THERE ARE TWO BILLION ACTIVE FACEBOOK USERS, 300 MILLION ON TWITTER1 AND 100 MILLION USING LINKEDIN2 MOST USEFUL SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have the broadest reach, across all ages, genders, income levels and professions. It’s critical that you are mindful of your audience. Trends show photo and media-based platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat are most attractive to younger audiences, which may be better suited for addressing personnel shortages, connecting with aviation enthusi- asts and engaging with future general aviation leaders. GROW YOUR AVIATION BUSINESS Social media can be used to inform current and prospec- tive customers of upcoming events and product offerings. This is what marketers would call “social selling.” If you have a new facility location or new aircraft available on your charter certificate, then you should look to post that information on social media. Announce your current pro- motions or partnerships to incentivize your buyers. Many social media platforms offer demographic data and targeted advertising opportunities so you can strategically reach your end user or buyer. Your marketing and sales teams should be collaborating to leverage leads from social media. INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION If someone is looking for information on a service or product a company like yours offers, you are more likely to come across their screen if you have an active social media presence. You then have an opportunity to become a credible source of information. Social media allows companies to create a voice, share their story and be personable. Just as you want to know who your social media followers are, your followers want to know about your company. When you have a presence, you make it easier for stakeholders to find and connect with you. Personify your business by highlighting the work you are doing in the community, new partnerships, job open- ings, recent hires and other company updates. Numerous NATA members used social media to highlight their relief efforts during last year’s hurricane and wildfire disasters. This type of social media marketing humanizes your brand and shows how you contribute to the community. You can also talk about how your business adds to the economic Continued on page 71 1 http://fortune.com/2017/06/27/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-userbase/ 2 http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-reaches-a-half-billion-users-2017-4 3 https://webdam.com/blog/brand-marketing-infographic Aviation Business Journal | 1st Quarter 2018 HASHTAGS Social media allows companies to quickly spread the word. A great way of doing so is by using hashtags. A hashtag is when you use the # (pound) symbol in front of a word or string of words to group that tweet with other posts about the same topic, such as #NoPrivatizedATC or #FBOsServe. Twitter originated the use of hashtags, which has now expanded to Facebook, LinkedIn and other platforms. Hashtags help boost posts, and if a user with a lot of followers shares your post, then your content has the potential to go viral. Hashtags are also great to use when hosting or participating in an industry event. NATA uses hashtags for its annual conferences, town halls and NATA Safety 1st events. This gives our followers a real-time experience of the event from the associa- tion and event attendees, who also use the hashtag. GRAPHICS Social media posts with visuals, such as photos, videos and infographics, receive higher user and fol- lower engagement3 . It is becoming more difficult to keep an audience’s attention, making it critical that your brand and tone are consistent and appealing. Aviation business is a competitive industry and your social media marketing can help set you apart. Share visuals for new developments, openings, community outreach and disaster relief to humanize your brand. GEOTAGGING Geotagging also expands your reach. Your custom- ers can share their location when visiting your busi- ness. The post can include photos or videos of them interacting with your customer service representatives, taking their aircraft in for maintenance, landing at your FBO, etc. Your customer then becomes a brand loyal- ist, sharing with their followers their “go to” business and, essentially, referring your company to others. Geotagging brings your business to scale on a more local level, which is helpful when looking for new cus- tomers. For example, if your region is hosting a major sporting event, using aviation business hashtags like #bizav and #aircharter, while also tagging your city, makes the tweet more likely to come across the screen of prospective customers looking to fly in for the event. 71
