14 Jan Not laughing so much now: Delta’s blog effort
One of the things we do as a social media agency is analyze what other people do and comment on it. To that end, way back in August, Lisa wrote a post called “Delta starts a blog, I’m still laughing.” At the time, the blog had just a few posts and, well, it was more than a bit lame. So we called them out on it, and that’s when we got our first surprise. Within an hour or two, Jacob Morris, the guy in charge of the blog, left a comment, basically saying, “Give us a chance, we’re finding our way here.”
That alone tells me that Jacob understood that Listening is Social Media Step One, and he was monitoring the reaction to his new effort. That was a good sign.
So today, I wandered back over to the Delta blog to check it out. It’s significantly better than it was. Jacob did a post on his recent vacation, Robin did one on surviving airport security. The best part is that they’ve started a series of little videos called Planeguage that are actually pretty cute. (Amazing that they make fun of some of the hassle of flying commercial, like kids kicking your seat, crazy people with the window shades, etc.)
Jacob and crew don’t have an easy assignment. Like any big corporation, I’m sure there’s conservative undertones. And there are a few things they could do better still (i.e., I was looking for an “email this” link at the end of one post I liked; use more keywords on your Planeguage posts, etc…), but they have done a nice job finding their voice. The posts are more human and authentic and less cheerleading, and they are a good mix of personal, fun and business-oriented.
Good lessons here for corporate social media marketing types:
- Get permission to do something.
- Start safe while everyone is watching.
- Find your voice over time.
- Loosen up as you hit stride.
- Don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself or your industry.
Jacob: You said you would get there. After this quick check-in, it seems like you’re on your way…
