Benefits of Social Media to an Airport - Essay Example

Benefits of Social Media to an Airport Affiliation: Introduction Social media is the latest medium of communication among people all over the world virtually. This communication uses internet-based applications which enable people to share, exchange information and create networks. There are numerous benefits which accompany this form of virtual communication not only for individual purposes but also for businesses (whether large or small, upcoming or has been there for long) regardless of the type of business. These businesses use the social media to advertise their products, services and benefits. The most common reason for targeting social media as an advertising space and forum is not only because it is the latest trend but because majority of the people are using social media globally (Singh and Diamond, 2012). These benefits of social media extend even to airports. This paper will discuss some of the benefits associated with social media and how these can benefit the airports. Some of these benefits to be discussed include but are not limited to: advertisement channels, customer care and services, relationship development and marketing, lobbying of donors, investors and customers, marketing venture techniques and strategies and providing ideas on unique Corporate Social Responsibilities activities. The aim is to bring in more airports management on board the social media train and reap these benefits as well as tap the growing market whose platform is the social media. According to Evans (2012), signing up airports on the social media will advertise about the existence of the airport to those who know nothing or very little about it. This will attract numerous customers who include the tourists, business people and organizations with private and charter planes. Among the beneficiaries of this advertisement are the pilots who will be requiring places to land, who will be seeking job opportunities in some of the chartered planes among others. This therefore leads to another benefit of the airport being on social media which is creating more job opportunities for the millions of the jobless people in that country and worldwide. Social media provides a platform where the users share what is in their mind freely and even engage in debates and information exchange. Having airports being on social media will therefore mean that the users of the different social media who will view the business page will be able to freely air their comments, grievances and views about the airport. This therefore provides free branding exercise and ideas for the airport. It is also ensure that the airport continues to improve their business and venture by acting on the advice and criticism they are being given. This will also provide a competitive edge over the other airports that are not in the social media in terms of ideas, products, services and even further market venturing techniques including marketing strategies to attract investors, donors and more customers. In terms of attracting investors, donors and potential clients, having a social media account for example a twitter or facebook account, the airports social media (or a public relations manager) manager can seek friendship or follow different airlines like the Boeing, Southwest Airlines or Virgin America among other airlines that have the same social media accounts. This can be done through posting on their walls or commenting on their status and it is through this that the airport will gain recognition and hence the beginning of a business opportunity and relationship. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important initiative that should be undertaken by all businesses, agencies and organizations. Airports should also not be left behind because it is CSR that will make the airports gather support from the public. There are many types of CSR activities that the airport can engage in but many of them have been repeated by so many organizations that they have become monotonous. Tapping into unvented CSR activity will increase the support of the airports thereby facilitating its growth. This is possible by not only asking around for unique ideas from the social media (where the response is guaranteed to be overwhelming) but by also scheming and scanning through other organizations and business social media accounts to have an idea of how to go about ensuring the success of their CSR activity. This can be done through watching the videos of their activities or pictures among other ways. Lastly, having mentioned some of the most important benefits of having airports engaging in social media, the other benefit and which is the second most common reason is Customer service (which is an important and necessary aspect of any business). One on one communication with customers where the customers are able to reach their service providers lacks or is not very adequate and smooth in many businesses and especially those relying on calling the customer care services or having to visit their offices or branches. For the airports, this can be even way harder. Having social media accounts with specific staff assigned to these accounts will ease the problem of customer service. The customers or aspiring customers who want to reach the airport administration or management quickly without going through the bureaucratic channels can quickly and comfortably be served through the social media. This will increase customer relations for the airports even further on the rating scale than they are presently. Conclusion According to the Airline Social Media Outlook Report of 2012 which surveyed 55 airports, it is evident that the airports spend very few hours on social media (hence missing out on the benefits mentioned above or failing to reap all the benefits), they also allocate very little of their budget to social media spending annually, the airports just use the social media for branding and customer service and minimal marketing (which therefore minimizes any changes or impact it might have on their businesses) (SimpliFlying, 2012). Based on the major benefits provided above and even those that are termed as too minor and have not been discussed above, the airports management and administration in general should consider changing the above survey to make a difference to their business organization. References Evans, D. (2012). Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. SimpliFlying. (2012). [Report & Infographic] Airline Social Media Outlook 2012/ 2013: Resource allocation, Challenges and ROI. Retrieved from: http://simpliflying.com/2012/airline-social-media-outlook-2012-budgets-staffing- challenges-roi/ Singh, S. and Diamond, S. (2012). Social Media Marketing For Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More