Across the world, social media has become the most important and fastest way for airlines to relate with their customers, as well as for customers to get real-time information regarding flights.
Some of the leading global brands on social media today include some of the biggest airlines in the world. For instance, Qatar Airways the second safest airline in the world has one of the largest following of any company. On Twitter it has over 1.14 million followers, LinkedIn 335,654 followers and gotten over 12 million ‘Likes’ on Facebook.
For many of the global airlines, social media serves as a medium to disseminate news and information about their operations, how the companies are doing and at the same time respond to feedback from customers in real time. Major airlines have dedicated teams to monitor conversations on their social media platforms, and typically respond within the day.
In a survey carried out in January, BusinessDay examined levels of social media engagement of Nigerian airlines across three platforms; Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The airlines surveyed include Air Peace, Arik Airline, Dana Air, First Nation Airways, Medview Airline, IRS Airline and Azman Air.
The aim of the survey was to see what the airlines where doing to leverage social networks as strategic marketing platforms. A highlight of four of the airlines with the most presence on the three platforms is as follows:
Air Peace
Air Peace maintains a fair presence on only two platforms, Facebook (@flyairpeace) and Twitter (@flyairpeace). The airline is however absent on LinkedIn even though the icon exists on their website http://flyairpeace.com. The airline’s social media strategy seems based on mainly providing news and information.
The airline’s social media team provide appreciably prompt responses to customer queries on Facebook where they have 11,497 ‘Likes’ only. A typical tweet from the company’s handle @flyairpeace gets from 0 to 12 retweets. Feedback from customers are fairly positive. The airline’s team responses target both positive and negative customers’ reviews. But there is little evidence that queries is being turned into upsells. Similarly, experiential content like creative videos and Gifs are mostly absent on the existing platforms. Over 90 percent of the contents are in posts or pictures.
Arik Airline
In some respects, Arik Airline has a significant presence online especially on Facebook. But for some reason, the airline does not have an account on Twitter. So far, its handle on Facebook @FlyArikAir has 23,162 Likes and 14,210 people follow the airline on LinkedIn.
Majority of Arik’s social media activities are on their Facebook page. The last time a post was made on the LinkedIn page was in December 2016.
Arik’s social media model appears focused majorly on news and information sharing. Essentially, conversations on the page are mostly one-way-street as queries do not get responses from the airline’s social media team.
It should also be noted that most of the comments are very negative as customers complain from delayed flights, money refunds yet to be made etc.
A typical post on @FlyArikAir page gets about 50 ‘Likes’ on average and they are mostly pictures of customers boarding plane, the Arik airplanes taking off or crew members of the airline in different activities.
Dana Air
Dana Air handle on Twitter (@DanaAir) is the most active of the accounts of airlines surveyed. With 5,449 followers, Dana Air’s social media team ensure posts are made as often as possible on a daily basis. The posts could range from a cheap fare to local destinations exclusive to Travelstart promo, to award winning crew members and new schedules for major cities like Port Harcourt.
On Facebook (@DanaAir), the airline has 67,355 Likes and keeps it updated regularly with news and events.
Curiously, the account does not have any customer query, just mere general comments which probably accounts for the lack of response for the airline’s social media team on reactions from customers. Posts on the platform generate from 15 to 280 Likes.
On LinkedIn, although the airline boasts 1,254 followers, it is disappointingly not being used.
Azman Air
Being a relatively new airline, Azman’s activities on social media seem very impressive compared to older and more established airlines.
Its Twitter handle has over 4,529 compared to IRS Airlines with a paltry 792 followers. Azman’s social media team also respond to customer queries on the platform – the only airline that does that on Twitter. Nonetheless, the handle is yet to see some activity this year as the last tweet was made on 1 January 2017.
The airline’s activities on Facebook @AirAzmanAzman with 7,410 ‘Likes’ also generate commendable engagement on most of the posts. The team also respond promptly to customer complaints and provide immediate help when a customer needs. The major challenge is the lack of regularity as average posts rate is twice a week.
The airline does not have a LinkedIn account.
Final analysis
Of all the airlines surveyed, only First Nation Airways have presence on all the platforms namely Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Nevertheless, two of its accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn see little or no activities. Despite a followership of 2,440 on Twitter, the @Fly_firstnation handle has only seen three tweets since it was created in 2014.
The social accounts of the airlines surveyed would be said to be at the elementary stages of social brand communication. There is a pervading sense of non-commitment in social marketing and customer engagement by almost all the airlines’ account. This could be a result of lack of understanding of the power of social media or lack of confidence in the brands.
