#PRSA_USMC

Colonel Bryan Salas@sharethecourage

Director

Public Affairs, U.S. Marine Corps

Social Media Challenges• Accuracy

• Appropriateness

• Ethics regulations

• Personal conduct

• Operational/Industrial security

• Counter intelligence

• Network security- malware, viruses, password strength

• Cyber criminals - Social engineered attacks

• Political endorsement

• Legal

• Personal information/ Privacy Act

• Terms of Service

• Defamatory, libelous, obscene, abusive, threatening, racially hateful, or otherwise offensive material.

• Copyright infringement

• Inappropriate release of official information.

• Review daily

The Marines & Social Media• Overview of the Marine Corps

• Planning/Framework

• Lessons Learned

• Daily Practices

• Recruiting & Social Media

Major Carrie Batson

Strategic Communication

Public Affairs, U.S. Marine Corps

Global Internet UseTotal worldwide: 1.6 billion users

Internet User Growth 2000 – 2009

Middle East

+1360%48M

Africa

+1321%64M

Latin America

+873%176M

Asia

+513%701M

Europe

+283%402MNorth America

+132%252M

Oceania/Australia

+173%174M

Source: Internet stats; UM Wave 4 Study, July 2008 21

Marine Corps Demographics

160,000 Millennials40,200 Xr’s

1,800 Boomers

Gen Y

Gen X

Boomers

Gen Y80%

Boomers<1%

Gen X19%

Mission

Integrate social media

into broader communication efforts

IOT

build understanding, credibility, trust and relationships with publics critical to the

Marine Corps’ success.

Objectives• Increase publics' knowledge of the Marine Corps

• Increase transparency

• Protect reputation in social media space

• Improve issue identification and response capability

• Improve decision-making through feedback

• Recruit qualified individuals into the Marine Corps

Lieutenant Colonel Greg Reeder

• Director, Defense Media Activity Marines

• Editor-In-Chief, Marines Magazine

• Head, U.S. Marine Corps Public Web

Lesson Plan

Iwo Jima Flag Raising• Rosenthal snaps it;

AP sends it < 17.5 hrs

• Pres. Roosevelt: 7th war bond drive; Orders Servicemen identified, brought home.

• Images goes “VIRAL”: everyone in America would see this picture - over and over.

– 7th Bond Tour raised $26 Billion(1945 Dollars) for U.S. Treasury

– Perspective: total US Budget in 1946 was $56 Billion.

1 picture

5 Marines

1 sailor

17.5 hours

$26 billion1 million Retail Store Windows | 16,000 Movie Theaters | 15,000 Banks

200,000 Factories | 30,000 Train Stations | 5,000 Billboards

UPPER MANAGEMENTOld Dogs WILL Learn New Tricks. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!

A social Corps – paradigm shift• Gap between old leaders and young Marines

– Uncontrolled information; organization demands control

– Significant risk in not engaging

– Communicate in their native environment

• Internal and external communications based on formula used since WWII: “tell” our story with maximum disclosure and minimum delay.

• Shift from press release mindset

– Empower Marines to share their stories

– Distributed release authority

– Emphasize guidance and training

Accomplishing the mission

• Loss of market share vs. loss of lives; military advantage; OPSEC

FRO VTT IA MCCS

OPSEC OCS

MCT FRAT O&M

SAPP

• Old Model = Tell our story

• New Reality = Share stories people want; two-way communication

Help Marines / Communicate Worldwide: communicate, reintegrate, operate – Community Services One Source

– Warrior Care

– Family Readiness Officers

– Mommy Bloggers

Policy – working with the slippery slope

• In the absence of guidance:do the right thing

– Administrative Message

• aka “executive memo”

– Rules of Engagement

– Policies and Process

– Basic Principles

– Terms of Service

BEING CUTEWell, It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time

Take the initiative• Try to navigate open seas

of SM

• Multiple twitter handles; Facebook duality; unbranded channels

• Overcome:– No access

– limited understanding and buy-in

– policy void

– chaotic environment

• Refocus on objectives

@MCNews

@MarineCorpsNews

@MarinesTV

@USMC

Same but Different…• Must look at everyday as Election Day – N/A

• Awareness vs. revenue model

• Build understanding and support– “America doesn’t need a Marine Corps, America wants a Marine

Corps”LtGen Victor Krulak

You Want Answers?

CONTENTIt Can Be Adjusted Only So Much

Compelling?• EWS students tour LOGCOM, MCA

• 3/7 wraps up training at MCMWTC with FINEX

• Caution urged during start of hunting season

• New ACE, GCE in place, ready for Fall Patrol

• Flyby:HM2HONNOLL

o Marines deliver joy to Afghan Orphanage

o Fellow Veterans show wounded warriors new way to heal

o Marines Face challenge in unstable Afghanistan

o When daddy’s gone: effects of deployment on children

SUPPORTAdmit It – You Can’t Always Be The Expert At Everything

How we’re staffed• The Few, The Proud, did I mention the few?

• 3 Marines:

– 1 on loan

– 1 new

– 1 at school

– Dual / triple purpose• Print, Broadcast, Online, Media Relations

– All dedicated to the mission

Plan of Attack

• Brand recognition

• Maintain organizational values

• Dispel misinformation – but still tell the whole story

• Provide guidance for Marines – don’t give up terrain to adversaries

• Ensure complimentary communications, uniformity, organization and standards

DATA ANALYSISData: It’s Like A Bikini

Data trends / traffic• Causation and Correlation more important

– Spike on Haiti earthquake - lull when Marines left Iraq– Lull on human interest - Spike on action stories

• Aggregate traffic increased:not a zero sum game

– More market share than existed before– Total presence expanded vice increase in activity

• How do we tweak the dials to get a response?– Action verbs / Context driven

Coca Cola: When you open a Coke, 12352 bubbles are born. Happy birthday, bubbles.

Marine Corps: Explosion, Fighting… action

Lessons Learned

1. Act in the absence of guidance – make informed decisions and senior leaders will understand.

2. Follow good examples but remain true to your brand – don’t try to full-scale copy success; improvement comes from trying.

3. Content is key, telling it in a compelling way to generate interest is vital.

4. Support: Don’t hesitate to ask for it. None of us are the experts at everything.

5. Data is more than the presentation of numbers – tracking trends, causation and correlation are more important.

And still… a work in progress

• Plan

• Training

• Standards

• Leverage personnel

• Overall organizational policy /mandates

• Analysis

• PII

• Leaders Engagement, Buy In

Gunnery Sergeant C. Nuntavong@authoriTHAI

Media Chief, Headquarters Marine Corps

&

Lead Editor, U.S. Marine Corps Social Media Team

How we use social media

TheMARINECORPSStory

Our goal

Our audience

• Internal

– Servicemembers

•Active

•Reserve

•Retired

• External

– Family

– Friends

– The Media

– Global Audience

People who are looking for news and information about the Marine Corps

Content & Status Updates

Marines.mil

youtube.com/Marines

flickr.com/Marine_Corps

facebook.com/Marines

twitter.com/USMC

Major Christian Devine@CDevine1

Public Affairs Officer

U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Command

Recruiting & Social Media• The objective of MCRC’s social media program is to grow active

Marine Corps communities on a National level that engages prospects and key influencers where they naturally congregate with our branding message (the Longer Marine Corps Story)

Recruiting & Social Media

• Listen: Monitor conversations daily across the web and within our own communities

• Engage: Create content experiences that leverage synergies between community needs and business objectives

• Measure: Track performance and optimize for future posts

Listen Engage Measure

Monitoring & Moderation• The monitoring program is used to help

shape all communications programs, including social properties

• Daily digest of key issues– One-page report for consumption by senior

leadership of MCRC

– Targeted to issues impacting recruiting

– Provides daily pulse for risk management and response

Monitoring & Moderation• Social networking sites are moderated daily

(including weekends)

– Ensures that community members are following established community guidelines

– Provides a safe and interactive place for community members to congregate and share their experiences

– Ensures that the Marine Corps brand and recruiting story are properly positioned

• While communities tend to be self-policing, consistent moderation is needed to guide and sometimes corral the discussions taking place

• Identify synergies between community needs and business objectives

– Using that knowledge to increase engagement

Application Development

Paid Media

Content Production

Engagement• GOALS

– Keep communities engaged with a cadence of communications and content

– Grow communities by posting content that users are likely to share forward

• STRATEGY– Answer frequently answered questions and other

user-discussed topics

– Relevancy to Marine Corps recruiting

– Timing and frequency considerations

– Channel- and audience-specific content

facebook.com/MarineCorps• Marine Corps Facebook page

launched in 2008

• 340,000+ fans

• Each content post garners between 300,000 and 800,000impressions and 1,500comments/likes

• Top 10 for driving traffic to MCRC websites

• Top 15 for generating lead form submissions (predominantly officer)

youtube.com/OurMarines• Marine Corps YouTube

page launched in 2008

• 2,500,000+ video views; 4,900+ subscribers

– Discovery and spread of a video after launch is largely driven by cross-posts to MCRC social media properties, specifically Facebook

myspace.com/MarineCorps• Launched in 2006

• 70,000 friends– Predominantly male

prospects aged 18-24, followed by current/former Marines and influencers

– Large diversity audience

• Drives a considerable amount of traffic and lead form submissions

twitter.com/USMarineCorps• Launched in

2009

• 2,300+ followers

Local Efforts in Social

Recruiting

• facebook.com/MarineCorps

• youtube.com/OurMarines

• twitter.com/USMarineCorps

• myspace.com/MarineCorps

Marine Corps

• facebook.com/Marines

• youtube.com/Marines

• twitter.com/USMC

• flickr.com/Marine_Corps

Where to find usMarines.mil/socialmedia

directory, official policies & user guidelines