Social media content analysis during the covid-19 pandemic in terms of marketing communications: Examples from airline companies

In globalized world, effective communication and marketing process has been changed into different platforms unlike as it was before with the effects of digitalization. Thus, one of the most important platforms that marketing has moved is social media. Besides the fact that social media is meant to be the face of the firms,social media shows how strong marketing communication can be made via the interaction with consumers or customers. Turkish Airlines and Emirates Airlines the most leading companies of civil aviation which is the safest and easiest way of transportation all over the world, has been affected by Covid-19 pandemic that has emerged on December 2019 and affected all the World deeply. In order to minimize and control negative effects of pandemic, these two companies have aimed to contact with the customers by using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It has been observed that two global airlines use social media platforms effectively during the pandemic period and it has been concluded that they manage in interaction with their customers in line with the posts made on these platforms. The research was conducted with the content analysis method between March 11, 2020 and August 31, 2020. According to the results, the content shared by both businesses on social media; They are categorized as news, announcements, destinations, campaigns, sponsorships and celebrations. Of the news and announcement categories, both Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have come to the forefront as the most sharing categories. In general, it has been determined that both airline companies use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram social media platforms for public relations and sales promotion purposes in terms of marketing communication. Especially during the Covid-19 period, they shared mainly public relations activities of both airline companies.