When Southwest Airlines unveiled its Nuts About Southwest blog in April 2006, it wanted the site to offer customers a behind-the-scenes look at the company’s daily workings.

But since launching the blog, the airline has seen its role broaden, says Paula Berg, the airline’s Emerging Media manager.

“It’s become a place to make and break news,” she says. “It’s a place to tell the rest of the story when the media doesn’t have the time or space to do it. It’s a virtual focus group. It’s a place to get immediate feedback.”

As the blog evolved, so did the roles of Berg and her colleagues. When Berg started working on the site she was part of the company’s public relations team. Her co-manager, Brian Lusk, was a corporate editor in the company’s executive office. Soon after the airline began experimenting with Twitter and other social media tools, it moved Berg and three of her colleagues into a new Emerging Media department.

There Berg’s six-person team (two new employees joined it last November) maintains a Twitter feed, Facebook fan site, Flickr group and YouTube channel. Each tool is overseen by a single team member and geared to reach a slightly different audience.

Learning to blog

Paula Berg tells us why Southwest's blog is successful.
Before launching the blog, Berg and her colleagues asked more than 30 employees—from departments as wide-ranging as schedule planning, ground operations and culture activities—to write for the site. Many, if not most, didn’t know or understand how blogging works. Rather than give them a strict rubric, Berg and her colleagues offered rough guidelines.

“We told them to keep it personal by writing about what you love about your work,” she says. “And we told them to remember that the audience is broad—anyone from customers to media to children could be reading what you write.”

With those basic directions, Berg and her colleagues found that some bloggers were prolific, while others required prodding or specific suggestions about what topics to cover. She also discovered that what captivated external readers, such as how Southwest develops its flight schedule, might seem mundane to airline employees.

As the blog’s traffic grew, Lusk took control of monitoring the site. At the same time, the airline’s use of the blog evolved.

When Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly posted an entry on discussions the airline was having about abandoning its no-assigned-seating policy, he was met by a barrage of nearly 1,000 comments, most of them opposing the change. Those responses served as a unique focus group, says Berg.

“The response really surprised our executives because you never get letters saying that customers like things the way they are,” she says. “Letters usually amount to something like, ‘You’re seating assignment policy stinks.’ So it’s nice to hear from a different constituency.”

Early adoption

Southwest’s success with blogging spurred the airline to look for, and experiment with, new social media tools such as Twitter and Flickr when they first popped up.

By devoting a full-time team to work on social media, it allows the airline to “dabble and find our way without too many people noticing what we’re doing,” says Berg.

Each member of the team “owns” a particular social media tool. That way each tool features a distinct voice or tone.

“It makes each channel more personal,” she says.

For instance, soon after the airline’s marketing department developed a Twitter feed in July 2007, Christi Day, a member of Berg’s team, took control of the content.

Day thought Twitter could offer a space to tease news, share TwitPics, host contests and even post job opportunities for Berg’s own team. (She received 150 applications for the two positions filled in November.) Since she took over, the feed has attracted more than 9,000 followers, including journalists, customers and bloggers.

A key to its success, says Berg, is that it’s not a condensed version of the blog. “It’s a lot faster and offers a different flavor,” she says.

Similarly, one of the new team members oversees podcasts and the other handles video. The two new hires helped prevent the team from “stretching too thin.” Before adding them, “We were busting at the seams trying to do new things,” Berg says. “By demonstrating the value of the projects we were already doing, we were able to show our executives the potential of these new outlets.”

One area she emphasized was the value of being able to speak directly to a diverse customer base.

Southwest’s fans can now visit a variety of online spaces: a Flickr group pool for customers interested in posting or viewing photos of trips on the airline; a YouTube channel for those seeking information about destinations or Southwest trivia; and a Facebook fan site for those who want to stay abreast of airline-related events and news.

Berg says that even though her team is still finding its way through uncharted territory, the path it has mapped has proved valuable.

“It keeps us in check,” she says.

Six ideas Southwest used to emerge as a social media leader:

1. Take advantage of what’s already out there. Blogging, Twittering and maintaining Facebook fan sites are all opportunities to directly reach an audience, says Berg.
2. Spark a discussion. Social media allows companies to engage their customers in dialogues. Use those exchanges as a virtual focus group to gauge the public’s reaction to new developments or find out what they think about your current operations.
3. Divvy up responsibility. Giving individual employees ownership over a particular social media tool gives that tool a consistent voice that its readers can become familiar with. “It makes each channel more personal,” Berg says.
4. Keep your channels distinct. Use the blog to delve into issues, Twitter to break or tease news and Facebook to highlight promotional events. By spreading the content around, it forces your audience to poke around your different outlets rather than focusing on just one.
5. Become an early adopter. Look out for new social media tools and experiment with them when they appear. “When these things are new, expectations are low,” says Berg, “so you can figure out how you want to use [them].”
6. Have fun. “As a team, we’re having so much fun with what we’re doing,” says Berg. “And it shows in the work we’re producing.”