Tuesday, December 17, 2013

LUV is in the virtual air!


et Lag Johnny checking in with my new feature “Trains, Planes, and Automobiles” Note I am stealing this title from one of my all time favorite movies.  Watch the movie sometime and let me know what you think.  I find every time I watch I find what’s beautiful in our humanity and what’s wrong so very often in customer service.  Regular readers know that I look when a company executes well and you all know my all time favorites are In n Out Burger and Portillo’s here in Chicago. If you didn’t know this one look at my waistline and you’ll know I’m and expert.  I digress, going back to my earlier theme I want to share with you a company that addresses both the best in human nature and customer service.  I just LUV Southwest airlines.

Southwest’s traditional MSM outreach is the best and they even do a great job with good ol’snail mail.  I actually know that I will get at least birthday card in the mail every year from my friends at SWA.  Southwest is in possibly the toughest industry when it comes to exceeding customer service. So often Mother Nature works against their best efforts and the worst in our nature holds them responsible.  Through an active social media presence SWA works to make the best out of the worst.

The staff dedicated at SWA to the primary social media channels of facebook, twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram includes ten full time staff members.  They have almost 2 million likes on facebook and 1.2 million followers on Twitter.  Pretty impressive for a company in an industry that battles the halitosis of air travel is supposed to make you crabby.

It’s not so much that they are active in social media, it’s how their active and the spirit of SWA that they bring to it.  Southwest looks as social media as social business and they are all business when it comes to being social. Christi McNeil head of Southwest’s social media efforts puts it this way, "everything we do in social media is rooted in core company values in being fun loving, warrior spirit, fighting to get things done then having a servants heart to do the right thing at the right time.  They just don’t make excuses or false thanks; they make sure the customer knows they care and do everything within their power to make things right.

As we head into the Christmas week Southwest is anticipating its largest number of social media interactions ever.  2102 saw a 75% increase during this period in 2011 and they anticipate at least this much if greater growth this Christmas travel season.  Regardless of the platform they are using Southwest has integrated Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud to help manage their efforts this year.  I am looking forward to hearing great things from them again this year. Again Southwest is about the customer not excuses.

 Here is one of my favorites from the virtual universe. http://www.dearswa.com/

From its inception from an idea drawn on a cocktail napkin (original social mediaJ) I have simply LUVed the way Southwest has made me a fan.  Check out their blog “Nuts About Southwest”  @ http://www.blogsouthwest.com/

See you in Wichita!

No comments:

Post a Comment