Social Media: An Introduction for Aviation Brokers

Are you keen to better engage your social media followers, building brand, increasing sales and increasing website traffic? Check out this handy guide for aircraft dealers and brokers...

The major social media platforms currently are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.

“Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers.” - Bryan Weiner, CEO, Comscore

Here are five things to think about when starting your social media strategy.

Facebook

A business page on Facebook gives you a way to communicate directly with your target audience. Your followers are there because they are aware of your company and want to learn more or support your business page. They are expecting to receive useful information from your Facebook page.

Facebook ads are cost effective but ideally you want to grow your audience organically. A great way of doing this is by asking your media partners to promote your aircraft on their social media profiles and linking back - just like you see here.

Twitter

Is Twitter Dead? is email marketing dead? Are magazines dead?

People and businesses that write something off as ‘dead’ just don't understand the benefits of the product or service. Twitter may not be as hot as it was before but it is very much alive and has 143 million daily users. That is far from dead.

Market to Millennials on Instagram

A survey by Facebook discovered that millennials are leaving Facebook and are turning to Instagram. Instagram, primarily used on mobile devices, is all about taking, uploading and sharing pictures and videos.

Instagram has over 500 million daily users and has less competition and a more engaged audience than other social media giants like Facebook or Twitter.

This presents businesses with an opportunity to market their products to a more targeted and interested audience, which requires mainly images.

Video Marketing with YouTube

Currently, YouTube has more than 30 million daily visitors. Nearly 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute, with more the 2,400 channels that reach in excess of 1 million subscribers. So the short answer is, ‘Yes, you should be on YouTube’, but in the first instance you should utilize other media channels outlets and subscribers.

We recently started working with René Banglesdorf from Charlie Bravo Aviation, on an AvBuyer Insider’s Guide series.

"AvBuyer has long been a valued marketing partner, but this last year, in keeping with their innovation and creativity, we mutually decided to kick our efforts up a notch or two. The result was a video series designed to provide insider’s knowledge about private planes from those who fly them every day in the “Insider’s Guides". - René Banglesdorf, Charlie Bravo

Story Telling through Social Media

It is no longer enough to simply post content – social media is all about the human connection. Storytelling on social media sites is an amazing way to interact with your audience and develop new and existing relationships and brand loyalty.

Use social platforms as a conversation channel rather than an advertising channel. Humanize your brand. For example, post videos of staff members – the face of your business.

Eight top tips to be successful on Social Media

1. Build your authority.
2. Remember that social is a two-way conversation
3. On that note. Don’t wait a week to respond. Followers expect quick responses to their questions on social media. If you aren’t monitoring your social feeds, you may be losing out on valuable opportunities.
4. Offer social-specific content and promotions, you could do this with media partners to cross-promote to your audiences.
5. Social media is not about blatantly advertising how great you are but rather should be geared towards creating content to engage followers.
6. Asking your advertising partners to share your aircraft on their profiles with a link will grow your following.
7. Be 100% committed
8. Be creative

When done correctly, maintaining a social presence will help you build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.

What other social tips do you recommend for marketers in the Business Aviation industry? Get in touch and let us know!