Finnair - Nordic Bloggers Experience

Finnair - Nordic Bloggers Experience

Finnair is an airline brand that both understands the power of social media in driving travel recommendations and is also looking to promote the country’s role as a gateway between Europe and the Far East. As a result, in January Finnair again became the official airline of the 3rd annual “Nordic Blogger experience” (NBE ), which saw 66 top travel bloggers from around the world come to Helsinki.

Not only did Finnair bring a record twelve bloggers from China, South Korea and Japan to Finland, it also asked participating bloggers to develop a content programme and campaign for “Stopover Finland”, a product specifically aimed at transit passengers.

Five bloggers were short-listed, with the winning blogger being able to experience a Stopover Finland product for themselves. According to Manti Väätäinen-Pereira, Finnair’s social media producer ,

“For Finnair it is a natural form of cooperation to fly travel bloggers from Asia to Helsinki also this year. It is great that we can promote bloggers’ networking with each other as well as with travel companies and different communities in the travel trade. For us it is an exclusive opportunity to meet dozens of bloggers from all over the world and discuss potential future cooperation possibilities face to face.

This is an excellent example of how effective social media marketing doesn’t need to be complicated. Finnair did what it does best, flying bloggers from one part of the world to the other, and as a result directly showcased its in-flight product, as well as building lasting relationships with key online influencers. The idea of getting bloggers themselves to pitch ideas to Finnair meant that the airline got marketing and content suggestions direct from social media influencers, who know what will and won’t resonate with their own readers.