• by austin , April 28, 2011

I am a business major, so I naturally have to take some marketing classes in my time at college. I find the subject of marketing fascinating, so this does not bother me.

I am currently enrolled in my first marketing class, which covers the basics of the marketing realm. Recently, I’ve been working on this class’s final course project, which is a marketing case study for a company in the airline industry; in my case, over Delta Airlines. For this project, I’ve been required to examine the 4 P’s of marketing, product, place, price, and promotion, for this particular company.

In the section of promotion, I (and almost every other student in the class) focused on how the business was incorporating social media into their marketing scheme. Because social media is becoming the method of communication for this decade, I assumed a company as large as Delta had a plan for keeping up to speed.

I was right.

Delta is using Facebook and Twitter connections to reinvent the way they interact with their customers. Obviously, most of their social media focus is on advertising; however, they have also created some unique apps and uses for Facebook and Twitter that are outside the box. Here are just a few.

Facebook Booking App

Delta is the only airline that currently utilizes its this effectively. Yes, they use Facebook as a way to promote deals and collect fans; however, that isn’t what the bulk of the page is devoted to. Delta has a Facebook app that allows its fans to book flights directly from Facebook – without going to another website. This creates convenience for its customers and urges them to book a ticket with Delta because of the convenience.

Twitter Re-books

Twitter is a great place to inform customers that they can save 15% off their next purchase, get feedback from recent customers, or promote a new feature of your business. However, Delta doesn’t stop at using its Twitter feed for these announcements. Delta tweets when flights have been delayed or canceled, informing flyers ASAP so that they can rebook their flights. In the event of a major storm or a ton of cancellations, Delta allows all of its Twitter followers to rebook their flights directly through Twitter,exhibited,/a> during one of the major snow storms this past winter.

Connecting with Customers

Delta’s current marketing campaign is Keep Climbing, with the purpose of improving customer service and customer relations. As a part of this campaign, Delta now features a Delta Assist section of the Facebook page, which allows its followers to provide specific feedback/complaints of their flights or general experience with the airline.

I found all of these social media uses fascinating, which is why I thought I would share them on this post. Delta has caught on to the social media trend, and is setting the tone for marketing in the 21st century. Delta is aware that in order to improve customer relations, they must stay ahead of the communication curve, which is why their devotion to Facebook and Twitter development is so prominent.

I personally see this (I know I say this at the end of every post) as just another example of how social media is affecting communication (in this case, business to customer communication) – and I personally think it’s fascinating.