INTEGRATED BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 5
Southwest.com is the website for the low cost carrier, South WestAirlines. The ‘About Us’ section of this website seeks to createan interaction between the airline and its stakeholders. The senderof this information is the Airline management. The type ofinformation portrayed on the page is characteristic of the managementlevel access. To be precise, the information was written by thecorporate communication department of the airline. The sender of themessage on this page is the management of the South West Airlines.
The perceived receivers of this information are the potential clientsof the airline and corporate audience. In the website, potentialclients are targeted. When one opts to use a particular airline, thefirst thing they will do will be to check its homepage. Potentialinvestors are also perceived receivers because they will want to findout the history of the company before they invest their hard-earnedmoney. Other smaller receivers include new employees, shareholders,and competitors.
The integrated business communication in the ‘About Us’ sectioncombines three key aims of business communication. The aims are toupdate, inform, and market the company. The link to the ‘What’snew’ section provides the receiver with information updatesregarding the company. Therein, there is information regarding newpolicies and corporate events. The history, mission and visionstatement, and ‘Our Purpose’ all serve to inform the receiver ofthe direction that the company wishes to go.
Anybody seeking to get the baseline information about this companycan do it by just clicking on the ‘About Us’ icon. This web pagealso seeks to market the company from the onset. The page talks aboutthe exemplary service that the company is known for in the aviationindustry. It also markets the company’s products and variouspromotional activities. The media richness of a section depends onhow much learning can be pumped through the medium. If users of themedium are able to learn new information more effectively, then therichness of the media is high.
When it comes to the ‘About Us’ page, South West Airlines websiteoffers cues to multiple information simultaneously. Therein are linksto various topics that seek to provide more information about thecompany (About Southwest, 2016). These cues make the webpage lesscumbersome while offering lots of information at the same time. Ifall the information relevant to this section were fitted in a singlewebpage, its readability would be greatly affected. As a result, theability of the page to pass information will be greatly diminisheddue to reduced clarity and visibility.
The richness of a media is also determined by its capability tofacilitate immediate feedback and utilization of a natural language.The webpage has a search icon where visitors can key in their queryand click on the icon. If the desired information is still notavailable, the webpage has a phone number and email address where thevisitor can contact the company employees for further clarifications.For the provision of feedback, the richness of the media in thewebsite rates high. Utilization of a natural language not only makesthe web page easy to read, but also identifies with the readers of aparticular society. Based on these criteria, the webpage has anadequate richness of media.
The message is framed so that the company appears to value the clientmost. All the information from the welcoming message to the companypurpose is geared towards making the customer feel treasured. This isachieved, through portraying the webpage from the perspective of thecustomer. For instance, of all the latest news that the company hasexperienced in the recent past, it chooses to highlight the piecethat shows how the company demonstrates commitment to enhancingin-flight experience.
The history starts with how the founders of the company saw the needto provide high quality services for an industry that was laggingbehind in service provision. The page also has a link to ‘CustomerCommitments’ whereby past customers give their positive experienceswhen they flew with Southwest Airlines.
The key opinion leader in this website is Gary Kelly, the CEO ofSouthwest Airlines. At the top of the webpage is a link to ‘Gary’sGreetings’. Therein, the CEO talks about the commitment of theairline to offering impeccable services. He also reaffirms thecompany’s culture of treating its clients as the top priority. Thetheme of the CEO’s message seems to be in line with how the generalmessage of the ‘About Us’ section is framed. The webpage also hasa section for rapid rewards whereby the best performing employees arerecognized. These employees make their contribution regarding howfruitful it has been working with Southwest Airlines.
The word choice of this webpage needs improvement to assume a morecatchy perspective. The words used are just flat and hence a lowsense of appeal. This choice of words is of words counterproductivein the web page whose function is to market the company. Instead, thewriters should have considered using catch phrases. The appearance ofa certain phrase severally finally turns into a catch phrase andreaders can easily relate to the message. It also makes the messagemusical, hence increasing its readability.
References
About Southwest. Southwest.com. Retrieved from<https://www.southwest.com/html/about-southwest/index.html?int= >accessed January 18, 2017.
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