Benefits of Online Community for Sales and Marketing

05/05/2018 Mastering Digital
Channels

Membership Number | 40039948
Level 6 – Digital Diploma in Digital Marketing
Subject – Mastering Digital Channels (2206)
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PAGE COUNT
Task 01 (a) 01 Page
Task 01 (b) (c) 08 Pages
Task 02 (a) (b) (c) 08 Pages
Task 03 (a) (b) (c) 08 Pages
Total 25 Pages

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Table of Contents
TASK 01...................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Organisation summary........................................................................................................... 4
1.1.1 Organisation Name......................................................................................................4
1.1.2 Type of Organisation...................................................................................................4
1.1.3 Size of Organisation....................................................................................................4
1.1.4 Product and Services...................................................................................................4
1.1.5 Customer Base............................................................................................................5
1.1.6 Competitors.................................................................................................................5
1.1.7 Digital Activeness........................................................................................................5
1.2. What is an online community.............................................................................................6
1.2.1 Why we need an online community.............................................................................7
1.2.2 Benefits from online community for product developments,.........................................7
1.2.3 Benefits from online community for customer service................................................10
1.2.4 Benefits from online community for sales and marketing...........................................12
1.3. How Open and Owned communities been used successfully.........................................14
1.3.1 What are channels/platform.......................................................................................15
1.3.2 How Open and Owned channels been used successfully in the airline industry........16
TASK 2...................................................................................................................................... 21
2.1. How channels or platforms can be used to activate and engage SriLankan Airline’s online
community.............................................................................................................................. 22
2.2 How to monitor and assess online community.................................................................27
2.3. Risks of having an online community to organization’s reputation...................................29
2.3.1 Best practices............................................................................................................ 30
TASK 03.................................................................................................................................... 32
3.1 How online community could be integrating with other channels for acquisition and
conversion of prospects into customers.................................................................................34
3.2. Recommending internal and external resources required to implement online platform..36
3.3. Describe future market and technology developments impacting upon online community.
............................................................................................................................................... 38
References................................................................................................................................ 54
REFERNCES............................................................................................................................ 66
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Membership Number | 40039948
TASK 01
REPORT
Channel or platform options to build and grow online
community
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1.1 Organisation summary
1.1.1 Organisation Name
Sri Lankan Airlines (IATA two letter code UL)
1.1.2 Type of Organisation
Sri Lankan Airlines was launched in 1979, being Sri
Lanka’s National carrier, it is an award-winning airline with a
solid reputation for services, comfort, safety and punctuality. The
Airline’s hub is at Bandaranaike International Airport in
Colombo, Providing convenient connection to its global route
network of 103 destinations in 48 countries. (Source. Company
website)
1.1.3 Size of Organisation
During the year under
review, Group’s revenue
increased by 4.8% which is to
LKR 138,563million. The main
reason for the increase is
attributable to many factors and
the most significant growth recorded from air
terminals and other services. The growth in the number of passenger carried, even though at
lower yield in USD terms, improved group revenue. (Source. Annual report 2017)
1.1.4 Product and Services
With the wide range of product and services available under the organisation, Mostly Sri
Lankan Airline passenger services, Sri Lankan cargo, Sri Lankan Catering and Sri Lankan Duty
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Table 01 – Highlights of financial year 2016/2017
(Source. Annual Report 2017)
Region 2016 2017
North and south America 2.40% 3.10%
Middle east 16.80% 17%
Europe and Africa 20% 14.10%
Asia 32.60% 34.70%
Sri Lanka 26.60% 30.20%
South west pacific 1.60% 0.90%
Revenue LKR 135,563.23Mn
Net Loss for Year LKR.28,339.51Mn
Total Assets LKR.55,413.77Mn
Passenger Carried 12,455.05
Passenger Load Factor 79.80%
Average Strength 8,029
FINANCIAL
TRAFFIC
STAFF
Figure 01 – Composition of Group Revenue (Source. Annual
Report 2017)

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free contributes major potion to group revenue. Below are the other product ranges and
services.
1.1.5 Customer Base
The main three customer segments of Sri Lankan airlines are Business travellers,
Leisure travellers and Direct customers whom which contributes 45% to 30% and 25% to its
revenue respectively. Also using a fleet of narrow and wide-body Airbus aircraft, Sri Lankan
Airlines operates a network of regional services within Asia and the Subcontinents, as well as
services to the Middle East and Europe. (Source. Annual
report 2017)
1.1.6 Competitors
With the increase of capacity by incorporating wider body aircrafts, and frequency of
services, and level of service provided by other Airlines in the market like Emirates, Qatar
Airways, Etihad, Fly Dubai, China Eastern, Kuwait Airways, Malindo Airways, Singapore
Airlines, Thai Airways and Air India, Sri Lankan airlines is facing a stiff rivalry. In Addition,
Several Airlines commenced operating services in to Sri Lanka including KLM, Gulf Air,
Himalaya Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines and Thomson Airways. Overall other airline
capacity operating into Sri Lanka recorded an 11% growth. (Source. Annual report 2017)
1.1.7 Digital Activeness
Sri Lankan Airline has 570k followers on FB 28.5k on Instagram 8.1k YouTube 56.5k
Twitter 4.3k LinkedIn
Report to the senior management of Sri Lankan Airlines
To : Senior Managers of Sri Lankan Airlines
From : Marketing officer
Subject : How online community benefits sales and marketing of a business and what is
the channel competitors use within the industry to grow and build online
community.
Date : 05/05/2018
Executive Summery
Online communities are those which are interacting with people and organisations that
are been working or staying in various parts of world. These are all generally part of internet or
social networking channels which are enabling companies and people to connect and
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Table 02 – Destination vice contribution (Source.
Annual Report 2017)

Figure 03 – Global Annual Digital Growth (Source. The new 2018 global
digital suits of report from We Are Social and Hootsuite)
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communicate with other people and share their views or ideas. This will be beneficial for Sri
Lankan airlines as they could be building up stronger brand image within market and also
including feedback of customers on product line up of company. As in a survey it was noted
that there are about 72% of customers who are using online community in form of taking
feedbacks related to products so it becomes important for firm to determine its market growth
in form of digital media as well (Tuten and Solomon, 2017). So both sales and marketing of Sri
Lankan will be affected by this online communities which they are majorly active into as
customer base is been increased which would be leading towards increased revenue of firm.
As the brand reputation is been improved at time when Sri Lankan Airlines is using online
community. There are many competitors who are been included in competition for social media
marketing like that of Kuwait airways, Singapore airlines and Emirates.
1.2. What is an online community
A go to market strategy is an action plan that specifies how a company will reach target
customers and achieves competitive advantage, this was first invented by Robert Merton at the
Bureau of Applied Social Research, and this is the same theory of the focus group at the
beginning. But times change and innovation evolves in a way that opens new opportunities.
Nowadays online communities are
clearly a preferred choice for many
important market research projects. There
is an enormous increment in internet
utilization and PC interceded
communication. As an expanding measure
of informative action happens through this
new medium, there has been a huge
increment in essential research on virtual
communities, online connections, and variety
of other aspects of computer intervened communication. Asper figure 02 the latest research it
shows half of the world’s population are internet users and more than two third of the population
are active mobile social users. (Source. Digital in 2018 report by we are social and
Hootsuite)
Online community is a group of people with common interests who use the internet such
as web sites, e mails, instant messaging, to communicate, work together and pursue their
interest over time. The communities are meeting places to proceed with professional
advancement. They are compromised with an interpersonal organization of individuals, who by
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Figure 02 – Global Digital landscape (Source. Digital in 2018 report by
we are social and Hootsuite)

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influencing utilization of an online meeting place and having a sufficient group culture and are
associated with suitable data procedures to
create and use a specific learning area to
achieve the desired objective. We expect
the utilization of online communities for
proceeding with competent advancement
and the improvement of information
resources in the associations.
1.2.1 Why we need an online
community
Setting clear and actionable objectives is crucial to the dispatch and develops an
effective online community. Targets and objectives will proposition upon our organization’s
objectives, vision and mission.
Target groups like business travellers, leisure travellers, and other travel groups are our
main source of information. our strategies can range from giving incredible incentive to existing
customers or building up a community to claim a specific topic and to developing resources and
helpful content that go beyond the brand which can even take the form of so called powered by
community platforms where we stand as the only initiator. With the competitive digital
landscape, it is important for organizations to build and grow online communities to maximise
opportunities to connect, engage and expand relationships with prospects, customers and
partners.
Also, after understanding the customer’s life cycle (Appendix B) we can further emphasis
on develop, retention and loyalty by improve our customer service and enhance our customer’s
experience using online community. Ultimately there will be an increase in our product and
services usage and improved profit margins. It is a win-win and there will be no unsatisfied
customers waiting at our proverbial terminal. There are many areas of the business that may
benefited from this online community, such as product development, customer service, Sales
and marketing.
1.2.2 Benefits from online community for product developments,
Build a stronger brand – before we develop products we need to have a
stronger brand. As per the brand finance report sri lanka by Brandfinance, SriLankan Airlines is
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