Exploring airlines’ marketing communication activities on social media

摘要

This paper aims to explore how airlines;;both Full Service Carriers (FSCs) and Low CostCarriers (LCCs);;in mature European;;American and Oceania markets and rapidly growingAsian/Middle East and African markets;;are embracing social media to conduct marketingcommunication activities. Using content analysis;;the study monitored Facebook accounts of20 airlines from above 5 markets;;half of which being FSCs and half LCCs for a typicaloperational week from 16th to 23rd August 2012 in an attempt to establish whether there existany differences between FSCs and LCCs in their online marketing behaviours on social mediaand to determine how different they are;;given that FSCs and LCCs tend to pursue differentbusiness models that dictate their corporate and marketing strategies. The findings revealedthat both FSCs and LCCs are treating social media as a new communication channel wheremarketing activities are exercised but with divergent approaches;;behaviours and variation ofpractices. Differences are also observed from users’ perspective when communicating withtheir airlines and among themselves. The paper suggested that airlines;;regardless of theirbusiness models;;should be more proactive in exploring marketing communicationopportunities on social media and be more responsive to and interactive with their users onsocial media. A well-defined social media strategy aligning with its corporate and marketingstrategies should be developed and in place to ensure that airlines stay abreast withtechnology advancement for a competitive edge.