benchmark report
airline marketing
twitter handles on aircraft liveries
#fraspots, #pilotdiary, ich bin #deinberliner
AER LINGUS JETBLUE VIRGIN AMERICA EMIRATES
LUFTHANSA
Airlines are one of the leading industries in the use of social media for customer service and marketing communication. Although not the first airline to do so, Aer Lingus have recently added their twitter handle to one of their Airbus fleet.
Also, in response to Aer Lingus’ new twitter handle on site mediabistro , JetBlue were quick to respond, mentioning one of their aircraft has had joined the fray with “#Follow @JetBlue” flying the network since July 2011.
With just 12,000 followers on Twitter at the time of launch (in comparison American Airlines has over 615,000), the modest following is being serviced by Aer Lingus every weekday, and since placing their Twitter handle on the A320 the airline has gained an increase in following by 25%.
Facebook has also had it’s time on aircraft liveries too, with Emirates adorning one of it’s fleet with a “one million fans” facebook thumb .
Other airlines have picked up on using hashtags and twitter handles like Aer Lingus. For example Virgin America’s A320 aircraft named #nerdbird has recently had it’s own themed competition.
SEPTEMBER 2013 ISSUE
Social media is becoming an increasingly effective communication medium for airlines and recently even KLM crew now encourage pax onboard to contact the airline via social media when making the “thank you for flying” announcement after the aircraft has landed.
Capturing the power of Instagram, a well used app during travel by passengers, Lufthansa has launched a series of campaigns that help promote the airline in a variety of subject matters. Lufthansa launched its Instagram channel in June this year with the #DeinBerliner campaign : a platform to offer discoverers travel ideas or a look behind the scenes, because it is well-known that pictures say more than a thousand words. Currently, the airline has more than 4,000 followers on the web platform with the square photos. #pilotdiary , contains a series of images created for Lufthansa through the eyes of an international commercial airline pilot to share his experience of the airline. A total of 39 photos chronicle the early mornings and
long flights of Philipp, a Senior First Officer on Lufthansa’s 747s. Jetting back and forth between Frankfurt and Los Angeles at the yoke of a new 747-8i, he snaps anything and everything—from a lunch over Greenland to a generic layover hotel room, and even a brief beach break—to essentially provide a full picture of life in the skies. #fraspots , is another Instagram project that features two female Berlin bloggers who on 21st to 23rd August toured Frankfurt Airport and the city centre. Documented under the hashtag #FRAspots. Lufthansa wanted to provide its customers an entertaining way to look at their home base from a new perspective and offer inspiration for future trips to or via Frankfurt. The programme was decided by Facebook’s Lufthansa fans.
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EXPERIENTIAL SOCIAL DIGITAL TRADITIONAL
