On 22 June, KLM became the airline with the most followers on Facebook. A delegation from Facebook visited KLM Head Office in Amstelveen to mark this superb milestone with the social media team. With a count of approx. 4 million Facebook fans, KLM Royal Dutch Airline was announced as the biggest social networking airline. KLM has been able to achieve this enviable status of being bigger than any other airline in the world on Facebook.
Ever since the launch of KLM official Facebook page in April 2010 it has attracted numerous fans and followers. On 21 January 2011, KLM had more followers on Facebook than any other Dutch company and by February 01, 2012 it hit the magical 1 million followers mark.
Social media today has rapidly become an important customer-service channel for KLM. In 2011, KLM became the first European airline offering 24/7 customer service via social media. KLM Facebook page has also served to inform its customers and assist them in rebooking their flights, one such example being during ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland disrupted global air traffic. On an average every week, approximately 80 KLM service agents attend to around 25,000 posts on Facebook and Twitter in nine different languages. Facebook is now also used for promotional campaigns and followers are actively involved in product development.
From the many innovative apps and campaigns, KLM launched a very unique application called “Meet & Seat“in February 2012 and became the first airline to integrate social networking in its regular flight process. Through this application, passengers having a reservation with KLM can link their Facebook or LinkedIn profiles to the flight they will be on, in order to see who else is on board. The application is available on most of all long haul KLM flights including flight ex Delhi.
The promotional and engaging initiatives have helped KLM build an impressive follower base in India as well. KLM started a local Facebook page for its customers in India in 2011 and in this short period, it has about 152,000 fans. The KLM India Facebook keeps its fans abreast of the ongoing innovative products and services alongside of engaging them in various exciting games and trivia every week. The India team even organized a ‘KLM Facebook Fan Day’ wherein five lucky fans were given an opportunity to interact with the local team and make a visit to see the functionality of all departments at the KLM office.
The social media policy at KLM is based on three cornerstones: service provision, connecting followers with the KLM brand, and commercial activities. In this way, KLM aims to develop its status as a “social airline”.
