Navigating the Social Media Minefield

Navigating the Social Media Minefield

Military communication in the digital age

Presented by Amy MengelNY National Guard Public Affairs ConferenceJanuary 23, 2010

Hi.Amy Mengel

amymengel.com@amymengel

Founder, Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley@smbtvsmbtv.eventbrite.com

The old way of communication: broadcasting

People are consuming information differently

Teens watch 60% less TV than their parents and spend 600% more time online (Arthur W. Page)

22.4 million people access news daily from a mobile device (Cellular News)

YouTube is third largest search engine

Facebook has 350 million users

3.5 billion pieces of content shared each week on Facebook alone

3.1 million Wikipedia entries

Not just consuming. Creating & interacting

Social Technographics

Expectations for communication are different now

Conversations are happening, whether you participate or not

Tell your story, then let people interact with and share it

It’s no longer about controlling information. Create, nurture, respond

P

O

S

T

PeopleAssess your stakeholders’ social activitiesObjectivesDecide what you want to accomplishStrategyPlan for how relationships will changeTechnologyDecide which social technologies to useCopyright Forrester Research

Forrester’s POST Approach

But can you do this in the military?

Communication

Community Building

Crisis Response

Opportunities for social media in the military

Transmedia Storytelling

Blogs

Videos

Podcasts

Photos

Tweets

Comments

Forums

Aggregation

Statusphere

“Brand Journalism”

Social outposts: Deploy your content

Open, transparent communication

Communication

Community Building

Crisis Response

Opportunities for social media in the military

Nurture a community that participates

Facilitating knowledge exchange

Providing platforms for info and sharing

US Army iPhone app

Community Building

Community Building

Harness existing content and community

Take advantage of what’s out there

Communication

Community Building

Crisis Response

Opportunities for social media in the military

People are media outlets themselves

Fort Hood Shootings

Scott & White Healthcare – Fort Hood

Key Considerations

• Monitor, monitor, monitor• Accuracy and speed are BOTH important• Release information as you confirm it• Use social media to correct

misinformation• News conferences are now for clarifying

information versus releasing it• Okay to say that you don’t have answers

yet

Activate your community in a crisis

Haiti Relief

Have a plan for engaging with negative content

Crisis Response

Nay

United Breaks Guitars

Dominoes Pizza

Motrin Moms

Yea

H&M Clothing Stores

Southwest Airlines

Royal Caribbean

• Sharing and collaboration > broadcasting• Create and seed content across the Web• Tell your story via multiple channels• Leverage what’s already out there• Build a community and engage with it• Monitor always• Establish guidelines

for response

Wrapping Up

Questions?

Photo credits

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/manning999/2119255875/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/larimdame/3003644955/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/4271795260/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3370498053/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/32552054@N04/3047760088/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisstreeter/3674586966/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/3772132023/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/therefore/18542525/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3088582622/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/hibbert/312177649/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/212469655/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/spodzone/3485953704/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanredcross/4291785832/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/smil/3637651409/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/3492673802/