Delta Airlines Employees Make Travel Videos

The airline's employees -- ranging from flight attendants to marketing managers -- are the stars of the videos guiding the prospective Delta customer through their favorite places in that particular city. The Delta Siteseer site also lets Delta customers download the videos to their iPods and share them with friends.

As you might expect, some 'SiteSeers' are more comfortable in front of the camera than others. While showing you around some of his favorite New York City haunts, flight attendant David Lang looks like he's been doing this for years. You expect him to end the segment with a promo for his new show on the Travel Channel.

The videos are more polished than the average YouTube clip, but for the most part the Delta employees convey a genuine interest in what they're doing rather than looking like victims of an overly-scripted PR exercise.

Travel information found in these clips tap into expertise that you would expect from airline employees. But you'd likely never have the opportunity to tap into this knowledge bank unless you make a habit of trapping flight attendants with the beverage cart until they tell you what to see in Prague.

We suspect companies will continue to explore the intersection of viral content and internal expertise using social networks as Delta is doing with SiteSeer. The theme here is not just to sell air travel but to make more informed travelers and a better travel experience for the Delta customer.

Giving your employees vehicles to share their knowledge with customers in a personal way will not only help bolster your brand (e.g., accessible, anticipate customer needs, industry leader, etc.) but will help reinforce your position as an expert and valuable resource.

For more, see our post on Audience & Effective Web Design