Kelowna International Airport (YLW) takes flight with social media

Jenelle Turpin (pictured above with MP Ron Cannan in front of an Antonov) is the Airport Communications Coordinator, Community & Media Relations, for the Kelowna International Airport. She is at the forefront of her industry for using Twitter as a communications tool, pushing the envelope of this medium to make a difference in the government sector to the airport’s passengers and business tenants, the economic development of the Okanagan region and even brides and grooms who want to be married at the airport.

Her experience with traditional media, organizing events for dignitaries such as Wayne Gretzky, Desmond Tutu and Adrienne Clarkson and her determination to find a way to get the job done (learned while wearing Army boots), help her find and implement creative social media techniques like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr for public relations, airport communications, emergency response, marketing and customer service.

Before taking the leap into social media, Jenelle wrote up a social media plan. “I needed to explain it and get the buy-in from management which at the airport was an easy sell.” she says. She started Twitter on September 8, 2009 and her goal was to have one hundred followers by October 30^th, 2009. “By October 1^st I had my first one hundred followers. It’s a strange concept, this social media, it’s like you’re asking for stalkers. If I have five hundred I’ll be so excited. I think five hundred is a good sampling of people using the airport.”

Frustration with Facebook’s inability to provide customer service on setting up a simple fan page for the airport has moved her social media efforts into communicating in 140 characters on Twitter. Although she is disappointed in Facebook, who she has been emailing since September 2009 to get approval as an airport organization, and with no response from them, she likes using Twitter.

“I’m not promoting Facebook as much as Twitter. I’m surprised, because I wanted to focus on Facebook, but it’s not as easy or convenient. I like to explain things [she says putting the emphasis on explain, as if it’s a very long word]. I’m long-winded so it’s hard to explain in 140 characters. Writing on Twitter is still is a whole new culture and this is one portion of my job.” she remarks.

Jenelle says, “I saw not a negative side, but a surprising side of Twitter when we had an incident. A while ago, a Cessna crashed just outside the property at 9:59 a.m.. Thirty-one minutes later when I got back to my computer, I realized a media outlet had heard a radio transfer about the crash and they started tweeting at 9:59 a.m. Then others started tweeting. The media outlet suspected a death. It was twenty-five minutes before it was clarified by the same media outlet on site that there was no death or injuries. That can be dangerous, because what if the family saw that? In future I know to keep a closer eye on it. If I have a majour incident, I will have a staff person assigned just to watch social media outlets and get direction from me. If out of context they can let me know.”

Jenelle proves that social media really can build relationships. Jenelle was seeing complaining tweets from an influential person who follows the wine industry quite closely, about flying in general. “I tweeted to her that there is wine tasting in the wine shop or she could buy a flight of wine at the Wine Café – a new expansion we added in. She was much happier and it turned a negative into a positive.”

“I try to follow every one of the airports we fly to [on Twitter], all airlines as well as other airports to see what they’re up to. Horizon Air, Air Canada and Westjet promote their last minute deals.” she says. She tweets those out to give added customer service to people thinking of flying who want to get the last minute deals.

She communicates with other airports on Twitter. One day the weather was bad and snowing in Calgary and flights were delayed. “I sent a tweet to one of my contacts at the Calgary airport and within moments he posted photos to Flickr. I was able to tweet out links to those pictures that explained the reason the flights were late coming from Calgary.

If I notice people talking on Twitter, I see how flights are running. I will tell them if they are late or on time and remind them that if they are picking people up or dropping off that there is free fifteen minute parking in the short term parking lot. I will tell them if it’s raining or cold to remember the free courtesy ride to the terminal when parking in the long term lot. And with the holiday season what they can or can’t take on the flights, packing smart links, and shuttle rides right from Penticton, Salmon Arm and other locations.”

Jenelle uses Twitter to send media releases. “Media are great ones to follow and they follow me. Don’t just send your media release out by fax or email, but link them and have an attachment on Twitter.” she says

Jenelle will also take photos of their new gift shops and drag them onto Tweetdeck.  And she tweets out links to their Kelowna International Airport Magazine YLW Connection.

In traditional media for years, Jenelle began her career with the Military Police. She was with them for six years and she found herself speaking to school and youth groups and doing many public relations related roles with the military. That positivity appealed to her so she did some research and determined to take a career path that would offer her the chance to make a difference. She then became Public Affairs Officer.

When she was with the Edmonton Army/Airforce base, which was becoming the western headquarters for the Army, the business community tapped into her military knowledge. She said, “I found there was great opportunity to work in business. I was expecting my first child. Wearing army boots and going away for six months didn’t appeal to me.”

After ten years with the military, she began working for the Alberta government gaming and liquor commission and later worked for the Edmonton Mayor’s office in Corporate Communications. Her role involved looking after special events like Desmond Tutu’s visit to Edmonton, Adrienne Clarkson’s inaugural visit to the City of Edmonton as Governor General and the retirement ceremonies of Wayne Gretzky. Little did she know that the Wayne Gretzky event would see 10,000 people and lots of national media coverage.

Her proudest moment was her role in the Desmond Tutu event. All of the events planned for his visit were paid venues. The Edmonton Mayor at the time wanted Desmond Tutu to hold a public event. So Jenelle proposed the idea to invite school children to ask questions to the Nobel peace prize winner. She said, “Questions were submitted and vetted, and they would get up to the microphone and ask questions and Tutu would respond. He accepted only our idea and ours was the only free event to the public. It was a phenomenal event. School children across the city were invited.”

(photo above: Jenelle Turpin at a Valley Wide Chamber event promoting the Kelowna International Airport)

With family obligations in Kelowna, she later returned to Kelowna where she had grown up in her teen years. “I’ve been really fortunate. I did a stint with Tourism Kelowna / Kelowna Chamber and then Pacific Safety Products in public relations, marketing and sales. It was a great opportunity to see what a publicly traded company goes through. But my passion has always been in government.” she says.

About six years ago she landed a short-term contract with Kelowna City Hall which led to a full-time permanent position and then now into her permanent role with the Kelowna International Airport for the past three years.

“The travel industry is constantly changing. I work with three levels of government and the business community who are our tenants. We need them and they need us. For example, Kelowna Flightcraft brings in revenue and employment. When we extended the runway, the Antonov (in this case the world's second largest fixed-wing aircraft) flew non-stop from Russia containing 3 helicopters that needed to be retrofitted. That couldn’t have happened if the runway couldn’t have been extended.

We also have our passengers. They live here [in the Okanagan] for the lifestyle, but they work elsewhere. One point four million passengers go through Kelowna International Airport in one year. Only fifty percent are from Kelowna. The rest are from the catchment area of the interior including Kamloops, Revelstoke and Penticton.

Many go at 6:00 a.m. Monday to Seattle or Calgary, working the week, and then coming home Friday.” Jenelle says. One passenger lives in Penticton and her husband works in South Africa for three months. Even Jenelle’s spouse was working one month in Kelowna and one month in London. “We have the best of both worlds. It wouldn’t be so easy if we lived far away from the airport.”

In January, Kelowna International Airport will be hosting two weddings right at the airport on the mezzanine level. Jenelle says, “In early January, one couple wants to get married here before they fly to Mexico. The couple says that it’s easier to get married here, so they are bringing the Minister in front of twenty friends and family at 6:30 in the morning to toast to coffee and Timbits and then catching their departure at 8:00 a.m. The bride will wear her veil, but the full ceremony, event and costumes will be in Mexico. Usually it’s a happy place. You occasionally see sad. Every day, I see families saying hello or goodbye and they are crying. Sometimes I walk up to my office with tears in my eyes.” (If you’re a chick, this is a good thing.)

Jenelle is a graduate of Grant McEwan University and a member of the International Association of Business Communicators, BC chapter. She says, “It’s a great organization of communicators.”

Thanks for reading! I look forward to your comments on this article.

Courtenay Pitcher, Travel wannabe and Social media maven

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