Finnair using social media as a channel for generating and improving customer experience

HOW FINNAIR SOCIALIZED CUSTOMERS FOR SERVICE CO-CREATION WITH

SOCIAL MEDIA

INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONSULTING

Denize PALMIANO, Clementine RAKOTOMALALA, Aurélie POCHER, Prashanth RAMACHANDRAN, Adam PTACEK

AGENDA

1. The Challenge of Open Co-Creation with Social Media

2. Two Types of Tactics for a Customer Socialization Strategy

3. Finnair Socialization for Service Co-creation Finnair’s main challenges Enhancing Customer Support Interactions Quality Hunters Campaign – Season 1 & 2

4. Lessons learned: Overcoming the challenges of using SMTs for service co-creation

5. Debate

04/15/23

3

The Challenge of Open Co-Creation with Social Media

Open innovation New solutions offered by customers Mutual profit – reciprocical exchange of tacit knowledge

Social media technologies (SMTs)

Enabled crowdsourcing initiatives, innovation contests

Individuals have to be socialized to identify with the firm

Samsung Bad publicity for coercing Indian bloggers into acting as Samsung brands ambassadors.

Firm needs socialization strategy

April 2015Information Systems PRESENTATION

4

Two Types of Tactics for a Customer Socialization Strategy

Online Community Members

PUSH

PULL

Institutionalized Tactics

Individualized Tactics

Structured and collective Formal relationship Defined timetable

Training program orMarketing campaign

Foster diversity Unique needs Opened timetables

Facebook page


High fixed costs & organizational structure

External disturbances

Financial pressure & scarce resources

Geographic advantage

A compelling service proposition

Target other nationalities

Renew the brand

Co-create new services

5April 2015Information Systems PRESENTATION

Finnair’s main challenges

Encourage customers to “Feel Finnair”

Launch of the Rethink Quality Campaign

Customer engagement at the heart of the approach

“Finnair Runway” and “Departure 2093” Blogs

No promotion of dialog and input, no co-creation


Enhancing Customer Support Interactions

Launch of FINNAIR Facebook page in 2010

24/7 Facebook Support staff rapidly responding to queries

Facebook as a medium of information

Individualized experiences with customers and users

Enabled real time interaction with customers


Enhancing Customer Support Interactions

Campaign to increase the boundary between Finnair and online members

Extensive media coverage generating widespread interests on the campaign

Widespread recruitment campaign

QH’s deemed independent advisors of Finnair

QH’s less likely to focus on Finnair’s goal


Quality Hunters Campaign – Season 1


Quality Hunters Campaign – Season 2

10

RESULT: Very successful in terms of co-creation


GOAL: To increase customer awareness outside Finland


12

RESULT: Too early for assessment but it resulted in substantial amounts of co-creation


GOAL: To identify key moments that can either make or break a journey and to seek out practical ways of improving the travel experience

13

Focus on long-term goals even when implementing short-term initiatives

Experiment with multiple SMTs

Build a community and foster relational identification with followers

Find the right balance between institutionalized and individualized socialization tactics

Leverage external co-creation initiatives with internal changes


Overcoming the challenges of using SMTs for service co-creation

14

Companies moving towards service co-creation are embarking on a long and incremental journey, where SMTs are playing the role of an amplifier. They highlight both organizations’ strengths and weaknesses in customer/community interaction and in innovation. Therefore, deploying SMTs for service co-creation means organizations need to engage in parallel activities to leverage their strengths.

1. What are the disadvantages of co-creation?

2. What are other ways to accomplish co-creation other than through SMTs?

3. How the recruitment process should be handled by a MNC?

CONCLUSION AND DEBATE

THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION

Business

Finnair using social media as a channel for generating and improving customer experience