The power of social

Social media platforms are growing faster by the minute. With an estimated 1.3 billion users on Twitter, each profile presents a different opportunity and tool for your business.

We love to use real life examples here at Umi Digital, and who better than our MD Steve Lowy.

When Steve’s BA flight was delayed from San Francisco to London Heathrow yesterday, we were able to follow his journey and the news story updates via twitter. With little explanation on board, feeling frustrated, Steve was keen to find out the source of his delayed flight which had currently been diverted to Vancouver where all passengers were waiting for connecting flights. News travels fast on social, and by using hashtags relating to his flight, Steve sourced the BBC News Tweet regarding the delayed flight. Steve then began tweeting to the BBC and BA Airlines whilst waiting at Vancouver airport to organise his returning flights to London to resolve the matter. This is a great example of how social media can reach a huge audience, travel internationally, and be used as a customer service platform. In this situation, twitter was the quickest news sources and communication tool. Steve was able to catch the next flight home and is now safely back in the UK.

Additionally, being the first customer to respond to the BBC News tweet, Steve was flooded with tweets from reporters, UK and Canadian to hear his experience first hand whilst in the airport. We thought we would leave you with a few bits from Steve’s moment of fame:

BBC 5 Live: http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live

CBCNews: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/emergency-landing-vancouver-1.3820082

Today: http://www.today.com/video/toxic-fumes-investigated-after-british-airways-flight-makes-emergency-landing-793884739584

Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3870588/British-Airways-flight-makes-emergency-landing-Vancouver.html