Public affairs specialists needed an organic way to update locals and other army members about the Army Corps of Engineers.
When public affairs in Iraq told the Army Corps of Engineers higher-ups that it would be using social media to get the word out about the Corps’ activities, it got some push-back from those not familiar with the in’s and out’s of the platform. But Scott Harris, then public affairs chief in the Gulf Region District of Iraq, managed to turn the top brass around. Here are some best practices from the effort:
• Name a champion: Appoint a well-respected PR executive as the controller of social media content.
• Tout the virtues of the opt-in social media audience: “Those who come to the Facebook page actually want to hear our message,” says Harris.
• Extol real-time capability: “Facebook happens right now, and there’s profound value in that, particularly in our situation,” he says.
Read more about the campaign in the full case study.
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