The @Darwinairport Social Media Story - Part 1

Early in 2010, management at Darwin Airport created a new position within the business to focus on improving stakeholder communications and engagement. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for the job and it turned out to be one that changed the course of my career.

Being a major essential service, the Airport’s biggest stakeholder is the general public. At the time, they fairly regularly got a bad run in the local press due to delays with flights or operational issues (like changes to parking arrangements) that irritated the public. This negative coverage ranged from articles in the newspaper to texts and letters to the editor, or complaints sent in via the Darwin Airport website.

I started asking my friends and some business associates why they thought the Airport was on the receiving end of this bad press; “because they deserve it!” was the most common response. But why do they deserve it? “because when flights are late we have to wait around, we can never get through to anyone on the phone, the website is never updated, they (the Airport) are faceless.”

It seemed to me that most of the service issues that were leading to complaints and image problems could be at least partially addressed by improved communications from the Airport.

Darwin Airport operates 24 hours a day and is curfew free. Many of their flights arrive and depart in the middle of the night (affectionately known as the red eyes) and communications regarding service issues after business hours were obviously a challenge.

A few of my friends from the southern states were using Twitter on a social basis to connect with friends and follow celebrities and that sort of thing. I asked a few marketing companies, also from down south what they knew about digital communications (including social media), and what they thought about our Airport using it. One of the responses was “Why do you care about improving customer service, the Airport’s a monopoly? ”

So it became clear that the strategy and implementation would need to be created on our own...

Although the social space is very organic and constantly evolving, basic project management dictated that it was important to have an idea about what we were trying to achieve. By watching other businesses using Twitter and other social channels it also became clear that an ongoing commitment was required to maintain them. Regular updates, relevant information and engagement by asking questions of our followers were going to be key elements of building a strong base.

By July 2010 the airport was well on the way to overhauling its website, and shortly thereafter opened its Twitter account.

Part 2 out Monday 8 August

It’s not for twits. How the Darwin Airport team learned to love Twitter and their followers loved them back.