Southwest Airlines is one of the most beloved airlines in the world, except for one generation that started to consider it cheap. Our charge is to help bring Southwest Airlines-branded fun to a new generation. 

 The Southwest Storytellers program brings together a group of loyal Customers who are also influential on social media. These customers share their authentic travels with their many followers. 

The program answered, "How can we leverage some of our biggest social advocates to inform, engage, and inspire our customers in a new way?" We recruited 11 diverse social influencers across various verticals with a singular passion for travel and authentic love for the Southwest Airlines brand. These Storytellers served as content creators and brand ambassadors to launch our #SouthwestStorytellers program.

Our goals were to:

1. Create a library of high-quality influencer-generated content (IGC) across our paid, owned, and earned channels (blog, website, social, and email).

2. Raise awareness of new programs, products, and initiatives (e.g., international travel, Rapid Rewards Credit Cards, Corporate Sales, new route openings, Diversity and inclusion, etc.).

3. Engage a cohort of influencers whose diversity in background, areas of expertise, geography, audience, and social platform engagement reflects the rich tapestry of our customer base.

4. Do influencer marketing "The Southwest Way," staying true to our Southwest Heart and famous focus on being cost-effective and providing high value.

The strategy involved stakeholder interviews and market research, which informed a vetting system that not only spoke to traditional influencer criteria but also Infused our business needs and brand. Via a proprietary scorecard, we were able to narrow down a prospective list of over 100+ prospects to the 11 selected for the Class of 2018.

Our Intensive selection process and vetting resulted in a group of Storytellers that Included a barefoot waterskier, a brother duo of adventure filmmakers, a country music artist, a lifestyle vlogger, a retired NFL player, and more. Despite thousands of miles between them and being over 30 years old, these Storytellers became a small family and community.

Once selected, we engaged these influencers throughout 2018 to attend events, support digital sales and promotions, and create original content from their travels throughout the year.

The pillars of our influencer strategy are as follows:

1. Audience over Authenticity—Our #SouthwestStorytellers share a love of our brand, which is reflected in their transaction history and content. We place a higher value on this than the size of their audiences.

2. Be Different By Design—Our program seeks to stand out in the travel influencer marketing space by engaging influencers who reflect the diversity of our customer base. Our #SouthwestStorytellers come from different parts of the country, different backgrounds, and varied interests.

3. Have Realistic Expectations—Our expectations of our #SouthwestStorytellers are that they influence top-of-funnel activities such as consideration and awareness.

RESULTS:

• 29.4 million people reached through influencer channels (blog, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and podcast)

• 1.1 MM organic engagements with Southwest branded content on their channels

• 1,011 total Southwest branded social posts were created In 2018

• Thirty events support projects, from launching specialty aircraft and opening international routes to the NBA Draft and music events like Live in the Vineyard

• 25 placements in owned channels like email and the hero image of Southwest.com sparked a larger conversation among the Brand Team and Social Business about how we can expand the use of social content in brand emails to customers and on other brand channels in 2019

• 20 digital campaigns with bottom line impact that drove credit card acquisitions, incremental revenue through ancillary products, and air bookings

• 11 influencers that became part of the Southwest Family

We were able to garner leadership and stakeholder buy-in, win placement on owned channels, and redistribute media dollars to premium influencer content. 

We successfully built a community and the domestic airline industry's first long-term social influencer/ambassador program.