The other day was Veterans Day. How did your commander and command sergeant major talk about it?
Follow enough military organizations on social media and you’ll catch the ones leaning hard into quips and memes.
These are fine for cheap likes but don’t build real appreciation or understanding.
Is this the way your commander and command sergeant major communicate? Do they have time for empty phrases, useless pleasantries and fake competition? If so, you’d probably be the first one to help make the words they choose more meaningful.
Since no organization, command team or PAO’s situation are alike, I can’t tell you if your social media approach is right and wrong. Hell, I don’t even do social media for work, although I consume and think about it quite a bit.
Reflect on these challenges, decide for yourself, and let me know where I’m wrong.
- Earn your place on the commander’s personal staff. Turn all communication outlets into an extension of their voice. If your tone doesn’t sync with your leaders’ tone, you’ll just be that person running their own social media initiative, not speaking for the commander. Sounds expendable to us.
- Be the communication professional. If their tone and themes are inconsistent or need work, get with your leaders to make it right. Then you’ll have something worth replicating in your channels.
- Forever lines are forever. You don’t get to shelve them just because you think you’ve found something clever to post.
- Your commander and command sergeant major are probably usually serious. This is fair, because they lead men and women who are in the business of winning wars and killing enemies. It’s okay if your social media is serious, or proud, or resilient, or risk-averse. Save the clever GIFs for your own accounts (or don’t).
- But you may shout, “It’s how we relate with our audience! Memes and cute pop culture references are how people communicate on social media!” Sure, a lot of people who post social media a lot gravitate toward gimmicks. Your military organization, and your command team, exist on a higher plane. Do your words elevate the conversation, or are you sinking into the cesspool?
- It goes beyond social media. How do you talk to your higher headquarters PAOs? It helps your credibility to express the same tone (such as confidence or restraint) with which your commander speaks with their commander.
The military takes itself pretty seriously, often for good reason. Resist the urge to over-correct on social media.
(Meme by Cpl. Austyn Saylor, somehow from DVIDS)
