Aerospace eBusiness

Best use of Social Media in Aerospace: more about the Webbie winners February 24, 2010

Earlier this month, I was asked by Flight Global to judge the “Best Use of Social Media” category for the annual Webbie awards. I was joined by industry executive Jim Muttram, Online Strategist and Managing Director at Reed Business Information. Although the results were published with a short comment from the judges, this category was just one amongst many and there was no room to expand on our choices. So here are Jim and my full comments on the three winners, my “lessons learned” from each entry, as well as a review of another best use scenario that would have done well if it had been nominated.

First Place Winner: Northrop Grumman  –  [ Website - Twitter - Facebook ]

• Full judges’ comments: In 2009, Northrop Grumman took the lead in the implementation of Social Media amongst their industry peers – often quite conservative in the social media space. They established outposts on Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube and LinkedIn. They interlinked all of their resources and featured them prominently on their main homepage. They have successfully spurred meaningful conversations on many platforms, used Twitter to guide followers to them, and built dedicated channels, websites, and fan pages to serve “internet tribes” with common interests. They are leveraging all of these platforms for communication with employees, suppliers, customers, and the general public, for information gathering, for education, and for recruiting.
• Lessons learned: I liked…
  …the full frontal approach to social media and the recognition that multiple platforms and audiences exist out there. I liked the interlinking and reuse of content amongst multiple platforms. Often people think that Social Media means creating new content. Actually it is about guiding audiences to existing internal and external content.
• Lessons learned: Improvement is needed…
  …in the interaction portion of social media. Although it may be happening behind the scenes, there is not enough “conversation engagement” on the platforms. Soliciting public comments and reactions, polling, answering questions, and contributing to conversations started by others should be a major part of the social media strategy. Secondly, Northrop Grumman is inconsistent in its use of Social Media at tradeshows. Although I understand they cannot “tweet” from every event they participate in, they should do it from all the major ones. For example, they were all but silent during the recent Singapore Air Show.

Second Place Winner: Manchester Airport  –  [ Website - Twitter ]

• Full judges’ comments: When Manchester Airport decided to use Twitter to communicate with its patrons, they went beyond the traditional “Press Release Distribution” usage many companies implement. They started immediately with a very clever and useful flight departure board feature. But most importantly they engaged with their audience by listening to the conversation and responding to it. The airport shops promotion tie-in to launch and grow the follower base was also very innovative. Manchester Airport have fully appreciated just how flexible and powerful the Twitter platform is, and are to be applauded for their use of it.
• Lessons learned: I liked…
  …how they launched the service with a promotion and an interactive feature. This is a great way to grow a base of followers very quickly and guarantee that users will remember the service. I like how they listen to the channel and respond to questions.
• Lessons learned: Improvement is needed…
  …in what the next interactive application will be. This is a two-way platform, what can patrons contribute? Employee nominations, report maintenance issues, parking issues, traffic issues? They should entice users to be part of a community of frequent users (segregated group?) that can feel an “ownership” in the airport operation. Also, using location based technology (such as FourSquare!) to run store promotions might be an interesting development.

Third Place Winner: NYC Aviation  –  [ Website - Twitter - Facebook ]

• Full judge’s comments: NYCAviation started with a group of NYC plane spotters with limited resources and is growing to a large community of aviation enthusiasts. They have successfully taken the feverish interaction found on their “traditional” website forum to the new FaceBook and Twitter platforms. This has translated to community growth and recognition.
• Lessons learned: I liked…
  …how they transitioned from a somewhat restrictive bulletin board platform to fully open social media platforms. They are often quoted in professional and main stream media because of the “freshness” and exclusive content provided by their members.
• Lessons learned: Improvement is needed…
  …in crowd sourcing applications. The main audience of the site is Plane spotters. Why not turn NYCaviation in a more interactive platform for them? Allow registered members to enter plane spotting locations and reviews. Use location base platforms to promote interaction in the field. Allow them to track interesting tail numbers in a database (similar to “Where is George”) and make it a game by keeping scores and showing top lists.

Should have been Nominated: ATP’s AskBob Community
[ Website - Twitter – Facebook ]

• My comments: AskBob was started by Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP) in 2006 as a simple blog for communicating with customers. As more and more customers started to interact on the blog, Bob Jones, ATP Product Marketing Specialist, started to foster forums between himself, his customers, other aviation mechanics and other experts on a number of subjects. In 2008, the blog grew to a full fledged community and embraced the idea that there is a wealth of experts in the industry who can share information, news, tips, and stories with a large community in search of answers. Expanding to Twitter and FaceBook was an easy next step from there and has allowed Bob and ATP to serve a growing community of almost six hundred members.
• Lessons learned: I liked…
  …how there is real sense of community on the site. “I cross post a lot of articles on LinkedIn and other forums, while others like NATA do the same on our site. Although I work for ATP, this is truly about sharing information and not at all about marketing. It is a real community service”, Bob told me during a phone interview. Beyond the aviation maintenance specific news posted in the forum, the features most important to the members are their ability to ask questions and to get training tips. Bob also goes out of his way to provide answers. He said: “once I figured out how to use Twitter as an interactive platform, I was able to get a huge amount of information from it and engage industry folks in real conversations.”
• Lessons learned: Improvement is needed…
  …in opening and delegating the community tasks. I am worried about what would happen to the community if Bob moved on. Others need to be allowed to get involved and help manage the site. In particular, the platform could be used by local mechanics communities and companies to deal with their own issues. Opening up usage to other associations and groups will also insure that the community grows and thrives for the long run.

I am sure there are many more examples of best use of Social Media in aerospace. Please visit this blog or follow me on Twitter to keep informed on this subject. Don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you’d like me to review your efforts or help getting started.