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KLM continues to surprise users on Twitter

by 33 Comments

KLM is making other airlines look bad!! In the mean time they are making their airline look COOL.  Without failing, the Royal Dutch Airlines continues to surprise me. After watching how they used Twitter alone to get 1,000,000 impressions by giving personalized gifts to people at their airport, they did it once again.  This time, they have listened to their customers, responded with a challenge and made their customer’s dream come true, as well as making two new records. How did it all start? Simple….

It started with a tweet!

KLM was supposed to start their first Amsterdam to Miami flight on the 27th of March. However a tweet from fans Sied Van Riel, a DJ, and producer Wilco Jung changed all that. They sent a tweet to KLM asking if they could reschedule their flight that was supposed to be launched on the 27th of March to a week earlier. KLM then responded with a challenge to them.

The Challenge

If Sied and Wilco could find enough Dutch music fans to sign up, KLM would agree to their request and reschedule the flight from the 27th of March to the 21st of March.

Results

Within hours, Sied and Wilco filled the plane.

Records

KLM today made history, by being the first airline to reschedule a flight following a request from a user on Twitter as well as entering the Guinness Book of Records for having the highest altitude dance party.

What we can learn from KLM

Listen, listen, listen.  However, listening is only the first part of social media. Responding to it  is much more important. You can listen and make a report of what people are saying about you on Twitter or on other social media sites…but if you aren’t taking any actions, there won’t be any outcomes. Your customers want to be heard and they want a respond from you. KLM took action and showed us how it can be done.  Will this build brand loyalty from their customers? Definitely! Will this attract more customers? Possible! I’m considering using their airlines in the future. That is IF I get go anywhere LOL!

Enjoy the video.

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Comments

  7. Wow! What an amazing example of listening to the customer, taking action, AND having some fun. I mean come on. . . who wouldn’t have wanted to be on a plane hosting the world record highest altitude dance party?

  8. Such a cool story and video. I flew KLM from LA to Amsterdam a few years ago, so I’ve experienced their great service. Still, I wouldn’t have expected this. Twitter rocks!

  9. See the Social Team at KLM understand the people inside their business, their business, customers, and making things work with Surprise factor. Ecosystem solution to a request! Believe it takes a lot to reschedule things like this!

  10. So often, companies have an “automatic no” response. KLM checked itself and thought “why not?” That is the thinking of a company open to real innovation. Thanks for bringing this one to light – I’m sharing it now!

  17. Nice write up Aaron.
    KLM has a history of building brand loyalty.
    They used to give their biz class clients a little porcelain house filled with ‘jenever’ (a Dutch distelled drink).
    http://www.klm-huisjes.nl/
    They stopped doing that a while back.
    Some of these little houses became collectors items.
    People pay up to 1.000 euros for them.

    I think the big challenge for airlines is mostly in crisis communications.
    Delays, missing luggage or worse…

    Now that KLM is so actively using the bright side of social media, I wonder how they will do when they get challenged!

    All the best,
    Michiel – Amsterdam

  19. As more companies truly understand the overall demographic is shifting from being told what to buy and instead wishes to influence the brands they wear, buy, drive, fly etc. they will be able to truly capture a solid section of their target market.

    Athletes, singers, models etc have made themselves bigger than they could have ever thought utilizing twitter and other social medias. With huge marketing budgets and “expert” marketing teams there is no reason that brands shouldn’t be dominating the same social media marketing industry

  20. Hi Aaron
    Great post. Nice to see a big company not just using Social Media, but also doing it great. I think way too many old fashion companies are afraid of Social Media and bad publicity.

  25. Hey Aaron 🙂
    …Wow, talk about customer service! Wouldn’t have thought that an airline would be so progressive and creative…thanks for sharing that!

  29. Amazing example Aaron! I´ll share it now with my boss and coworkers! We´ve got to learn to use Twitter in such a creative . Thanks!

  32. Twitter has turned out to be really powerful… I was “paid forward” tickets to see Collective Soul when they saw a tweet about me being out of work and annoyed at the time. I think that it’s great for KLM and others to utilize Social Media like this because it really will build brand loyalty in the end. We all know how powerful word of mouth is!

    ; )

  33. It’s great that KLM is addressing passenger concerns through social media. It’s quick, convenient and makes the whole process seem less daunting. However, I’ve been observing their Facebook page the past few days and I’ve seen the social media team delete negative posts.

    Their rationale for deleting said posts is so that no single issue or concern dominates the page. That seems fair–it gives everyone a chance to voice out their thoughts and opinion. The posts being censured are those that talk negatively about the airline, at the same time allowing repetitive positive feedback from customers. That doesn’t sound fair, does it? It gives the impression that their customers’ negative feedback at all.

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