Social Media & Food Safety Education

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Social media monitoring # 2: JetBlue Airways

Product Review: For the first half of my monitoring blog, I choose JetBlue Airways as my client.  JetBlue Airways Corporation has established itself as a low-fare passenger airline with a differentiated product and a high-quality customer service. As a low-cost airline company founded in 1999, located in John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to  Skytrax, JetBlue is the highest rated airline in the United States, and the country's only four-star airline. Besides, JetBlue Airways is the most successful new-airline corporation considering 87 new-airline corporations' failing story in the previous 20 years. Currently, JetBlue operates 180 flights per day.

More social media

In my previous monitoring # 1. I focus on JetBlue's most successful Twitter as social media tools to market its product. Besides, JetBlue also has its main website, Facebook, Youtube, and even iPhone app to gain attention from its consumers.

   a. Main Website

JetBlue's site is visually preferable. It is clean and sharp with a clear focus on searching for flights. It has more appealing design and layout. One thing I love JetBlue is how they design their featured fares prices with big wording and great spacing in between, which is very easily seen and straight to the point.

Also, JetBlue has very clear links in the left corner of the main page to JetBlue's Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc, which is convenient to customers

  

 b. Facebook

JetBlue can have conversations with customers and receive the comments from them directly through Facebook main webpage. Besides, customers could get the latest promotions and rewards by JetBlue's "Go Places", which rewards people with TrueBlue points as well as discounts so they can enjoy giveaway trips.

   c. iPhone app

 JetBlue Airways is starting off 2012 with a new web and mobile strategy. The airline developed its new digital strategy with the help of digital agency Rokkan, app developer- the new app, available for download at the iTunes store, offers all the basics- booking, check-in and flight status monitoring. Interestingly, it also includes a connectivity link to social networks so users can share their travel experiences.

Comparison: JetBlue's closest competitor is Southwest. For years, JetBlue and Southwest catered to customers in the same way- with cheap fares and good customer service. Nowadays, JetBlue and Southwest are trying to distinguish themselves through competitions in places like New York, Washington, Baltimore and Boston. For instance, Southwest is touting its fewer baggage fees, while JetBlue is highlighting its TV service.

 In comparing the two corporations on SocialMention, I found that Southwest is a really strong competitor to JetBlue. The statistics shows that: JetBlue has higher passion than Southwest. While, Southwest has a lot more reach, and strength compared to JetBlue. Both of these two airline corporations have the same sentiment.

                                   

                                                  (JetBlue)                                   (Southwest)

To keep on top of customer sentiment, JetBlue analyzes customer surveys, email, Web feedback forms, and social media, using tools from Attensity, Adobe and more. For example: surveys might be 7-to-1 negative, Emails 4-to-1 negative, and Twitter might be 50/50.

Concerning the top keywords searching, JetBlue has completely obvious advantage comparing with Southwest. 

                           

                                             (JetBlue)                                        (Southwest)

Google insights is the next place I compare these two airline corporations for last month's interest. The ranges for consumers' interest to the two airline corporations are roughly between 60 points and 100 points. Southwest seems to have relatively stable interest points between 80 points to 100 points , while JetBlue is mainly from 60 points to 80 points, on Mar.15 even down to 50 points. I guess Southwest has more loyal and consistent consumers as it is an old brand and has long history comparing with JetBlue. 

JetBlue Airways

Southwest Airlines

I also search information and got data on JetBlue and Southwest's Facebook webpage. Obviously, Southwest uses Facebook as a major part of the company's marketing strategy. The total attention to Southwest is overwhelmingly greater than JetBlue's.

                 

    

                

The last place I compare the two products is on Twitter. As it is well know to all,  JetBlue does a really successful work in Twitter marketing. In terms of the followers, people who are following or tweets, JetBlue exceeds Southwest as a whole.

                                 

                                    

Target Market: JetBlue is in a unique position to target business travelers during tough economic times. As a discount provider who also focuses on customer service, they can appeal to cost-sensitive business people that need to cut travel costs but don't want to sacrifice comfort, convenience, and modernity.

                              

Goals: In order to continue competing with Southwest Airlines to better serve low-fare passengers, JetBlue has to use social media to improve its strength, sentiment, passion and reach. Concerning marketing strategies, JetBlue has to build consistent and reliable public image towards its customers in social media to attract more attentions.

Recommendations:

a.Helping the groundswell support itself-Updating blog and YouTube more frequently.  

Based on a long time research, I found that the use of social media by JetBlue is overall good, with an apparently effort to tie together various channels, but not all channels are updated frequently. The blog channel and YouTube are infrequently updated, while other channels like are continuously updated like twitter. It is necessary for JetBlue to update its blog and Youtube continuously so as to build a consistent and good image in public. They could put their commercials up on YouTube, and having at least a blog entry a month would also be helpful in people wanting to know more about the company.

b. Energizing the groundswell-making social media more of a community feel on Facebook and   Myspace

All JetBlue's post on Facebook, myspace are more customer centric, where they gather friends, but rarely discuss what is happening with JetBlue using the two social networking sites. It feels like JetBlue's social media disjointed with each other, rather than a seamless process that provides customers information on their systems, status, or what is happening in their company. What JetBlue need to focus on is to work with a social media manager to keep social media channels they are using up to date and make it more of a community feel.

c Discuss their policy of monitoring the internet to reduce the Spookiness of the behavior.

Being followed by JetBlue's social media is generally something that may scare its customers. (know more about it)  Customers may feel this behavior spooky. What JetBlue need to do next is to put their monitoring information on their main website about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it when tracking social media. That could reduce the spookiness of the process.

d Do more advertising on mobile.

Smartphone app is JetBlue's initial step to advertise on mobile. Because based on their purchase cycle, they found that customers do not always think about buy air travel tickets by mobile. However, it is a trend that mobile social media will become popular and daily using, what JetBlue could do next is to pay some attention on mobile advertising. This transition could help its development moving forward through mobile advertising.

e Use more of traditional media to do advertising.

As a newly established company, JetBlue is undoubtedly one of the most successful examples of using  social media, especially digital social media to advertise and market itself. Even though JetBlue has already used some traditional media to do advertising, the percentages are not too big. In fact, traditional media are also helpful and easily catching customers everyday, like radio, newspaper, magazines, TV, as well as outdoor billboards.  It is both economical and cost-saving to use traditional media  to expand JetBlue's influence to its consumers who like to listen to radio or read newspapers, especially the elder generation.

f. Making more efforts to respond to negative feedbacks. 

The main negative feedbacks to JetBlue are its customer service dealing with flight delay or baggage problems. I found that JetBlue does not reply customers' delaying or baggage problems so efficiently in social media. JetBlue has to hire employees 24 hours a day to reply in social media to passengers' delay, reservations, and flight cancelation problems. That  is the key point that JetBlue need to improve.

Conclusion: Social media has allowed a newly established company to grow at a fast pace. If JetBlue continue to embrace the Groundswell and use social media as a marketing tool, I have no doubt that JetBlue will become a leading airline company in low-cost position. Wait and see. 

Social Media Monitoring # 1: JetBlue Airways

SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING # 1:  

   

         


          Round trip from Boston to Los Angeles during spring break. Both flights were great. Flight was about 6 hours and snacks given out free, as well as drinks. TVs were nice. Flights was well priced, seats were comfortable and I had plenty of legroom.', That is my personal comment for JetBlue flights after spring break's flight experience. Just as Dave Barger, the CEO of JetBlue Airways, said in the video from Youtube that "Treat others, as you want to be treated yourself", "bring humanity back to air travel" is always JetBlue's mission. 

Introduction & Background

       Founded in 1999, JetBlue Airways is located in New York CIty's Jonh. F Kennedy Airport. At early time, it aimed at providing low cost airline service to 56 destinations in 6 countries. David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue, announced his plan to launch a new airline that would bring "humanity back to air travel". Despite the fact that 87 new-airline corporations failed over the previous 20 years, JetBlue was growing aggressively even when the U.S. airline industry facing challenges following the terrorist attacks of Sep. 2001. Based on what I have searched on line, JetBlue has built a really awesome word of mouth. For example: 

            The airline industry leader known for innovation;

            Emphasizing customer service and satisfaction; 

            Early social media adapter (with 1,6 million Twitter followers);

            Standing out in the digital space.

Marketing Strategy

          JetBlue had made significant progress in establishing a strong brand by seeking to be identified as a safe, reliable, low-fare airline that was highly focused on customer service and by providing an enjoyable flying experience. The main promotion strategies are: 
A: 'Bill me Later'  

Add caption

        It is the effortless way to pay without using our credit card.  Simply select Bill Me Later at checkout, answer two simple questions and accept the terms. It’s that easy. There is no separate application process.  Then we can just choose JetBlue's flexible terms to pay in full or over time. It is a good way 

B. ShopBlue

          JetBlue has its own brand not only limited in airways, but also has its differ products (clothes) under the brand name. The right picture is a list of products in its shopBlue web.

C 'True Blue' program                         

         The 'True Blue' program is a revenue-based program. Members now earn points based on the amount of money spent on flights. 100 Points = One Free Round-trip Flight (Short, Medium and Long flight each from 2 to 6 points). Members get double points for booking online.

D 'BluePass'

       JetBlue Airways introduced BluePass,a three-month, unlimited travel option for business customers on flights to select markets from Boston Logan International Airport or Long Beach Airport between August 22 and November 22, 2011.

Twitter 

        JetBlue has nearly 1.6 million Twitter followers. JetBlue is admitted as a success in using Twitter as a social media tool to promote its products. Especially when it came time to its 10th anniversary in 2009, JetBlue gave away 1,000 tickets on Twitter. Free giveaways is definitely a social media crutch. However, as far as I am concerned, flying 1,00 people round-trip comes at a cost, and it is not clear how many new business flights could cover this cost and charge other customers more money in the long-term. 

Blogs

        Blogs concerning JetBlue can be mainly decided into the following categories: customers' response to its customer service, JetBlue's marketing promotion like Facebook, Twitter, the TrueBlue rewards program. The highly talking topic is JetBlue's Twitter marketing. The following is a latest blog trend for JetBlue from Jan 22 to Mar 18.

           From this tread chart, we can see two peaks: one on Feb. 14, another one on Mar. 12. The reason why blogs citation increase dramatically in the two days is because of Valentine's Day promotion, together with big deals on Mar. 12. 

             
               Comparing at Google insights from Feb 5 to Mar. 18, the interests on Valentine's day and Mar. 12  were similarly on its peak. Moreover, March 9 drew our attention a little bit, because Elton John Concert was held at Bank Atlantic Center that day.

Topics, Tones, Strength, Sentiment, Passion, Reach at SocialMention

           After observing JetBlue Airways on SocialMention for a few days within a month, I found a general trends about JetBlue Airways.

Strength, is the likelihood that JetBlue is being discuss in social media. The 1% strength undoubtedly shows  that JetBlue has been discussed quiet little in the social media. Generally speaking, the keywords mentioned JetBlue itself are more than airways, airlines as well as flights.
Sentiment, is the ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative. We can see from this chart: the general perceived tone are either positive or neutral, while the negative reviews were extremely rare. 
      A sample of positive feedbacks:

     A sample of negative feedbacks:

Passion, is the likelihood that consumers would talk about your brand repeatedly and continuously. The passion data shows 35% indicating JetBlue's good reputation in social media.
Reach, is to measure the range of influence. 24% reaching influence reflecting JetBlue has certain reaching influence on its consumers. What JetBlue has to focus is still making efforts to expand its brand recognition as well as connections with customers.
Conclusion
           All in all, in my first monitoring blog, I focus on the following four parts: brief introduction about JetBlue, the successful marketing strategies JetBlue adopts, social medias JetBlue uses to promote its product, as well as a detailed tracking about customers' attitudes and feedbacks about JetBlue. However, JetBlue has its own negative parts that should pay much attention to. Later on, the second monitoring would cover about these parts. 

           

Week 6r: The freeway of companies' prosperity -the satisfaction of employees

Plenty of corporate CEOs say they want employees who know how to have fun. However,Anheuser-Busch InBev NV chief Carlos Brito said that: "I like people at the company to have fun, sure, plus passion,plus commitment, plus energy, plus lots of other things. Fun is too weak if you want to be best at what we do."

When asking CEO of the world's largest beer marketer about the way to success of a corporation, Brito's main message: Regardless of industry, the success of a corporation hinges in large part on hiring high-performing individuals, bringing passion and commitment to the job, and on building a company culture that keeps them. 

From chapter 11 the groundswell inside your company, the author gives us three cases to show how Best Buy connecting far-flung sales associates, how wikis create a full-fledged collaboration environment for employees, and also how Bell canada using innovative strategies to energize staffs from the bottom up. It shows the power of social network to help spark employees communication. 

Great companies are formed by great people not by popular products, cash flow, or assets. The bigger a company is, the more internal problems will have. How to make employees work together in the same way is the core of a company's success. It requires a company to have certain cultural traits, such as allowing and encouraging individuals to speak up. Just as Brito said managers don't have private offices but share large tables to facilitate easy information flow in AB InBev offices. By doing so, it gets people connected with each other even in just one or two minutes everyday. 

Also, best employees themselves could respond actively to influence the corporate culture. Just like Ashley Hemsath (on page215 Groundswell book), she dedicated herself into her job in Best Buy and she got achievements there. Everyday she post on Blue Shirt Nation to share her thoughts about how to fix company and communicate with other employees there. Blue Shirt Nation becomes a platform for employees to feel empowered, connected and more committed on a day-to-day basis. Employees ideas and thoughts could help companies improve their management system to better control its staff. It is a mutually benefited process. 

In the process of making employees satisfied with management and working in the same direction, the key -all measures companies take, is that in creating a collaboration tool, that is a communication channel to follow employees hearts. Wiki did an excellent job by using blogs for communication to talking and listening to employees. Through understanding what employees are concerned about, and what they are working on, as well as where they are focused, the manager could control the whole situation well and put all their energy together to work for the company.

What I learn from this chapter is that: on one hand, companies should spend a lot of time and energy in embracing customers. On the other hand, the internal harmony is the spirit and soul of a company which employers could not ignore even a little.  Employees in a company is just like the bricks in a skyscraper. 

Only if every bricks are in order, the whole skyscraper could be stable.

Week 5o: Can Facebook succeed in China?

Can Facebook succeed in China?

China, one of the world’s largest Internet markets, could be out of reach of Facebook because of the Chinese government’s strict censorship policies. However, it is also a truth that China has certain amount of Facebook users who frequently use Facebook in China. How do they do that? So simple! Users could use VPN to unblock Facebook in China so that they could have good connection with the world.

This phenomenon reflects one reality that Facebook is actually a popular social media in China and many Chinese are waiting for Facebook entering the market.

 It was reported in Sohu.com China that Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously visited China and met with Baidu CEO Robin Li in 2010, leading to speculation that the company was preparing to enter the country.

“It’s kind of a personal challenge this year, I’m taking about an hour a day and I’m learning Chinese,” Zuckerberg told an audience during a recent appearance at Stanford University. “I’m trying to understand the language, the culture, the mind set—it’s just such an important part of the world. How can you connect the whole world if you leave out a billion people?”

                                                                                    -Zuckerberg said in an interview

Most Chinese have heard the rumors that Facebook might be coming to China. Marbridge Consulting reported that Baidu and Facebook are rumored to have joined forces to bring the social necwork to China.On Facebook's side, it needs a big local partner to break into the huge Chinese market. Facebook wants to cooperate with Baidu, who takes up 76% revenue share in China Internet market. With the help of domestic famous social media, it is easier for Facebook entering China.

Can Facebook succeed in China? Let’s do it by using SWOT analysis.

Strengths

Reality tells us that some Chinese have interest in Facebook, especially after Mark Zuckerberg’s visiting in China. They would like to surf Facebook web by using VPN to connect with their international friends. It is a trend for people to communicate all around the world. Besides, Mark Zuckerberg is a very diligent learner who pours in time to study Chinese and its culture. He took much time in thinking about how to bring Facebook to China.

Weaknesses

As Facebook is a totally free community for people to make comments and learn news worldwide, Chinese government may worry about their political control after Facebook coming in. Also, Facebook.com is a banned domain name according to China’s Internet rules. Changing to Facebook.cn could be accepted in China’s market. It is a doubt that whether Facebook company wants to change it or not.

Opportunities

Cooperating with Baidu is a win-win strategy to both sides. Baidu is threatened by social network juggernaut Tencent, and it might be a safer bet to build a social network with one of the most successful social companies in the world than to try to build by its own.

Threats

Just as what I have mentioned in my last original blog, with 160 million users, Renren is a competitive competitor that Facebook should be caution of.  Even for Chinese students abroad, they would use Facebook only to connect with locals, while use Renren to connect with Chinese friends.

However, foreign companies still have no idea about Chinese Internet market as well as users’ habits. How is  Facebook's future in China? Time could explain everything.

Week 4r : The Customer is King - How to build a convenient bridge by embracing customers

The Customer is King

-       How to build a convenient bridge by embracing customers

As a customer for about 15 years since I bought my first candy in store by myself at five, I would like to share with you about one impressed experience as a customer. It was in a steak restaurant named Chicago Firehouse, which is located in Michigan Ave, Chicago. I went there when I was travelling in Chicago because I searched the Internet and found it is listed among top 10 steak restaurant there. With curiosity and hunger, I went there with my friends. I was attracted by its elegant design and decoration at the first glance. Later on, a waiter with nice smile came and gave me some sweet recommendations. This action made a foreigner who came to U.S. less than two months feel comfortable and relaxed. After I started eating my delicious steak, the waiter came twice to ask me: “How do you like it?” “Do you feel comfortable eating western food?” etc. After I had finished eating, one manager came here and asked me nicely about the feelings of eating their steak as a Asian as well as Asian people’s eating habit and favorite tastes. He was taking notes when I was sharing about my feelings. Amazing experience!  

 

Returning back to the book, Groundswell tells us in Chapter 9: “Innovating with help from your customers is such a great idea.”  Because the further you develop relationships with your customers, the deeper customers could involve into your company. It is called embracing the groundswell.

“The customer is king” is a popular Chinese saying, which teaches businessmen to build a good relationship with customers. Everyone likes to feel appreciated and this is true for those who have a business relationship. The customers want to feel as if they matter to the business owner, as they are part of the reason why the business is still in existence.

Groundswell highlights some effectives methods to build a convenient bridge by embracing customers. The book recommends “idea exchanges” and “making conversations mixed with humility and creativity”, which impressed me a lot.

Build a forum or a website to embrace your customers. On one hand, through the discussion section, the company could collect customers’ suggestions, comments, and opinions about the development of the business. For instance, instead of saying, “Tell us what to do”, it is better to have a subtle difference “What would you do if you were us?” It could encourage the customers to develop empathy as well as bring up realistic suggestions.  On the other hand, always remember response is more important than feedback. Companies should not only collect these comments but also show customers how they react to them and how they are trying to make improvements. All in all, it is a useful tool to build convenient bridge with your customers by mass media.

No matter what kind of business you are in, the customer is forever king for you. Always be modest. However, a balance between skill and humility should be highly concerned. It is unwise to go either side extremely, but you could have a focus. For instance, USPS is an agency for providing postal service in the United States. The goal for USPS should always be embracing customers. Starting routine conversations with customers to get suggestions and feedbacks so as to improve efficiency and accuracy. However, there is a totally different picture for Apple. The main focus should always be put on the R& D department to have new inventions; otherwise it is a kind of waste of talent.

Embracing is taping into customers circle to be their honest friends, not just listening quietly and patiently, but also with wise solutions. It is a faster way to initiate business successfully.