Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, eBusiness Applications/Services, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, iPhone, Management, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, Association, BizAv, eBusiness, Marketing, NBAA, Social Media, Twitter
A week ago today, the2011 edition of the annual NBAA convention came to an end in Las Vegas. Although the show was a great success “by every yardstick” with over 26000 registered attendees, many business aviation professionals also rely on online coverage to figure out what are the industry trends. So, as I have done in previous years, here is my take on how the show fared on the internet.
News Outlet Coverage
As always the main aviation news outlet were out in force to cover the show. There were no less than 4 production rooms at the convention center where teams from Aviation International News, Aviation Week, Flight Global and NBAA relayed important information online. The content numbers were impressive:
| |
AINonline |
Avweek |
FlightGlobal |
NBAA |
| Articles |
230 |
21 |
130 |
55 |
| Blogs |
2 |
18 |
12 |
0 |
| Videos |
10 |
0 |
13 |
18 |
| Photos |
54 |
75 |
18 |
216 |
Daily
Magazine |
3 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
First of all, it was interesting see how NBAA stepped up in its own news coverage of the show with a team of freelance journalists and photographers. They produced quality material throughout the show and took advantage of their website and social media to distribute their content (some of it exclusive). Their website is a bit poor in potential interaction, but in my opinion, they did a better job than AviationWeek. AvWeek’s team continues to disappoint with the least amount of innovation, the smallest online content output and their ill-timed decision to part ways with their star reporter Benet Wilson (@AvQueenBenet) right before the show (although she did a very professional job covering the event for them from Washington).
For innovation, you had to look at AIN and Flight which both released a new version of their websites in time for NBAA. Both companies have recently invested heavily to upgrade their content management capabilities behind the scenes, which will allow them to grow the usability and features they can provide their online readers. At Flight, the changes were both cosmetic and premium user focused. It resulted in a redesign of the navigation features and (at last) in the introduction of a good comment function. As huge as these changes were internally, they left me and many other users underwhelmed by the new website. It is “OK”. I am sure the PRO users will get more for their money, but I did not get a chance to review that part of the site. For AIN however, the change in internal content management provided some much needed improvement to their old website. Because they switched to open platform Drupal, they were able to immediately take advantage of off-the-shelf widgets for twitter, Facebook and trending (showing the most popular article). It is definitely the most improved website of the four I reviewed and I really liked it. Because AIN continued to provide the most extensive content, in a well-designed new website, I think for the first time in my reviews, they have actually edged Flight Global for “best in show” (by the slimmest of margins).
With that said, all these news organizations continue to ignore the iPad as an important delivery platform at the show and off the show. These devices were everywhere in Vegas, and must be included in the content delivery plans of many aviation companies. Testing all websites for iPad compatibility is now a must. None of the four sites’ videos could be accessed directly (other than by jumping to the YouTube app). Furthermore, the daily magazines, available online on each respective websites, were not viewable on the iPad. And even though Flight Global and AIN have iPhone apps that work on iPad, but they have not been upgraded to take advantage of the content features of their new websites, nor do they feature conference specific filtering.
Social Media
Twitter was once again very active with over 2700 posts in the #NBAA11 during the show. The statistics from the archive show a healthy proportion of original content versus retweets as well as a crossover of users. Compared to last year the numbers are similar, but businesses were more directly involved with good interaction. A lot of companies took the opportunity to jump in for the first time, unfortunately most of them simply tweeted “Come see us at booth CXXXX”. Hopefully they have learned something by watching the event stream, joining others at the NBAA sponsored Tweet-up, or reading my advice (shameless plug!).
Amongst the companies most active in Social Media, Duncan Aviation continues to show exemplary behavior. They have been active on Twitter (@DuncanAviation) before and during the show, posted multiple blog entries, and deployed a show specific landing page that increased interactivity online as well as at the booth.
The Future
Technology continues to play a growing role in the world of aviation exhibitions. As mentioned before, the iPad was omnipresent both in delivering solutions, in marketing products and services, but also as an effective tool for attendees. The superior NBAA mobile app was also an interesting step towards changes that are upon us. For future shows, I think that the world of online and on site are headed for convergence with much activity taking place before the show online, while the actual onsite presence will become more efficient but will be shared online with others at the show and watching from afar.
Do you have any thoughts about NBAA or the future of this kind of show? Is there anything I missed online? Let me know what you think.
Posted by ludozone in eBusiness Applications/Services, FaceBook, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: eBusiness, FaceBook, International Business, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Now that many Aviation companies have woken up to the fact that they can no longer simply ignore Social Networking as part of their business strategies, I am often asked what should be the right approach to get engaged. Below are the five first things a company MUST do before deciding how and when to participate.
- CLAIM YOUR SOCIAL BRAND.
It is important for companies to realize that, for the most part, trademarks do not carry over to the cyber world. Just like with domain names, companies do not have a guarantee that their brand name will be available in social sites. For example, @Boeing on Twitter is NOT owned by Boeing Corporation. So the first thing to do is to claim accounts in all the main sites before they are gone. You can use namechk.com to find availability in a single search. You should probably claim the most important sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, WordPress/Blogger, and Flickr. Set-up the accounts using new email addresses like twitter@mycompany.com to maximize flexibility in the future. Grab all the main accounts even if you might not use them in the future. If a key site is not available, pick one brand for the majority of the sites and a derivative for the unavailable sites. For example “MyCompanyVideos” might be a good alternative on YouTube. Keep a central register of all your Social Media accounts with usernames, passwords and associated email accounts. Leave the accounts’ public profiles to the bear minimum until you are ready to use them.
- ORGANIZE YOUR LINKEDIN UNIVERSE.
Search for your company on LinkedIn. Claim the company profile and edit it to your satisfaction. Include links to key parts of your website (i.e. careers), and review the groups that might already be related to your business. Create two official groups: MyCompany News (public group managed by your marketing folks), and MyCompany Current Employees (private group managed by HR). Leave them empty for the moment (more on that in step 4 below). Take stock of your employees already on LinkedIn and make a general quality assessment of their profiles.
- ORGANIZE YOUR TWITTER UNIVERSE.
It is very likely that if you end up using Twitter, you will have multiple accounts. For example, you might use @mycompany as the main account but you would have @mycompany_jobs for career opportunities and discussions. Think about the account structure you would like to have and register the key accounts you might need. If @mycompany is available, it is unlikely that that @mycompany_anything would be taken. This is not as much to grab the actual accounts as it is to establish a nomenclature and structure for your future accounts. As with step 1 above, don’t forget to set up distinct email addresses for each account and put them in your register. Remember also that key members of your staff might have personal twitter accounts that should not be mixed in with their business activities. For example, Bill Smith might be your CEO and he might be active as a volunteer in the community. He might use @BillSmith for his private posts and you might want to create a @mycompany_CEO for his business posts. Do not create
@mycompany_BillSmith because you will have to change it if/when he leaves. Instead put his name in the profile and change it when necessary. It works the same way with the associated email address which should be CEO@mycompany.com rather than BillSmith@mycompany.com. Make sure to create a @mycompany_employees account which you will use in your policy enforcement (see step 4 below). Set-up minimum profiles for each accounts and clearly indicate in the profile if these accounts are dormant to avoid any misunderstanding or judgment. Finally, set up the accounts structure in HootSuite or TweetDeck to be able to read/manage the multiple accounts in a single powerful interface.
- ESTABLISH A SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY.
The good news here is that most of what needs to be covered should already exist in other policies. Social Networking is really not different than email, although you might have less ability to control distribution. You need to simply remind employees that amongst others, your confidentiality, responsibility, and harassment policies fully apply to social media and will be enforced equally. In addition, you should mandate that your employees declare their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts to you. This is simply to enforce your policy. You do not need access to these accounts, connect with them, or “friend” them. You just need to know that they exist. You should encourage your employees to keep their Facebook accounts locked and perhaps offer them a class on how to set that up. You should follow every employee’s Twitter accounts from your @mycompany_employees account to monitor potential breaches of policy. Employees should also be required to “like” your FaceBook page so they don’t miss important public news and announcements. Finally, you should mandate that everyone who has an account on LinkedIn join the private “MyCompany Current Employees” group for internal communication and discussions (Tip: LinkedIn has the ability to create subgroups for specific projects/departments). As an appendix, you should publish a list of all your Social Networking accounts with a clear responsible person or department associated with each.
- LISTEN BEFORE YOU TALK.
After you have established all the accounts and policies listed above, it is now time to listen. DO NOT start posting “Hello World” messages on all the platforms. Each tool must be part of a coordinated Two-Way communication strategy. Be sure to set-up Google alerts for your company, products and areas of expertise. Set-up saved searches in HootSuite or TweetDeck to mine the Twitter conversations. Join a few key groups in LinkedIn and set-up weekly group email reporting. Create reporting metrics to quantify the activity you witness in each channel. Listening to the conversations that are taking place, finding out where your audience “hangs out” (including employees), and deciding what channel to use for what purpose is extremely important to developing a strong social networking presence.
After you accomplish these five steps, you can start to define your approach and goals. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try small projects. That is the best way to learn. You might want to read my post on “How to effectively combine website, blog, and Twitter?” for some ideas of how to move forward. But even if you decide to stand back for a while and just listen, at least you will be assured that a strong Social Networking foundation has been set up for your company and employees.
Do you have questions about these five steps? Are there other things you think should be added? Please leave your questions and comment below or email me directly.
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Management, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, eBusiness, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Last week, the MRO Americas conference and exhibition hosted by AviationWeek in Miami Beach was the largest in the 16 years series. Clocking in at over 8500 attendees and 950 exhibitors, it was good to see the buzz in back in this segment of the industry.
Both FlightGlobal and AviationWeek were reporting from the show by posting a constant stream of blogs, pictures, and videos on their respective show landing pages. FlightGlobal sent their aviation web celebrity team of Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) and Jon Ostrower (@FlightBlogger), both of whom continue to bring their unique brand of refreshing reporting to the industry. But it was AviationWeek showed notable improvement in their online presence. Largely attributed to the leadership of new President Greg Hamilton, AviationWeek was here in full force from the editorial, sales, and event sides of the business. They all seemed re-energized by the enthusiasm of web-minded talent such as Rupa Haria (@AvWeekRupa) and Alejandro Wyss (@AWyss). 
For example, @AvWeekEvents credited Alejandro for the idea of the innovative Twitter Electronic Boards in the lobby and exhibit halls which many thought were a great addition to the show. Beyond the conference hashtag (#MROAM), the conference also had a Four Square location and a fun tweet-up to get attendees, suppliers, and web followers connected. This resulted in the best performance by the AviationWeek online team to date with much promises for the future.
Beyond an excellent use of twitter by the two news organizations as well as veteran social media users such as @DeltaTechOps , it was good to see a number of suppliers jumping into the conversation, many for the first time. The #MROAM conference stream registered over 600 updates in a period of three days, even briefly trending on Twitter during opening day. But it was obvious by the posts coming from the newbies that they were not really sure how to use the medium. So here are 3 pieces of advice for using twitter effectively at large tradeshows:
1) People talking about you is better than you talking about yourself
Too many suppliers simply said something like: “For a great demo stop by booth 3145”. This is not enticing to an attendee as much as if a journalist says your demo is worth seeing (as did @AvWeekKristin), or a customer proclaims their satisfaction with your services. So rather than tweeting about your own great virtues, ask journalist and customers to tweet about you. That is 10 times more credible
2) Don’t Shout, Converse
The proper use of Twitter is in the form of a conversation. Leave the news flash to the professionals. Instead, ask questions or engage attendees in conversations: “What did you think of this comment?”, “What swag do you like best?”, “What innovations have you noticed in the exhibit hall?”
3) Be helpful without being overbearing
Try to think about what would interest you if you were an attendee to this conference. What would be helpful to you? But if you have nothing to say, don’t retweet other posts. Retweeting is not the equivalent of the FaceBook “Like” button. If you like what someone says, simply reply to the post with a thank you message rather than a re-tweet. This is especially important when you have far less followers that the original poster. If you feel that your audience could benefit from the original post but might not be following the conference stream, retweet it, but by removing the conference hashtag from the post. This will eliminate a lot of noise from the channel and make everyone happier.
For additional tips on how exhibitors can use Social Media at tradeshows like MRO, you can check out my review from last year’s show entitled: “Missed Opportunity for Exhibitors”.
The next big show will be Paris Air Show this summer. With both AviationWeek and FlightGlobal promises new web updates and other goodies for the show, as well as many suppliers entering the social media fray, it will surely be the strongest A&D online event to date. I can’t wait to witness it.
What would you like to see happening online at Paris Air Show?
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Management, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, eBusiness, Marketing, NBAA, Social Media, Twitter
In her excellent NBAA Social Media preview, Benet Wilson of AviationWeek (@AvWeekBenet) predicted correctly that this year show would be well covered on Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube and LinkedIn. Well, a few days after the end of a very successful show in Atlanta, it is time to analyze the results.
First of all, the ambiance at the show was much more optimistic than in the last two years, so there was a lot more to report. The major Aerospace publications all had a strong presence on-site. They each put out 3 show dailies that were distributed online. The format was similar to that of the Farnborough editions, with the exception of AIN which managed to produce much more professional video through their AINtv brand. They also added blogs for the first time which is another step in the right direction.
In terms of volume and quality of information produced, AIN continues to lead with the largest amount of news stories, while AviationWeek took the lead in blog posts due mostly to the personal involvement of Bennet Wilson who was actually on the ground for once! Flight Global continued their casual style of video reporting with the @RunwayGirl and @Flightblogger team. As usual, Mary Kirby stole the show but her style is perceived as too cavalier by some. I personally disagree and the number of YouTube views seems to side with me.
The bottom line numbers go as follows:
| |
News Stories |
Blogs |
Videos |
| Aviation International News (AIN) |
285 |
4 |
10 |
| AviationWeek |
33 |
41 |
1 |
| Flight Global |
103 |
23 |
12 |
But there were other big changes compared to last year’s show. First of all, @NBAA was itself much more active in Social Media. As I suggested in my analysis from last year, they were much more engaged with the people attending the show. They used Twitter a lot and maintained a very active Facebook page with plenty of good information. They also catered to the people who could not attend by providing their own NBAA News Bureau. Finally they once again hosted the very popular NBAA Social Media panel (See report from ABCI’s Paula Williams) which was attended by over 100 people and is now available as online video(s).
Secondly, there were a lot more people reporting directly from the show using Twitter. Over the period of Nov 18-22, over 2200 tweets were sent on the #NBAA10 stream. That is nearly double the volume from last year. Looking at the list of top users below, I am pleased to see a healthy mix of media, large OEMs, suppliers and service providers. Embraer, Boeing, Airbus and Dassault are noticeably absent from the list while Bombardier and Gulfstream gained great exposure with their brand also showing in the top words tweeted from the show.
[Click picture to enlarge]
Finally, there was also the first ever tweet-up at the end of the show. Sponsored by allFBO.com, it was attended by many of the people from the list above and generated a promise for bigger and better things to come in the future.
For now, NBAA takes the crown for online coverage amongst all the shows I have analyzed in the last two years, so congratulations to all on a job well done.
What were your impressions of the show? Please share your comments and highlight below.
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, Boeing, Farn10, Farnborough Air Show, International Business, Social Media, Twitter
In every one’s opinion, last week’s Farnborough Air Show turned out to be more exciting than previously anticipated. The 787 fly-in, large aircraft orders and a generally optimistic mood contributed to a great success. But this show was not constraint to just an airfield southwest of London, it was also experienced online by thousands of professionals from all corners of the world. Compared to last year’s Paris Air Show, Farnborough brought many innovations and expansions online.
INDUSTRY MEDIA
The three main aerospace publishers were once again present at the show and online. Aviation International News (AIN), AviationWeek, and FlightGlobal all set-up camp on-site to produce the traditional daily publications that have been handed out to attendees for years. As it is now customary for each major show, they also created an event landing page on their website to broadcast news and information. Each organization produced a massive amount of reports:
| |
AIN |
AviationWeek |
FlightGlobal |
| Dailies Produced |
4 |
4 |
4
(+3 online) |
| Articles |
196 |
35 |
591 |
| Blog Entries |
N/A |
41 |
72 |
| Pictures |
165 |
120 |
205 |
| Videos |
N/A |
27 |
31 |
AIN and AviationWeek used the same website than at previous airshows (See Singapore review) with no significant new features. I am sure that loyal followers of these websites are comfortable with their formats. However, I did not like the obtrusive advertising that seems to be creeping up with each new show. The AviationWeek site in particular now seems to feature more company logos than your average race car! But according to their own press release, AviationWeek’s steady coverage of the show seems to resonate with their internet audience.
By contrast, the online innovation leader was once again FlightGlobal. Not only did they produce the most content, their new “Tree of Communications” website is clean, fully featured and easy to use. It integrates multi-media information with all the social tools required in modern information publishing and manages to do it in a slick and cool interface. The online audience is reacting well to the new design according to these record-breaking internet traffic figures. I tend to agree. Here are some of my favorite highlights:
- Links, links, links: using their extensive tagging engine, most pages you browse automatically display a list of related articles, videos and pictures. It is very easy to navigate and allows you to dive-in. Articles can also be sorted by popularity (most viewed) or by ranking (based on user feedback). The blog entries are an easy way to start your daily show review as they provide the links to the various pieces of information related to each subject.
- Videos: as I have mentioned before, the FlightGlobal daily wrap-ups are my favorite. The dynamic duo of FlightBlogger and Runway Girl were once again in rare form while bringing us the show essentials in a fun and casual daily report. Critics will say that the videos are amateurish at best, but I think this is much more engaging for the new generation of Aerospace workers than reading endless pretentious reports. However, I will say that for feature pieces, AviationWeek demonstrated their maturity and professionalism under the leadership (and impeccable voice-over) of accomplished broadcaster Ed Hazelwood. Just compare AviationWeek’s “787 Arrives Farnborough” versus FlightGlobal’s “John Ostrower takes you on a tour of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner” to see the difference. This is one area where AviationWeek has definitely improved since Paris, and where FlightGlobal could invest a bit more time.
- Show Guide: Although AviationWeek’s Show Guide is full of information and practical information, its PDF format misses the opportunity to provide much better online content. I love the static display map provided by FlightGlobal with each aircraft linked to a full profile with related articles, pictures and videos.
- Live flight display: in cooperation with FLIR Systems, each afternoon’s flight display was rebroacast online. This was a nice addition to the site especially when the picture would switch to infrared mode and show the heat profile of some of the airplanes.
- FourSquare: FlightGlobal organized an online contest using their Stefan the Pilot profile to highlight different areas of the show. Using FourSquare, Stefan “checked-in” to locations of interest and challenged others to follow him. The person that managed to follow Stephan the most by the end of the show won an iPad. This is once again an interesting experiment by Flight Global that has the potential of providing new avenues for sponsorship and revenues for the publisher.
All industry media companies were also very active on Twitter, with AviationWeek and FlightGlobal producing the most updates from their main accounts as well as from a group of on-site and off-site journalists. Compared to last year, AviationWeek did a much better job with Twitter under the incessant enthusiasm of @AvWeekBennet. But I feel it still lacked the “play-by-play” feeling that the on-site Flight Global team delivered. The Twitter statistics seem to confirm that fact, with Flight’s @FlightBlogger being the most retweeted contributor to the #FARN10 stream. But I think that is a matter of personal preference. Judging strictly by comparing @flightglobal and @aviationweek, I think they were very similar in presence and quality.
In conclusion, and compared to last year, AIN stayed the same; AviationWeek improved its social media presence and video production; while Flight Global continues to embrace the online environment with more innovation and more content.
THE INDUSTRY
While the main Aerospace players were barely active online at Paris last year, Farnborough saw an explosion of online content from most of them. I think these companies finally realized that the show plays out online as much as on the ground. As I recommended in this article, most of them created dedicated microsites for the Farnborough air show. The content included:
| Company |
Show Schedule |
Videos |
Pictures |
Blogs |
| Airbus |
N |
16 |
93 |
N |
| BAE SYSTEMS |
Y |
9 |
0 |
N |
| Boeing |
Y |
32 |
41 |
34 |
| Bombardier |
Y |
15 |
24 |
N |
| EADS |
Y |
19 |
65 |
7 |
| Lockheed |
Y |
2 |
25 |
N |
| Northrop |
Y |
6 |
31 |
N |
| Pratt & Whitney |
Y |
0 |
0 |
N |
| Raytheon |
N |
3 |
13 |
13 |
| Thales |
N |
0 |
53 |
8 |
Out of all these microsites, here are some of my favorite highlights:
- Boeing’s onsite videos were very professional and to the point. They produced 32 reports for the show (most of them on site) while maintaining a very high level of quality and interesting content. Boeing posted their videos in their own library, while Bombardier, EADS, Lockheed, and Raytheon used YouTube to store their videos which I think might get them more views in the long run.
- Of those that posted their show schedule and show contact information, I liked how Boeing linked the executives’ pictures and bio right from the schedule page. I think it is important to show attendees who is who at the show so they can be recognized from their picture.
- BAE Systems and EADS provided 3D guided tours of their booths with links to the various product and programs being displayed. I found this particularly interesting for power users who will want to plan their visit ahead of time. Thales also provided a booth description along with a “how to find us” page which I found very useful.
- Raytheon provided a nice media coverage section with links to stories from other media organizations about Raytheon. I think this was a clever way to provide more content on the microsite.
For the top industrial players, Farnborough also saw a significant uptake in the use of Twitter. While EADS and SuperJet just joined the platform for the show, most of the others took advantage of the social media tool to distribute their information online and bring people to their dedicated microsites. Most advertised their Twitter presence online with some of them, such as Boeing, even providing an integrated twitter feed applet. A comparison of the numbers of followers from a year ago shows the undeniable uptake in microblogging:
| Twitter Account |
Followers at 2009 Paris Air Show |
Followers at 2010 Farnborough |
| @BoeingAirplanes |
0 |
7256 |
| @LockheedMartin |
268 |
4339 |
| @NorthropGrumman |
680 |
3139 |
| @RaytheonCompany |
625 |
2909 |
| @EmbraerAeronaut |
3 |
1673 |
| @PrattandWhitney |
351 |
1485 |
| @Bombardier |
53 |
1419 |
| @BAESystemsInc |
0 |
1146 |
| @ThalesGroup |
76 |
728 |
But not all companies did well when it comes to online presence at Farnborough. Embraer, General Dynamics, GE, and Rolls-Royce had NO online presence. Airbus, BAE Systems Corporate, General Dynamics and Rolls-Royce don’t even have a Twitter account! Also, the Airbus, EADS, and Thales microsites did not offer the now standard “Share” button for users to be able to disseminate information throughout the social media cloud. I think this will turn out to be a significant disadvantage in the future.
With their new website and Farnborough microsite, I think Boeing has really taken the lead in online presence and is a great example to follow. Some of the others had original ideas that are worth noting as well. However, I think the show organizers and the smaller exhibitors once again missed the opportunity to make a difference online which continues to disappoint.
What were your thoughts about Farnborough online? What are the things you liked and didn’t like? Please share your views in the comments below. All opinions are welcomed!
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Management, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Two major A&D shows followed in rapid order over the last three weeks, and looking at the online coverage of Maintenance, Repairs, and Overhaul (MRO) Americas and the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), there were no major new developments when it came to the coverage of these shows on the Internet. Needless to say, that was disappointing.
As usual, the full press corps was present. Even though MRO Americas was organized by Aviation Week, Flight Global had sent a four people team to cover the show. At EBACE, those two organizations were also joined in Geneva by Aviation International News (AIN).
For MRO Americas, AviationWeek and Flight Global had their usual website landing pages with Flight also producing their online flight daily chuck full of videos during two of the three days of the show. Reporters on the ground posted blogs and used the Twitter effectively. News from the show was also available in Flight Global’s iPhone application.
For EBACE, the organizers were the first ones to try to expand the use of internet during the show. They designed a basic web-based mobile application with schedule information, exhibitor list, floor plan, and news feed. They used twitter (@ebace) before and during the show to provide information and updates in the #EBACE stream. This was a good start that I hope other organizers will pick up and improve on.
On the media side, AIN joined the fray with their regular website landing page, adding to that of AviationWeek and FlightGlobal. AviationWeek did include videos in a couple of their online ShowNews (a first!), but as usual, none of the content from the daily magazine was repurposed on the website (I sound like a broken record!). In fact, if you want a media review of this show, you can read my blog about the Singapore Air Show and change the name of the conference.
I must also point out that @AvWeekBenet was able to attend EBACE in person and that the Twitter feed from AviationWeek was finally of much better quality than that of previews shows. However, all three news organizations could still improve on their online coverage as discussed previously. To best describe the ideal coverage, I would say that I would want to see AIN’s news content in FlightGlobal’s multiformat web platform delivered to AviationWeek’s online audience.
But to be fair, the industry press had these two events well covered online. The 6,000 attendees of MRO Americas and the 11,000 attendees of EBACE certainly were well-informed and so were the ten of thousands of unique visitors that followed on Twitter and came to the AviationWeek, AIN and Flight Global websites during and after the shows. So with such huge information pipe available to them, why didn’t the approximately 800 exhibitors of MRO Americas and the 450 exhibitors of EBACE take more advantage of online coverage?
The MRO Americas exhibition floor was open for 16 hours over a period of three days. As with many events, it was open in parallel to conference sessions for most of that time. Assuming that the average attendee would spend 3 hours a day on the show floor (which in my own experience would be enormous), and would spend 15 minutes to have meaningful interactions with each exhibitor visited, it means that in an ideal situation, 36 exhibitors would get visited by each attendee. That represents 1 company visited for each 20 exhibiting. For EBACE the numbers work out to approximately 1 out of 10. For Farnborough and Singapore, it might be has high as 1 out of 50 or more. As if that was not bad enough, small exhibitors have to compete against larger companies that will attract attendees by default and keep them for longer periods of time. Which means that if you are not Honeywell, Embraer, or Rolls-Royce, your odds of getting visited are heavily stacked against you.
In the past, companies used traditional methods to try to bring people to their booths: use printed advertising, press releases and sponsorship to promote their booth number; make their booth attractive (ooh shiny!); or “buy” as many random business cards as possible with contests, drawings, or give-aways. But today, it doesn’t work that way anymore. The Power Attendees (the ones that matter – not the ones on a “business vacation”) have a pre-determined list of vendors they want to see. They come to the show with a target list and they try to fit them all in. There is no “browsing”, there is no “I wonder what this company does?” Who has time for that anymore?
These days, business is all about efficiency and that goes for attending trade shows as well. Power Attendees will have a predefined rigorous program established before they get to the event: fly in; attend specific sessions (and skip others); visit specific exhibitors; set aside time for email, phone calls and exercise; socialize with industry acquaintances; and fly out.
As an exhibitor, you have to realize that in today’s world, there are only three reasons a Power Attendee will visit your booth:
- they have a pre-existing direct interest in your product (e.g. existing customer, pre-show marketing campaign)
- they are steered toward your product by the industry media or an independent conference speaker
- you are recommended by someone they trust attending the conference.
You should use the web to help develop these reasons and increase the chances of getting visited by the Power Attendees. The basic approach would be to use the trade show to TEACH attendees something rather than to SELL something. What is more attractive: “Stop by the booth the see my new sensors”, or “Stop by to learn the three factors that make old sensors malfunction”? If you are good at teaching and your sensors do address the three factors, you will sell them – implicitly!
With that approach in mind, here are three things should do before and during the show:
- USE YOUR WEBSITE: create a specific landing page related to the event you are attending. So many exhibitors simply put up a link from their event page to the event home page without taking the opportunity to explain why attendees should be interested in visiting them at the show. Create a page that is specific to your participation at the show. Provide a compelling argument about what you want to teach them (perhaps as a short video), provide information in advance such as a white paper (download it in exchange for contact info), and solicit feedback. If a potential attendee posts a comment on your event page saying “excited to come see you at the show”, it will definitely pique the interest of other attendees. Allow attendees to share a link to your show page with others via email or on social networks. Provide practical information about who will represent you on the show floor. Indicate when you will be there (specifically) and where you can be found. List names, function, specialties, cell phone numbers, email address, and twitter accounts. Provide your associates’ pictures. Simply put, make it easy for attendees to find you. Remember to draw the media to your show page so they might have an interest in discussing your educational approach prior to the show (not necessarily in an article, but on a blog or on twitter).
- TAKE PART IN THE PRE-SHOW CONVERSATION ONLINE: prior to the show, start talking about what you want to teach attendees on Twitter, and in online forums such as LinkedIn. Several events set up specific groups or Twitter hashtags prior to the conference where attendees can network before they travel. AviationWeek and Flight Global also have free forums sites (AWConnect and AirSpace respectively) that are a great place to discuss the challenges you are trying to solve. Be non-commercial in your discussions, leverage the website landing page you have built and invite the attendees to connect at the conference.
- INTERACT WITH ATTENDEES ONLINE DURING THE EVENT: monitor the conference stream on Twitter and get involved in the conversation. Try to contribute rather than sell. Gain respect for your expertise in the community. Find out what the “buzz” is, our create your own. Create “impromptu” events over twitter by gathering people of similar affinity or background at a lunch table or at the bar after hours. Involve the press in the discussion. Post answers on their blog posts, upload pictures or even short videos to the conference site or YouTube.
Events are using the web more and more to promote and manage their events. The industry media is jumping on the band wagon (we various degrees of success), but definitely creating buzz. Vendors who are not taking advantage of this media to their advantage are definitely missing out. And despite what many believe, you do not need a big budget or a large staff to take advantage of this opportunity. If you want to check out a company that does this well, check out Duncan Aviation’s EBACE page and follow them on twitter (@DuncanAviation). They understand the digital environment and they are getting ahead!
Are you taking advantage of the Internet when exhibiting at an Aerospace event? Share your story, ask your questions, or share some tips here. We would love to hear from you.
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Boeing, Social Media, Twitter
If you read my post about the Social Media Score Card for the Top 10 Aerospace Companies, you noticed my lament at the absence of Boeing on the scene. So imagine my excitement when Boeing actually launched not one but three Twitter accounts last week, followed this week by a major website redesign.
Talking to Todd Blecher, Communications Director at The Boeing Company, you get a sense of why they waited to jump into the Social Media mania: “We have been observing Twitter for a while and have learned a lot from Boeing experiments such as UnitedStatesTanker.com and Randy’s Journal. We did not want to rush into Social Media platforms without having something interesting to say. Simply getting on Twitter or on FaceBook is not a productive Communication strategy in itself.”
Boeing felt that with a million unique visitors per month, Boeing.com needed to be the hub on which a new strategy could be rooted. “But we wanted to make sure that if we brought people to the website via Twitter and other means, the experience was not boring or targeted only at our obvious audiences such as airlines and government. We wanted to create a reputational enhancement strategy that will better the opinion of Boeing amongst other audiences such as future employees and the general public.”
The new website is organized around a handful of featured stories that focus on the people and customers of Boeing rather than just the technology it produces. This gives the company a more “human” face rather than the colder and glossy corporate feel it had before. “We wanted our people to be the voice of our topics”, said Blecher. The stories will be updated on a weekly basis by an editorial team of about a dozen people across both the Commercial Airplanes and Defense business units. The new website also features a social media “share” button on many pages allowing users to propagate Boeing’s message throughout the Digital Environment. Finally, the “comments” function was added at the bottom of the story pages, a major change for the site. Randy’s Journal, the Commercial Airplanes pioneering blog, has more details about the other new features. My only suggestion would be to feature the Twitter accounts on the home page, something I am sure they will fix soon.
@BoeingCorporate, @BoeingAirplanes, and @BoeingDefense share the load on Twitter. I like the tone and direction of the twitter feeds so far. They have not just used them to simply repeat their press release headlines. They have actually provided interesting insight (e.g. volcano ash impact), they have retweeted third party stories, and they have actually responded to other tweets. All this shows me that they have done their homework before jumping in. Blecher indicated that they are trying to have a measured approach to twitter, trying to engage in interesting conversations and advocacy without creating an overwhelming information flow. I totally agree with this. If I want to get a company’s press releases, I’ll subscribe to their RSS feed, not their twitter feed.
I look forward to the next Boeing developments in the Digital Environment. Blecher indicated that they are considering a FaceBook presence as well as a stronger engagement during the major Aerospace events. “Although we feel that any Aerospace company has a great opportunity to use Social Media to enhance its presence at a show like Farnborough, we remain prudent in our approach and might not be ready to take full advantage of it this year.” This prudence is reflected when I asked about YouTube. Blecher indicated that Boeing was uncomfortable with the platform because they could not control what was displayed beside their videos on YouTube. “We are getting more open with the new website and twitter accounts, but we are not ready to turn our communication landscape into the Wild West.”
I believe this is the right approach for Boeing and they have the right idea. It is a major change for them and I applaud their initiative. Let’s see what they can make of it and how it resonates with audiences. What do you think of it?
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, HeliExpo, Social Media, Twitter
The annual HeliExpo took place in Houston last week. Although this is already the largest helicopter event in the world with 16,000 visitors and 595 exhibitors, it was interesting to see how it also played out on the web, before and during the show. As usual, I was online to watch, measure and evaluate. Here is my take.
THE HELICOPTER INDUSTRY MEDIA
As always, the industry media was present at the show. However, it was strange to see a very different dynamic than at the recent Singapore or Dubai airshows. Unlike Aviation International News which put out a similar coverage than at the other shows, AviationWeek and Flight Global were relatively quieter.
| |
Articles |
Blog Entries |
Photos |
Videos |
| AINonline |
130 |
0 |
124 |
7 |
| AviationWeek |
0 |
29 |
51 |
0 |
| Flight Global |
17 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
| HeliHub.com |
143* |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Rotor and Wing |
0 |
10 |
55 |
20 |
*Reposts from other sources
AIN produced the most professional videos through their affiliate AINtv which was contracted especially for the show. Rotor and Wing and Flight Global produced lesser quality videos with some major editing and sound issues in a few of them. Rotor and Wing posted their videos on YouTube which made them show up in Google searches although the tagging was not uniform (e.g. why not use HeliExpo10 as a tag?).
AIN was the only news organization that used the #HE10 twitter feed to aggressively promote their content online with 143 posts throughout the show. AviationWeek and Flight Global managed less than 20 posts each (in the stream). However, Flight Global had a Twitter widget on their show page that was tracking the “Heli Expo” keyword so they managed to capture a good portion of the conversation. The other news organizations posted from their twitter accounts but never used the #HE10 tag despite several attempts to contact them to correct the issue. This seems like a lost opportunity especially for HeliHub and Rotor and Wing which have relatively small followings (500 and 800 respectively).
At the end of the show, a quick online survey was generated by @Heli_Expo. Although the participation was low, the results (available in PDF) show that “Article from News Organizations” is by far the most important use of Twitter by professionals in our industry. Even though I believe this will eventually change, I think smaller online news outfits should pay more attention to HOW they use twitter for shows like this. They should definitely use the hashtags so they can be read by a group larger than their followers. They should also post shorter tweets that can be reposted without editing. For example, @HeliHub should limit their original posts to a maximum of 127 characters since any repost will take an additional 13 characters for the prefix “RT @HeliHub: “ . This is actually a good tip for any organization that posts on Twitter and wants a chance to be re-tweeted.
THE EXHIBITORS
Speaking about other organizations on Twitter, an amazing 77 HeliExpo exhibitors had twitter accounts. @Heli_Expo created a very convenient Twitter List of all the exhibitor accounts. Even though this media is new to most of them, some have embraced it quiet nicely as showed by the top contributors to the #HE10 stream:
| |
Tweets |
Exhibitor? |
| HAImandy |
181 |
Organizer |
| AINonline |
131 |
Yes |
| HELI_expo |
111 |
|
HON_Carrie
(Honeywell) |
41 |
Yes |
| FSIrivet |
30 |
Yes |
| roadshownews |
21 |
|
| GPS4aircraft |
16 |
Yes |
| DakotaAirParts |
13 |
Yes |
| dnpixl |
13 |
|
| CNTV |
12 |
|
| bbryon |
9 |
|
| embryriddle |
8 |
Yes |
I was shocked that more of them did not take advantage of this medium which overall had good activity. There were 670 posts from 51 different accounts in the #HE10 stream. But many companies do not even advertise they have a Twitter account on their home page, even when their account is relatively active (See DakotaAirParts).
Also absent from the #HE10 stream were the Helicopter manufacturers. Five of them have official Twitter accounts: @SikorskyAircraft, @Eurocopter_EADS, @one_bell, @MDHelicopters, and @RusHeliCo. Sikorsky and Eurocopter were the most active while Bell and MD fell silent for some strange reason. I think that was a big mistake when you analyze how Sikorsky approached the use of Twitter at the event.
Sikorsky published 15 press releases around HeliExpo starting with one announcing their Twitter page. The press release contained the strongest endorsement of Twitter by any Aerospace & Defense company to date. Since they had created their account back in December, they opened the show with already over 200 followers as opposed to Eurocopter’s less than 50.
Even though they didn’t use the #HE10 tag, they posted 32 updates during the show. They pushed their press releases, but also targeted the audience at the show by posting booth schedule updates. Despite attempts by several users to dialog with them, they did not respond probably because they have not yet figured out how to make Twitter a two-way channel. This is typical of organizations that are new to this.
But the discussion ABOUT Sikorsky was tremendous and much bigger than for any of their competitors. The keyword “Sikorsky” was mentioned 654 times during the show from 329 different accounts. Their posts were re-tweeted 21 times by 8 different accounts to a total of 1928 followers. Ten of Sikorsky’s press releases were also broadcasted 139 times on twitter directly by 81 different accounts to a total audience of 128,344 followers. That is a tremendous online exposure that all exhibitors should be tapping into. There is no way to know how much bigger these numbers would have been if Sikorsky had used #HE10. Sikorsky has now set the standard, so how can a company like MD Helicopters afford not to jump on Twitter?
THE ORGANIZERS
HeliExpo is organized by the Helicopter Association International. I contacted them before the show to see if they had any social media plans for Houston. Mandy Stahl, a Membership Assistant at HAI, pointed me to her Twitter stream @HAImandy and indicated she had be allowed to post updates before and during the show whenever her regular duties permitted it. From the Twitter stats above as well as the survey results, you can see she did a tremendous job. She also indicated that although the association owned the @HeliExpo account, they were not going to use it. Furthermore, Mandy’s account was not advertised in any official HeliExpo communication from HAI. I thought that was a great loss of opportunity for them.
So I decided to experiment…
Unbeknownst to HAI, I created the @Heli_Expo account at the beginning of February and started posting about the event in the way I thought it should be done. I was careful never to represent the account as being an official account, only using it to promote the event. As I mentioned before, I created a list of exhibitors and posted heavily in the #HE10 stream. I complemented what Mandy was posting avoiding duplicating her work. I worked along three avenues:
- Help the exhibitors by reposting their information in the stream, sending them practical local information, and encouraging companies that should have been exhibiting to do so next year.
- Help the attendees by posting HeliExpo news and information posted on the web into the #HE10 stream. For example, I found several videos and articles on Google that were not on Twitter so I posted links.
- Help the organizers by re-posting show information from their own website such as staff photos and event schedule, as well as promoting Mandy’s account and her work.
@Heli_Expo Twitter Followers
I limited my invested time to 60 hours before the show (mostly on researching the exhibitor list) and 20 hours during the show. I was not physically in Houston and created very little original content. I used only free tools and platforms. The response was tremendous. Many companies and news organizations started following the account and interacting directly with it. The account was recommended multiple times and my posts were re-tweeted to a large following. I can only imagine what the exposure would have been like if this had been an official effort advertised and coordinated by HAI.
I will now send Mandy the passwords to the accounts so HAI can take them over, but I think I have demonstrated to them and other Aerospace associations that a small time investment and a concerted approach can give them a much greater exposure online especially for events like this.
Why let others tell the story of your event when you can steer the conversation yourself? Are you listening Farnborough?
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, FaceBook, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter
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.
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter.
Tags: Aerospace, Social Media, Twitter
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.
For example, @AvWeekEvents credited Alejandro for the idea of the innovative Twitter Electronic Boards in the lobby and exhibit halls which many thought were a great addition to the show. Beyond the conference hashtag (#MROAM), the conference also had a Four Square location and a fun tweet-up to get attendees, suppliers, and web followers connected. This resulted in the best performance by the AviationWeek online team to date with much promises for the future.
[Click picture to enlarge]
Two major A&D shows followed in rapid order over the last three weeks, and looking at the online coverage of Maintenance, Repairs, and Overhaul (MRO) Americas and the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), there were no major new developments when it came to the coverage of these shows on the Internet. Needless to say, that was disappointing.
The MRO Americas exhibition floor was open for 16 hours over a period of three days. As with many events, it was open in parallel to conference sessions for most of that time. Assuming that the average attendee would spend 3 hours a day on the show floor (which in my own experience would be enormous), and would spend 15 minutes to have meaningful interactions with each exhibitor visited, it means that in an ideal situation, 36 exhibitors would get visited by each attendee. That represents 1 company visited for each 20 exhibiting. For EBACE the numbers work out to approximately 1 out of 10. For Farnborough and Singapore, it might be has high as 1 out of 50 or more. As if that was not bad enough, small exhibitors have to compete against larger companies that will attract attendees by default and keep them for longer periods of time. Which means that if you are not Honeywell, Embraer, or Rolls-Royce, your odds of getting visited are heavily stacked against you.
@Heli_Expo Twitter Followers
Ludo Van Vooren, a 15 years veteran of the industry, blogs about eBusiness, Social Media, Internet Marketing, and International Business Development.
