But what on earth will an airport be tweeting about and why does the team behind the project believe that Twitter is the best social media channel for checking in with its customer base?

Fast, real and relevant

Digital agency KMP Digitata has been responsible for holding MAN's hand as the team takes its first foray into the brave new world this week.

Welcoming...

"Twitter is about real time interaction," Daring noted, when quizzed on the relevancy of the medium for the client.

"If the airport have a piece of information they need to get out immediately they can put out a tweet. This can go live in seconds, making it even faster than putting up information on the website.

"The mobile aspect of Twitter is also important," he continued, "it’s easier to check Twitter on most mobiles than go to a website.

"Manchester Airport does have a mobile site, but using Twitter as well lets the user decide how they want to receive content."

Test flights and applications

... a new arrival

A quick check corroborated this, with the top tweet at the time of writing being - "Manchester United football team were spotted this morning arriving into Terminal 2 - wonder if they grabbed some breakfast from Spar?!"

However, airport users will surely be reassured to know that not all messaging will be so, well, playful/informal/flippant/pointless (delete as applicable).

Twitter is also being embraced for that "real time" quality that Daring admires - something that can be essential in the world of travel.

"We have built a Twitter application for the airport that will allow Twitter users to receive live updates on flight status by DM (direct messaging)," revealed Daring - a development that will surely come into its own when dealing with the often fluctuating landscape of departures, arrivals and dreaded delays.

"This is in the final stages of testing and I suggest people follow the @manairport Twitter stream to be the first to hear when this service goes live.

Special offers via tweets

Building relationships with the brand

Despite the hand holding process that KMP has embarked on with the airport our interviewee was nevertheless keen to impart that the agency would not be carrying the team as they negotiate Twitter territory.

That is not, Daring noted, what the medium is all about.

He explained: "We work closely with Manchester Airport on all their digital marketing and have been helping them to understand Twitter's uses, but we feel it’s important for the actual tweeting to be done by the client.

"Twitter works best when it allows the customer to have a relationship with the people behind the brand.

"We have provided training and will be on-hand for advice and suggestions as they progress, but the in-house team at the airport have tweetdeck installed and are raring to go."

Stay tuned to Twitter to find out if this bird really will fly for Manchester Airport.

http://twitter.com/manairport

www.kmp.co.uk

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Comments (3)

1  By Andy , on 28-07-2009 09:52 Nice idea, be interesting to see how it gets on. The flight status application will be useful, especially for the airports large plane spotting faithful. Report

2  By Jennifer O'Grady , on 28-07-2009 10:06 Will be interested to see how the main twitter stream will work (the DM flight info is a great idea)    I wonder how many times they plan to send:    "Please remember that all liquids, gels & pastes must be under 100ml in a clear plastic bag"?    Expect the "don't leave bags unattended" will be a popular second . . . Report

3  By Paul Fabretti , on 30-07-2009 14:16 Good stuff boys - i think you have got the tone and content nailed - factual, fun and engaging.    Nice on-brand background too - gotta get the trapezium in...    :-) Report