Lufthansa Cargo-Instagram Takeover

LUFTHANSA CARGO - INSTAGRAM TAKE-OVER

In a previous report, we talked about how brands were using Snapchat versus Instagram stories. In it, we made the point that while Snapchat’s demographic was more narrow, Instagram appealed to a broader age range.

This means that parts of an airline business, such as the cargo division, which wouldn’t really be suitable for Snapchat, can still use Instagram stories.

One example of a brand which is doing just that is Lufthansa Cargo. With close to 100,000 followers, Lufthansa Cargo regularly provides behind the scenes views of what goes on with its operations.

By doing so, it shows that cargo is interesting. Every piece of cargo tells a story, and a visual one too. One example is an action motorbike, which was transported by a German competitor to a race in the US.

Lufthansa Cargo also makes good use of Instagram stories on a regular basis. Most recently, the airline’s cargo division turned over the whole feed to one of its pilots, Felix Gottwald.

For a whole week, Felix posted to Lufthansa Cargo’s 100,000 followers via Instagram stories and regular posts. In it, he traced his route around the Far East, including flights to Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City.

By and large, engagement was excellent. For example, one cockpit video posted by Felix gathered in excess of 37,000 views.

This tactic worked for a number of reasons. First of all it cost Lufthansa absolutely nothing to do. It gave the brand a human face, by having a pilot talk about what he does on a day to day basis. And it promoted Lufthansa Cargo’s global network, especially in Far East.

Instagram take-overs of course are not new, some airlines in the past have commissioned Instagram stars to take over their account.

One example of that is British regional airline bmi regional, which earlier this year worked with Instagram super-fan groups across Europe to promote a new car rental partnership with Hertz.

Over the course of a day, fan groups in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Brussels and Bristol took over the account and staged a “road-trip” of their local area.

Finally, the value of Instagram stories for airline brands can be seen in the latest figures released by the Facebook-owned social network.

Instagram stories are now bigger than Snapchat as a whole, while “Instagram Direct” (the direct messaging feature) also has more users than all of Snapchat . Meanwhile, while the under 25s spend on average 32 minutes a day on the network, even older users are there for 24 minutes a day - a decent time to browse through your brand’s posts and stories. Finally, over half the fifteen million businesses on Instagram made an Instagram story in the past month.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

Facebook’s parent Instagram made a fairly crude attempt to clone Snapchat’s features one by one and as the latest numbers show, it’s worked. As Lufthansa Cargo shows, the potential for airline brands is now to use many of the same tools to reach a bigger audience and broader demographic than you will through Snapchat.

Lufthansa’s tactic where it gave the account to one of its pilot was very effective. It was also free, and it’s a good example of how good marketing online doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.