Social Media: Promoting Your Airport Greg Campbell, Executive Director Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport

About SHD • FAA Certificated Part 139 Airport • Runway 6002’x150’ • Total employment approximately 90-100 • Approximately 85 based aircraft • Average of 70 - 80 operations per day

Air Carrier Service • United Express • Three flights daily to/from Washington-Dulles International Airport • Service with United began in 2008

Central Shenandoah Valley Region Quick Facts • Population: 335,000 within primary service area • High quality of life and low cost of living has drawn many major companies to relocate here • Diversified economic base to include tourism, manufacturing, services and technology • One of the fastest growing regions in VA in population and economic activity • Nine colleges and universities in primary service area

What is Social Media? “The term social media refers to the use of webbased and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.” -Wikipedia.org

An effective social media campaign is not only about making regular posts - it requires constant monitoring & interaction with your followers!

A Successful Marketing Toolbox • Traditional Media – TV, Radio, Print

• Electronic Advertising – Banner Ads, Google Ad Words, Email Marketing

• Community Involvement Sponsorships • Social Media Social media is a low-cost, high results addition to the $125,000 we spend annually in marketing

Why Use Social Media in Your Marketing Plan? • • • •

Reach target customers Stay in contact with current customers Monitor what others are staying about you Monitor your competitors (chances are they are watching you too) • Keep up to date with industry happenings • Develop a mutually-beneficial network of other airports/ businesses • SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS!

Why Social Media Is Unique • Traditional advertising mediums (print, TV, radio, etc.) push your message unsolicited to the audience • Social media allows potential & current customers to pull your message – if they are connected to your business they are already interested in what you have to say!

Social Media Influences Purchase Decisions • Social networks and blogs reach nearly 80 or active U.S. internet users and represent the majority of American’s time online • 60% of people who use a digital means of research for product purchases learned about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site. • 48% of these consumers responded to a retailer’s offer posted on Facebook or Twitter. • 53% of active adult social networkers follow a brand

Source:

State of the Media: The Social Media Report, Q3 2011 www.nielsen.com

Passenger Traffic History 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

SHD has experienced a 56% increase in passenger traffic since our social media campaigns began in 2008.

First Step – A Solid Website

Second Step – A Mobile Site • Close to 40% of social media users access social media content from a mobile device. • Social media apps are the 3rd most-used among U.S. smart phone owners.

Choosing Your Social Media Presence

• Facebook and Twitter are the most common social media outlets for businesses • As you build your social media presence you can incorporate other channels such as Google+, FourSquare, Pinterest and YouTube.

What is Facebook?

What is Facebook? • Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004 that allows users to create a personal profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages and join common-interest groups or pages. • The leading social networking site based on monthly unique visitors with more than 900 million active users as of May 2012 • Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other U.S. website! Source: Wikipedia.org

What is Twitter?

What is Twitter? • Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets". • Launched in July 2006, Twitter has rapidly gained worldwide popularity with 140 million users in 2012. • Over 340 million tweets and 1.6 billion searches are generated per day. • Twitter.com is one of the top 10 most visited websites Source: Wikipedia.org

What is Foursquare?

What is Foursquare? • A location-based mobile platform enabling over 20 million users to “check-in” at your business via smart phone app, share tips and collect virtual badges. • As a business, Foursquare is great for picking out loyal customers and rewarding them for frequent visits with special gifts or discounts • Chances are people have “checked-in” at your Airport even if you have not claimed your venue!

Ways to Use SM • Relay time sensitive info such as flight delays, weather information, closures, etc. • Inform followers of special deals or promotions • Promote events for your business as well as others your followers may be interested in knowing about • Link to articles/sites that are relevant to your business

Ways to Use SM • Seek feedback & respond appropriately • Drive traffic to your website or other social media channels • Communicate with and promote other local or aviation related businesses • Reward customer loyalty with contests & prizes • See what others are saying about you • Brand awareness • Create a buzz/interesting content

Anniversary Contest • Created through a Facebook contest application • Open to all users who “Like” our page • Used as a tool to collect data on travel habits, destinations • Fans could also request to be contacted by one of our Fare Specialists

SHD Egg Experiment • Hot day = great opportunity see if an egg will really cook on pavement • Numerous posts on FB & Twitter leading up to actual experiment with feedback from followers (including local media) • Photos posted of results

Why is Monitoring SM Important? • Opportunities to connect directly with customers and develop relationships • Respond promptly to issues or feedback posted publicly • Monitoring is just the first step – must follow through with actions to make the most impact

Monitoring Your Social Media • TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com) – An application available on your desktop or mobile phone that acts as a browser for all of your social media accounts in one place

• Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts) – Email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on keywords – Each email includes a direct link to the content – Keyword examples: Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport, SHD, Shenandoah Airport

Monitoring Your Social Media • Social Mention (www.socialmention.com) – Search platform that allows you to easily track what people are saying about you or any other topic with direct link to content – Report can be emailed on a daily basis or searched in real time on the web

• Twilert (www.twilert.com) – A very simple search option that monitors Twitter only and emails reports to you based on content at a specific time each day

Helpful Resources • www.facebook.com/help • www.support.twitter.com • www.foursquare.com/business • www.socialmediaexaminer.com • www.mashable.com

SHD Contact Information Greg Campbell Executive Director

Heather Ream Marketing & Comm.

[email protected] (540) 234-8304

[email protected] (540) 234-8224

www.Facebook.com/FlySHD www.Twitter.com/SHD_Airport www.FlySHD.com