Comet Branding - Branding | PR | Social Media

If the military can leverage social media – your company can too. Period. [GUEST POST]

There are many companies that think it’s too hard to get started using social media and until I co-presented at the International PRSA Conference with LTC Gerald Ostlund the Webmaster and Chief of Social and New Media for the Army Reserve I thought that was okay. But, he helped the audience and me understand this: We did it. You have no excuses.

So, I asked if he wouldn’t mind writing a guest post to share some insight about his experience that might help the many people who are working like crazy to get their companies or clients to leverage social media. Please read on.

Guest Post
By: LTC Gerald Ostlund
Army Reserves

We did it. You have no excuses.

So, you work for a conservative, slow moving, hierarchical organization and are thinking that a venture into social media is way beyond reach. Oh, and
you are subject to enormous regulatory oversight, your network administrators are behind cipher locks, there’s no “extra staff” to go
around, and when you bring up the subject, everyone around you cringes. Right?

That was the situation for the Army Reserve when a few adventurous souls developed our social media program not too long ago.

But we plunged into social media and so can you.

First, we started small. We had the opportunity to play with a topic we knew we could generate some excitement about – our Employer Partnership program
that matches employers who understand the value of military training with our Soldiers and their families. So, we created a blog, a Facebook page and
even a Twitter account. This allowed us to specialize for a while.and fly under the radar of most of the organization.

Second, we didn’t go get leadership approval first – that would have required us having all the answers, the process in place, and frankly, we had to make some of that up as we went. So, we took some personal risk and went for it.

Third, we made some mistakes, but were able to “lift and shift” (an artilleryman’s term) quickly because we hadn’t built this huge expectation internally about what we were doing or the bureaucracy to keep us from changing it.

Fourth, we stretched out into other platforms as opportunities arose, and as we got comfortable with the tools in our toolbox. Vimeo and YouTube, additional blogs and branded Facebook and Twitter pages for other programs and finally, the Army Reserve as a whole.

The 10+1 Rule that work for us:

1.    Real speak – no corporate talk. Nobody wants to hear about the “enterprise being reorganized into four pillars of excellence”

2.    First person – find a storyteller with a personality. For us, that means finding a soldier who is on scene.

3.    Make the fan/follower part of the story – give them a reason to respond, comment, or add their own experiences.

4.    Relevance trumps frequency – I’ve heard of some organizations having a goal of three posts or tweets a day, no matter what. I don’t agree. If the
content isn’t something your fans are going to really want, why waste their time. You wouldn’t spam them over email, would you?

5.    A great photo goes a long way – fortunately for us, we have soldiers doing great things around the world, so photos aren’t in short supply.

6.    Raw, messy, real video – a wmv from an inexpensive Flipvideo really does work better in social media than overproduced, professional video.

7.    Don’t edit out real life. Sh!t happens – and our soldiers are likely to blurt out a colorful word or two. That’s okay.

8.    Monitor and acknowledge comments – conversation stalls when no one answers.

9.    Robust rules of engagement – make it known what you will tolerate from fans on your social media platforms. If a rule is violated, take the comment down or block the user.

10.    Segment if necessary – but coordinate any segmented social media efforts. Fans do follow you in multiple places.

11.    Have fun. Why do it if it isn’t fun, right? And if you are having fun, your followers will too – and are likely to share their experiences with others.

So, if the Army Reserve can do it, you can too.

Tags: excuses for not using social media, no excuses for not using social media, social media agency, social media firm, Social Media in Business, social media in the military