October 6, 2014

Helicopter Manufacturer's Facebook and Twitter State of Affairs 2014

By Mike Hampson, owner, Helicopter Links

San Diego, California, USA: There seems to be a growing presence on Facebook and Twitter for helicopter manufacturers. In just 12 months, some big increases to the major helicopter manufacturer's social media pages took place. (The numbers for this article are from the middle of September 2013 through October 1, 2014). Social media, for better or worse, continues to help companies communicate everything from product announcements, to fan photos, handling customer service complaints and to humor. In fact, on September 25th, Sikorsky had its first Question and Answer public chat for its S-97 RAIDER military helicopter using Twitter as its forum.

On Facebook:
Some of the biggest changes this year to Facebook Fan Pages were made when several of the Eurocopter Facebook accounts changed from Eurocopter to Airbus Helicopters. So now, Eurocopter (France), American Eurocopter and Eurocopter Canada Facebook pages are gone but have been replaced by Airbus Helicopters (France), Airbus Helicopters Inc. (USA) and Airbus Helicopters Canada Facebook pages. Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation's Facebook page was shortened to Sikorsky Aircraft which resulted in a new URL address for their Facebook page. Sadly, Sikorsky's S-76 Facebook Fan page is surprisingly gone, in September 2013, it had over 24,000 Facebook Fans.

I am very pleased to note that Enstrom and MD Helicopters are now posting more often on Facebook. Unfortunately, some helicopter manufactures such as Airbus Helicopters Mexico and PZL Swidnik simply stopped posting. It looks like there is a Facebook Community page for Robinson (it's not an official Robinson Facebook page) with over 5,100 followers with its last post from 2010. I am assuming it was made by a Robinson enthusiast. I am sure there are a lot of Robinson Helicopter fans who would like to see an official Robinson Helicopter Facebook page! AgustaWestland deleted their Facebook account some time ago but as AgustaWestland is a progressive helicopter manufacturer, may I please speculate that they will start a new Facebook account eventually!

In terms of shear numbers, Bell Helicopter brought in the largest increase of over 40,000 new Facebook Fans, Airbus Helicopters Inc. (USA) increased by over 29,000 new fans, Airbus Helicopters (France) had over 22,000 new fans, Sikorsky HAWK HQ had almost 10,000 new fans and Russian Helicopters had just over 4,500 new fans.

In terms of percentage increase in Facebook Fan "Likes", Russian Helicopters came in with a big 202% increase, MD Helicopters with a nice 129% increase, Enstrom 124% increase, Scott's — Bell 47, Inc. 110% increase, Bell Helicopter 89% increase and Airbus Helicopters, Inc. (USA) 86% increase and Airbus Helicopters (France) with an 80% increase in Facebook Fans.

On Twitter:
Some of the biggest changes to Twitter, again, was Eurocopter changing over to Airbus Helicopters. Eurocopter (France) became Airbus Helicopters and American Eurocopter became Airbus Helicopters US. On a sad note, Sikorsky S-76 and Sikorsky's HAWK HQ have vanished from Twitter. Robinson's last Twitter post this year was on May 2nd.

I am very glad to report that Enstrom Helicopter Corporation started a Twitter account in early 2014 and are actively Tweeting! According to Enstrom's Twitter feed, their first post was on February 26, 2014. It's great to have first hand information from Enstrom. And more good news comes from MD Helicopters as they started to actively post on their Twitter account on August 19, 2014.

By the numbers, the largest increase in Twitter followers was AgustaWestland with over 20,000 new Twitter followers, then Airbus Helicopters (France) had 14,500 new followers, Sikorsky Aircraft increased by over 12,000 new followers with Bell Helicopter increasing their Twitter numbers by over 10,000.

The highest percentage increases were AgustaWestland at a whopping 1,667% increase, with Airbus (France) and Bell Helicopter tied at a 106% increase in fans, Airbus Helicopters US came in with a 91% increase, Sikorsky Aircraft had a 89% increase and Russian Helicopters had a 78% increase in Twitter fans.

Here are the social media links and fan numbers:

Facebook:

Sikorsky HAWK HQ - 132,985 (Sept. 2013: 123,096)

www.facebook.com/SikorskyHawkHQ

Bell Helicopter - 85, 028 (Sept. 2013: 44,947, Sept. 2012: 32,641)

www.facebook.com/bellhelicopter

Airbus Helicopters, Inc. (USA) - 63,663 (As American Eurocopter: Sept 2013: 34,252, Sept. 2012: 2,435)

www.facebook.com/Airbushelicoptersinc

Airbus Helicopters (France) 51,647 (Sept 2013: 28,652. Sept 2012: 2,526)

www.facebook.com/AirbusHelicopters

Sikorsky Aircraft - 9,343 (Formerly listed as Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation: Sept 2013: 7,868. Sept 2012: 3,112)

www.facebook.com/SikorskyAircraft

Helibrás - 9,392 (Sept 2013: 5,929)

www.facebook.com/Helibras

Russian Helicopters - 6,775 (Sept. 2013: 2,240 Sept. 2012 = 159)

www.facebook.com/RussianHelicopters

Airbus Helicopters Canada 2,367 (Sept 2013: 1,717. Sept 2012: 471)

www.facebook.com/AirbusHelicoptersCanada

Marenco Swisshelicopter 1,506

www.facebook.com/pages/Marenco-SwissHelicopter/164032247004059
* Number recorded on Oct 6, 2014, did not record number for 2013.

Enstrom Helicopter Corporation - 1,144 (Sept 2013: 511, Sept. 2012: 142)

www.facebook.com/pages/Enstrom-Helicopter-Corporation/116608528411275

MD Helicopters - 1,034 (Sept 2013: 452, Sept. 2012 = 82)

www.facebook.com/pages/MD-Helicopters-Inc/281670315228089

Scott's - Bell 47, Inc. - 797 (Sept. 2013: 380, Sept. 2012 = 80)

www.facebook.com/scottsbell47

Twitter:

Airbus Helicopters (France) - 28,200 (Sept 2013: 13,700)

twitter.com/AirbusHC

Sikorsky Aircraft - 26,600 (Sept 2013: 14,103)

twitter.com/Sikorsky

AgustaWestland - 21,700 (Sept 2013: 1,228)

twitter.com/AgustaWestland

Bell Helicopter - 20,000 (Sept 2013: 9,708)

twitter.com/one_bell

Airbus Helicopters US 4,796 (Sept 2013: 2,508)

twitter.com/AirbusHC_usa

Russian Helicopters - 1,899 (Sept 2013: 1,066)

twitter.com/RusHeliCo

MD Helicopters 1,166

twitter.com/MDHelicopters
* Last year, I did not record the number of their followers.

Helibrás - 773 (Sept 2013: 478)

twitter.com/helibras

Enstrom 254 (New Twitter account as of Feb 26, 2014.)

twitter.com/EnstromHeli

AVX Aircraft Company - 225 (Sept 2013: 171)

twitter.com/AVXAircraft (Not in production.)

Note: I have been typically recording these numbers in the middle of September each year. Social media numbers can change daily. The latest numbers for this article were recorded on the morning of October 1, 2014 PST. Also, I added Marenco Swisshelicopter after Vertical Magazine published my article. This was an oversight on my part! Marenco Swisshelicopter just had the first test flight of their SKYe SH09 helicopter (and it was a success) on Oct 2, 2014 in Switzerland.

Vertical Magazine published this article online here: www.verticalmag.com/news/article/28933

Mike Hampson is the owner of Helicopter Links, a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate international directory listing helicopter companies, suppliers, maintenance facilities, trade shows, magazines and associations. Helicopter Links is based in San Diego, California, USA.

To visit our homepage see: www.helicopterlinks.com

For advertisers, to review our web statistics please see: www.helicopterlinks.com/webstatistics

For Helicopter Links Facebook page, see: www.facebook.com/HelicopterLinks

For Helicopter Links on Twitter, see: twitter.com/HelicopterLinks

Back to 2014 news stories