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As part of Canada Month here at WebFuel, every Monday we will be examining a Canadian Company that has effectively and successfully used Social Media to engage fans and improve their brand.

This week we will be looking at Canada’s third largest airline, Porter. Founded in 2006, Porter has quickly become one of the Canada’s most loved airlines. Porter has built a strong reputation centered around their affordable flights, outstanding service, and lovable raccoon mascot. Porter is also known for their North-Eastern destination focus, with flights to Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Mont Tremblant, St. John’s, Sudbury, Moncton, Thunder Bay, Boston, Chicago, Newark and Myrtle Beach.

Porter has done an excellent job of embracing Social Media, and using it effectively to communicate with their customers, offer promotions and showcase their strengths. Porter has done so using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Facebook

Using Facebook, Porter has really embraced the idea of starting a conversation with your customers. They post questions asking their customers what they want to see, as well as answer any questions or concerns expressed by those very same customers. Furthermore, they provide their Fans with a lot of great content in terms of news, promos, photos and videos. Lastly, they have taken advantage of two Facebook applications that I swear by. The first is the Memorable Web Address. By securing “facebook.com/porterairlines” they have helped secure their online brand as well as made it very easy to direct their customers to their Facebook Page. Secondly, they have used FMBL – an application used to create customized tabs – as seen with their “VIPorter” tab which encourages Fans to join their frequent flyer reward program.

Twitter

Porter’s Twitter account is very simple, and to the point. From what I can see, they use Twitter for three things. The first is to communicate with their audience. For example, last week they Tweeted about a job opening, or another one that apologized for a series of delayed flights. Secondly, they Tweet about Porter in the News. The third, and final reason they use Twitter is probably their most frequent use. Most of their Tweets are replies to their followers, which means they are listening, and they are responding. Here are a few examples:

This a great example of a company who uses Twitter for customer service, instead of simply bombarding their followers with prices, deals and flights.

YouTube

Porter’s YouTube channel isn’t mind-blowing, but is still put to good use. The videos posted are mostly news stories about themselves, such as “Porter Now Flies to Myrtle Beach.” But they recently posted a great video about Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip flying Porter as part of their tour around Canada.

This is great exposure for Porter, and they have made sure that this video is highly visible online.

Once again folks, another great Canadian Company that has done an amazing job using Social Media. They engage, they listen and they communicated. And they have done all of this in an industry where customers should be #1, but are often taken advantage of. Thanks for listening Porter! Congrats, you get an ‘A’ on WebFuel’s Social Media Report Card!