From giving simple orders to explaining intricate operations, the ability to pass information efficiently both internally and externally is vital to the armed forces. But such a simple concept often presents unexpected challenges. External communication in particular affects the backing the military gets from the Congress and the public; it is through public perception that the military’s support is determined. To help shape this perception, the Navy must adapt quickly to ever-changing social media platforms and continually learn to draw in outside interests. It needs to understand outside perspectives—and how to captivate them with the correct message at the correct time through the correct medium.
As frivolous as social media may seem, its benefits and influence are indisputable. According to the Pew Research Center, 5 percent of adults in the United States used at least one form of social media in 2005. Ten years ago, 21 percent used social media. By January 2018, 69 percent of adults in the United States reported they used social media. The number of social media platforms has dramatically increased as well, and there are now eight major social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn.
Social media is a form of earned media—users typically do not pay another organization to play advertisements on a commercial break or display their posts (though some promotion is possible). Users “earn” views, likes, shares and retweets by posting media that strike a chord with their audience. With proper research, social media users can hit different audiences for only what it costs to create a given post.
If public affairs is “the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution,” then social media is a perfect tool for it. Both social media and public affairs attempt to influence and inform the public. In addition, social media is an invaluable tool in negative situations and can be a major avenue for damage control. It provides a direct link to the public to communicate how an unexpected event is being handled and how the organization is taking steps to prevent future occurrences. It also provides a direct link for the public to ask questions and the opportunity for the account-holders to respond.
There are many uncontrollable or even volatile factors that come into play with external communication. The services cannot control what other organizations publish about the Navy and Marine Corps, nor can they control how the public interprets those publications. What they can control is what gets released to the public, and how. Good knowledge of how social media platforms operate allows targeting of specific audiences with specific information. Through market research, the Navy and Marine Corps can learn what types of content different audiences react to and in that way earn more positive exposure at a very low cost.
While all five military services already use social media, each could get more impact from its online presence by tailoring content more narrowly to appeal to specific audiences and platforms. Snapchat is different than LinkedIn; Facebook is different than Instagram. Organizations can no longer share the same posts across platforms and expect to get the same reactions. They must create original content between different online mediums to fully experience the benefits social media can provide.
The Marine Corps is the smallest service branch. On social media, however, its smaller numbers do not affect its voice or public impact. On Instagram, the Air Force has 946,000 followers; the Navy, 982,000. The Army has 1.3 million. The Marine Corps’ official Instagram account, however, has 1.7 million followers. It grew by 200,000 from April to October 2018 alone. The Marine Corps recognizes Instagram’s audience— Pew says 71 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 years old are on Instagram. A sampling of Marine Corps posts include finish line photos from the Marine Corps Marathon, a platoon hiking in Iceland, and a Marine handling a military working dog. The account also posts short videos and images of screaming drill instructors, large guns, waving flags, sharp uniforms—and everything else the public thinks of when they hear about the Marine Corps.
Facebook is the go-to social media site for people older than 24. About 68 percent of U.S. adults have Facebook accounts, and three-quarters of those use the site daily. While many also enjoy Instagram, Facebook has consistently been the most widely used social media site since its beginning. That said, it does not make sense to share the same content between these two sites. To get the most reach possible, organizations must understand the different audiences.
The military as a whole should focus recruiting efforts on Instagram and Twitter, where the most likely candidates are. It should focus community outreach and veteran support efforts on Facebook. Younger audiences might appreciate and respect someone’s experiences from an event, but they will not respond in the same way as someone who remembers it firsthand (or whose close family members do). Experience with a subject will give a person a different perspective and appreciation for it. For example, a person who served in the Vietnam War would watch an interview with a Vietnam veteran differently than a person who learned about it in school. The military should recognize these differences and use things such as asymmetrical visuals and humor for younger audiences while focusing on tradition and legacy for others.
When things go wrong, many users try simply to weather whatever negative storm is occurring. For the Navy and Marine Corps, however, honesty and transparency are vital to their success and institutional longevity, especially on social media. When negative events happen, they must be addressed with integrity. On social media, where every action and response is available for the public to see, there is no place to hide. Small typos or grammar mistakes that only a few people would notice make the author look lazy and careless, and an entire organization’s reputation can suffer because of it. Accidently publishing a wrong fact makes an entire organization look careless or even dishonest and tarnishes its credibility. Without credibility, there is no trust and no support. Publishing something inaccurate is entirely preventable, but it is difficult to catch every miniscule mistake—and screenshots are forever.
Social media users’ habits are adapting with social media. Today, Tribute Media reports that a post has seven seconds to catch a person’s attention on social media, and the time limit gets shorter all the time. There are many factors that go into creating posts. Organizations must put their most interesting and visual content up to grab attention, so a person will choose to watch the whole video, read the caption, and—especially—share the content with friends. To do this, they must choose the right content for the post in a way that will capture the audience they are targeting at the right time on the right platform.
The Navy and Marine Corps have a tradition of excellence. The rewards of social media greatly outweigh its challenges, but maintaining effective social media accounts is difficult, and keeping up with rapid technology changes is even more so. By using the same mindset and dedication that go into planning and executing missions, the services can improve the public’s perceptions of the military on a large scale and hit both the recruiting goals and messages necessary for continued success.