Check out the full article on Mashable at the link above, but these are the five points made:
1. Clear distressed inventory on Twitter
2. Infuse social media reviews into the booking engine
3. Integrate with social media travel applications
4. Create private online communities
5. Remember: Social media is about relationships

I don't mean to be the sole dissenting view here just for fun. I would love to agree these tips are spot on. And while I certainly agree that generating incremental revenue for airlines as a result of strategic social media initiatives is important, this article didn't quite add up to me, despite the rave reviews & RTs it received.

So, readers, please use my comments section to help me understand what I'm missing. Be as candid as you like. I plan to be.

First of all, I agree there is opportunity for #1 - clear distressed inventory on Twitter. But I think the author oversimplifies this process to a fault. It's not just as simple as adding in a new rate or fare code. Inventory availability will be a massive issue that could drive more cost than incremental revenue benefit through additional calls to the call center due to availability issues and, thus, complaining customers who could potentially damage your brand as a result if they vocalize their frustration across the social space.

In addition, this proposes that airlines, most of whom have some of the most complex reservations systems in the world, should rely on a extremely unreliable, at best, platform to distribute their content. That seems to me to risk more than what the return is worth. Maybe I'm wrong? For those airline experts out there, please help me understand why.

#2 - Infuse social media reviews into the booking engine. We are still talking about airlines, right? While it is absolutely true that online shoppers are heavily influenced by reviews during the shopping process, airline customers are most heavily influenced by price first and schedule second.

And even more confusing to me is that if a customer is already on an airline direct site to book, they have made their brand choice. What customer reviews are going to increase revenue or yield from that point on? Again, price and schedule win.

And unfortunately, it's not up to airlines to determine whether or not an OTA has that capability in their site. And it's a function that requires a massive overhaul of a complex system. So, once again, I was left confused by this recommendation and how it is truly actionable.

#3. I agree that there is a great deal of opportunity to integrate with social media travel applications, but I don't think it's for the reasons listed here. The author proposes that there is a benefit to airlines farming the data you post in the social space about where you are traveling - in theory, this sounds good. Hotels and other travel suppliers could absolutely could use it, but when you have made a decision to travel, guess who knows it even before your social network? The airline with whom your ticket is booked. I don't know anyone who uses an itinerary-based service to shout from the rooftops their travel plans unless they just paid for and received an... wait for it... ITINERARY.

Again, this information is great for destination-specific travel suppliers, like car rental agencies and hoteliers who can filter itinerary data to know who has and hasn't booked their hotel, car or even restaurant reservations during their trip. Those are the suppliers who could gain the most value in this area and truly drive incremental sales through social media.

#4 - Niche communities absolutely are a growing trend this year. I don't argue that. And I think this idea is a good one that carries the most weight; however, your exclusive and most valuable passengers to whom you'd most likely be interested in providing this type of community are also the ones who travel the most and have the least amount of time to sign-up, login and utilize yet another social network.

This idea would have to take that into account an integrate with those customers where they already are - not force them to visit someplace entirely new. It's not worth their time.

#5 - Remember: It's all about relationships? Of course it is. But it's also all about revenue. And spending money on the first without measuring and impacting the second is pointless for any for-profit company.

The other confusion thing is that the statement supporting the point about relationships first, not about selling your product, is completely the opposite of the point made to support #3. That's exactly what your goal was - sell, or upsell, your customers via ads. Right?

My final thoughts:

I guess overall, this article left me wanting more. Or made me wonder if the only thing wrong was the title. If you removed airlines as the main target and focused on just hoteliers and destination-based travel suppliers, it works on just about every level.

I think the thought process was a good one, and I don't claim to have figured out the answer either, but I think the most revenue potential that exists with airlines in the social space is very much dependent on how they utilize the vast repositories of data they have about each and every customer in-flight, and how they can extract media revenue from the those other, high-margin suppliers based on that data while their customers are en-route. That, in my humble opinion, is the key to that little revenue mystery.

Otherwise, I still believe it's all about customer service. And while maybe that's not a sexy point in the social media world, it's the most alluring thing you could ever put in front of an airline executive. You can contribute more to an airline's bottom line by reducing call center expenses than by selling distressed inventory at rock bottom prices.

Think like a utility, not a commodity. As marketers, we must think of airlines for what they are - not what they are called. While that could potentially translate into increased sales, we should all be surprised if it happens in the same way as with other travel suppliers. There is opportunity, at the end of the day, to drive more $$ to the bottom line for airlines via social media, but I'm not convinced the above tips are what will get us there.

We have to push our thinking beyond what has worked so simply for other travel suppliers and push ourselves to create new solutions that aren't sexy, but solvent.

-SKE

I had the distinct pleasure, also known as had my socks rocked off, last Thursday to hear Chris Brogan speak at a local Social Media Club of Dallas event hosted by (see corporate plug here): @tripcase.

I won't list off the five or ten things I learned at this event - tens of others have already done that quite well.

Instead, I'll list the three things Chris Brogan didn't teach me and leave the inverted learning process up to each of you.

1. Nice guys finish last... aka close to MySpace on any list of 2010 social media "must-dos."

Maybe he is the best actor in the world, or simply has spoken at so many darn events over the years that Chris's ability to make even the guy hiding in the corner to "be seen" in the same light as even the loudest social mediologists in attendance is uncanny. He makes you feel at home, while proclaiming boldly that you don't have to be a creepy networker or a sales douche to be successful and to make meaningful, lasting connections.

Instead, he charges you to do something quite different with an eloquence, wit and humble naivete that not many of even the most experienced speakers in the marketing world have ever been gifted with the ability to do. It leaves you wanting more, while still giving you enough to take action as immediately as that evening at home in front of your humble computer... your megaphone, your platform to connect with and truly "see" others as this "nice guy" has implored you to do.

And all of it, at the end of the day, has left him with what I consider to be a significant level of success... and finishing last is quite the opposite of what Brogan has done while keeping friends - good friends - all along the way.

2. The point-of-sale is where it's at, biotch.

Simply because we have full business units that contain "Point-of-Sale" in their names makes #2 an interesting pillar of my business that even I have to read twice to question.

However, what Brogan pointed out about 3/4 of the way through his discussion last Thursday was that POS may have more meaning similar to what it did when it was used to refer to my first crappy car versus a product cornerstone of my business today. For me the light bulb went off when he said something I have heard a million times - be with your customers and build trust before the sale. It's not the point-of-sale that matters... it's the point-of-need.

Certainly, there are times when this may be the same thing, but if we pigeon-hole ourselves into thinking point-of-sale first as our religion, we most assuredly will miss the moving target that is point-of-need somewhere along the way. I'm worried to think there are projects where this is happening even as I type...

3. It's about stickiness & brand recognition. Not the almighty $crilla.

For the love of all that is good and holy, THANK YOU for someone with the right platform finally saying this. I think I may have been one of the only greedy marketers in the audience whose laugh didn't wreak of uncomfortable "oh my God he's talking to me!" vocal cracks after he called us all out for pursuing followers over dollars.

In my company, I'm used to being the nemesis in the group who has to use self-depricating humor any time I put what I call my "Cruella" hat on in meetings with my company's creatives... but I have no choice, because I'm also the person who has to answer to the keko keepers of the scrilla upstairs.

Maybe it's my MBA that beat it into me, because I'm certain that in my old ad agency days I wasn't even close to being "that" person. But today, I proudly am. Always with ridicule and my virtual "so not cool enough to be a hipster" sign following close in-tow.

For once, though, someone everyone respects and admires finally validated the intent with which Cruella continues to be so uncool with a simple, sweeping statement of "Daddy don't eat followers."

No, Daddy don't. And Daddy is fortunate that the future marketing leaders of Dallas are being called out on this early... and really, not even early. If we're lucky, this is just in time.

Followers, friends and fans are only means to an end. And that end, when it comes to any for-profit business, is... wait for it... PROFIT.

To my peers in marketing, please don't dare stop doing what you do best, but you better frickin' believe that the day of social media monetization reckoning is coming soon, and a shoddy Google Analytics PDF most certainly won't satisfy that reaper.

If you live in the glorious world of ad agency beer carts and pool tables, your experience in marcomm execution and creative marketing problem-solving couldn't be more valuable. I attribute much of my success as a marketer to the skills I picked up during that time in my career and I've never worked with more inspiring people. But I strongly recommend that, while continuing to hurdle over fiery marketing chasms for your clients, you also begin bursting your own bubble. And do it now.

Surround yourself with entrepreneurs, with people who live and die on that shiny green, rent-paying, payroll-enabling dollar. Talk to people at large corporations to whom marketing = what Brogan reminded us it used to be, way back in the day - a way to increase sales. Begin your creative problem-solving in the future with the end-goal no longer as just followers and traffic, but with the serious question of "how can this translate into an almighty, editable dollar in the short, mid and long-term?"

I went to this event as a Chris Brogan observer, and I left as a fan.

He's real. He's genuine. And he loves lacing his speeches with enough sarcasm and off-beat humor to hold my attention. How my attention will one day feed the Brogan $crilla Reaper is up to Chris... but until then, I'm listening. I'm reading. I'm following. I'm friending. I'm being seen.

Thanks, @chrisbroganand @mikedmerrillof @smcdallas again for the best speaking event I have been to in months.

-SKE