simpliflying #worldroutes dormant blog for airport crisis; backup for website in peak demand spikes 2011-10-03T13:45:41+02:00
• This is genuine social networking practised last night by @simpliflying http://t.co/zJsmJIho #worldroutes 2011-10-03T13:45:41+02:01
• @simpliflying is talking now on crisis management w/ social media #worldroutes 2011-10-03T11:46:48+02:00
• Turn negative tweets into positive buzz. @KCJetSetter shows how important timely social media monitoring at an airport is #wordroutes 2011-10-03T10:18:05+02:00
• @KCJetSetter shows us some pics from the good (?) old times #social_media_talks at #worldroutes 2011-10-03T10:05:55+02:00
• Listen to @mark_scourse “social media is an asset of local knowledge, airports can bring to route development” #worldroutes 2011-10-03T09:34:54+02:00

I am now on the way to Berlin. I feel be honoured to be one of the speakers. My presentation “How can companies sceptical of social media see the benefits and how should they use it to their benefit (profits/greater user interaction)?”will be held on October 4th from 14.20 to 15.10 at the Routes Talk Serminar area of the World Routes exhibition ground.

“Social Media is an important discussion point within most businesses at the moment and within our industry it is changing the face of how many
organisations communicate with with existing and potential customers”, World Routes host mentioned in a paper. “The dedicated social media theatre in Berlin will explore how social media is being used in the industry at the moment with presentations from key industry experts in the field, together with firsthand accounts from airlines and airports explaining how it works for them.”

For those delegates of you, which are still sceptical of social media, take your time to visit as well the other seven briefings from the experts. Keep an eye on the examples they will present. And prepare yourself a little questionnaire, which leads you in total to some kind of synopsis for social media strategies.

The Questionnaire

• Question 1: What kind of examples you were getting presented? How other companies tweet, network, blog? What are the benefits?
• Question 2: What kind of first experience the companies made with social media? What was bad, what was good?
• Question 3: What kind of prerequisites are necessary for driving sucessfully social media campaigns and business?
• Question 4: What kind of social media tools the other companies are using? How much time and how many people they do invest in social media?
• Question 5: How these companies are organized? Which department or role ist repsonsible for social media?
• Question 6: Which social media development has have the most impact on SM protagonist’s life?

Be encouraged!

Learn something from others, adopt and scale your brand. Social Media is not the play. It is rather some kind of stage, where the participants affect, which role they take up. But I can promise you, it is worth to do. Even if you convince a new customer who likes to tell people what he likes, as Akron-Canton Airports has mentioned once.

Enjoy the briefing and see you on Tuesday.

World Routes is THE place where the global route development industry gathers. Thousands of airline and airport delegates are meeting once a year at a certain venue in the world. This year the conference will be held in Berlin/Germany from 2 to 4 October 2011, organised by UBM Aviation Routes.

On the Event manager’s website it is mentioned: “Facilitating meetings remains the top priority for the World Routes team, and as the nature of route development meetings has evolved so are the meeting structures at the event. In 2011, we will be unveiling new and enhanced measures to offer more meeting choices for delegates, whether through the traditional one-to-one, 20 minute meetings in the halls or at strategic meetings on stands. World Routes will offer meeting platforms that cater for all route development requirements. The event has evolved to include a major exhibitions within the Networking Village as well as a growing conference programme.”

Routes Talks Seminar Theatres – Social Media Theatre

Our readers already know how import Social Media can be for the aviation industry.”Within our industry it is changing the face of how many organisations communicate with with existing and potential customers”, UBM Aviation Routes say on the World Routes event page. “The dedicated social media theatre in Berlin will explore how social media is being used in the industry at the moment with presentations from key industry experts in the field, together with firsthand accounts from airlines and airports explaining how it works for them.”

I feel be honoured to be one of the speakers. My presentation topic is “How can co’s sceptical of social media see the benefits and how should they use it 2 their benefit (profits/greater user interaction)?” Can’t await to meet some of my readers in Berlin.

The Social Media Theatre programme is seen here …

Other speakers are from 3sixty, Simpliflying, Kansas City Airport, Donovan Creative, bmibaby and Southwest Airlines.

Photo Credit: Chairs. (C) by Dmitry Sokolov – Fotolia.com.

Recently I met some guys from an IT subsidiary of an international airport. This company is fully engaged with its headquarters. And their expenditures for marketing, PR and communication are not too high. A little bit for recruting, that’s it. Mouth-to-mouth promotion must be bought dearly by a good job.

The IT crowd is saying, that they don’t need Facebook

With these guys I have discussed controversially about the need of Social Media. “Social Media is for consumer companies. Why should we use Facebook or Twitter? Social Media brings no revenue.”

The “IT crowd” is right, Social Media does not become an end in itself. Corresponding efforts should follow a strategy, a brand, HR or sales strategy. But they are not right, when they are saying, that Social Media is at the end not relevant for them.

Social Media is all about brand and cult of a company

According to Eck Kommunikation 16 percent of U.S. companies blogged in 2007 for marketing purposes, next year it will probably be more than twice as many. The underlying blog post is in German language but the quoted Infographic is in English. But more notably is, that 70% are using Social Media for monitoring brand and 54 % for monitoring customer feedback.

How cool is your company?

Even if a company sees actually no reason for driving marketing through Facebook, Twitter or Google+, it should keep an eye on these new networks, to see how the brand will be mirrored and how the community is thinking about the company and its products and services. At the end this might be worth for seeking new people. Therefore the reputation of an employer might be a crucial criterion for candidates. The better the greater the desire to work for the firm. This reputation will be generated by mouth-by-mouth promotion between friends, by media buzz or by personal relations. It doesn’t matter whether the prestige belongs to the here mentioned IT subsidiary or to the airport group. The Internet is one field, where reputation occurs.

What are the touchpoints for that kind of Social Media strategy

In an strategy mix where the focus lies on a good relationship with customers, counterparts or candidates the touch points for Social Media are collaboration and reputation.

Social Media tools, in some cases as well closed systems, can be woven in inter-corporate IT service management processes. “CIOs must start to think about integrating social media into their service desks as the technology becomes ubiquitous in everyday life”, according to analyst firm Ovum. Good collaboration needs as well good relationships. Social networks like LinkedIn or Xing will keep at the end the ways short.

The other touch point is online reputation. With the arising of social networks the employees are taking these opportunities to link with colleagues, customer counterparts, school mates or friends. Usually one will mention that he is working currently for the “IT crowd”. That means how this guy is behaving, his opinions or his engagements will become part of the brand of the employer company. The same is with customers. In the way they are talking about your services they will become as well brand embassadors.

Summarising my thoughts I would say, that Social Media is not the play. It is rather some kind of stage, where the particpants affect, which role they take up. Even if they are sitting in the audience they will be recognised and sometimes they will be however part of the play.

Photo credit:
Top: (C) by Photosani – Fotolia.com, 2011.
Middle: (C) by Orlando Florin Rosu – Fotolia.com, adapted by Persitence.