social media @virgin america: cultivating brand equity and guest engagement
TRANSCRIPT
Social Media @Virgin America: Cultivating brand equity and guest engagement
Innovation in the Skies
“A Multi-million Dollar IPOD. That Flies.” –
Needed Grassroots Support from Day One
“U.S. GOVERNMENT SAYS VIRGIN AMERICA UN-AMERICAN” – Dec.
2006
“UNFAIRLY GROUNDED” – Dec 2006
May 2007: You ARE American
“VIRGIN AMERICA CLEARED FOR AUGUST TAKE OFF”- May 2006
“Last year, the folks planning the launch of Richard Branson's soon-to-lift-off Virgin America line asked us if we'd like to name
one of their new planes.
After much swapping of emails among BoingBoing co-editors, we finally agreed on one name that that loyal readers of this
lowly blog will no doubt find meaningful: UNICORN CHASER.”
“Google maps takes flight in Virgin America…all the map data is cached on the plane's local
network, so it'll be even faster than sitting across the street from Google HQ at a Starbucks in
Mountain View.”
“...it just so happens to have the best cabin slash in-flight features we have seen on an airline. With that in mind, you should know we are rooting for them.
We too want air travel in the U.S. to be a pleasant experience.”
“The new planes from Virgin America theoretically have a whole bunch of cool gadget-friendly features such as a 110V plug, USB port, and RJ-45 (Ethernet) port in every seat. What's also cool is the touchscreen feature on the back of every seat. There are music, games, and movie features, plus you can chat with people in other seats or go into a chatroom for the WHOLE PLANE.”
“Like a Multimillion-Dollar IPod. That Flies…the planes have clearly been designed by people with a keen sense of design and an appreciation of technology's ability to make
people feel comfortable and happy.”
Geek’s Airline of Choice: Even before we launched
VX Launched at a Time When Media Landscape Changing Dramatically
Social Media Trends: 2010
Social Media Trends: 2010
Social Media: Why Is It Important To Us?
Virgin America’s Social Media Presence
2 million video views
280k followers187k likes
Guest engagement very high and largely positive – highest airline positive social media sentiment.
SoMe audiences are brand advocates – and also have high expectations.
Social Media: Why Is It Relevant?
53% of our guests carry laptops
onboard.
Up to one-third of our guests are logging on to WiFi on
some long-haul flights.
Over 70% of bookings come from web channels.
The Apple store is next most likely purchase for our
guests – and #1 store for Elevate members buying
from Red Store.
We Use Social Media Channels For
Brand Reputation/Engagement
Guest Service
Sales
Awareness, trial and loyalty
Informal, authentic way to connect with guests
New sales channel – where our tech-forward guests live
Avenue to address guest issues
Reputation management: battles won/lost in space
Social media is relevant to our guests:
– 90% of our Elevate members are on Facebook and 35% are on Twitter
– High-value guests participate in TopGuest, other geo-local social media rewards programs
– 70% of bookings come from web
– Up to 1/3 of our guests are on the internet during flights
Effective Use of Social Media
They are also relevant for us: Real-time service, sales efforts, reputation management & engagement
Our social media channels have been widely recognized:
Alaska
American
British Airways
Delta
Frontier
JetBlue
KLM
Lufthansa
Qantas
Spirit
Southwest
United
USAir
Virgin America
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
*The @qantasairways @Name was created in November 2010
Sentiment: 2010, positive to negative ratio
Social Media: Engagement
Social Media: Building Customer Connections @ 35,000 Feet
• @alexiatsotsis tweets: Dr. Carla Munevar just graduated from med school, made shirts for her flight on @virginamerica #vx406 @lkr http://twitpic.com/72l9s
• @alexiatsotsis tweets: Go Dr. Carla!!! the people in row 11FED want to send her a drink. @virginamerica #Vx406
• @virginamerica tweets: Social Media experiment; make it
happen! RT: @alexiatsotsis:@lkr Go Dr. Carla!!! the people in row 11FED want to send her a drink.#Vx406
• @alexiatsotsis tweets: okay we're on the case - @lkr? #vx406
• @lkr tweets: Love it @virginamerica just tweeted about me and @alexiatsotsis!
• @virginamerica tweets: RT @alexiatsotsis: @lkr SOCIAL MEDIA FTW - we got Dr.Carla champagne, in honor of her graduation #vx406 http://twitpic.com/72kkl
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Social Media: Sales
#FlyFwdGiveBack was our 4th highest sales day
Social Media: PR + Sales
4 hour sale =5th highest sales day of 2010
Social Media: Real-Time Guest Service
Social Media: Real-Time Guest Service
Guest Complaint/Question/ Feedback/Issue on Twitter1000-3000 Tweets and posts a Day
mentioning VX – 15-20% response rate
Guest Service Involvement
• Real time air-to-ground guest service. • Guests have tweeted for faster food service
– and ACARs messages sent air-to-ground, so ITMs can assist.
• Guests have posted worried over missing connections: BOS station alerted by SoMe team + waiting to whisk them to connection
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Social Media: Real-Time Guest Service, Proactive Messaging
Guest ServiceDirect Response
Conversation/Feedback
Social Media: Observations
• PR is social + social is PR: this is the media world we live in• Brand reputation is an organizational priority – and social media is the front line. Just like PR crises, the organization must be able to act and adjust to social media
• Timeliness is key, but tried & true PR judgement is still king • You cannot manage every story/complaint: but staying honest, authentic and ethical will win out in the end
• Technology moving too fast for traditional, hierarchical organization to keep up:
8 Driven not only by new software/media products, but also significant increases in mobile capabilities and penetration
• Given real time expectations of guests, a flat, dedicated group outside of, but aligned to, traditional customer care is key
8 While email + snail mail can be answered in days without negative impact, tweets must be addressed in minutes/ hours
8 A department separate or matrixed to customer care may seem expensive, but likely reduces the number of written complaints to traditional channels that can be much more costly to address
8 Customer goodwill from immediately addressing service failure and acknowledging praise for a good job is significant