Chris Bryant
The effects of social media are more prevalent than ever. As of January 2020, there are nearly 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram. With the massive increase in social media users globally, we must ask how this will affect the future of assessment, recruitment, and engagement in civil affairs and the military as a whole? How will we engage adversaries/allies across the globe persistently and effectively? Below are some thoughts to stimulate social media conversation in the team room in preparation for upcoming deployments. Providing insight into how to tailor and use social media and the appropriate effects social media can have on civil affairs' missions abroad.
Adapting to the narrative domain
Civil affairs has adapted to the information and technological environment. Many civil affairs teams—being from a younger generation—understand the importance of leveraging social media and highlighting the civil affairs mission around the world. Setting up a social media page is simple enough. The key is persistence and continuity for many civil affairs teams. Starting a social media account is fundamental to driving and amplifying the civil affairs mission to support their respective combatant commands. Social media is applicable in the first and third-world nations that civil affairs teams often find themselves operating in, either in an US Embassy or out of a base camp. Social media acts as a gateway of communication between civil affairs teams and remote populations, which are challenging to engage with regularity. The goal is not to build a massive, monetized following but to produce a format that will pass from team to team and allow constant interaction with audiences in a designated area, amplifying messages and current efforts.
Why utilize social media?
Civil affairs forces can use social media at the battalion or team level to connect with the Department of State, local non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations. These accounts build a network used to foster long-term relationships even as teams change. Social media provides a way to share contacts, show support, and engage in a busy environment. Many media consumers state Facebook works well for sharing the daily activities of the battalion and public information updates. However, Instagram and Twitter are different platforms in comparison to Facebook. The audience is younger and much more active with engaging the pages. Understanding the platform, algorithm, and demographic targeted is key to expansion and engagement.
For a deployed civil affairs team, after establishing in-person relationships, connecting via social media may be the best tool to build a network. Most can agree that calling someone up after months or even years of silence can be very awkward. Using social media as the constant factor via a simple like or comment stimulates ideas, interaction, and a sense of unity. The same way we hand out business cards, we find ourselves using QR code scanning to share social media accounts with members of the embassy or regional leaders who we frequently interact with.
Creating an account can be different based on the area of operation. Contacting your Public Affairs Office is the best way to start an account and understand the unit's approval process. A picture is worth a thousand words and bolstering a team's efforts can be made seamless through social media, with a basic strategy for content that shows civil affairs working with the host nation along the front lines of American foreign affairs.
The future of social media in the military
Unlike a modern-day mainstream influencer, the goal of a civil affairs team is not to live off social media revenue. So this makes metrics and insights a bit less critical. However, they are a great way to measure if the desired audience receives messages via targeted likes, comments, and shares. In a recent sit down with a Special Operations Recruiting Battalion recruiter, it was discovered that every candidate applying for selection to Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations, or Special Forces mentioned social media as the number one recruiting factor that brought them in. Candidates stated they have a preconceived notion about what that branch does via social media. Though not consistently accurate, we now see how the future of our enterprise and the world are consuming information. We watched commercials as kids and aspired us to become soldiers. Users can now follow accounts that provide a narrative of life as a soldier.
It is no mystery that social media or internet connection, in general, has become one of the most prevalent means of communication in the world. They are linking even the most rural areas to events happening across the globe and taking users there to the max extent without being there. The use of social media to promote stability operations and advance partnerships worldwide is the future. It is the recruiter that never sleeps, the message that's repeated night and day as people from all walks of life look at their phones before they go to bed and when they wake up. To be successful in the information realm, we must strive to understand and embrace the ability to reach and highlight the work done worldwide and develop a means to engage persistently and effectively. Our adversaries can move at the same pace in the narrative domain. The internet is not going away. Our ability to utilize, shape, and integrate social media into our mission cycle will affect operations for years to come.
If you start an account, here are a few tools to maximize engagement potential:
-Use all 30 hashtags and 20 account tags
-Use old photos to mitigate OPSEC risks
-Use genuine and interaction-based photos.
-Understanding the insight panel/using clickable links to measure interaction
-Continuity between admins/ approachability and originality
-Engaging with public comments or direct messages
-Do not edit a post caption once made (This will affect your algorithm)
-Posts are given to a base populace who commonly engage with the account. As a post picks up traction, the post then begins to expand to people who don't usually like the account's photos but follow the account. Eventually, with enough traction, the post is seen via exploring or as an advertisement to users who follow similar accounts or constantly like photos of a similar nature.
-Creating shared photo albums on google Drive creates a stock of pictures. These photos are then vetted by the unit PAO for use.
- Instagram works best if the team posts with consistent frequency, so accounts should try to post at least once a day, but no more than twice to avoid running out of original content. Posting frequently in one day can affect posts that are then inputted into Instagram or Facebook's algorithm.
-interacting via Instagram stories and posting at least five stories per day or sharing stories to show support.
-Integrating heavily with the PAO on post captions and audience.
-Submitting for account verification through Instagram or Twitter is a great way to measure metrics further and confirm credibility.
For more analytical information on the impact social media has on everyday life, check out this link.
About the author: Chris Bryant is a Civil Affairs Non-commissioned Officer currently serving in the 91st Civil Affairs Battalion. He manages multiple Instagram accounts that promote civil affairs and connect interested candidates with SORB Recruiters.