TAP’s social networks and social media strategy : cases on marketing strategies

• Autor(a) principal: Falcato, Carlos
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/11674
• topic: Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

The airline industry, a fiercely competitive one, is investing in social media as a way of creating differentiation and customer attachment. TAP, the top Portuguese airline, with more than 200 daily flights and millions of passengers every year, is a pioneer in the social networks world. It has more than 160.000 page fans, users engage in conversations with the airline, and TAP had the vision of not only creating a new customer service channel, but also a community where one can ask for some information (rapidly answered in a maximum of 30 minutes), do online check-in and even book a ticket. The aim of this thesis is for professors and students to understand the practices and the strategy that makes TAP’s social media successful, as well as understand how its users perceive not only the Facebook page but also the effects that it has on the company’s image. The dissertation is divided in two main parts: the case study (literature review, airline industry and TAP analysis) and the market research (where based on an online survey, the author reaches important conclusions about TAP’s strategy). At the end of these two parts, the author draws the main conclusions, limitations and suggestions for future research. Overall, thanks to the thesis, and by using the teaching notes, students will be able to realize the importance of marketing and market research in the development of an accurate social media strategy, as well as its effects in an airline’s customer perception. Finally, the case study presents as main reasons for the airline’s success: TAP’s Facebook fans and high awareness, as well as its congruent practices and strategic vision. Thanks to their strategy, TAP is now seen as more modern, updated and closer to its customers.