ABCI (Aviation Business Consultants International) conducted a social media survey of aviation professionals, which concluded on July 11, 2014. The results confirmed some of our suspicions, and held a few surprises as well.
We advertised the survey on eight social media networks, as well as on our blog. Survey respondents were compensated only with a report of the results.
Who responded to the survey?
The first two questions were designed to determine the segments of the aviation industry that respondents worked in, the companies they work for, and the positions they hold within those companies.
To divide this a different way, we can divide this into Business to Consumer (B2C) or Business to Business (B2B)
- Business to Consumer can include FBOs, Aviation Training Organizations, Charter Organizations, Aviation Product Retailers (B2C) and Aviation Service Providers (B2C)
- B to Business can also include FBOs, Aviation Training Organizations (career- oriented or those that sell to airlines, etc.) Charter Organizations, Airport Authorities, Aviation Consultants, Aviation Product Managers (B2B) and Aviation Service Managers (B2B)
- Several years ago, social media users were younger, entry-level employees. Now C Level executives and founders were the largest group of our respondents!
Who Else Answered the Survey?
These are people that selected the option “other” and wrote in an response.
- State aviation office
- Uber driver – airport pickup/taxi service
- Airline
- Helicopter Pilot CFII
- Aviation association
- Full-service aviation company (FBO, Charter, MX, Management)
- Aviation association
Which Social Networks do you use, and how often do you use them? (Personal Use)
Which Social Networks do you use, and how often do you use them (Marketing Use)
There are two ways to use this data-
- Look for opportunities where there are lots of companies advertising. If they’ve determined that it works for them, it may be a good opportunity to evaluate!
- Look for opportunities where there are lots of users of a particular social media channel, with few companies that actually use it for advertising. (Lots of buyers + Few sellers = ideal market opportunity!)
Planned Changes in Social Media in the Coming Year
These were responses written in on the survey. This question was optional.
- Increased use of Facebook and Twitter for business
- Increased activity to send of company information instead of print media
- Use more images
- We want to do more with Linked In and will probably explore Google +
- More Facebook activity with our employees
- Increased use of Instagram
- More customized and targeted advertising on social media sites.
- Find more ways to use social media more effectively.
- Increase
- Many, but also see a return to more traditional marketing as it is now different!
- Increasing
- Increase with more relevant content
- It will increase…but it will probably diversify, thus, diluting results…
- Increased use of Google Plus, Instagram, reduced use of Facebook.
- Increased use of all channels
- Increased expectations for providing full-blown customer service via social media channels
You can probably detect a trend here- people use the term “increased” and “more” a LOT. No one in our survey indicated they intended to do LESS social media marketing in the coming year.
Key Takeaways:
- LinkedIn is the primary social media used most by the most aviation professionals.
- Aviation professionals are deeply divided about Facebook usage (people love or hate it, with very little middle ground)
- Google Plus has gained significant usage among aviation professionals.
- All respondents plan to increase social media usage for the coming year.
- Pinterest and Instagram usage remains low, but there are small pockets of dedicated usage among specific groups. (Instagram for highly visual aviation products, and Instagram among aviation maintenance professionals, for example.)
Need help developing a social media strategy or seeing how your social media presence stands up to the competition, and seeing what opportunities you might be missing?
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I’ll start with a broad generalization: FaceBook is not really appropriate for B2B marketing. I think that it is an appropriate community if you target consumers, or if you want to build good will among your employees and community as a business. People on FaceBook participate as Individuals, not as business representatives. However, they do so on LinkedIn. So for me, I have a very practical policy: “Personal FaceBook and Professional LinkedIn”
You can read more about it here: http://ludozone.com/2009/06/30/personal-facebook-and-professional-linkedin-my-own-practical-policy/
Makes a lot of sense, Ludo!
Facebook is much more effective at advertising to consumers, and LinkedIn is much more effective for B2B sales.
That said, we recommend every company evaluate this way – Which platforms are your Top Ten Most Wanted customers spending time? That may change over time- we’ve found some of ours shifting to Google+ over the last year, something we had not anticipated. So it’s worth keeping your eyes (and mind) open. 🙂
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