Personal Brand Social Media Plan Social Media Marketing Kannetha Koy

     

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Industry Analysis: Airline Industry  I have gathered this from the IATA annual review 2012: Today the global airline industry consists of over 2000 airlines operating more than 23,000 aircrafts, providing service to over 7300 airports. The growth of world air travel has averaged approximately 5% per year over the past 30 years, with substantial yearly variations due both to changing economic conditions and differences in economic growth in different regions of the world.

The economic component

Global business and tourism rely on air transport. Access to international markets and the increasing globalization of production makes worldwide connections essential. The total value of goods transported by air represents 35% of world trade. Beyond this, aviation makes a direct contribution to global GDP greater than most industries, including pharmaceutical or automotive sectors. In 2010, the $539 billion it contributed would have placed air transport as the 19th largest country in GDP terms, approximately equivalent to Switzerland or Poland. In 2011, tourism generated $1.8 trillion in global economic activity and provided nearly 100 million jobs. Fully 51% of international tourism relies on air service, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Air travel plays a major role in developing nations, generating $490 billion economic activity. Well over half of all the jobs aviation supports globally—35.9 million—are based in developing economies. The industry’s economic impact will continue to grow. By 2030, it is forecast that 82 million jobs and $6.9 trillion in economic activity will have air transport at their root.

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The social component Increasing cross-border travel facilitates ever-closer relationships, between countries and between individuals from different nations. Eased restrictions on the flow of goods and people would encourage even further integration. Airlines facilitate a global workforce and keep family members united. For example, over nine million Lebanese live abroad. Three million of Lebanese descent live in the United States and around a million live in the Sao Paulo area. Aviation brings them and their families together. Airlines also provide a means for labor mobility, which in turn lead to remittances, whereby migrant workers are able to send money home. Remittances are an

important source of revenue for developing countries. In the Philippines, more than 10% of the domestic economy relies on remittances. In Tonga and Moldova the percentage is even higher. Air transport is equally intrinsic to the good times. Aviation’s ability to connect distant locations quickly, safely, and securely has given the world the chance to share and experience firsthand its amazing cultural heritage.

While looking at the economic and social components of the airline industry, my passion for traveling and drive to work in an admired industry has motivated me to do whatever it takes to pursue a career in this industry. While this personal brand social media plan only highlights the first six months, this is an on going process and it will lead me to not only land my dream job, but to also be an influential thought leader in my desired industry.

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Objectives: The main objective of my personal brand social media plan is to pursue a career in the airline industry. There are three main sub-objectives to accomplish my goal:

I. Create a professional online presence with a passion for travel II. Network with professionals in the airline industry III. Build my own knowledge and credibility

Goal I: Create a professional online presence with a passion for travel The purpose of this goal is to create a brand for myself through social media with my passion for travel. If an airline industry sees that I can effectively brand myself in a professional and global manner, they may understand why I have such a high interest in pursuing a career in this industry. Goal II: Network with professionals in the airline industry The most important goal is to network with professionals within the industry. In order to do so, I must compile a list of contacts. I can do this by getting connected through my personal contacts that know of professionals in the airline industry. I will also connect with thought leaders through different social media platforms. Goal III: Build my own knowledge and credibility In order to find a job in the airline industry, I must prove that I have am worthy and qualified to do so. By following thought leaders on twitter and re-scooping articles on scoop.it, I can learn more about the airline industry and what it takes to be a part of it. Target Audience: The target audience will be professionals and decision makers within the airline industry. Here are a few key characteristics I am looking for throughout my search for people to connect with:

• Influential • Positive thinking • Has an established network • Access to decision makers

• Interested in interacting and connecting

• Professional whom I have some sort of connection with already

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Companies & Contacts:

Company Name, Title Delta Air Lines • Bob Kupbens, Vice President Marketing & Digital Commerce

• Mauricio Parise, General Manager—Worldwide Marketing Communication

• Tim Boldt, Marketing Manager • Tiffany Jackson, Project Leader—Worldwide Marketing

Communication • Erin Maude, Account Executive—Worldwide Marketing

Communication • Elizabeth Norris, Senior Marketing Associate—Partnership &

Merchandising Channel Prioritization • Allison Marques, Marketing Communication Manager • Jonathan Mayfield, Product Manager • Zach Wallin, Product Manager

American Airlines

• Ryan Pearl, Product Manager • Patricia Ornst, Regional Managing Director • Rick Elieson, Managing Director—Digital/AA.com • Pam G., Marketing Planning and Strategy

US Airways • Jingrui Li, Analyst-Technology Lead SkyTeam • Murli P., Director Marketing and Customer Experience

• Jerome D., Director Sales • Fatima D., Director Brand & Communication • Pascal B., Coordinator Marketing & Customer Experience • Mauro Oretti, Air Transport Exec

Qatar Airways • Radwa A., Recruiter The professionals I have listed here are either I have already contacted, interacted, or have some sort of connection with, particularly through LinkedIn. While I currently have 20 professionals listed, I continue my search of professionals within the airline industry whom I can connect with. Tools: The five tools I will be using for my personal brand social media plan:

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1. LinkedIn—http://www.linkedin.com/in/kannethakoy 2. Twitter—https://twitter.com/KannethaKay 3. Personal Blog—http://kannethakoy.mktg4795.com/ 4. Pinterest—http://pinterest.com/kannethakoy/ 5. Scoop.it—http://www.scoop.it/u/kannetha-koy

  The following section will go into more depth of how I will use each platform for the next six months. LinkedIn: LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet; the website’s mission is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. LinkedIn is such a crucial platform for personal branding through social media. My personal brand social media plan will heavily rely on this platform to reach my three sub-objectives. Month 1: Achieve a profile that is 100% completed or ‘all-star’ profile strength depending on the LinkedIn version. Also, try to receive the new LinkedIn version and continue to add new contacts while joining groups that interest me and are relevant to the airline industry. Lastly, following companies that I admire. Month 2: Begin participating in discussions within the groups by answering at least one question a week. There I can further my search for professionals whom I can connect with. Month 3: Continue networking by connecting with professionals and thought leaders; share updates with my connections by posting content relevant to the airline industry and current contacts. Month 4: Personally contact professionals to establish relationships that will lead to an informational interview preferably in person or through Skype. Month 5: Continue keeping in contact with professionals whom I have connected with by sharing relevant content and encouraging them to participate in discussions in groups. Month 6: Achieve 150 connections; receive at least three recommendations, and five new endorsements from each skills and expertise’s I have listed on my profile. Twitter: Twitter is a real-time information network that connects users to the latest stories, ides, opinions and news about what users find interesting. This is a huge advantage to create a personal brand through social media because this platform allows me to interact with professionals and companies that I desire. My ultimate goal for this platform is to connect and interact with professionals within the airline industry.

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Month 1: Begin following and interacting with professional thought leaders within the airline industry while identifying and listening to relevant conversations. By interacting with these professionals, I am hoping they will follow me back as well. Month 2: Promote content through Twitter by utilizing promoted Tweets, re-tweeting content from thought leaders, replying to Tweets from content thought leaders have Tweeted that interest me. Share at least one business post or link per week. Month 3: Continue segmenting influencers and start creating lists. Share at least one business related post or link per day. Month 4: Start sending out direct tweets to thought-leaders whom I have continuously interacted with and asking them questions regarding their success stories within the industry or their job field. Month 5: While interacting with professionals through direct tweets, ask for permission to add on LinkedIn. Month 6: Continue to gain authority, insight, and followers. Personal Blog: The power of blogging for my personal brand will be used as a way to share my personal experiences in travel and will show my strong interest in the airline industry. My ultimate goal with my personal blog is to become a thought leader for my passion. I will be using WordPress. Months 1-3: Begin by posting regularly on blog. This will increase recognition and engagement by the number of posts, social shares, subscribers, and SEO. Months 4-6: Continue with SEO improvements by focusing on content, audience growth and subscribers. Begin subscribing to blogs of thought leaders within the airline industry and interacting with them through their blog and other platforms of social media. Pinterest: Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. Coupled with Pinterest’s lifestyle vision, this is a creative way to promote my personal brand on the network and truly jive with its vision and user base. This will allow me to use the social network to showcase my personal lifestyle and my brand I am promoting. Month 1: Optimize Pinterest profile by creating username, profile information, logo, and a link to my personal blog. Before starting to follow users and boards, I will create a few pinboards in order to build my interest following. This way, new followers will have a reason to follow my pins. Month 2: Promote Pinterest through other channels like Facebook, Twitter, and my blog. Continue to strongly focus and commit to create the best board on a certain topic

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related to the airline industry; this will increase the chances of my board attracting followers who are also passionate about the industry. Pin or re-pin at least one content to each board created per week. Month 3: Engage with other’s pins by continuing to follow users who I think would want to follow back including companies relevant to the airline industry; I will ‘like’ and comment on other pins. When someone sees me interacting with their content, they might check out my account and choose to follow me back. Pin or re-pin at least three times to each board per week. Month 4: Create a video gallery. Other than limiting to pinning images, I will start pinning videos as well. I will create a pinboard of videos my industry would be interested in and are relevant. Continue pinning/re-pinning to boards and interacting with followers. Month 5: Launch a daily pin theme. The idea is to come up with a catchy slogan that is tied to the airline industry and is memorable enough so that the images get re-pinned. Month 6: Continue to curate my passion for travel and the airline industry. Scoop.it: Scoop.it is a curating platform that helps users increase their visibility online. It enables professionals to share important ideas with the right audiences giving them opportunity to create and maintain a meaningful web presence, a crucial component to the success of personal branding. Months 1-3: Begin curating by creating my own topic, specifically related to the airline industry. Complete the bio section with information about myself and add links to my websites including my personal blog and LinkedIn. Also, follow top curators posts. Months 4-6: Once I have curated and followed a good amount of curators and posts, I will start distribute the articles to my other social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, and write articles regarding the author of the posts in my personal blog. Content Strategy: Here I will highlight certain content that will be on each platform. It will consist of material on what I will post on each platform that will target my desired industry as well as my personal brand. LinkedIn: Optimizing all aspects of LinkedIn including but not limited to keeping up to date with my profile, constantly networking and making new connections, and taking part in discussions. My goal is to be connected to all of the professionals I have mentioned in my Companies & Contacts section and have at least one informational interview with a professional in each company I have mentioned within the six-month period. Now that I have received the new version of LinkedIn, I currently have a profile

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strength of an ‘All-Star.’ I can continue to build my network by not just connecting with more professionals, but also joining and participating in groups related to the airline industry and travel. Some groups I have found so far include:

• Airline Start-Ups and Aviation Jobs

• Jet: The Business Traveler Network

• International Business

• Airline • Airlines Industry Professionals

Worldwide • Travel 2.0: Interactive Travel

Industry Professionals

I have noted that I will share updates with my connections, content I will share will be more personally and socially related rather than industry related. For instance, I have shared this article on the left in the past via LinkedIn.

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Other articles could be relevant to the airline industry like this one below: These articles I have found were found through other platforms of social media like Twitter, Scoop.it, Flipboard, and even on my LinkedIn homepage. Both of these articles will help me create my personal brand and authority through LinkedIn. In order to connect and keep in contact with professionals, I must find a way to interact with them first. I can do this by getting introduced by someone I

personally know through LinkedIn. From there, I can ask if they would like to meet with me for an informational interview. After meeting with them, I will continue to stay connected by thanking them and continue connecting with them through LinkedIn or other platforms of social media by sharing content that is relevant to them. While connecting with professionals, I can receive recommendations from current and previous co-workers and managers. There is more of chance for me to receive a recommendation if I will write one for them as well. I will also follow companies within the airline industry whom I admire. I am currently following:

• Delta Airlines • American Airlines • SkyTeam • Qatar Airways

• US Airways • JetBlue Airways • Southwest Airlines

Following these companies will help me find out what connections of mine have an insight in the company along with any career opportunities available. This will also help me connect with even more professionals within the company whom I can have an informational interview with. Twitter: The Company that I ultimately admire in the airline industry is Delta Air Lines. I am currently following @Delta and @DeltaNewsroom, re-tweeting their tweets I would like to share with my followers. From the companies I am following, I can find thought leaders and start interacting with them by re-tweeting and replying their tweets.

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I can also find certain trends that are industry related through hash tags. Here are the search results when I search for #airline:

While searching through #airline, I have found numerous airline companies and most of them have lists I can look through to find even more professional thought leaders whom I can connect with. Not only will my tweets be in regards to companies, but I will also tweet about my passion for travel. Also, I will utilize other forms of social media platforms to find worthy articles that grab my attention. Personal Blog: Content I will be posting on my personal blog will be my personal travel experiences and material from outside sources. I will make sure to write about my past travel experiences first by posting personal stories with a bunch of photographs I have taken on my trips. I will also write about thought leaders whom I admire and what sort of content I have found from them. One blog I have found so far is entitled airlineblogger. I can start with this blog to find other blogs airline industry related. The content I will strongly focus on with my personal blog is content from current thought leaders. This is a way for me to gain my knowledge and credibility about the airline industry to the point where I feel confident enough about talking about the industry myself. Pinterest: Pinboards I can start creating are:

• My Personal Travels • Adventure Gallery • Airlines

• Business Travel • Leisure Travel

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Here are some examples of snapshots I have found when I simply searched the term ‘airline’ through Pinterest; there are many pins, boards, and pinners:

 

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Just by looking at pins, boards and pinners of the keyword airline, I have found so many ways to brand myself just through this one platform. I can follow companies, re-pin pins, follow boards and find just about anything to help inspire my personal brand; this includes infographics. I am aware that infographics are all the rage right now, and they are doing very well on Pinterest. I am hoping to find industry data that can help me gain knowledge about the airline industry. Not only will I re-pin content that is already on Pinterest, I will pin my very own visual content from my past travels under ‘My Personal Travels’ board. For each visual I will have a little story behind the picture. I have also mentioned videos that I could post on Pinterest. Through all of my travels, I have compiled plenty of videos that I could pin on my board ‘Adventure Gallery.’ Scoop.it: Topics I am currently following:

• Allplane: Airlines Strategy & Marketing

• Aviation & Airliners • About International Business

• Connected Airline • Globalize International Business • Travel & Tourism Marketing

I will also create a topic that is relevant to both travel and the airline industry. From there I will start curating articles relating to the topics. Manage & Measure: Here are the platforms I will be using to manage my personal brand social media plan:

• Tweetdeck • Hootsuite • Klout

• Crowdbooster • Pinreach • Repinly

LinkedIn: One thing I have been doing to track my influential status is Klout. I have integrated Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn with this. Thus far, I have a Klout score of 55! In order to receive a higher Klout score, I must engage in influential moments. This can happen by sharing updates and receiving likes and comments on them. I have also been measuring LinkedIn by my profile views, network growth, and search results. Twitter: Twitter has been a huge influence on my Klout score. My Klout score can increase by @mentions from followers. In order to receive @mentions, I must be interacting with professionals in the airline industry.

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Here is a snapshot of what my Klout profile looks like:

Crowdbooster helps achieve an effective presence on Twitter and Facebook. The system shows analytics that aren’t based on abstract scores but numbers that are connected to the personal brand and social media strategies including impressions, total reach, and engagement. This is a great tool to use measure my personal brand through my tweets and followers.

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Personal Blog: Managing and measuring my blog will consist of interactions with blog comments, and being sure that my blog is known by promoting the website through other social media platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Pinterest: I am probably one of the only women that are left to hop on the Pinterest bandwagon. I have decided to research some measuring tools for Pinterest to help me get started. I have found two analytic programs that I can benefit from, Pinreach and Repinly.

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Scoop.it: I will be measuring my influence in Scoop.it through curating and keeping track the number of views, followers, and re-scoops I have. I plan on having so much content to the point where I can be one of the top curators for the airline industry, or at least to get on the first page when searching. I am currently 3rd on the second page when searching ‘airline.’

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Screenshot Comparisons: LinkedIn: Before I did not have a professional picture or a summary. I also had less than 100 contacts.

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Now that I have received the new version of LinkedIn, my profile strength is an ‘All-Star.’ I also have a professional picture, a summary, and my headline is much more catchier than before. I have gained so many new contacts; I am currently at 117.

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Twitter: I had forgotten to take a before snapshot. However, I do remember I did not have as many followers as before. An estimate of my followers before I started implementing my personal brand was less than 150 followers.

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Personal Blog: I had first used tumblr for my personal blog, but now have switched to WordPress. Before: tumblr

After: Wordpress

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Pinterest: My Pinterest boards are a little unorganized and does not help me determine my personal brand. Before:

After: I have created the boards I have listed in my content strategy and have been pinning away!

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Scoop.it: Before:

After: I have created a topic and began curating.