Ryanair: an online reputation dashboard

Transcription

1 Ryanair How to build an online reputation dashboard Case study Digimind Competitive intelligence software

2 On-line reputation management Ryanair : a case study Digimind s online-reputation software allows companies to monitor their online reputation, a crucial element of any successful brand management strategy. Ryanair, Europe s largest low-cost carrier, has built its reputation on offering cheap flights to customers and finding innovative ways to charge additional fees for optional supplementary services. The company has shrewdly exploited its image of being a no-frills airline by regularly releasing stories to the media regarding outlandish plans to further reduce air fares. This usually results in extensive online coverage and has ensured that value for money has become an intrinsic brand value associated with Ryanair. Digimind decided to carry out a brief online-reputation audit of Ryanair and has reported on its key findings below. Ryanair represents a compelling case study, not just because of its pan-european presence, but because the company also generates a huge amount of online discussion. Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 2

3 Before undertaking an analysis of this kind, there are a few key questions to consider at the outset: What are the recurring issues or themes being highlighted in relation to your company? What are the important key words to monitor regularly? What are the broadcast channels for posting news and buzz about the company? How is Ryanair positioned compared to its competitors i.e. other low cost airlines? What are the main factors impacting on the e-reputation of Ryanair? (CEO, operation, air fares?) This case study presents some features of the Digimind platform which combine the essential aspects of an onlinereputation strategy (monitoring, analysis, collaboration, dissemination). It also outlines the very simple steps of how to create an initial online-reputation monitoring dashboard. Summary Step 1 : Exploratory Research Step 2 : Implementation Monitoring themes Step 3 : Analysis of the trends : real time graphics Step 4 : Capitalization of the information Step 5 : Organization, visualization and information sharing Step 6 : Dissemination of the information : Newsletters, reports, intranet... Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 3

4 Step 1 : Exploratory Research What is the online reputation of this company? We can begin to assess Ryanair s e-reputation by simply typing Ryanair and running a keyword search in Digimind s database, which monitors and indexes a massive daily content list of more than 600,000 sources and tens of millions of news items. A review of the last thirty days shows a wide range of subjects, and the automatic extraction of concepts allows us to view the most popular or most discussed themes: Angry passengers reroutes, strike in Portugal, Departure of Marseille, bankruptcy of the airport of Vatry, Cancellation of flight routes to Dublin, replace co-pilots with air-stewards, etc... An exploration of peripheral and emergent subjects (via infomous module) highlights additional subjects such as Cheap tickets or a lighter news topic such as Ryanair cabin crew calendar... A retrospective archive search stretching back one year shows up more results: New links to Morocco, falling profits in the first trimester p Exploratory research of peripheral and emergent subjects At the end of this research and after the first extraction of concepts, we look at two major subjects: - the subjects relating to ongoing operations at the airline: flight delays, company practices or the propositions of CEO, Michael O Leary ( baggage fees, duty free) - News relating to economic or social issues : earnings forecasts and reports, strikes and union negotiations... * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 4

5 Step 2 Monitoring Themes (1/2) Online-reputation intelligence involves continuous monitoring of an unlimited supply of online sources. The issues which have the potential to positively or negatively impact a company s reputation may arise from anywhere, not just common sources like the mainstream media. It is a permanently evolving landscape which requires an ongoing and dedicated monitoring solution. p Setting up filters (e.g. Unemployment) to refine Digimind provides a comprehensive monitoring solution which provides a 360 degree view of how your corporate brand is perceived and valued by key stakeholders and opinion leaders, how your company is positioned in terms of your competitors and what are the threats and opportunities that should influence your decisionmaking. 1. Intelligence 360 : Comprehensive monitoring. For the purpose of the case study we can run a keyword search on Ryanair in the Digimind news base. As soon as anything is published regarding Ryanair you will receive a direct alert. This allows companies to monitor the success of specific campaigns and to measure the trends observed in consumer sentiment and online activity. * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Setting up filters allows us to refine the monitoring of certain news types ( e.g. closures, contracts, innovation, publication of results, ). For example, we can choose to drill down more carefully on the causes of layoffs at Ryanair by choosing redundancy as a filter. In addition we can carry out open intelligence : This allows us to perform more relevant search queries by selecting the desired format of our search results (e.g. blogs, search engines, read reviews, social media, inside search engines of websites or platforms : facebook, Newyorktimes ). By using this refined search tool for Ryanair and limiting search results to blogs and forums we discovered the blog Chronicles of an air hostess Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 5

6 Step 2 Monitoring themes (2/2) 2. Intelligence Panel : Source directory defined. At Digimind we have identified and selected numerous sectoral specific sources which are possible to monitor : - A comprehensive selection of top American media titles. - A top selection of popular, alternative news sources (independent press, collaborative news websites, ) - A selection of blogs covering the tourism and travel sector. p European Twitter feed monitoring aboutryanair Thus, the Digimind search engine of sources (Source discovery) p finds websites and blogs which frequently speak about Ryanair and these are automatically classified by influence and relevance. It is also important to monitor Twitter, the various Fan Pages and Facebook groups created by Ryanair or mentioning Ryanair. The source directory must be updated daily. So, while reviewing Ryanair s November alerts in Spanish, I saw that lavozdigital.es was a rich resource with daily updates concerning Ryanair. I was able to save this for ongoing monitoring with just one simple click. * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 6

7 Step 3 Analysis of the trends: real time graphics (1/6) The biggest news about Ryanair in recent months appears to be the mutiny by passengers aboard a Fez-Beauvais flight diverted to Liege during the night of the 16-17th November. p News of the peak of the November 17 What sort of impact did this Ryanair Buzz have in the wider world? A analysis of the sources (press, blogs, forums, twitter) shows that the English language dominated all other sources, including French language sources. A cursory glance at the search engines showed the scale of this story. Indeed, a quick analysis on the 17th November returned 457 articles, blog posts and articles from mainstream media outlets as well as 403 discussion forums.. * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 7

8 Step 3 Analysis of the trends: real time graphics (2/6) But, while this news showed a massive peak between the 17th and the 19th November, it was short-lived. The main news from 2nd to 4th November related to Ryanair s announcement of a rise of 17% in first-half profits. This news generated 1.7 times more results than the previous story about a diverted flight. Why? This is undoubtedly because the proportion of sources likely to rely on financial information is vast. Consumer websites, General websites, economic and financial websites, and distribution of press releases.. t The real volume of buzz beyond sentiment The graphic representations and tools to assist e-reputation analysis, enables one to determine, at a glance, the real volume of buzz beyond sentiment, trends, peaks and ruptures, without reading all the available data. * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 8

9 Step 3 Analysis of the trends: real time graphics (3/6) Of course, deeper analysis is also possible! Such as: u What were the leading topics in 2009 that are recurring again in 2010? What new topics are emerging? In 2009, the analyses of news sources, blogs and forums showed three main preoccupations - the proposed new changes to Ryanair flights announced by the CEO Michael O Leary : a tax for obese passengers, coin-operated toilets on board planes, standing room only on Ryanair planes. In 2010, the controversial surcharges proposed by Ryanair garnered most publicity for the company, resulting in vast amounts of online coverage. v What is the tone of the news and conversations? On the panel of the analyzed websites (Consumer Opinion, Facebook, Twitter, Mainstream Media, alternative Press and blogs), we notice lots of neutral tones : The obesity tax and coin-operated toilets which were first mooted by the company last year are still present on the web but the proposed tax on luggage received most mentions. We discovered that Duty free tax was a new topic for The flow of news is often dominated by the regurgitation of press releases and agency dispatches that disseminate the news without expressing an analysis or giving opinions. How did the news of Ryanair s departure from Marseille generate positive tones? Many observers noted with bitter tones: Good news: Ryanair is leaving. In light of current technological limits, which fails to detect irony on the page, we have to rely on manual filtering to determine the mood and tone of a news extract. Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 9

10 Step 3 Analysis of the trends: real time graphics (4/6) In order to effectively carry out e-reputation intelligence, it is essential to identify the relevant web sources which contain crucial information regarding your corporate brand. x What web sources, in particular, speak about Ryanair? What types of media platforms attracted most comment about Ryanair in the 4th quarter of 2010? We can easily focus our analysis on particular types of websites. For example, what are the national press websites in the UK who report Ryanair s financial results? It was found that blogs most frequently mentioned Ryanair. It s important to keep in mind that tweets and the update of your Facebook Status are weighted to over-represent the volume. * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 10

11 Step 3 Analysis of the trends: real time graphics (5/6) y How is Ryanair positioned in terms of its competitors? What percentage of internet noise relates to Ryanair as opposed to its lowcost counterparts? We can easily ascertain the answer to this by measuring the volume of conversations and news on Ryanair with those of Jet4U, EasyJet, Virgin Blue and Transavia. If a peak is apparent on the 4th December for Ryanair (cancellation of flights to Spain due to strike by air traffic controllers), on the 16th December it is Virgin Blue who dominates the news thanks to its partnership with Air New Zealand. Over the past year, Ryanair is undoubtedly the most talked about lowcost airline on the internet. It represents a whopping 65% share of voice. EasyJet comes in very sluggishly in second place. But, in terms of news volume, Virgin Blue and EasyJet may overtake Ryanair at certain points throughout the year. On the 18th December, it s EasyJet who gains the most exposure due to the cancellation of flights in the United Kingdom due to snow, * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 11

12 Step 3 Analysis of the trends: real time graphics (6/6) z What is the breakdown of share-of-voice among low-cost airlines? It is possible to interrogate the intelligence data to get more in-depth results. Thereby, we can generate a matrix showing the share-of-voice of the different low-cost airlines and break this down across media types. If blogs remain the dominant transmission channel for all the perfomers, the local press is well positioned for EasyJet and Virgin Blue. (Each square is interactive, therefore clickable and shows posts, notes, news correspondent etc) * These queries and analyses are performed in real time by the end user Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 12

13 Step 4 Capitalization of the information When you wish to keep interesting alerts from certain web sources, one-click validation ensures that this piece of data is archived and stored for future reference. The various themes which are analysed for the purpose of e-reputation intelligence (operations, publicity, leaders, marketing, servers, social...) can be customised at any time, facilitating the analysis of buzz, opportunities and possible future crises. The Information may be qualified (in terms of relevance or reliability), commented upon, and enriched by all employees according to their expertise, thus, allowing a collective intelligence approach dedicated to the analysis of e-reputation Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 13

14 Step 5 Organization visualization and information sharing The dynamic dashboards allows you to collate all the e-reputation information flow that passes through the platform into one simple view. Quantitative data (graphical analysis, reporting attendance on social media...), and qualitative (conversations extracts, extracts from articles, news, pictures, videos, information capitalized...). The information flow changes in real-time. Each user can tailor these views according to their specific needs (social media, forums, reviews consumer, news, corporate and governance, customer relationship management, impact of campaigns, etc...). Each dashboard can be seen by the colleagues of your choice. Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 14

15 Step 6 Dissemination of the information : Newsletters, reports, intranet It is essential to disseminate the customized information for the right person, in the appropriate format, using a flexibility schedule. We can choose to generate a word, excel, PDF, Power Point report with selected information according to targeted readers. Eg : e-reputation on Social Media for a community Manager Rise in customer complaints to customer care service, Good press coverage and web on the financial results for the Corporate team Benefits of digital campaigns and print for the Communication dept... t A Word report generated automatically Information is extracted from filing plans and formatted automatically. It is also possible to broadcast information flow directly in an intranet or to a push mail. Other channels: interactive newsletters. The recipients can comment on the information they receive via , enrich it and share with their colleagues. Digimind competitive intelligence and online-reputation management software 2011 page 15

16 Who is Digimind? A company dedicated to the development of CI software since 1998 Global presence in US, Europe, Africa and Asia 200+ clients With 95% customer retention rate Pure software editor (SaaS)