NB: This is a guest article by Jamie Riddell, creator of social media insight company Birdsong.
Twitter is now a key channel for airlines to communicate with their customers.
As a business metric, the number of Twitter followers still matters as it is a base from which to build engagement, promotions and all the key elements that add value to the airline and the followers.
Last year JetBlue’s Flash sale on Twitter generated significant business for the airline and wider promotion. Just like an email database, the more customers they have following, the greater the potential audience.
Research also shows that follower counts leap in a crisis as customers flock to Twitter for answers that may not be forthcoming from a website or call centre. Again, the larger the audience, the larger the base from which to communicate.
A new report published by BirdSong shows the most followed global airlines on Twitter. More than 100 different airline accounts were analysed for their number of followers to deliver the rankings (July 2012).
The top 10 Twitter accounts had a combined follower base of 5.6m Twitter users. Only two airlines topped the million follower mark, JetBlue taking top spot with 1.67 million followers. In second spot was Southwest Airlines with 1.36 million followers.
No other airline came close to reaching these two, with Air Asia and American Airlines the next highest accounts, almost one million followers adrift.
So, without further ado, here are the top 10 most followed airlines on Twitter:
- Jet Blue (1,677,149) @JetBlue
- SouthWest (1,356,935) @SouthwestAir
- Air Asia (428,320) @AirAsia
- British Airways – Net followers of both accounts (397,641) @BritishAirways; @British_Airways
- American Airlines (390,274) @AmericanAir
- Philipine Airlines (372,374) @flyPAL
- TAM Airlines – (355,562) @TAMAirlines
- Delta (343,243) @Delta
- Virgin America ((334,086) @virginamerica
- KLM (286,128) @klm
British Airways‘ two accounts almost accounted for two of the top 10 spots, ranking 10th and 12th. Combined the two accounts have 410,000 followers. By cross referencing the followers of both accounts, BirdSong identified a net follower count of 397,641 unique followers, indicating an overlap of 385,342 Twitter users following both accounts. The count of the combined audience places British Airways as 4th on the Top 10.
The full list of airlines can be found here.
Further musings from Jamie on airlines usage of Twitter can be found here.
NB: This is a guest article by Jamie Riddell, creator of social media insight company Birdsong
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Hello Jamie. Thanks for the article and an interesting topic. Could you please send me the link to the full list of airlines? Current link is a 404. I’m keen to get your insights on HOW airlines attract twitter followers? How much of it is deals driven, service driven, or simply geographical/demographics driven, as in — where the airlines are located)? Thanks! Michael
Thanks Michael, the link in the story is fixed now – apologies.
It would be interesting if you were to compare an airline’s total Twitter followers with each respective airline’s available seat miles (ASMs). You may find that, on a per-capita basis (so to speak), the results could be surprisingly different. I guess my point is… rate them on “social quality”, as opposed to “social quantity”…
Exactly! Even rated as a proportion of individual, ie totally distinct travellers, as opposed to passengers, these numbers are derisory. There is nothing to indicate their monetary value to the airlines, nor the ASKs they consume – which may be insignificant?? We just cannot tell from this data. How do they compare for example with total numbers who regularly receive email promotions from the same airlines and the value of those customers. Do these sets overlap? How much?
Twitter, for the moment, for airlines, and probably many others, is still a triumph of hope and hype over provable value.
How is are the followers driving sales?
Aside from the lost leader flash sales?
I think you missed Cebu Pacific and Airphil Express in the list. Both have higher Twitter followers than some in this list.
Hello! Jamie,
Gargi here from ICMS TRAVEL & TOURISM from KOLKATA, INDIA hope my message finds you in good health,.I believe if twitter can work as a key channel for aviation industry ie,.for airlines then it can also enhance the business of service industry ie,.travel sector..
kindly let me know that how twitter can help us out.
Thanks,
Gargi on behalf of ICMS.
Very interesting!! I tried to monetize my followers at about 80,000 and had a god time making a little money. Twitter recently started cracking down on there terms though so had to lay off. I posted an article about this I’d like to share and there’s also a how to get followers that I shared http://socialmediasites101.com/?p=45 hope your other readers enjoy