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.
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.
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.
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.
Last week was the second Singapore Air Show since its split from Asian Aerospace, and judging by the attendance and exhibitors numbers, it remains the third largest Aerospace event in the world after Paris and Farnborough. As I have done during previous events, I was watching the coverage online to see how the physical show transformed into a global virtual show on the web.
Once again the main industry media players dedicated separate sections for the show on their website. Aviation International News, Aviation Week, and Flight Global, all had teams on the ground to file stories, take pictures and create videos. The online content was similar to that produced at the recent Dubai Air Show with some minor exceptions.
AINonline
AviationWeek
Flight Global
Online Stories
132
27
80
Blog Posts
0
29
23
Photos
50
117
55
Videos
0
8
29
Onsite Magazine
3 days
3 days
3 days (online)
AINonline added a photo section to its coverage which although basic, shows that they are trying to add more online content to their otherwise still very austere but practical website. They also used Twitter (@AINonline) more aggressively with 55 posts drawing more traffic to their site. Chad Trautvetter, their Online News Editor, said recently that he would like to continue to expand their web coverage and is looking to hopefully add more show resources in 2010.
AviationWeek produced a very small amount of video compared to what they had at the last Paris and Farnborough shows; however the clips were edited with high quality. “That was our intention”, commented Greg Hamilton, Publisher, Strategic Media: “Our website statistics tell us that fewer better produced videos attract the professional audience we serve and generates longer browse time. In fact, photos bring the largest amount of traffic from our commercial aviation and defense segment.” That explains the larger amount of photos posted this time around. Even though on the surface it appears that AviationWeek posted fewer stories than the others, Hamilton explains that “we funnel our content in priority to our paying audience on the AviationWeek Intelligence Network (AWIN) and other daily newsletters. This behind-the-scene process was greatly improved for this show and we have received good feedback from our customers.” AviationWeek uses editorial discretion in terms of what gets posted to the main site as to not overwhelm the audience. Standing outside looking in, the AviationWeek online coverage has not changed for a long time. Every time I open the website, I have visions of square pegs and round holes. The brand is fantastic and the content first class, but it just doesn’t seem to come together very well online. However, Hamilton emphasizes that the content is what their target audience of middle aged, mid to senior executives, wants. Preferably in a traditional easy to use format (e.g. print or email) allowing them to be reliably informed and make trustworthy decisions without having to sift through overwhelming amounts of “information clutter”. This probably explains AviationWeek’s lack of focus on platforms like Twitter which was once again disjointed in Singapore. “We are just not seeing a professional use of it in the industry yet”, said Hamilton.
Flight Global on the other hand is almost taking the opposite approach. They are banking on online coverage and are continuing to build on the foundation they rolled out in Paris and improved at Dubai. However, there were three new additions for this show. First of all, the coverage was available on the new Flight Global iPhone app. Although this app is very primitive by iPhone standards, it gave the user on the move access to the blogs, posts and tweets of the whole team at the show. Second, they released a desktop application a couple of weeks before the show, which meant that you could receive Singapore Air Show coverage right on your screen as it happened. Third, and the “piece de resistance”, was the roll-out of their new online daily magazine for the show. Available from the website and from the desktop application, this hip “webazine” contained videos, photos and links to all the content generated at the show. Although “light” on in-depth content, I loved the new format. If was fun, engaging and easy to read and I could follow links to dive deeper into content that interested me. Then again, I was probably the target audience for that sort of thing. All the Flight Global offerings were “pushed” on Twitter in various well coordinated channels generating several interesting discussion threads. I had two trains of thoughts when I reviewed Flight Global’s online coverage.
First, I looked at the technology. They have now an integrated platform that flows seamlessly between website, blog, community, iPhone app, desktop app, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and FaceBook. They are publishing coordinated content on all these outposts trying to meet the audience where they “hang out” online. Michael Targett, Online and Digital Development Editor, explains: “as a publishing house we’ve been heavily investing in technology for the last two years or so. The vast majority of that technology has yet to even be released so we’re only beginning to flex our muscles as an agile modern digital publisher. Towards the end of this year, but much more in 2011, you will start to see even more offerings both in professional paid-for news and data tools as well as engaging free content.”
Second, I looked at the audience. Flight Global seem to embrace the future. They are capturing the essence of Aerospace coolness and are talking directly to the new generation of workers and managers at a time when A|D|S and AIA want to attract new talent to the industry. @FlightBlogger John Ostrower is the perfect incarnation of what I am talking about. He is not an Aerospace Engineer or an ex-industry executive. He is a young enthusiastic journalist that wants to share his passion with the world. It comes across in everything he does and it is contagious. It is true that some of the content he produces is hardly newsworthy and that trying to read everything that comes out of Flight Global can be overwhelming, but only so for a certain demographic slice of the industry.
So it seems that while AviationWeek focuses on serving their existing customer base while trying to find ways to attract the younger generation, Flight Global is moving full steam ahead to keep up with the new generation while trying not to alienate their existing audience. These two very different approaches are definitely worthy of a separate (and much longer) discussion.
However, Flight Global was not the only one going after the “new generation”. Respected Airline branding expert Shashank Nigam (@SimpliFlying) also made a push for Social Media at the Singapore Air Show. As you can see from this Top 20 list, he was the top contributor amongst the 1583 tweets posted by 315 unique accounts on the show’s #SIN10 stream.
simpliflying
125
Flightglobal
34
williswee
95
Priscias
32
flightblogger
62
defenseflak
30
roadshownews
56
HON_KC
24
AINonline
55
Social_Media_RT
24
Sarah_chong
51
prattandwhitney
23
aviationweek
47
HON_Carrie
22
SivaG
45
apgphoto
19
avtips
37
ATWonline
19
RunwayGirl
35
alert5
18
As a regular contributor to CNN and CNBC, he essentially tried to carry the “social media torch” to the show hoping that everyone in the industry finally opens their eyes to its potential. Although met with criticism from some (make sure to read the comments), I think he should be commanded for its efforts and enthusiasm. I think of Shashank as a prophet converting one aerospace business at the time to the brave new ways of Social Media.
And many more need converting, that is for sure. To Hamilton’s earlier point, this was yet another show where the organizers were totally absent from the online and social media scene. Also, few companies participated online. Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney were very active, but where were the others? Fresh from winning a Webbie for best Use of Social Media, it was disappointing that Northrop Grumman fell silent. Hopefully SimpliFlying will have converted Bombardier and they will start showing up soon.
So all in all, another great performance by Flight Global online, but much disappointment in the rest of the media and industry compared to what this kind of event “could” be if these platforms were used to their full potential like in many other industries. I remain positive and enthusiastic as I see many signs that change is afoot in this domain.
However, for an event that is trying to launch and grow, online coverage was completely ignored by the organizers. Of course you could Google “Bahrain Air Show” and find a mish mash of over 400 articles about the event, but there was no concerted effort to promote this opportunity using social networks before, during or after the show.
In 2010, it is no longer enough to build a “static” website and hope that people will come visit it. Event organizers must interact, broadcast, discuss and engage the global audience they are targeting. I feel that Farnborough International made the classic mistake: they strictly marketed this year’s event instead of using it to promote the next one.
Many Aerospace companies will always take a “wait and see” attitude toward new events, especially ones that require a significant investment. How do the organizers make them feel like they ought to be there next time? By involving them in the current event and make them realize they are missing something. It is called “buzz” and today it happens largely online.
So here are five things Farnborough International could have done better in Bahrain:
Build-up the show by centralizing information about the event and making it interactive: write a blog, create a twitter account, retransmit stories created by others, create a YouTube channel, solicit comments, and participate in the conversation.
Involve the participants: out of the 40 exhibitors, all of them have websites and at least 10 have a Twitter presence. Build up links to the sites, create a twitter list of exhibitors, feature it on the event website, and encourage the participants to share information about the show online.
Target future participants: what is it like at the show? How does it compare to others? What did the participants like? Use the various mediums (e.g. blogs, twitter, discussion forums) to share this information and interact. Not all of it needs to be public; you can have an access controlled exhibitor area in LinkedIn for example.
Crowd source new ideas and wishes: there is always room for improvement and further expansion. But this information is better captured during the event rather than weeks later. Leverage the social media platforms to gather this information as well as wishes for next time. This can then be used to create a better show in two years.
Do not end the dialog when the show ends: organizers should maintain a presence online during the gap between shows. Streaming news and information about the event or location, piggy back on other Aerospace events, and keeping the interaction going will keep the next show in the mind of the Aerospace companies that have to include it in their marketing budgets well in advance.
I know what you are going to say: that is a lot of work and with limited resources, we cannot afford to do much more than we have done so far. The secret is not to add resources, but instead to shift resources. Move away from the traditional promotion methods that have run their course and move budget and personnel toward social media to migrate into the newer way of interacting. A recent survey shows the shift in marketing methods for 2010.
As for participants, they can also take the initiative. Discussing the show and its positive happenings contributes to its success and validates the decision to invest there. ADS Group announced in Bahrain that they were opening offices in the Middle East, but they never posted it on Twitter. AIA told me that they wouldn’t be tweeting from Bahrain because their new media guy could not justify traveling there. But that is just the problem. AIA could “relay” information from the show onto twitter and still provide a valuable service to their members.
The upcoming Singapore Airshow (#SIN10 on Twitter) is gearing up to have a great online coverage, however not from the organizers but rather from Aviation Week and Flight Global. Other major aerospace shows seem to be going the way of Bahrain. I predict that the ones who embrace this technology, and particularly some of the ideas above, will definitely become more successful. It will be interesting to see what Farnborough International does for their summer air show.
A few months back I wrote about the “Three must-do for industry associations’ websites.” I received promising feedback from several prominent groups, so I thought I would check out their progress as we begin this New Year. I reviewed the websites of 42 Aerospace, Aviation, and Defense Associations websites, and the results are unfortunately dismal.
With every other industry embracing Social Media whole heartedly, it was not surprising to me that our community would be slow to react. However, recent signs of movement have appeared and I am starting to see traction from major Aerospace companies and many Airlines. All that have tried it are indicating early success and are eager to grow the use of Social Media in 2010.
Most of the associations I researched had very similar goals: promote the members’ capabilities, provide networking opportunities, gather feedback and create a “representative” voice. You would think that with these goals, associations would jump on the benefits that Social Media has to offer. But yet, most are completely ignorant of this new trend.
That seems to be the approach the National Defense Industry Association (NDIA) is taking by having twitter feeds set-up for some of events in 2010. This was no doubt inspired by the pioneering social media work done by its subsidiary the Association For Enterprise Information (AFEI)(Disclaimer: I supported those efforts in 2009). Despite some of its most prominent members such as Pratt&Whitney, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman going full speed ahead with Social Media in 2010, NDIA remains mostly uninvolved. But there are some rays of hope.
COULD DO BETTER
The venerable Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and its UK counterpart A|D|S (former Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC)), are both active on Twitter. Although @AIA_News mostly posts the main headline of its daily briefing, a couple of more interesting posts have appeared lately. Also the last few editions of their AIA eUpdate newsletter finally have the standard “Share” button at the bottom of their pages. I do not understand how this is not used more throughout the site. From the UK, @adsgroupuk has been a fairly active and militant account and I have seen a good bit of interaction with them. However, neither AIA nor A|D|S publicize their twitter account on their home page. There also doesn’t seem to be a Social Media strategy from A|D|S for the upcoming Farnborough air show, but that will be the subject of another blog post.
Patrick Carlson, Online Communications Manager at AIA, says that Social Media is a major agenda item for the association in 2010. The experimentation they did last year with the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) was very successful and they now need to determine the best way to engage various portions of the AIA audience from young people, to industry, and to staffers on the Hill. “We believe there is an opportunity here” said Carlson, “and you should see a lot more from us this year, particularly during the upcoming major Aerospace events.” That is very encouraging.
TOP OF THE CLASS
Three associations are noticeably ahead of the rest.
The National Air Transport Association (NATA) has established a presence on Twitter (@NATAaero) as well as on FaceBook. They responded to some of their pioneering members such as Duncan Aviation, Cutter Aviation, Priester Aviation and DB Aviation who are all active users of Social Media. They advertise their presence right on the home page, and they maintain an active blog. They provide members with the ability to interact mainly on the blog, but they do not have the ability to share information on other Social Media sites. Score Card: B-
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has been the most active and vocal about Social media. They have established a strong and active presence on Twitter (@NBAA) and on FaceBook. They have used social media at their events by taking advantage of hashtags. They even have had dedicated Social Media sessions at their conferences (See #NBAAsm). These sessions have generated huge interest and been very well attended and received. They are advertising their social media activities right on their home page and they have a “Share” button on just about every page. I would like to see a regular blog to round out their presence, but I guess it would be duplication the great job Benet Wilson is doing at AviationWeek’s Business Aviation Now blog. Patrick Dunne, NBAA Communications Manager, says: “Social Media is a great way to reach out to our community, participate in the conversation, and offer support. Even though our members have interacted on our AirMail forum system for years, we find the social media platforms offer new opportunities for engagement.” Score Card: B+
But by far the best implementation of Social Media by an Association can be found at the Air Force Association (AFA). No doubt encouraged by the US Department of Defense superb use of Social Media, the AFA has taken advantage of all the benefits of these platforms in its activities. From Twitter (@AirForceAssoc) to FaceBook as well as LinkedIn, AFA is omnipresent. Much activity is generated before during and after its events. The content on the site can be shared on other social media sites. And there are many good opportunities for interaction on the site and on the blog. Chet Curtiss, Director of Communications at AFA says their implementation of Social Media was an absolute requirement: “Our mission is to advocate and educate the American public and the younger audience in particular, about Aerospace Power. As technology started to evolve, we could not be left behind and Social Media is where the conversation is taking place.” Score Card: A+
CONCLUSION
In the days before the Internet, associations were necessary to help members of an industry interact with each other and to represent their common interest to the public and the government. However, with the advent of technology and Social Media, such tasks can be achieved easily without such intermediary and often opinions and information circumvent the associations.
Don’t get me wrong, I think trade associations are needed, but they need to adapt. They need to find ways of brining new benefits to their members and they need to embrace and exploit new ways of doing so. I believe Social Media is a great opportunity to be more involved with the membership and carry-on a true conversation. It can also be used in trade events and associations could do far worst than leading the way in its implementation and teach their members how to do it in turn.
The Aerial Refueling and JSF Dual Engine Programs are two major US DOD initiatives that have pitted several major Defense contractors against each other in search of elusive government budget awards. Even though these battles have been chronicled regularly in both industry and mainstream press, they have also been fought on the Internet through the use of Social Media. I thought it would be interesting to see how targeted websites, blogs, and Twitter have been leveraged by the various players. I will be using some of the measures from my “Social Media Report Card for the Top 10 A&D Companies” post to evaluate these initiatives.
Aerial Refueling:
Boeing KC-7A7 vs. Northrop Grumman/Airbus KC-45
Except for Northrop Grumman, these companies’ main websites do not use Social Media and yet, for this particular program, they have gone out of their way to provide a direct information channel. Here is what they are offering:
The Boeing Site is nice, clean and harmonized. It features a very active blog as well as a news feed right on the home page. The Blog is also available from an RSS feed or via email subscription. They have good comment solicitation in the blog and via a “Share Your Story” page. You can even request to be sent a free Boeing Tanker sticker (success measurement technique?). The Twitter account is advertised right on the home page.
The Northrop site does not have a blog but does have a number of additional functions to make its case. There is an interactive map of where the jobs for this program would go. It also has a “Contact Your Elected Representative” section that provides all you need to send a message to the appropriate official based on your zip code. The use of FaceBook is also unique and, although not specific to the program, it gives the KC-45 another channel to deliver its message.
Negatives:
The @USTanker account has been under utilized which is a shame since it could at a minimum post the press links published on the home page. There is also not a way on the website to post a link to the blogs or press releases elsewhere via a now standard “Share” button.
I think Boeing has a better platform, but they don’t seem to know how to use it beyond the traditional way of putting the URL on printed advertising. They should take advantage of the Twitter account and implement ways for people to spread the content.
Northrop Grumman should take some of the innovations it has recently implemented in its main site and put them on this site as well. They might want to create a dedicated Twitter account for the program and then retweet the posts in the main account as appropriate. Finally, the KC-45 message seems to be fractured with multiple voices trying to tell the same story but not coordinated or linked to each other. Coordinating facts, blogs, and news through a central website and twitter “mash-up” might be more beneficial.
JSF Dual Engine: Pratt&Whitney F135 vs. GE/Rolls-Royce F136
Where the Tanker debate has essentially focused on the DOD Procurement process, the JSF Engine battle has been much more about head-to-head combat. Social media has been used in this case to put forward a lot of arguments and opinions against the opponent. It has had much more negative undertones than the Tanker debate. Here are the platforms that have been used.
The Pratt&Whitney site is very professional and complete. It has all the main features plus integrated social media and blog. It has also a “Contact Congress Now” page. The @f135engine account is used very effectively and is very active. The blog is written expertly to amplify information that surfaces as well as dismantle counter-arguments from the opponents. The dedicated FaceBook page is also very active.
The GE site is a bit more austere and does not feature a blog. However, it does display the Twitter feed from @f136 which is a nice touch. The “Tell Your Senator” page is featured prominently and is much more elegant than the outsourced tool used by Pratt&Whitney. It offers the option to Tweet the Senators which is very smart. The program is also supported on Twitter by GE corporate accounts @ge_reports and @GETech_Infra. The later account has been an extremely vocal defender of the F136. I also like the fact that most of GE’s arguments (particularly on Twitter) are attributable to a specifically named employee or outside source. GE reports that traffic on f136.com has surpassed 100,000 unique visitors since the summer.
Negatives:
The F135 site offers very little direct feedback other than the “Contact Us” page. One can leave comments on the blog (powered by Blogspot) but they are moderated so it might not represent a true conversation. The parallel campaign waged by Citizen Against Government Waste has been called into question by some, and might have tarnished an otherwise very professional and effective use of Social Media.
The Rolls-Royce website offers very little information about the program and does not link to the f136.com website at all. There is also very little information in the official team website at f136engine.com. It seems to be redundant with the main site. Like the F135 site, the GE site provides little opportunity for feedback or conversation. The @f136 account is not very active.
Verdict:
Pratt&Whitney is practically setting the standard for Social Media use in this scenario. One small improvement would be to have tweets from @f135engine reposted to @PrattandWhitney rather than the other way around. Management is reportedly very pleased with the feedback it is receiving and the effort has been deemed a great success. Erin Dick, Communications Manager for Pratt&Withney Military Engines says: “By using Social Media we have been able to move into a conversation about the program rather than a one-way information distribution. We have been able to engage thousands of people from all over the country in the debate in a way we could have never achieved using traditional methods.” To that point, I would like to see more solicitation of feedback from the site.
GE needs to add a few of the elements used by the other companies to this website to make it more integrated and useable. A blog would be very nice to amplify the points made in the quotes and on Twitter. The excellent arguments and posts generated by @GETech_Infra should be reposted to @f136 (or vice-versa). There should be more links from the GE and Rolls-Royce sites to the program site.
Conclusion
Pratt&Withney seems to be the only one that has a well organized all encompassing plan of attack (pun intended) where others seem to have pieced a few tools together to “have a go at it”. All seem to still treat these new methods as another information distribution channel and I wonder when they will try to start “listening” more and react to the conversation rather than trying to drive it. You can follow the development via the two Twitter Lists I will be maintaining: Tweet4TweetTanker and Tweet4TweetJSF.
Nevertheless, I applaud all these companies for exploring the use of social media to address challenges in a new way. Hopefully, this will provide lessons and expertise that will lead to more use in the main business processes.
Jeff DeMarais, Executive Director of Global Communications at GE, (and the voice behind @GETech_Infra) seems to agree: “The social media campaign is viewed as a very successful component of a well-rounded and successful communications effort. We learned a great deal about the platforms and continued to optimize their use as the year went on. If you look back at GE Aviation’s social media efforts during the Paris Air Show and Oshkosh you’ll see that we’d been doing some very different things in 2009. The JSF dialogue helped us identify new areas to develop and we’re ready to tell our story in 2010.”
Yesterday was a really exciting day for the Aerospace industry with the fantastic first flight of the Boeing 787. After more than two years of delays, the beautiful bird finally took off and she was majestic. The event was covered worldwide in the main press and television, but many of us were simply riveted to our computer screen and iPhones for play-by-play of the action at Everett.
After the first flight of the Airbus A400M last week, this was the second such event where Twitter was a great source of up-to-the-minute information. FlightGlobal’s @flightblogger started posting the night before and delighted us with stories, pictures and even video of the event. Reading him made you feel like you were almost there. We got weather updates, a look behind the scenes, and even a detailed flight plan! Right before the flight, many of the folks lining both sides of the runway were posting updates and pictures. In total, the #787 and #787FF hashtags recorded over 2500 posts on Twitter in a span of 24 hours. Although CNN and FoxNews had live video streams (with ATC!!), their journalists were not well versed in the matters surrounding the event. Boeing also had a live webcast featuring seven different cameras but most of what was reported there had already been posted of Twitter earlier.
When the moment arrived, I had the CNN and Boeing videos side by side on my screen, as well as the twitter feed at the bottom. My very own news desk! I could feel the excitement build in my stomach as I saw the plane started to taxi (from two different angles) and could hear the cheers from the crowd. The Twitter posts were coming fast and furious from all corners of the world, in many different languages! This was an historical event and everyone in this great industry was overjoyed. @VictoriaOnAir posted what many felt: “So, did the eyes water as she took off :O) we cried like babies, here.”
As the flight continued, we could follow the aircraft’s every heading, altitude, and speed change live on Flightaware.com, and when ZA001 headed back to Boeing Field early because of weather, we were all ready to see the landing live online! In the evening, Randy Tinseth, Vice President, Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes posted a nice entry on his blog with great photos and informative links. All in all it was a remarkable and unforgettable day. And yet, I cannot stop wondering if Boeing missed a HUGE opportunity.
In the age of social media and instant communication, why didn’t Boeing take charge of online coverage and capitalize on this event (and the rest of the flight test program) to upgrade its imagine as well as inspire future travelers and young generations of Aerospace engineers? The industry always talks about attracting new talent, so what better image than this revolutionary aircraft taking off to foster new dreams?
Here are four things Boeing could have done to take advantage of this milestone:
1. Take charge of Twitter. Set up the hashtag early and start sharing information directly from the “horses’ mouth”. Select a few key personnel to share their behind-the-scenes adventure: ramp engineer, flight planner, program engineer, etc… They could each send one or two posts a day with a couple of exclusive pictures to create early buzz. Then on the day, they can take 30 seconds to send an update: “787_Ramp_Bob: ZA001 pushing back!” Set up a Twitter List of all the partners on the program and encourage them to share their views from a supplier and customer point of view. Finally, taking a page out of NASA’s strategy (see @Astro_Mike), even have a couple of posts from the pilots during the flight (i.e. relay them by radio! No distractions in the cockpit, please). Continue the stream of information throughout the test program. I guarantee many will follow.
2. Reach out to the fans. Set up a 787 FaceBook fan page and select 10 Boeing employees aged 30 or less to run it and share their adventures. Give them Flip cams and have them post videos and notes as well as answer questions. Young people want to “hang” with other young people. Show them Boeing is a hip and cool place to work. Run a video contest on YouTube for a 30 second clip about “Why I can’t wait to fly on the 787!” First prize: two seats on the first delivery flight! Again, take a page out of NASA and invite 50 non-professional bloggers to cover the event. NASA did that for the launch of STS-129 and it was a resounding success. Word of mouth is the best publicity one can get!
3. Use the technology. The Victoria Secret fashion show had its own iPhone App for a two-hour television show. Why wouldn’t the nine months 787 Test Flight Program have one as well? News, photos, videos, merchandise, job postings, contests can all be part of it. Again, coming across as a “modern” company is crucial to attract new generations. Finally, don’t try to do it all yourself. Boeing should partner with Flightaware.com to continue to show test flights. Partner with local tourism bureau to make it easy for people to witness the planes by providing tips, hotel and restaurant info, and up to date take-off/landing info.
4. Educate the students. Over the next nine months, multiple test aircrafts will take part in a grueling flight program with almost daily developments. Why not partner with educational publishers or local universities to develop high school lesson plans around the program. Think about the subjects that can be covered: math, physics, geography, environment, history, and information systems. Students want to see that what they learn is relevant to the real world. This airplane is very relevant and it may well inspire them to join the Aerospace industry.
So I wish we could have done this yesterday, but may be it is not too late. Many of these ideas can still be applied by Boeing and others (are you listening AIA?). I look forward to seeing what comes next and how the Aerospace will continue to venture online in 2010.
As we approach the gift giving season, I was thinking that the new Twitter Lists seem like the perfect present many organizations could give the Aerospace & Defense industry. This versatile tool, recently introduced by Twitter and now available on both TweetDeck and HootSuite, tremendously improves the ability to sort and manage industry interaction and knowledge transfer.
The basics
I follow less than 100 people on Twitter. Any more than that becomes noisy and inefficient, so I go for quality rather than quantity. I follow people that I trust and rely on them to share the information from others I might not be following. Using HootSuite and TweetDeck, I organize them in different columns (e.g. A&D Journalists, Social Media visionaries, etc…) so I can manage the streams in a focused and efficient way. However, on many occasions, I want to temporarily read a group of people on a particular topic of interest. Short of following and sorting everyone in rigid columns, it is nearly impossible. But now, the good folks at Twitter have recognized this shortcoming and created “Twitter Lists”.
Anyone on Twitter can now create a list of people and organize them under a single “topic”. You can then follow the list and see a “mash up” of all the tweets from the people on the list. Twitter lists can be assigned to columns in TweetDeck and HootSuite without having to follow each member on the list. You can read the very good overview of Twitter Lists on Mashable, so I am not going to spend too much time on the basics. However, where lists have taken off in many industries, our industry has once again lagged behind in their implementation. I therefore decided to suggest A&D lists that I think would help all of us and “appoint” owners that would have all the knowledge, motive and stamina to keep them up to date for our benefit.
Twitter Lists from A&D Media
Journalists: Both AviationWeek and FlightGlobal have already created these lists. However, I think it is important to have a hierarchical strategy and purpose for the twitter accounts and lists. Lists could be organized by subjects, publications or geography (bureau). But it is important not to mix or duplicate. I don’t like that AviationWeek includes their job account in the list. That seems like a separate category all together. I also think that if @AviationWeek and @FlightGlobal are going to be “headline repeaters” they should not be included. I can follow these accounts in my main stream to get the top info while following the journalist list separately to get the details.
Correspondents at a show: FlightGlobal was the first one to do this and I loved it. It listed which accounts would be reporting “live” from the recent Dubai airshow. Nice, easy and useful list. I think this is a model to follow.
Award Winners: Most media organizations already create “lists” in their magazines: Top Performing Companies, Web Awards, etc… Why not translate these lists in Twitter lists so we can easily follow the winners? This can also be extended to cover things like “Top 10 A&D companies”. (I actually created that one here)
Developing Story: Most big stories in our industry carry on for months at a time. Why not create a list of interested party so we can get the “raw feed” of what is going on. For example, there is a great Twitter exchange of opinions going on between GE and Pratt & Whitney regarding the F135 engine. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to follow a single list of all the people involved in this story?
Twitter Lists from A&D Associations and Special Interests
Members: This seems like a no brainer. NBAA, AIA, ATA, IATA, NDA, ADC and many others are all good candidates for this. Limitations on the number of accounts in a list might be a factor, but then associations can always create multiple lists (e.g. associate members). This is a great way to create a “voice of the industry”.
Working Group Committees: Each association has special committees working on specific topics. If these members create Twitter accounts to share their work on the subject and these accounts are organized in lists, progress can easily be followed by everyone else. Areas like environment and safety would be extremely relevant for these lists.
Government Committees: Most associations lobby the government is some capacity. Most government officials on the key committees are on Twitter. Why not create lists of relevant senators and congressmen on the various Aerospace & Defense committees so we can all follow what they are up to.
Job Lists: there is great debate and activity around job creation and safeguard in our industry. Wouldn’t the associations that have these kinds of initiatives centralize a list of twitter accounts that advertise A&D jobs.
Twitter Lists from Conference and Trade Show Organizers
Exhibitors: If I am going to attend an event that will have an exhibit area, I would like to know more about the vendors before I get there. I don’t want to have to go look at each website. I’d rather follow a single list for a few weeks before the show and while at the show to get the pulse of what is going on and help me decide who I need to see. How difficult would it be to collect twitter accounts from exhibitor registrations and provide such a list? This would also make an excellent twitter feed for the show’s webpage as well as an added “advertising” incentive for vendors that sign up.
Speakers: Most speakers that have Twitter accounts will reach out before they have to present and interact with their audience. Allowing conference attendees to watch the speaker stream would be very useful to make any event more interactive and educational.
Press Correspondents: Since press has to register at every event, why not provide a list of all the journalists that will be reporting from it. This is a great way to “mash up” all the news into a single stream to allow people to easily follow all the action while at the show or from far away.
Local Hotels and Attractions: For larger shows, attendees would love to be able to find out all the deals and activities going on around the event. Compiling a list of twitter accounts from local hotels, restaurants, bars and attractions would be very useful for the visitors and might even be a revenue generating opportunity for the organizers.
Twitter Lists from A&D Programs and Projects
Mission Participants: There are more and more participants in specific missions on Twitter. From recent space shuttle flights, to operation “Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan, it is possible to gather a list of participants in a single place and get the relevant information necessary for education and business strategy.
Contractors and Subcontractors: I believe in the future, large aerospace contractors will be setting up Twitter accounts for specific programs. For example, @NorthropGrumman might be providing high level information about the company while a new account like NG_B2 might provide more detailed information about the B2 program. Subcontractors could then follow suit and thus enable the creation of a list of all the accounts in for one specific program (e.g. All B2 Info).
Four Rules for A&D Twitter Lists
If you endeavor to create an Aerospace & Defense list, you should really consider abiding by the following four principles:
Avoid judgment: your list will be more successful and potentially less controversial if inclusion is based on facts rather than opinion. For example, “Most Talented BizAv Journalists” could be much more difficult to manage than “BizAv Journalists”. Generally, rules for list inclusion should be very specific and easy to handle. A user should be in or out without any grey area. It should also be as inclusive as possible.
Keep it up to date: unless you are prepared to update the list and keep it current, you should not create it in the first place. That is why I suggest you review the credentials of a list owner before you subscribe to it. There is nothing more frustrating than relying on a “lame duck” list.
Manage the relevance: In the list description, identify the relevance and timing of the list. For example, you could state: “This list is relevant only for the duration of the 2010 Farnborough Airshow” (HINT!). Including a “last update” date is also a nice touch. Deleting lists that are no longer relevant is essential to maintain credibility.
Advertise the list: unless people know you’ve created a list, nobody will be using it. Including a Twitter widget on your website that tracks the lists you have created is a good way to promote them, and use them. You can also use Twitter itself to promote your lists particularly with the #FollowFriday hash tag.
So if you work for one of the organizations listed above, I hope you will grant me my wish and create these A&D Twitter Lists. Otherwise if, like me, you would like to see these lists created, please point the suggested owners to this post. Feel free to suggest more lists or post comments. I always appreciate the feedback.
Dubai Air Show 2009, the 11th and largest in the biennial series with 890 exhibitors from 47 countries as well as 130 aircrafts on static display, concluded yesterday with an onsite order book of over $US13 Billion. Not bad for a recession, but significantly less than in 2007. It remains nonetheless a very important event for the industry, and as such draws a lot of attention from all corners of the world. Many get a chance to experience the show in person, but more follow the developments online. Here is my review of this year’s coverage on the web.
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE MEDIA
Although the show was well covered by worldwide mainstream media, the top three aerospace and defense magazines dedicated significant resources to the event. Aviation International News, Aviation Week and Flight Global each created a landing page dedicated to the show on their websites. Flight Global reprising and expanding on its great coverage at Paris (see “Paris Air Show Online Coverage”), provided a much more esthetically pleasing experience than the other two organizations.
However, many will argue that it is the content that is important. But judging strictly by the numbers, Flight Global also comes out ahead in this area.
Although overall less online content was generated than at Paris, some of my favorites were there. Flight Global’s daily video wrap-up by Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) and Jon Ostrower (@FlightBlogger) is always excellent, although they quit a day early to my great surprise and disappointment. Flight Global also brought out a full WYSIWYG version of their daily publication, catching up to Aviation Week which has had theirs at both shows. AIN did not provide theirs.
I feel that AIN was the least “Online” friendly of the three. Aviation Week did not seem to improve from Paris. In fact, I feel they went backwards, as they had only 1 video and a much disorganized Twitter presence (see below). Also, they decided to place a full screen Airbus A380 advertising as an entry page for most of the show coverage which was extremely annoying.
All in all, it was clear that Flight Global came to the show with a well conceived online coverage plan. Their online editor, Michael Targett, confirmed that they put a significant amount of work into their strategy. The web traffic numbers should show that it served them well.
I think Flight Global has set the bar for the other media organizations and the race is now on for Singapore just a few months away. For that show, I would like to see the news segregated in “channels” (e.g. BizAv, Defense, Space, and Commercial) and more online interaction with the trade visitors and exhibitors before and during the show. Singapore Air Show should also have very good cell phone data coverage, so smart phone applications might make their appearance. By the way, Flight Global has already released a primitive iPhone app.
TWITTER STREAM
After Paris, AUSA and NBAA, Dubai was the fourth major A&D show where Twitter was used. The organizers, Aviation Week and Flight Global all agreed on a (short) hashtag for the show (#DXB09) back in late October. From November 10th to the 19th, it was used in over 1100 posts by more than 180 unique contributors. It is half the contributions from Paris and five times less than at AUSA. However, I suspect this has to do with the availability of cell phone data coverage more than any other factor.
Looking at the top 10 contributors during the show, @RunwayGirl and @FlightBlogger, both from Flight Global, dominated the stream with 112 and 73 posts respectively. Flight Global accounted for 4 of the top 10 contributors.
The other twitter accounts belong to a variety of users, all very passionate about Aerospace: @Tangosix is a Serbian aviation journalist; @DefenseAviation links to an impressive blog managed by a student from the Mangalore University in India; @InflightCuisine reports on behalf of an online community of over 600 in-flight catering professionals; while @obsalah is the Head of Quality Assurance and Safety for the local company Al Jaber Aviation and has almost 1900 followers. In fact, the top 10 contributors count a total following of over 11,000 accounts. This audience does not include the numerous other people simply following the shows’ #DXB09 stream.
Aviation Week seemed disorganized in their use of Twitter. @AviationWeek and @AvWeekMorris posted very little, but most importantly, they did not use the event hashtag thus missing the majority of the audience. As always, but again from thousands of miles away, @AvWeekBenet carried the torch for the organization by providing a steady stream of updates finishing 15th in the contributor ranks. She also posted on her personal account (@BenetWilson) and was assisted by @ThingsWithWings who posted about various elements of Aviation Week’s Dubai coverage including links to Mike Vines’ great photos. @AvWeekJobs re-tweeted two of these photo links continuing to post “ThingsNotAboutJobs” on this account (Am I the only one that is bothered by this?). As an organization, Aviation Week produced 25 online stories, 29 blog posts and 4 days’ worth of editorial content for the show daily news. Yet, they only posted (collectively) 57 updates on Twitter. What is wrong with this picture?
Another disappointment was the organizers (@DubaiAirShow) participating only timidly before and during the show. They managed 6 tweets in 4 days; two of them re-posts from other contributors. I think they could have done better (see below).
The rest of the industry was equally shy. Honeywell (@HON_Carrie and @HON_KC) contributed the most (25 posts), while @Fly_cessna and @PrattAndWhitney basically checked in. @Airbus, @BoeingAirplanes, @NorthropGrumman, @BAESystems, @ThalesGroup and @RaytheonCompany were noticeably absent from the show stream.
Except for Flight Global, I think the concept of Twitter as a sort of “headline news ticker” that draws people’s attention to the rest of the content provided in blogs and websites seems to still be lost on most A&D companies.
THE ORGANIZERS
F&E Aerospace continues to do a remarkable job with the physical logistics of putting such an enormous event together. The event’s website contained a wealth of information for Exhibitors, Journalists, and Visitors. They did make an attempt at social media by adding a Twitter account, a LinkedIn group and a social media “Share” button, but these felt like afterthoughts with not much strategy around them. During the show, the website was updated with the official press releases and a few photos. I think a great opportunity was missed.
DubaiAirShow.aero should have been the absolute hub for all online activity before, during and after the show. The organizers are in the unique position to “mash up” content from all the media and the exhibitors in one place. They can share the excitement in the run-up to the event and provide its heartbeat during. Here are three ideas (Are you listening Farnborough?):
Stream information, pictures and video live from the show. Post time-lapse pictures of the exhibit hall construction. Provide live webcam of the press conferences. Update the number of visitors and the onsite order book as streaming data feeds on the home page. Show live video of the flight demos. Make the site fun and addictive so online visitors use it as their central hub well before the event and for its duration. I guarantee it will make more people want to attend next time.
Collect and publish each exhibitor’s website, twitter, and RSS information. Use this information to provide a centralized but segmented news feed (e.g. Corporate, Defense, etc…) directly on the website. Provide a twitter window for the #DXB09 feed.
Create interactive features before and during the show: voting on the flight and static displays by visitors; “must visit” exhibitor lists ranked by journalists; interactive forums about the local hotels and restaurants.
In a global economy, events such as the Dubai Air Show truly have a worldwide appeal. “Attending” the show online will never replace being there in person. However, better online coverage will expand the reach of the organizers and exhibitors, augment the business buzz, and definitely create the desire to be there in person next time. Next up is Singapore, then Farnborough. Let’s see if they learn from Paris and Dubai.
Based on the great success of the Social Media session at the recent NBAA annual event, I decided to further explore the topic with the business aviation audience through a very quick survey. The purpose was to quantify participation, catalog the interest, and collect (anonymous) demographics.
The survey was designed as a collaborative effort and then posted online for 5 business days. Participation was solicited mostly via Twitter, but also through posts in LinkedIn discussion boards. The complete result summary is available for download here (PDF). You can also contact me if you want the raw data in Excel. After reviewing the survey results, here are the 5 findings and 5 opportunities I discovered:
MY FINDINGS:
Contrary to many reports, 73% of respondents indicate that social media platform access is NOT blocked at work. However, companies that prevent access generally do it for all social media sites except for LinkedIn. Only 41% of companies have a Social Media policy.
LinkedIn is the premier e-Networking platform amongst business aviation professionals. Over 91% of respondents use it, but they indicated that looking for job postings was the least important use. They mostly use it to connect with colleagues and customers.
Social Media is used in the executive suite. 60% of respondents were at a Director level or above. 57% were 40 year old or over.
Twitter ranks highest amongst the platforms used by companies. Although it seems like all platforms are used fairly evenly.
Companies have added social media as an additional news/marketing channel. 67% of respondents indicate that publishing news is the most important use of social media platform, followed by marketing/promotion (44%). A full 48% indicate that recruiting is the least important use of Social Media.
Did you spot something else in the survey results? Do you have your own take? Please send me your feedback or post comments on this post and I’ll add it to this list.
OPPORTUNITIES:
Business Aviation is embracing social media at a good pace, probably faster than the rest of the A&D industry. Structuring the communications and properly combining websites, LinkedIn and Twitter will continue to be the trend. More can be done to use blogs as only 36% of respondents indicated their companies use them.
The best way to combat the perception that social media is for kids to play with their friends on FaceBook is to do two things. First, as John Keller (Chief editor, Military & Aerospace Electronics) discussed in a recent blog, start calling it e-Networking. When social media is used for business, e-Networking is really its purpose. Second, get your executives to start using e-Networking effectively.
I am a big believer in using e-Networking to enhance industry events and conferences. However, it seems like NBAA missed an opportunity, as most respondents indicated that the use of social media platforms made NO Difference in their experience of the event. There is much to be done in this area.
E-Networking is about interaction and conversation. Only 35% of respondent said that soliciting ideas was the most important use of social media for their company. I think that e-networking is about sharing and collaborating not lecturing or selling. For example, companies should move away from looking at Twitter as another channel by which to distribute press releases. It is much more than that.
I would like to thank the people that dialogued with me before and during the survey. Also, I would like to thank the tweeples that helped soliciting survey answers: @AWyss, @AvWeekBenet, @nonnyjorris, @NBAA, @CDHeisermann, @CutterAviation, @AeroPR, @ShowalterFlying, @GretemanGroup, @HeisteComm, @kevinmerritt, @FlightGlobal, @AviationWeek. What started as an experiment actually provided very interesting results. I would have liked more responses, but I wanted to run this survey as a Social Media platform experiment to validate its use as an interactive medium for our industry.
I would love to hear your feedback on this survey or on other surveys you think would be interesting. Please do not hesitate to contact me.
When Northrop Grumman announced their new website and solicited feedback on Twitter, I immediately checked out how they had used social media in their new design. Although there was a lot of progress from their previous version, I decided to analyze how they ranked against the websites of the other top Aerospace & Defense companies. Here are the companies and websites I analyzed:
Even though most of the companies have a main twitter account, there are some notable exceptions. GE is the most prolific with a number of accounts covering every aspect of their large business. They even have a really nice blog site (http://www.gereports.com – What’s happening at GE) that makes full use of social media. Boeing, EADS, UTC, and General Dynamics are the only ones that do not have a main twitter account although some of their subsidiaries do. (Note: @boeing does exist but is not owned by the company). Most puzzling is that Northrop Grumman is the ONLY ONE listing their twitter account on their home page. Why aren’t the other companies doing this? It makes no sense! Pratt&Whitney is listing their twitter account at the bottom of their contact page. Lockheed and Raytheon are referencing their accounts in some press releases and trade show pages (e.g. Paris Air Show). However, Raytheon has a special Twitter account for recruiting prominently featured in that part of their site. They also leverages FaceBook in their recruitment, the only company to publically do so from their main website.
(You can now follow the 10 companies’ Twitter streams from this Twitter List)
SHARING FORWARD
One of the important uses of social media is to be able to share news and information about a company or its products in other environments. Although all companies except for General Dynamics offer various RSS Feeds from their site, only three offer the ability to share information on other social media networks. Lockheed, Northrop and Raytheon provide the full social media “share” icon allowing users to broadcast a link to news and other information on Twitter, FaceBook, Digg, etc… The advantage of this method is that it allows companies to track where the news is posted and to subsequently follow the conversation. This is a major loss opportunity for the others.
INTERACTION
Soliciting feedback from the masses seems to still be foreign to the top A&D companies. Although a majority provides “private portals” were registered suppliers and customers can probably interact to a great extent (Note: I was not able to test this), NONE try to engage the website visitors in meaningful interaction. GE Reports has a “Submit your ideas” portal, but it is not specific to Aerospace. Raytheon has a “Connect with us” link at the top of the site, but it requires login. Sikorsky has a “Feedback” button at the bottom of most pages, but it is a generic email contact page. This is the one area where the Northrop Grumman site really disappointed me. Boeing recently launched http://www.unitedstatestanker.com that is a modern, interactive, social site with all the bell and whistles! (More on that here) Why wouldn’t they do that for their other offerings? I understand that our industry requires controlled and confidential discussions and collaboration, but is there no value is soliciting input from unknown suppliers and customers? Not all feedback needs to be public, but wouldn’t these companies want to know what other ideas or comments are out there? All the other industries seem think so, so why not us?
REPORT CARD
Based on all my observations above, I compiled this report card for each company:
Visibility
Sharing
Interaction
Overall
Northrop Grumman
A
A
F
B
Great other than sharing
Raytheon
C
A
C
C+
Extra points for social recruiting section
Lockheed
C
A
F
C
Good sharing, references to Twitter
GE Aviation
D
D
D
D
Extra points for gereports.com
Boeing
D
D
D
D
Encouragement points for unitedstatestanker.com
United Technologies
D
F
F
D-
Extra points for Pratt and Sikorsky efforts
EADS
F
F
F
F
BAE SYSTEMS
F
F
F
F
General Dynamics
F
F
F
F
Thales
F
F
F
F
Overall:
D
C
F
D
Having the newest website, Northrop Grumman takes the lead unsurprisingly. Boeing would be top if it expanded its tanker approach to the rest of the site. And GE could take a page of its GE Reports site and apply it to its aviation business unit. I also note that the three European companies rate at the bottom of list when it comes to Social Media. Many suspect this approach is not yet as popular in Europe as it is in the USA.
CALL TO ACTION
Based on my observations, all these companies could and should do much more if they want to stay in sync with their younger employees, evolving customers, and high tech suppliers. I suggest all of them take the following three simple steps as a good start:
Put a twitter badge on the home page and start publicizing and leveraging their account. This is an easy step and it will start the conversation. As discussed previously, get the executives involved in the process.
Put a Social Media “share” icon at the bottom of every press release, white paper, and product page of the website. Help people promote the information and track the conversations that ensues.
Create a “submit your idea” page and promote it in context throughout the site. Copy the mechanism and structure of http://www.defensesolutions.gov/ which has already sorted out the confidentiality and IP challenges this kind of page could generate.
I feel there is a definite first mover advantage for the A&D companies that will leverage social media in the near future. Integrating various communication methods and shifting from pulpit shouting to trusted conversation are the two most important steps these 10 companies can take to improve.
With every other industry embracing Social Media whole heartedly, it was not surprising to me that our community would be slow to react. However, recent signs of movement have appeared and I am starting to see traction from major Aerospace companies and many Airlines. All that have tried it are indicating early success and are eager to grow the use of Social Media in 2010.
Ludo Van Vooren, a 15 years veteran of the industry, blogs about eBusiness, Social Media, Internet Marketing, and International Business Development.
