Best Social Media Strategies for Airlines to Boost Engagement and Sales

Social Media is a tool to make marketing easy for any business. It revolutionized the way we see the marketing of products and services. Social media is a powerful marketing technique that businesses of all sizes can use to reach their target audience, build relationships, and drive sales.

Social Media is most important for aviation and airline marketing, as it deals with high-involvement products like Air Tickets.

Let’s learn about the prominent social media strategies for airlines and how successful campaigns have changed the structure of Aviation/Airline marketing.

Overall Presence on Facebook: Approximately 70% of the 250 largest airlines maintain an official Facebook page.

What is Social Media Marketing for Airlines?

Airlines' social media marketing is a strategy utilized through social media to help aviation and airline businesses succeed.

• High adoption of social media by airlines and users: The majority of German airlines are actively involved in social media marketing (SMM) across various channels like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. 67% of respondents follow at least one airline on social media, indicating strong user engagement.
  
• Focus on existing customers through loyalty programs: 60% of respondents who follow airlines are already customers, highlighting the potential for loyalty programs and targeted customer engagement. Respondents value access to the latest news, offers, and promotions, suggesting rewards linked to these benefits could be effective.
  
• Content preferences and engagement drivers: Transparency and open communication are highly valued, with 98% appreciating airlines that openly react to criticism. Informal and personal communication resonates with 49% of respondents, suggesting airlines should adopt a more conversational tone. Providing content that increases social engagement is crucial, as 68% of respondents only read posts and news.
  
• Importance of timely information flow: Respondents rely heavily on airline websites for news and promotions, indicating the need for consistent information updates. Airlines should ensure a constant flow of relevant content to cater to passive users, who primarily consume information.
  
• Potential for further growth: The ever-growing number of social media users suggests airlines have great potential to expand their reach and audience engagement. By focusing on existing customers, providing valuable content, and maintaining transparency, airlines can build stronger relationships and loyalty through SMM

Today, you can easily catch your eye on your products and services.

Social Media is an active tool for this purpose.

Social media marketing for airlines is the use of social media platforms to connect with customers, promote products and services, build brand awareness, and generate sales.

According to SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Facebook's user base doubled in just six years, soaring from 12% of the world's population in 2012 to an impressive 27.82% by the end of 2018, exceeding a quarter of the planet.

Airlines can utilize social media marketing in many ways:

• Share news and updates about the company, such as new routes, special offers, and awards.
• Provide customer service and support, such as answering questions and resolving issues.
• Engage with customers and build relationships by sharing interesting and relevant content.
• Promote sales and discounts on flights, baggage fees, and other services.
• Run contests and giveaways to generate excitement and buzz around the brand.
• Highlight the airline's unique selling points, such as its commitment to safety, customer service, or sustainability.

The Key Benefits of Social Media Strategy for Airlines

Social media marketing is a strategy to make businesses grow, and aviation and airlines are not exceptional.

A well-defined social media strategy for airlines can offer numerous benefits. Today, social media marketing for airlines has become a crucial tool for engaging with passengers, building brand loyalty, and driving business growth.

According to Nielson Company (2012), 50% of social media users express complaints regarding brands at least once per month, which ranges from a customer complaint to a public complaint.

Here are some key benefits of having a solid social media strategy for airlines:

• Increase Customer Engagement: Social media platforms provide a direct channel for airlines to interact with their passengers. Airline marketing can respond to customer inquiries, provide real-time updates, and offer personalized services, enhancing the overall passenger experience.
  
• Brand Awareness: Social media marketing strategy for airlines can be a powerful tool for building brand awareness. Airlines can share engaging content, including stunning photos and videos of their aircraft, crew, and destinations, to create a strong and recognizable brand identity.
  
• Cost-Effective Marketing: Social media is a cost-effective marketing channel. Airlines can reach a large audience without the need for substantial advertising budgets. Targeted ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram can yield a high return on investment.
  
• Customer Feedback: Social media platforms for airline marketing offer a valuable source of customer feedback. Airlines can use this feedback to make improvements in various aspects of their service, from inflight amenities to booking processes.
  
• Increase Sales: Airlines Marketing can promote special offers, discounts, and deals on their social media profiles. This can boost ticket sales and encourage travelers to book with a particular airline.
  
• Global Reach: Social media marketing has a global reach, allowing airlines to connect with passengers from around the world. This can be particularly valuable for international carriers.

Airline group management on Facebook, as of August 19, 2017:

The fact that nine percent of airline respondents in 2017 allocated more than 25 percent of their marketing budgets to social media is a significant indication of the growing importance of social media in the airline industry.

                                       Percentage of Marketing Budget

                                                Number of Respondents

As social media continues to grow in popularity, even more airlines will likely increase their investment in social media marketing. This could lead to a significant shift in the way that airlines market their products and services.

• Improve customer service by providing a platform for customers to ask questions and receive feedback
• Gather valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences
• Build relationships with key influencers in the travel industry

What are The Challenges when it comes to Social Media Marketing for Airlines?

Airlines businesses operate a large staff as well as entertain huge crowds traveling every day.

It’s common to experience a crisis at some point in time.

If any day you’re traveling by airline and you experience some crisis of service. What will be your reaction to it as a customer?

Aviation/airline marketing is all about dealing with these types of challenges to drive a better customer experience.

Social media strategies for airlines: challenges are the obstacles that businesses face when trying to implement and execute a successful social media marketing strategy.

Airlines' social media marketing presents several unique challenges due to the competitive nature of the industry, the need for customer trust, and the high customer expectations for quality service.

Here are some of the key challenges:

According to the IATA survey, the RFID project is expected to offer a significant 9.7% saving opportunity.

Barcode reading issues account for 9.7% of total baggage mishandling in the airline industry.

Implementation of RFID technology is estimated to provide a 12.5% saving opportunity, based on an analysis of airport baggage statistics.

According to the airline's survey results, addressing this issue alone is expected to contribute to savings of around 11%.

• Crisis Management: Airlines often face operational disruptions, weather-related issues, and even accidents. These crises can quickly escalate on social media, and airlines need to be prepared to respond promptly and effectively, managing both the crisis itself and public perception. Especially on Twitter, passengers immediately post tweets about the bad service experience on platforms like Twitter.
  
• High Competition: The aviation/airline industry is highly competitive. Differentiating your airline from others and creating a unique online presence can be challenging, especially when so many airlines offer similar services. Competition can be dealt with by unique initiatives in your businesses.
  
• Sensitivity to Negative Feedback: Airlines' marketing deals with customer complaints and dissatisfaction in a very public way. Negative feedback can go viral, and it's crucial to address it professionally and promptly to maintain a brand reputation. Feedback intake is essential to growth when social media marketing is considered and leads to advancements.
  
• Crisis Communications: Airlines must have a well-defined crisis communication plan that includes how to handle accidents, safety issues, and other crises on social media while maintaining transparency and accountability. Social media marketing for airlines is all about the ability to communicate and interact with your customers.
• Multilingual and Multicultural Audiences: Social media strategy for Airlines often serves diverse global markets. Managing social media for a multicultural audience requires sensitivity to cultural differences and potentially multiple language strategies. Large audiences with distinguished cultures travel through aviation services, serving every single person with the responsibility of airline marketing.

The other challenges in front of social media marketing for airlines:-

What are The Best Practices of Airlines' Social Media Marketing?

Every business needs the best out of all the social media strategies.

Airlines can greatly benefit from effective social media marketing to engage with their customers, build brand loyalty, and promote their services.

Airlines can use social media strategies to achieve a variety of goals, such as:

Some best practices for airlines' social media marketing:

• Choose the right platforms: Not all social media marketing platforms are created equal. Airlines marketing should focus on the platforms where their target audience is most active. For example, airlines that target business travelers may want to focus on LinkedIn, while airlines that target families may want to focus on Instagram.

Choose the social media platform that generates engagements.

Through the statistics for 2023, it’s clear that a social media strategy for airline marketing. Whether Facebook ads with a 2,958 engaging audience or Instagram ads with a 2,000 audience rate.

• Create engaging content: Airlines marketing should create content that is informative, entertaining, and relevant to their target audience. This could include photos and videos of destinations, behind-the-scenes looks at the airline operation, or travel tips and advice. Airlines' marketing strategy can also use social media to run contests and giveaways.
  
• Be responsive and interactive: Airline marketing should respond to customer comments and questions promptly and professionally. They should also engage with their followers by asking questions and participating in conversations.
  
• Use social listening to understand your audience and track your progress: Social Media Marketing for Airlines should use social listening tools to monitor what people are saying about them online. This information can be used to improve customer service, develop new marketing campaigns, and track the progress of existing campaigns.
  
• Run targeted social media advertising campaigns: Airlines can use social media advertising to reach specific audiences with their marketing messages. For example, an airline could target people who have recently searched for flights to a particular destination.

AI and Analytics in Airline Marketing

AI has become the latest trend in every field of work.

Whether we talk about the airline industry or not, AI and analytics are two of the most transformative technologies of our time. AI is the ability of machines to learn and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, while analytics is the process of collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data to gain insights.

When combined, AI and analytics can create powerful new tools and capabilities that can help businesses and organizations of all sizes improve their operations, make better decisions, and create new products and services.

AI can be used in analytics to improve airline marketing in many ways, including:

• A better understanding of customer needs and preferences: AI can be used to analyze large datasets of customer data, such as booking history, website behavior, and social media engagement, to identify patterns and trends. This information can then be used to create more targeted and relevant marketing campaigns.
  
• Customer segmentation: AI can be used to segment customers into different groups based on their needs and preferences. This information can then be used to create more targeted social media strategies for airlines' marketing campaigns.
  
• Demand forecasting: AI can be used to forecast demand for flights, which can help airlines optimize their pricing and scheduling of posts.
  
• Targeted advertising: Artificial Intelligence can also be used to target advertising more effectively. For example, an airline might use AI to target ads for family vacations to parents with young children or ads for business travel to corporate executives.
• Personalized marketing: AI can be used to analyze customer data, such as past travel behavior, purchase history, and social media activity, to create personalized marketing campaigns. For example, an airline might use AI to identify customers who are most likely to be interested in a particular fare sale or promotion; this can be a better social media strategy for airline marketing.

AI analytics have already been used in many of aviation/airline brands to enhance their marketing strategies.

The following are some examples of Airlines Using AI and Analytics in airline social media marketing:-

• United Airlines is using AI to personalize its marketing campaigns and target customers with more relevant offers. The airline is also using AI to forecast demand for flights and optimize its pricing.

Once United Airlines experimented with fixing ‘United Skills’ within the Alexa app,. It turned out to be a hand-free check for the flights and other requirements.

• Delta Air Lines is using AI to improve its customer service. The airline is using an AI-powered chatbot to answer customer questions and provide support.

Delta announced in May 2017 that it would invest $600,000 investment in four automated self-service bag checkers.

• American Airlines is using AI to optimize its advertising campaigns. The airline is using AI to target ads more effectively and measure the performance of its campaigns.

It focuses on Artificial Intelligence, drones, and augmented and virtual reality technologies.

Case Studies: See how different airline brands boost their social media strategy for airlines

Case Study: AirAsia

AirAsia is a Malaysian low-cost carrier that has become known for its innovative social media strategy for airlines. The airline has a strong presence on all major social media platforms, and it uses them to connect with customers, promote its products and services, and provide customer support.

One of the ways that AirAsia has boosted its social media marketing is by using it to create a sense of community among its customers.

The airline regularly runs contests and giveaways on social media, and it also uses its platforms to share stories and photos from its customers. This helps to create a sense of loyalty and engagement among AirAsia's social media followers.

AirAsia takes the lead with this social media strategy.

AirAsia also uses social media to promote its products and services. The airline's best-scheduled posts about new routes, fare sales, and other special offers. It also uses social media to advertise its loyalty program and other ancillary services.

In addition, AirAsia uses social media to provide customer support. The airline has a dedicated team of social media representatives who are responsible for responding to customer inquiries and complaints. This helps to ensure that AirAsia's customers are always able to get the help they need, even when they are not at the airport.

These examples show how airline brands are boosting their social media strategies for airlines. By using social media to connect with customers, promote their products and services, and provide customer support, airlines can create a more positive and engaging customer experience.

How can Airlines use different social media platforms to achieve marketing goals?

An airline could use Instagram to reach younger travelers and leisure travelers by sharing inspiring travel photos and videos, promoting destinations, and showcasing its airline products and services.

For example, the airline could post a photo of a beautiful beach with the caption "Dreaming of your next vacation? Book your flight with us today!" or a video of a family having fun on a plane with the caption "Make memories that will last a lifetime. Fly with us!"

This is a perfectly fitting social media strategy for airlines.

But here comes the big part of being on social media.

It is, however, difficult to be accurate and active on every platform.

The above table of contents represents the percentile for all the social media platforms for a perfect social media strategy for Airlines to work on.

Another example is an airline using Twitter to reach business travelers by providing real-time updates on flight status, customer service, and promotions.

For example, the airline could tweet "Flight XYZ is now boarding at Gate 15." or "We're offering a 20% discount on all flights booked this weekend. Use code SUMMER20 at checkout."

Conclusion

From the above-detailed explanation of social media strategies for the airline industry.

It is to be concluded that a well-executed social media strategy is essential for airlines looking to boost engagement and sales. By consistently sharing compelling visual content, telling meaningful stories, and engaging with customers on a personal level, airlines can build strong relationships with their audience.

Encouraging user-generated content and leveraging influencer collaborations can further enhance your airline's presence on social media. Remember to adapt and optimize your strategy based on analytics and changing trends, ensuring your airline stays competitive and continues to grow its online presence and sales.

FAQs for Airlines Social Media Marketing

1. Is it possible to do airlines' social media marketing for free?

Yes, it is simple to do airline social media marketing for free by just using social media.

2. What are the best social media platforms for aviation marketing?

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

3. How can I manage hashtags for airline marketing?

You can use the hashtag manager app to create and manage the hashtags for posts and videos.