Put Delta on the list of companies that have had their attitude adjusted by social media. On a return trip home from Afghanistan, Delta charges a group of Soldiers $2,800 out of pocket for traveling with more than 3 bags. Delta has a contractual agreement with the U.S. government to allow up to 4 bags per Soldier at no charge.

Delta had republished it’s policy noting on it’s blog:

“Currently, Active Duty U.S. Military Personnel traveling on orders may check up to 4 bags in First/Business class and 3 bags in Coach for free both domestically and internationally.”

Even though it does state that Coach travelers are given up to 3 bags, Delta is getting hit from all sides from the public view on their policy as this is snowballing into a big PR problem.

Delta has reviewed their policy and updated the amount of bags U.S. Military Personnel are allowed to carry:

“After careful consideration, effective immediately, U.S. military personnel traveling on orders in First and Business Class can check up to five bags at no charge and 4 bags in economy class.”

I guess you can count this as a win for social media, bringing a problem that would have normally been overlooked the attention it needs.  The problem seems more about the 4th bag, being their firearms, is a requirement to travel with on top of their personal belongings.You can read the Delta blog post and comments from the public here.  Funny after reading and seeing how this is a big PR hit, no where does it say they will be getting a refund….funny.

So now the question is back to you. This video was uploaded yesterday and Delta has already responded and updated their policy. Do you think Delta has handled or is handling this appropriately? What would you do to keep your company in the good light?

We’ve seen video on landing pages and in blog posts (like this one!), but what about press releases? Apparently the PR folks are hopping on the online video bandwagon and yielding incredible results.

Joe Chernov from Eloqua discussed his experience with PR and video at a social media breakfast with VisibleGains, BusinessWire, and MediaMobz, where he served as a panelist:

The statistic speaks for itself; Chernov’s video press releases attracted 500% more views than exclusively text-based releases. This is no surprise when one considers that video is rapidly gaining momentum in nearly every field, and PR is no exception.

Marketers need to constantly innovate, and online video may just be the solution. Tell us what you think: is it time to do away with text-only press releases?

Click here for a video intro to the event

Can online video turn press releases into SEO gold? We don’t have an answer to that question. At least not yet. But with your help – and an esteemed group of experts – we’re hoping to get closer to understanding the role that video will play in the press release of the future.

On April 27, we’re hosting an event with Business Wire and MediaMobz entitled Combining SEO and Video to Drive Awareness and Lead Generation Online. You can watch a video intro for the event or learn more here and, if you’re in Boston, we encourage you to attend. At its core, the event is designed for marketing and communications professionals who are looking for innovative ways to generate new business leads. If that sounds like you, please come.

If you can’t attend, we’d still like to represent you at the event. Cliff Pollan, our CEO, is moderating the panel, and he’d welcome your questions, concerns and opinions in advance. What would you ask Tim Bradbury about his print media enterprise or David Meerman Scott about his recent book? How about asking Judy Gern from Constant Contact about ways video plays into their strategy or Joe Chernov from Eloqua about ways to link all this to marketing automation?

If you’d like Cliff to pose a question or broach a particular topic, please add it as a comment to this post.

As the event invite explains, unique content such as video has tremendous power to attract and convert new leads online. Because video is SEO-friendly and dynamic, many companies are using it to help generate and convert leads. But many companies still have questions that range from concerns about cost to the real conversion value. The event will address some of these questions and provide best practices for effectively using video and SEO in the press releases you distribute, whether it’s via a wire or in some other way.

We hope you’ll join us on April 27 or that you’ll send along some questions and insights for Cliff.