(Slightly OT) How an airline's customers can benefit from Social Media for CS.
 

We have debated it here many times before so I thought some of you might be interested to read about KLM's Social Media strategy, especially when it comes to Customer Service.

http://blog.klm.com/klm%E2%80%99s-so...gnoon_Facebook

So, I know we are all in our mid eighties here but should BA rely more on alternative (new) customer service models instead of sticking to the old, hard to reach phone lines?

If only KLM had married BA that time!!!

Q: Would you tweet a booking reference and your personal details to BA (and I suppose to the other 499,999,999 Twitter users too) if you had a question about a booking?

:confused:

Twitter is great for the marketing department... but for customer service? Hmm...

Oh, and take a look at LHR's twitter output and check out the signal-to-noise ratio... or rather the lack of it.

Check out their latest tweet:

Have you read the articles?

got rather bored of their drive a plane down your street tweet... ;)

Great CS via Twitter or flatbeds in J....

I know where I'd rather my airline focussed its resources. ;)

Who says the two need to be mutually exclusive?

By the way, it is not about Twitter alone. It is about being able to reach CS when there is a major cock up. Do I really need to start looking for the posts/threads where we unanimously b*tch about the inability to reach BA or the lack of information during snow/strike/ash?

Indeed. ^

No doubt airlines like to be seen embracing new ways of communicating with their customers but I don't think the number of geeks it attracts justifies too much money being spent on it.

For KLM: 1,768,663 likes · 61,488 talking about it.

Now, I am sure you believe they are all geeks (or simply under 35) but that is not a bad number of individuals to focus your marketing / communication on. Don't forget these are not simply views but people actively engaging with your brand.

The numbers for BA: 431,112 likes · 16,624 talking about it.

You'd send them a DM (direct message) which would only be visible to BA.

The two don't have to be mututally exclusive but every business makes decisions about where to focus their efforts. KL have made some very impressive steps with social media and clearly that is an area where they are more concerned with investment than a flatbed. BA invested in that space for their large corporate clients..most of whom aren't interested in social media as a comms/marketing channel and would prefer to get a great product for the price paid.

Different approaches for different markets I guess.

That said, Twitter and Facebook aren't for geeks. You'd be amazed who uses both.

And the number of shareholders who liked last years financial results were.......

Liked BA 45,564
Liked KL 276

:p

Sod social media have a 24/7 phone line

Actually KLM is doing rather nicely in the group but that is neither here nor there. I am amazed how people try to create connections that are not there. The question is not should BA improve their CS at the expense of flatbeds or profit. The question was simply if it would be a good idea for BA to enter the Social Media era. Not as a marketing gimmick but as a real platform where to interact with customers.

Now it would be nice if arguments for or against could be at least remotely linked to the question. Lets assume that a good strategy could be achieved almost cost neutral to avoid the silly arguments about shareholder value etc. It would also be fun if people who don't understand or appreciate social media refrain from calling everyone who does geeks/techies/etc. Most professional people use it nowadays. Live with it. ;)

Indeed but the biggest percentage of normal people I know only use them to interact with friends.