Southwest Airlines was one of the first companies to fully embrace social media, and they continue to lead the way.
Last week, Southwest announced a huge 2-day sale and Twitter posts were flying. People announced where they were headed. Bragged to their friends about the deals they got. And, even thanked Southwest.
For many people, Southwest is more than an airline. Becasue of social media, Southwest has transitioned from company to friend. And that’s great.
In the midst of all the excitement, I received a Tweet from Southwest that said:
"If you’re using southwest.com…hang in there. The website is experiencing some issues and Technology is working to fix ASAP."
I’ve never seen a company announce that their website was down, much less give a status report of what they were doing to alleviate the problem. Never. But Southwest knows better – they have more than 262,000 Twitter followers. That was a “touch” just to let a quarter of a million people know that Southwest is there for them (even when they temporarily aren’t)
Not long after I received that Tweet, I got another one from Southwest:
"I have some special visitors in my cube right now! I’m showing them all how we Twitter! Everyone say hello!!!"
How great it would be to send that Tweet and have a cube-full of company VIPs see the hundreds of responses come in? And I know the responses came because a third Tweet stated:
"I think ya’ll blew them away with your responses! Thanks! Ohhh…and they say a big hello back."
Southwest Airlines get's it. Two-way communication between a company and its clients (fans) is a beautiful thing.
One airline’s brand loyalty increased this month. How do you think the others are fairing?
Posted on
Monday, July 13, 2009
by Sean Taylor Simpson
filed under