The silver lining surrounding the ash cloud - lessons learnt one year on

This is a guest blog post written by Dee Roche, European Marketing Director at Eptica. In this entry, Roche talks about what lessons can be learned for social media and customer service following the anniversary of the ash cloud disruption.

It has been more than a year since the volcanic eruptions in south Iceland halted air travel and left millions of passengers stranded, and looking back there are some key lessons that can be learnt on how brands can better use social media.

At the peak of the eruption more than 10 million passengers were affected, with 75% of European airspace closed for a week, grounding 90,000 flights. While the circumstances were beyond the control of the airlines, the main issue for the 100,000 stranded Britons was the lack of information coming through.

In crisis, time-sensitive circumstances, consumers are increasingly turning to social media for real time information and advice. However, last year too many airlines were not fast enough to respond to this need.

During the seven days that the majority of Europe's largest airlines were grounded there were more than 55,000 mentions on Twitter of #ashtag, with people trying to locate up to-date information about flights, accommodation and news of the situation.

The rapidly evolving circumstances meant that the flight information on static websites quickly became obsolete. Customer demand for information forced airlines to turn to social media - some for the first time- to quickly update their customers. Although many struggled with this new communication tool, the crisis did however, highlight three organisations - KLM, British Airways (BA) and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) - that excelled at updating their customers via multiple social media channels.

These companies not only provided users with flight status updates, but also engaged in public conversations and looked to make the information to common questions around the crisis easily available.

Having an online presence
Eurocontrol, the European air safety organisation, was the obvious go-to point for many people affected by the ash cloud. The company excelled by posting maps of where the ash cloud was coming from and heading towards, and by highlighting the likely implications this may have on air travel. The organisation also provided constant information on Facebook, Twitter and through relevant aviation groups on Linkedin as soon as it received any news or updates.

Throughout the duration of the crisis Eurocontrol grew its Twitter followers nearly 2,100% from 350 to 7,300 and its Facebook fans rose by 50% from 2,000 to 3,000.

British Airways targeted a different user base by posting a number of videos from Willie Walsh the company's CEO on YouTube. These were done to reassure customers that the airline was doing everything possible to minimise disruption. BA also had representatives on all of its official social media channels responding to direct questions in real time.

KLM sent out regular Twitter updates filled with advice on re-booking, information about local areas and links to news stories, and make time to @reply many individual customer's questions, comments and concerns. KLM also created a bespoke 'Volcanic Eruption' Q&A sidebar on its Facebook page and had official representatives available to respond to questions continuously.

Through clear planning and understanding of the various social media platforms KLM was able to not only update a large number of customers and people affected by the ash cloud, but also grow its number of followers by more than 4,000 on Twitter in that one week.

The explosion in social media has created a critical tipping point with organisations struggling to cope with the 'noise' and potential damage it can create, but for KLM, BA and Eurocontrol the ash cloud has done them no harm. It has in effect raised their profiles on the various social media platforms, gained them followers and cemented their position as a trusted travel company and provided a point of differentiation within a highly competitive market.

Back to basics
Research suggests that more than a third of all customers use some form of social media to rant or rave about a product or service. With this in mind it is essential that all companies have a strong presence across relevant social media platforms.

Eptica believes that social media represents a wealth of opportunity to shape customers relationships with airlines and travel agents, and this is most effectively achieved when firms integrate it with their other service channels. This ensures that all enquiries are responded to in a timely manner by dedicated customer service staff, and that consumers get access to the same information no matter which channel they use. This is a view shared by Gartner, who claim that by 2013 at least 35% of customer service centres will integrate some form of community and social capabilities.

For the majority of companies, it's not practical or cost effective to have dedicated employees directly engaging with consumers one-to-one via social media, and this should only ever be undertaken at times of crisis.