Dissertation Literature Review: Social Media Marketing in Aviation

This literature review critically examines the influence of social media marketing on the airline industry. It explores the evolution of social media and its application within the aviation sector, focusing on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The review contrasts various authors' perspectives, highlighting the positive impacts such as enhanced customer communication, low-cost marketing, and improved customer satisfaction, alongside negative impacts like data breaches and security concerns. It also discusses the shift in consumer behavior due to social media and the importance of bidirectional communication between airlines and their customers. The review concludes by emphasizing the need for airlines to effectively manage their social media presence to address consumer concerns and leverage the benefits of these platforms while mitigating potential risks.

Literature review
Social media
Social media is defined as the technique which is the collective of online
communication channels dedicated to community-based input, collaboration and
interaction. It is a platform and marketing strategy which is used by airlines industries
for increasing their performance. It is observed that around one-fifth of the airline
industries use at least one kind of social media: 12% use Facebook, 6% use link din,
5% involve YouTube and 10% use Twitter for improving their customers and overall
performance (Albers, Bühne, and Peters, 2009). It is identified that social media has
the ability to enhance the rate of customers and with the help of this platform aviation
sector can easily communicate with their clients or stakeholders. Basole and Rouse,
(2008) evaluated that the use of social media technologies in the area of airlines has
increased by 47% between 2015 and 2017. This paper identifies how the aviation
sector uses social media approach for communication purposes and Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube all these are very best examples of social media which are
used by the airlines for marketing purposes (Dijkmans, Kerkhof, and Beukeboom,
2015).
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is defined as the World Wide Web which emphasize user generated
content, participatory nature and usability. It is one of the oldest social media
systems which is used by the aviation sector to interconnect, communicate with each
other and transfer data or information from one location to another. According to
Berthon, et al., (2012) the term the social media is defined as a group of internet-
based applications which build on the technological foundation of web 2.0. It also
provides a way to send and receive any kind of information from one person to
another and the airline industry use this concept for communication purposes. A
recent survey observed that most airline sectors use YouTube to interact with their
clients because it has the potential to improve the efficiency of their system. Around
85% of individuals believe that businesses should communicate with consumers on
social networking websites for example Facebook. Use of social media in the
aviation sector is growing rapidly because of their several advantages such as easy
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to adopt, being more effective approach for growing business, being easy to
understand and operate, take less time for data sharing, and many more.
Impacts of social media on airlines
Bethapudi, (2013) analysed the importance of social media in the area of the airline
sector and also discussed their impacts. The main key difference between Berthon,
et al., (2012) and Bethapudi, (2013) investigation is that Berthon, et al., (2012)
provided the theoretical information about social media due to which readers cannot
understand the impact of social media. But Bethapudi, (2013) used both primary and
secondary data approaches which increases the effectiveness of the research. They
also observed that passengers and consumers are typically the main focus for the
social broadcasting initiative at airports and airlines teams use these techniques for
communicating with their clients and this provide updates regarding their journey.
Constantinides, (2014) provided many examples of social media which are used by
the airline industry such as a virtual consumer service desk, to engage with
consumers, to guide and communicate with clients from any location and many
more.
They also identified the aviation sector use such kind of approach for research and
development like customer satisfaction process, conduct a survey and provide
opportunities to their consumers. Dahlsrud, (2008) evaluated that over 200 airports
use Facebook or Twitter. The rate of Facebook has increased by 67% in the
between 2016 and 2017 and in year 2018 this rate was increased by 6% (Bigne, et
al., 2018). Previous airline studies focused on the importance of Facebook and
Twitter and it has the ability to control and manage their work from any location.
According to Bigne, et al., (2018) from a total of 1800 airports around 25% uses at
least one kind of social media to share the information from one person to another
and they increased their productivity by 77% in last two years.
73% of airlines multiple kinds of social media and 60% use two to three as per their
ability (Bigne, et al., 2018). It is identified that due to using of social media services
they can suffer from the data breach issue like hacking, malware, spyware, phishing
and many more Fischer, and Reuber, (2011). Data breach is defined as security
issue in which data or information is accessed without authorization. Today, around
10000 airlines are using social media approaches and in year 2018 around 60% if
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airlines used this process (Park, 2019). The main problem identified by Park, (2019)
is that social media is a platform that can increase the issue of cyber-crime because
it uses internet connectivity to share data by which hackers can easily enter into their
servers.
Negative impacts
This is a very serious problem faced by the airline sector because they communicate
with numerous consumers in a day and they can lose their personal data or
information. The main key difference between these researchers are that Hvass and
Munar, (2012) uses qualitative data analysis method while Kietzmann, et al., (2011)
uses a mixed method approach which helps readers enhance their skills in the field
of social media. There are many studies or research done on the importance of
social media in aviation, but they provided only relevant information about the
research topic and they are not identified the key factors which lead the issue of
hacking, crimes by in the field of airlines Harris, and Rae, (2009). It is identified that
security is one of the very crucial conditions in airline industries and social media is a
platform where hackers can easily enter into their computer networks Kietzmann, et
al., 2011). It also affects the computer networks and servers of aviation sectors and
increases the overall productivity of their business by promoting their works through
social networking sites. This literature review will identify and discuss the impacts of
social media in the aviation sectors and how they use this approach during the
communication process.
Liang and Turban, (2011) produced a literature review that provided the views and
opinion of other writers and both quantitative and qualitative data methods are used
by the researcher to achieve the goals of their research. A lack of security is one of
the biggest negative impacts of social media due to which airlines industries can
suffer from the financial issues because hacker encrypts their data files and
demands money to restore back their personal information. With the help of this
approach, they can collect and analyse the views of consumers and they can also
access their accounts from any location. According to Luo, (2007), web 2.0 is one of
the best networking techniques which has the potential to change consumer
expectations and their behaviours and other networks like Facebook, MySpace and
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Twitter reduce the communication gap between clients and management team. The
Internet is an important platform which is used by the social media networking sites
and it also provides a feedback process by which consumers can share their
knowledge and experience in the field of aviation industry.
More than 25% of individuals access their airline accounts by using social media
sites and read online reviews before making payment and booking flights. According
to Mangold, and Faulds, (2009) social media sites have the capability to get the
attention of consumers through displaying banners, data or information. With the
help of this technique, airline industries can promote their businesses and they can
upload photos, videos, current affairs with their consumers.
Positive impacts
A recent survey identified that there are many positive impacts of social media on the
aviation sector, for example, low-cost processes, very easy to control and manage,
improve performance and efficiency of the system and many more. Piller, Vossen,
and Ihl, (2012) analysed that the aviation sectors can enhance the consumer
satisfaction by using social networking websites and it can provide better services,
for data communication and share ideas from one person to another. This author
also evaluated that the consumers and passengers can make the best choice and
gets a clear picture of what to expect from every airport for example products and
services. Internet ticket reservations are the best applications of social media which
is used by the aviation industry to sell and promote their tickets with the help of
social networking sites. There are few uncontrollable events occur that cannot be
prevented, for example, delays, union strikes and weather issues that cause a
negative impression on consumers, but social media can help to warn about weather
and give regular updates instantly.
Wilson, et al., (2013) analysed that social media is a very important approach that
increases reaches and promotes campaign messages and aviation activities. In
which investigators explain the concept of social media with their impacts. It is
evaluated that social networking sites are able to revolutionize many airline sectors
by helping to produce more market share and earn more revenue and it can be
utilized as a marketing tool for the aviation industry. In the year 2018, the use of
social media in airlines was very low but in last five years the rate of Facebook and
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YouTube has increased by 59% and it also helps to find the better way to interact
with the consumers (Park, 2019).
Piller, Vossen, and Ihl, (2012) discussed the issue faced by the airline industry due
to social media techniques and they identified that security is one of the biggest
concerns which can increase the problem of a data breach. Many aviation
companies are using the internet connectivity which helps them to communicate with
their clients and consumers (Liang and Turban, 2011). The social networking
process is used by many customers that provide a medium to identify new
consumers segments rather than targeting offline. Piller, Vossen, and Ihl, (2012)
classified the effective communication through social media in main three ways, for
example, Bi-directional social media, airline to public social media, and the public to
public social media.
Bi-directional social media provide the two-way communication process between
aviation and consumers but airline to the public is a one-way communication
approach that originates from the airlines. According to the recent study, social
media technology has a communication tool to generate and build direct contact with
clients and also manage their activities (Piller, Vossen, and Ihl, 2012). Airlines are
also facing the problem of changes in consumer behaviour, but these issues can be
resolved by social media because it provides a platform to share their experience
and provide feedback to airline industries. A recent survey indicates that more than
51% of individuals agreed that the worst section of social media is security and it can
be resolved by adopting the advanced security tools like Firewall, Antivirus,
Encryption and many more (Vossen, and Ihl, 2012).
The main drawback of this investigation is that researcher did not give proper
justification about impacts of social media on airlines but Mangold and Faulds,
(2009) provided completed information about the aviation sector and importance of
social media technologies. According to Berthon, et al., (2012) in the field of aviation
industry it is very beneficial to control and manage the proper social media webpage
for clutching the care of passengers and consumers because many consumers are
using Facebook and other social networking sites. Research also observed that the
main goal of social media technology in the airline industry is to reduce the
communication gap between consumers and the airline and provide a medium
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where passengers can share their problems or issues. With the help of such
approach, passengers can review the feedback and their views associated with the
services on the social networking web pages.
Today, thousands of social conversations about airlines are taking place each day
from consumers and they share their experience to management teams of aviation
by using social media (Harris and Rae, 2009). Without social networking, webpage
interconnects thousands of consumers in a day is not possible for which many
aviation sectors designed. They implemented this strategy and determined that this
process reduced their efforts and improve the productivity of their businesses in very
low cost. Qatar Airways is one of the best examples of social media which uses
Twitter and Facebook for communication purposes (Seo, and Park, 2018). By using
this technology, they change their businesses and increase the overall productivity of
their system (Grimme, 2011). They also provide special offers to their consumers to
attract towards their business-like gift vouchers, cash back, discounts and many
more. According to Berthon, et al., (2012) numbers of aviation industries have very
small social media networks that indicate that lack of social media has not affected
their consumer’s popularity. But if they have numerous social networking web pages
then they can enhance their productivity. Recently, Twitter pages are updated in both
English and Canadian French that will help consumers to provide their opinions and
it also offers few competitions and consumers questions by which airline industry can
improve their consumer engagement rate. More than 40% of airlines provide their
services with the help of social media to their consumers and according to data of
2017 Twitter is one of the fastest increasing platforms for consumer’s relations,
problem resolution and inquiries (Bigne, et al., 2018).
Harris and Rae, (2009) analysed that a resolved negative tweet results in 3 times
more revenue as compared to the positive tweet. Basole and Rouse, (2008) highlight
the key factors which affect the performance of airline industries and also discuss the
importance of social media like Facebook in the aviation sector. Basole and Rouse,
(2008) conducted a survey and investigated that airlines in North America are
performing better compared to Europe because they use numbers of social media
processes to attract their consumers towards airlines.
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They resolve queries of customers by using social media communication which is
the very best approach to interact with clients through internet services (Dennis,
2007). Lufthansa is the best airline which responds within five minute and helps
consumers to solve their issues or queries (O’Connell, 2011). While many social
media networks provided the customer care process to enhance the productivity of
their businesses.
Harris and Rae, (2009) provide numerous solutions to control and manage the
security-related issues faced by airline industries due to the use of social media.
Firewall, encryption, cryptography, antivirus and robust technology all these are best
security tools and techniques that can be used to control and monitor the cyber-
crimes, and cyber-attacks. It is concluded that social media play a significant role in
the field of the aviation sector and it has the potential to improve the performance of
the airline industry.
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