McDonalds Marketing

    Boeing  Social Listening 

The brand I decided to select is Boeing. More than ever, people today have a lot to say about them, with recent events such as an emergency door getting ripped out of a Boeing 737. Social media has been a place where people go to express their concerns about the safety of their aircrafts and if they will step on a Boeing plane ever again. I am interested in this brand because Boeing is the biggest aircraft manufacturer in the world, and I'm interested in what people have to say about recent events and how they can set them back and lose people's trust. 

 Boeing's value proposition is centered around its ability to provide innovative aerospace solutions that meet the evolving needs of its customers while prioritizing safety, reliability, and efficiency. Two of Boeing's value propositions are in question by the public. Safety and reliability are things that most people have concerns about when stepping on any motorized vehicle, especially one that's thousands of miles in the sky. After the most recent event of the emergency door getting ripped out, Boeing has experienced a lot of backlash on social media. 

  A user on Twitter @rawsalerts posted about the Boeing door blowout. Another user, @SaltFlash, posted about a former senior manager at Boeing who testified at Capitol Hill, alleging that the Alaskan Airlines door incident was a ‘criminal coverup.’ and that the airplanes are unsafe and “everyone stepping on board a Boeing airplane is at risk.” @5149jamesli (user on Twitter) explains Boeing also had an incident with a whistleblower, John Barnett, and people are saying it's a cover-up. John Barnett worked for Boeing for years and was trusted within the company. John later found things that he had found were wrong with the company. John was trying to expose Boeing and its safety. John Barnett recently “offed himself,” which was abrupt and strange. A few days later, the CEO and a few others stepped down from their positions with exit packages of up to 65 million dollars. These three examples are what people are saying about Boeing. A common thing people say is that Boeing is not trustworthy, not safe, and has a lot of secrets they hide from the public. 

On Boeing's Instagram, they promote a variety of different aerospace creations. Boeing addresses safety in its latest post, saying, “ Since January, we've held quality standdowns across our sites, pausing production and deliveries for a day to focus on improving our safety and quality processes.” This shows the public that they are taking some kind of accountability for what's been happening with their aircraft. Boeing mostly posts cool pictures of their aircraft’s from my research, they don’t promote much except the look of their aircraft, which can be a red flag when thinking about safety and their priorities. Right now, it seems Boeing is trying to reset and focus on things it missed before, like its safety; I think this is something that they have slacked on and are now noticing and trying to fix it. They started to show this to the public by using social media and posting about the steps they were taking to improve.

 Boeing is not succeeding in what it is trying to accomplish. They want to have safe and reliable aircrafts that everyone is comfortable with getting on, and right now, they are missing that mark. Boeing could use social media as a way to keep the public informed and up to date on its efforts to increase its safety and reliability. This would help them because it seems they aren't in touch with their customers. 

From looking at most of their social media, I see that they don't really respond to customers about concerns or comments they might have. It seems like they only address something when it's necessary, like the door situation. I think not responding and not connecting with their customers is hurting them as a company. Responding and connecting will show transparency and will earn the customers' trust.

If I were the Manager or CEO, I would start using social media as a place to let the public in on what we are trying to improve on and the steps we are taking to accomplish that. For major events like the door or whistleblower, I feel like I would handle it the way they did. I feel like something extreme and dangerous needs to be addressed somewhere other than social media. From doing this assignment, I have learned how companies should use social media to improve their business and not bring it down. I also learned that being connected and open with your customers is only going to help the company.