The @darwinairport Social Media Story - Finale

Is your business scared of Facebook? So was Darwin Airport, in the beginning.

After the successful adoption of Twitter into the airport's communications suite and launch of the iPhone app, it seemed a logical next step to utilise Facebook to inform and engage with our stakeholders.

As with most businesses, the airport team had questions about how much time it would take to monitor and respond to comments.  Another obvious issue was how to deal with negative comments posted online and how could using Facebook actually benefit the business?

At the time, staff at the airport were blocked from accessing Facebook based on concerns that it would distract from daily tasks.  However, it wouldn't make sense to try an use the channel to the advantage of the business whilst prohibiting its most important stakeholders (staff) from participating.

The decision was made that Darwin Airport would start its own Facebook fan page however a formal Social Media Policy would be developed to provide guidance to users and authorised spokespersons about what was acceptable and what was not.  All staff were subsequently granted access to social media sites on the basis that it was used reasonably, with common sense and in break times where possible.

The Darwin Airport Facebook page was given the professional touch by the team at Captovate with a like page, welcome page and widgets in the menu bar that connect to the airport's parking calculator, the app and flight arrivals and departures board. The Captovate team also ensured privacy and profanity settings were set correctly and alerts were directed to designated smart phones when comments were made on the wall.

Since the launch of the Facebook page in May 2011, the airport page has only ever received two negative online comments that could not be attributed to customer frustration relating to flight delays or other operational issues.  The airport has a policy of responding to all comments and questions on its Facebook wall and it's moderated by their communications person and Airport Duty Managers when required (such as when the volcanic ash cloud significantly affected flights around Australia).

The most surprising aspect of the Facebook page for the airport team was how understanding people are when they receive a prompt and courteous response to a complaint.  Operational errors or things that could have been done better are quickly forgiven and forgotten when the customer believes that someone is listening, and cares.

Darwin Airport have a formal social media strategy on what to post to the Facebook page which includes flight specials in and out of Darwin, service disruptions to flights of more than 3 hours, significant weather events that cause delays and links to airport media releases.

The social media channels (Twitter and Facebook) are now featured on the front page of the Darwin Airport website and stories posted to Facebook often lead back to the news room to increase web traffic. 

In terms of resourcing, the page takes no more than 1/2 hour per day to manage, including responding to comments and questions.   Visitor traffic to the Facebook page is now approximately 2/3 of the website traffic or around 36,000 post views a month in normal operating circumstances. 

If your business is interested in using social media and needs assistance with setup and strategy, call Captovate today on 08 8941 6888.