Use of Social Media in Management Communication of Qantas Airlines

Question: Discuss about the Use of Social Media in Management Communication of Qantas Airlines. Answer: Qantas Airlines is an Australian based airline founded on 16th November 1920 in Winston Australia by two Australian Flying Corps officers. It began its operations the following day. Also known as the Flying Kangaroo due to its use of the Kangaroo symbol on all its aircraft, Qantas airlines is the largest airline in Australia. It is also one of the largest airlines in the world with a fleet of 132 as of 2017, serving up to 184 destinations in 42 different countries worldwide. As of May 2016, Qantas Airlines had a majority market share of 65% of the whole Australian aviation industry operating an average of 5300 flights each week. In 2011 Qantas Airlines Government and Corporate Affairs executive Olivia Wirth, faced a communication dilemma emanating from the use of social media that threatened the image of the company. Qantas had sponsored a social media contest requesting the twitter users to describe their luxury inflight experience and giving them an opportunity to win 50 pairs of Q antas first class pajamas and a luxury amenity kit. However, the campaign backfired when the twitter users instead decided to use the opportunity to attack the airline and vent their frustrations. By the following morning, Qantas had more than 10,000 mentions worldwide. Olivia Wirth was therefore faced with the challenge of rescuing the airlines reputation as the pride of Australia by countering the negativity created by the unfortunate social media campaign. It is important that Qantas Airlines consider various actions in future if they are to avoid such disasters happening again. These actions will help them maintain and improve their status as the best and largest airline in Australia and beyond. In order to implement any such actions it is important for the airline to analyze the real causes of the crisis. These include, poor monitoring of feedbacks, negative response, poor timing of publicity and lack of understanding on how to communicate with the public. Poor monitoring of feedbacks. The company failed to continuously monitor what the public is saying about them online hence they had no idea what was waiting when they were launching the social media campaign. In future, Qantas Airlines should use internet monitoring tools such as Social Mention, TweetReach, HootSuite, Brandwatch and many others to find the ongoing conversations about their brand. The fact however is that a company cannot entirely control what is being said about them by the social media users because there will always be negative comments (Michaelodou, et al., 2011). This is due to the inability of any company to fully satisfy everyone. Monitoring of feedbacks will therefore help the company in devising a proper crisis plan should such storm of negativity happen again in the future. Poor timing of publicity. In trying to build positive online publicity, a company should take note of the existence of an offline world too. The social media team failed to give consideration to the sensitivity of the offline matters that had surrounded the company around the time. Firstly, this campaign was undertaken at the heart of an industrial dispute between the airline and three unions, Australian Transport Workers Union, the International Pilots Association and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association which had led to halting of services. The airline management had just opted out of negotiating with these unions. It is therefore important that in future the social media team at Qantas Airlines consider other issues surrounding the company before carrying out such campaigns. Lack of understanding on how to communicate with the public. Being able to understand what the public needs in line with your area of business is important in coming up with a better social media strategy. A better publicity idea would have been to promote medium tier level members to upper level. Negative responses. Irrespective of the response by the social media users the companys response must always remain positive (Mangold, 2009). This gives the image that the company is able to positively take public critism and work towards improving them. According to Tim Burrowes, founder and content director at Mumbrella, an online discussion platform about Australias media and marketing, he could not reach the Qantas communication team for comment after the controversial tweet. Social media has been around for more than twenty years now. However, it is only recently that various businesses have begun to recognize the importance of social media in their growth. Currently, almost all companies are using it to further supplement their marketing activities especially when targeting the younger generations that spend a lot of time in the social media. While it has proved positive to many some have ended up destroying their business by poorly timed social media campaigns (Kietzmann, et al., 2011). The following factors should be considered if a company want to successfully use the social media to grow their business; Target group. The company should know the group they are targeting with their social media adverts to understand their needs. For example the needs of an organization in choosing an airline for their employees are different from those of individuals wanting leisure travel (Kaplan Haenlein, 2010). Before adopting the use of social media, the company must set out the objectives they wish to achieve (Hanna, et al., 2011). Because it involves use of resources such as time, money and manpower, the objectives will act as guidance in measuring its success. Companies should ensure their social media messages are consistent in order to create an identity in the consumers mind (De Vries, et al.,2012) Use of imagery. Relevant images create a lasting impression in the minds of the consumers hence should be employed widely (Safco, 2010). Social media message should be accompanied with images that describe them. For instant, Qantas Airlines could do with beautiful images of the pajamas to accompany their twitter challenge. Show interest and participate in the discussion. The companys social media team should be available to reply to comments. This makes the potential customers feel valued. It also make the potential buyers get more information like prices of the products they wish to buy (Ellison, 2007). Communication Plan Template Timing The airline should choose a working day to communicate with the public. They should also ensure that there is no current negative issue relating to the operations of the company. Audience The audience should be individuals, businesses and government agencies Sender The airlines communications team should be the sender. However, production of the message should involve the Public Relations and the Marketing team. The marketing team is responsible for creating the substance to be marketed to the public while the PR team will package the message to be attractive to the public. Key Message The key message contained in the media campaign should be that the airline values its customers hence needs their feedback while at the same time rewarding them for their time. Desired Outcomes The desired out comes are; Increased recognition of the airline Increased customer loyalty hence higher profits The company will get views of the public which they can act on to improve their services in the future. Medium Social media sites is the best way of reaching younger customers. Use of other sources such as television adverts and print media such as newspapers is also important. Further, the airline can use telephone calls and email messages to communicate to their regular customers. Materials Unnecessary and irrelevant information should be left out. Frequency Qantas should communicate with its customers as often as possible to help them understand the current public perception. Their social media pages like Facebook and Twitter should remain active at all times. References Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication,13(1), 210-230. De Vries, L., Gensler, S., Leeflang, P. S. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: An investigation of the effects of social media marketing.Journal of Interactive Marketing,26(2), 83-91. Hanna, R., Rohm, A., Crittenden, V. L. (2011). Were all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem.Business horizons,54(3), 265-273. Kaplan, A. M., Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media.Business horizons,53(1), 59-68. Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., Silvestre, B. S. (2011). 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