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How do you convince the cavemen that “fire and warmth are good?”

That was the challenge the U.S. Marine Corps’ Public Affairs team faced as it wrestled with persuading “grey-beard” officers that social media could transform the way this historic military branch interacts with its 200,000 active duty soldiers, their dependents, other key constituencies and the public at-large. The Marine Corps’ use of social media was in the floodlights this week in a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) session in New York titled, “Facebooking the U.S. Marine Corps: How the Few and the Proud Use Social Media.”

With 160,000 of its active duty troops cast as Millennials and another 40,000 identified as Generation X-ers, the Marines couldn’t ignore the new media or order people to stop using them. Younger soldiers, they’ve learned, just like younger employees in our companies, require a new mindset. “We had to shift away from communicating through a press release,” said Lt. Col. Greg Reeder. So they turned a problem into an opportunity — choosing to “surf the wave rather than being buried by it.”

The Public Affairs Team led by Col. Bryan Salas “framed the problem:” They dug in with research and examined best practices to gain a rich understanding of the field of social media. They determined the demographics of their enlisted force and their preferences globally for consuming and using these media. And then, very smartly, they integrated social media as an operational tool to guide interactions and to create a more dynamic recruiting model.

In the absence of clear guidelines, the Marines simply followed the rule of “doing the right things.” They created their own rules of engagement. They learned, early on, that trying to do too much in this new space was unproductive, and when stung by Wired magazine’s criticism of their early attempts with social media, they licked their wounds, regrouped and moved forward.

Salas’ team of Maj. Carrie Baston, Lt. Col. Reeder, Maj. Christian Devine and Gunnery Sgt. C. Nuntavong highlighted their work and key learnings regarding social media:

- A critical aspect of Facebook and Twitter is linking the Marines with families and friends back home, to share in the grief that families experience, and to celebrate in a homecoming after a long tour of duty. “An important aspect of social media for the Marines is in humanizing the Corps and helping people better understand who we are and what we do.”

- Engagement is very specific and unique as the Marines are selling a lifestyle and sharing an experience unlike any other.

- The Marines face significant governance issues that must be monitored  — from accuracy to counter-intelligence to cyber criminal activity to legal, personal and other challenges.

- Their mission is to increase knowledge through the use of social media.

- Key goals include enhancing transparency in their communications, protecting their reputation and the Marine Corps’ brand, improving the identification and response capability, improving decision-making through feedback, and helping to recruit quality people.

- Two-way communications drive everything they do today. “We’re working to share stories people want to hear.” Incredibly, they’ve identified more than 500 storytellers throughout the Corps. Many are 19- and 20-year-old men and women, and they’ve learned restraint, good judgment and proper protocol in posting stories, tweets and videos that enhance the Marine Corps’ brand.

- In recruiting, “every day is an election day.” Because people no longer answer telephone  calls at home, social media are essential for reaching, screening and recruiting candidates.

- Data for the Marine Corps are like a bikini: “What it shows you is important. What it doesn’t show you is vital.” Rather than counting click-throughs and page views, the team looks for cause and correlation.

- More than 2.5 million people have viewed YouTube videos on the Marines. If you go to the Marines’ official Facebook home page, you’ll see that more than 341,000 people had pledged that they “like this” site. Still in its infancy, 2,300 Twitter followers currently track the Marines.

Not bad for an organization founded in 1775. Even the cavemen learn the quest for fire can be good. And so it is.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.