Page 13 - AAA MAY - JUNE 2014 Online Magazine

STUDY SOCIAL MEDIA

However, the success of a brand on
social media is again largely dependant
on the interaction between the users and
the airline.
Knigge also said, “When it comes to
social media, it’s less about direct sales and
more about brand building and establishing
that ability to listen to our customers in
social media, to learn from them and have
a one-to-one communication with them.
It’s not really only about getting people to
book flights with us. However, if you have
a good feeling about us due to these social
decked with cartoons and comics, many empowered to resolve customer requests interactions, we certainly hope that it will
a time in sync with current matters, like directly, like making changes to bookings. “ translate to sales.”
below, the haze that shrouded Singapore. For the past month, Jetstar Asia has Social media humanises the brands
To be in touch with her China based the largest percentage fan growth over into ‘living’ interacting entity and engages
passengers, Scoots has a microblog, Weibo, Facebook at 5.87%, however only at 9761 the audience. Jetstar explained, “Our
which alone has 132 100 followers since its in terms of numbers. team always sign off with their names
2012, and Kakao Talk fans in Korea. Since, Jetstar has revealed in 2010 that when responding to customers. It’s
Ms Koh also revealed that Scoot would they will direct 40% of marketing budget into important for us to build a personal
be starting a WeChat account in China. social media. Jetstar was the first LCC to connection with our customers and
The airline regularly engages the provide long-haul services from Singapore communicating with them on a first-name
public at regular basics, besides usual direct to Melbourne on their A330-300 basis helps enable this”
customer feedback on Twitter, recently in 2010 and marketed the route and the Actions like these in turn increases
they are asked to vote for the design for Business Class aggressively on Facebook brand loyalty and keeping the brand
the in-flight blanket, and “Decide the and even sponsored a group of Singaporeans name fresh in their minds, multiple
Fare” during the airline’s inception. to a new Zealand tour, which was featured in exposures of ads and posts solidifies the
their youTube channel. brand identity and association. Ms Koh
Jetstar Asia ”We understand that customers stresses that, “We will always retain two
Jetstar Asia, part of Jetstar Group is the want a quick and easy travel experience key components which is what sets Scoot
largest LCC in the Asia-Pacific region, and so we provide access to services like apart from other carriers on social media:
amongst the first to establish their social web check-in and Straight-to-Gate and 1) Be real & authentic
media efforts. In addition, to Facebook and opportunities to communicate with us via 2) always be a friend.”
Twitter page set up in October 2008 and Skype, Ask Jess, Facebook and Twitter. There is no denying that social media
2009 respectively, Jetstar Group also owns The newly launched Ask Jess, a virtual will play an important part in the low
a youTube Channel, which currently has assistant on Jetstar.com providing real- cost carrier market. The dynamic nature
2182 subscribers. The channel features time information, is a good example of social media means that LCCs must
videos from commercial ads, to the of how Jetstar continues to invest in continue to evolve their strategies and
construction of their latest Boeing 787. innovative and effective customer care to marketing methods. Mr Khan said on top
Ameel Khan, Social Media Manager of differentiate ourselves from competition. of sales and promotions, Jetstar aims to
Jetstar, said “We see social media as both a Despite the importance and the provide “inspiration to travel more and
marketing platform and a communications surge of social media, it is almost not see the region for less” he added, “As
platform – focussing on ensuring that our able to directly connect social media innovation is a key focus for us, we are
social media presence is fundamentally response to the LCC’s growth and always looking at adapting new trends and
useful to our customers. So, while we revenue. ‘Fans’, ‘Likes’ and ‘shares’ are new tools to connect with our customers
do use it as a marketing and branding simple key performance indexes on the on an even more personal level. “
channel (for telling our fans and followers airline’s outreach into the mass media
about our excellent sales, competitions scene. Although it is notable to know Chen Chuanren studies the social media
and announcements), we also use it as a that with modern complex logics, and and how it impacts the Low-Cost Carriers
support channel (for assisting customers “robust tracking links it is able to analyse (LCC) industry. He looks at how LCC in
with queries and resolving any issues they conversion from social media links and Singapore strategize their marketing
might have). Our social media team consists measure the return of investment to moves, with insights from Jetstar, Scoot
of trained Customer Care agents who are sales. “ Scoot revealed and Tigerair.
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