A study finds that airlines are the most-discussed segment in talk about hospitality and tourism on social media.

February 1, 2012:  

Given the ferment in the sector, it's no surprise that airlines occupy much mindspace in social media. An analysis by digital research and outreach agency MindShift Interactive on ‘Impact of Social Media on Hospitality & Tourism Industry' found that of 19,025 conversations tracked in one month, 56 per cent of the conversations (10,682) were about airlines. Online travel agencies came a far second, at 25 per cent. (See Table 1)

Twitter, Facebook and forums such as indiamike.com and flyertalk.com were the major platforms for conversations on hospitality and tourism. Forty-nine per cent of the conversations (9,399) were on Twitter and 33 per cent on Facebook. Only seven per cent of the conversations came from the brands, the rest being consumers' reactions, a clear sign consumers realise the effect of their voice on social media.

Negative sentiments accounted for only 17 per cent of the total number of conversations, and the majority of these related to airline delays and crises. (See Table 2)

Men (79 per cent) dominate the chatter, indicating that they are actively involved in making travel decisions and are the reviewers of the experience.

Air India is the subject of the maximum number of conversations but they are more negative than positive. The same goes for Kingfisher Airlines, thanks to issues such as debt, bailouts, frozen bank accounts and employee/staff-related concerns. (See Table 3)

Though conversations related to Spice Jet are low, consumers seem to have had a better experience with it. Its positive - negative conversation ratio is 4:1, compared with 1:1 for Air India. (See Table 4)

The MindShift Scorecard awards Jet Airways with a rank of 52.5, the highest among airlines in the social media space. That is representative of its outreach, innovation and active presence across various platforms. However, it has a low engagement ratio of 2.4 per cent, despite more than 3.28 lakh fans on Facebook. A healthy engagement ratio is 8-10 per cent, says Zafar Rais, CEO of MindShift. Most of the airlines use Twitter as a customer relations management tool, to address complaints. Air India, with just 770 fans on Facebook and only five tweets up to the period of the study, has a very poor social media presence, says Mindshift.

Airlines can take a leaf, or several, out of their peers' books across the globe and use social media to offer customers more value, says the study. Like awarding points for engagement in the virtual world that can be redeemed in the real world – benefits such as miles and discounts, for instance, for a tweet about an experience or checking in via Foursquare. Dedicating the various media to deal with various functions is another. American Air, for instance, has three Twitter handles, one each for feedback, flyer miles and lounges. Campaigns and content can be disseminated in ways to elicit a wide and diverse range of customer responses. Brands should persuade customers to talk about their good experiences with them, even if it means rewarding them for doing so, says the study.

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