Social Media 2007 preview: Nuts about Southwest Airlines Blog

In another preview of the Social Media 2007 conference, I chat with Paula Berg, manager of public relations and strategic communication at Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines joined the blogosphere in April 2006, and the blog immediately took off with customers and is flying high today.

The corporate blog at Southwest Airlines is used as a tool to provide a glimpse into the company’s culture and also creates an opportunity for employees to communicate directly and informally with customers. It represents the best practices of corporate blogging, reflecting the company’s culture and leadership. With its customer participation and two-way communication, the blog exemplifies what I call “embrace marketing.” Embrace marketing is fairly straightforward: Embrace your customers and their ideas; they will in turn embrace you back.

The driving force behind the Southwest blog is the customer. Paula believes the blog should reflect the whole company, not just one individual, and that the culture within the blog should remain intact, no matter who the CEO might be.

Today’s podcast covers:

• Why Southwest chose to launch a public blog
• Lessons learned along the way
• What parameters or policies should be in place?
• What steps are being taken to help the blog stay strong?

The Social Media 2007 conference, sponsored by Business Capital Edge, is being held April 5 and 6 in Chicago. It will cover essential issues about corporate blogging and podcasting and will include presentations from Southwest Airlines, attorney David Ritter, and examples in my presentation of how companies are using podcasting in B2B and B2C environments.

Provident Partners and the Business Capital Edge are promoting this great event by giving away two registrations to the conference. Complete the seven-question form to enter the drawing. If you’re curious about whether your company can benefit from integrating blogs or podcasts into your marketing mix, this is an excellent conference to attend. It will save hours of research and put you in touch with those who have first-hand experience with these new social media.For more information and to register, go to Provident Partners Social Media 2007.

Want to help out a food shelter? Contribute! Give us some feedback by leaving a comment on the blog, e-mail us at marketingedge@providentpartners.net or call us at 651-695-0174. We will donate a food item for each comment we get. Thanks for listening.

Share on StumbleUpon