Skift Take
Find new ways to engage with your brand's audience like they are community members not just fans.
Besides weather-related delays and reservation gripes for airlines on Twitter, community engagement photos on Facebook and Instagram were the largest source of social activity for travel brands this week.
Each Friday, we call out travel brands that have stronger than usual activity on social media. Using SkiftIQ, we’re able to track current performance versus past (60-day averages, unless otherwise noted) as well as notice spikes in activity that demonstrate a brand either has a viral hit on its hands, or a public relations mess to clean up.
The latest social activity on SkiftIQ for the week ending July 11, 2014:
1. KLM on Facebook
For three days, KLM shared sleek photos of its airline with simple copy that really connected with its audience. On July 9, it came up with a well executed engagement post that featured an image of three beautifully designed Dutch Delft coffee cups and asked its fans to choose their favorite. This post generated 26,000 total likes, shares and comments.
A big improvement over KLM’s failed World Cup tweet two weeks ago.
Facebook Page Likes rose by 380% to 25,000 from its 5,500 daily average.
2. Tourism and Events Queensland on Facebook and Twitter
The DMO’s hashtag, #thisisqueensland is motivating its audience to a point where they are inspiring others. A growing circle of inspiration. This weekly feature is successful for bringing new audience to Facebook to engage with other posts, such as a surfing photo/video/link combo and a photo album of Dwarf Mike Whales. This content grouping raised its daily average Facebook Followers by 280% to 2,700 from 704 on July 7, 8, and 9.
On Twitter, the weekly #thisisqueensland photos had a residual affect in addition to its RT’s of its community photographers, a tweet that points to its Great Barrier Reef video on its website and a celebratory content about Humpback Day. Followers grew at about the same rate, 275% from 144 Followers/Day to 535 Followers/Day.
Beautiful :) RT @HamiltonIsland: Happy HUMPback Day @Australia @Queensland (by @nolucyone via IG) pic.twitter.com/ovvm6SMBe7 #thisisqueensland
— Queensland Australia (@Queensland) July 9, 2014
3. AirAsia on Twitter
For two days, AirAsia experienced a higher volume in customer-service related tweets. The airline’s “e-form” was not as self-explanatory to its audience and it responded with suggestions on how to use it. This website experience caused an 375% increase from its daily average of 27 Tweets/Day to 100 Tweets/Day.
4. Southwest on Twitter Conversations about weather and traffic related issues are the usual topics of discussion. San Francisco and Baltimore were cities that presented the most complaints and the social team was there to provide more updates. This increased its status updates slightly over 100% from its average 70 Tweets/Day to 150 Tweets/Day.
5. Air New Zealand on Instagram
Air New Zealand devoted the week to its new Dreamliner and new livery design. It sent a hint on Instagram midweek and posted a photo depicting its arrival, too. The three photos about its exciting new fleet nearly doubled its Instagram followers from its 33 Followers/Day average.
The Daily Newsletter
Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.
Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch
Tags: air new zealand, airasia, klm, queensland, skiftiq, southwest airlines
Photo credit: Dutch Delft tile design on coffee cups. KLM / Facebook