february-2012

Online 24/7
Around the world, social media platforms play an
important role in many people’s daily lives.
KLM understands how important and accessible
social media is and has made its customer service
available around the clock via Facebook and Twitter.
KLM has been a leader in the airline
industry in embracing social media
as a means of staying in touch with
customers around the world. And with
over 1.2 million subscribers (fans, followers
and like-ers) on social media platforms
worldwide, its presence online continues
to grow. But why has social media become
so important for KLM and how does
it work?
“For as long as KLM has been providing
customer service, it has been important
to us that our customers can reach us
in ways they feel comfortable using,”
says Gert Wim ter Haar, Social Media Hub
Manager, “and in today’s world that means
via social media.” KLM is available 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week via a number of
social media channels — most importantly,
Facebook and Twitter.
A team of more than 25 professional
service agents are on duty around the
clock. “We have to be online 24/7 because
our customers live and are travelling all
over the world,” continues Ter Haar. “We
handle all kinds of things, from simple
KLM BEHIND THE SCENES
information requests to rebooking a
fl ight or selecting a seat. We also get
compliments and complaints.”
Some may wonder, however, if requests
are actually resolved via social media, or
if customers are sent to existing service
channels. Ter Haar explains: “KLM’s social
media services adhere to a ‘one stop
shop’ principle. When a customer posts
a question or request on Facebook or
Twitter, we handle it via the same channel.
We try not to send customers to other
websites or phone numbers. Exceptions
do come up, but they remain exceptions.
In most cases, we are able to respond
within an hour and resolve the issue within
24 hours.”
Presence worldwide
How big is KLM’s friends network?
“Given the nature of social media, the
exact number is always changing, but
it’s about 1.2 million,” according to Ter
Haar. Worldwide, around 750,000 people
like KLM’s main Facebook page and
about 200,000 follow KLM on Twitter.
But KLM also has followers and fans on
local Facebook and Twitter accounts in
countries around the world, and KLM is also
active on LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and
numerous local social media platforms.
Monitoring hundreds of local pages 24/7
would be a Herculean task. To maintain
high standards of customer service,
questions and requests are only handled
via the main pages on Facebook and
Twitter. “We get comments and requests
in all kinds of languages, but — to avoid
misunderstandings — we limit ourselves to
answering questions in English and Dutch,”
says Ter Haar. “We are planning on adding
Spanish to the list in early 2012 and are
looking at other possibilities as well.”
Holland Herald TRAVELLERS CHECK 87