Soldier blogs and Army PR…

I subscribe to the Social Media Examiner, which calls itself the world’s largest online social media magazine. The Examiner sends out tips designed to help businesses discover how to best use social media tools. I find it interesting and helpful because it gives me some tips I occasionally use, but more importantly, it helps me think outside the box a bit.

One recent issue had a link to an video interview with Greg Swan, VP of Digital Strategy at Weber Shandwick, one of whose clients is the U.S. Army. That’s right: the U.S. Army uses a PR firm! The idea of the U.S. Army employing a public relations firm (Weber Shandwick says it is a global public relations and communication leader) is not surprising but it IS intriguing. Before I watched the video interview, I had all kinds of thoughts: when did the Army decide it needed to hire a PR firm? Isn’t the Uncle Sam imagery enough? And perhaps most important: who is paying for this? Me – as a taxpayer? And you…and you….and you?

I put those thoughts aside to watch the video. I was impressed to find out that the Army also blogs. Though its “Army Strong Stories” program (a Weber Shandwick idea), 800 U.S. Army soldiers blog. Relentlessly. Their blogs are unfiltered and unmoderated and, according to Swan, always will be. “The authenticity and transparency of soldiers blogging about a terrible day, or that they regretted their decision to join the Army lend credibility to the posts,” Swan notes.

The strategy (which was important to me, given the fact that we’re all about strategy this year in CMGT 502 and 541) is simple: the Army Strong blogs engage prospective soldiers in conversations – honest, real, transparent conversations – about joining the Army and what it’s like to be a soldier. The prospective soldiers can comment about the blogs and make connections with the enlisted men and women who are blogging. And that can lead to…more soldiers to blog (not to mention to defend our country and our freedoms).

“There’s no direct correlation between the blogs and enlistment, but the Army met its recent recruitment goal,” Swan says.

The Army has taken this concept a few steps further: they’ve developed an iPhone app for Army Strong Stories and other apps are in production. (I’ve stopped wondering if taxpayer dollars are paying for this – I think it’s a pretty cool idea.)

I checked out the blogs and, while I didn’t find anything that was really negative and raw in terms of an “I hate the Army but I am stuck until my hitch is up” tone, there are lots of blogs about waiting around, missing loved ones, being bored and being hot (depending on the deployment). There are also lots of wonderful blogs about being proud, working hard and being happy. (Or maybe I just read them that way because I was scoping out the site on July 4!)

I had never heard about Army Strong Stories…but I love the idea of the Army being proactive enough to understand the need for quality public relations, for honest and transparent communication, and for using social media tools to get their message across.

Check it out: http://armystrongstories.com/