Admiral Mike Mullen’s social media strategy: a summary

Who is Admiral Mike Mullen? He is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For a non American lay man, he holds an extremely important position in the US Defense Services.

Why am I talking about him on my Web2.o blog? Because he recently released his social media strategy for the next 6 to 12 months. Would you believe that? That’s how important social media has become.

So anyway, I am doing a summary of the strategy released by the chairman. But before that a quick thought. In the past on various occasions I have struggled with Bell Bajao‘s social media performance, criticism has come that the social media leg of the campaign has not really taken off, numbers of twitter followers are far too low and so on. But here’s the thing, any strategy to be built and to yield results it takes time. No less than the US Admiral sets a goal for 6 to 12 months and in Bell Bajao we had put in all of 3 months strategic engagement. We shouldn’t be restless already.

Coming back to Chairman’s strategy:

• Social media foot prints – Website, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Itunes, Flickr and Blog
• Goal for 6 to 12 months – Engage, Align, Drive, Expand
• “Achieving these stated goals requires a mindset change in the Joint Staff to begin treating social media as main stream media and public inquiries.”

Engage

• Two sites that needs two way dialog – facebook and the blog
• Official facebook profile to be created for Director of Social Media and the Outreach staff
• FAQ page to be built on the official website, JCS.mil
• Use of Facebook chat feature to connect with Fans. Subjects of public importance will be posted and a subject matter expert will be designated to answer chats.
• Two way conversations to be mixed with personalized content – the Chairman’s target is to send two tweets a month on books he is reading, leisure activities on weekends and such.

Align

• The sites to be aligned with chairman’s top 3 priorities – Incorporate social media into Chairman’s Travel planning process and meetings with CAG (Chairman’s Action Group), PA (Public Affairs), Aides, Speech Writers, and the Front Office
• To incorporate proposed tweets, blogs, and other content into pre-event products and policy roll outs
• Write and publish legacy products specially for the blog, with embedded links to other content, pictures etc (Make them Ipad or Kindle friendly)
• Birthday letters for the Services is an example of a product that could be posted exclusively as a blog entry and shared with the services via social media and websites instead of an e-mailed PDF file.

Drive

• Align social media structure with existing Joint Staff event preparation to drive online conversation.
• Identify pre- and post- social media content requirements during planning meetings.
• Provide proposed tweets on Speech Writer Scene Setter cards.
• Provide social media content requirements on Scene Setter cards (video after, article, pictures, tweet with picture, blog prior, Op-ed prior, tweet question prior, etc.)
• Submit pre- and/or post- blog drafts with major speeches.

Expand

• To expand the online audience – continued promotion of the sites and posting of “viral” or “newsworthy” content
• Chairman to mention his online presence during All Hands Calls and incorporate them into appropriate speeches
• Embed “share” buttons on all stories, transcripts, and videos posted to JCS.mil
• Create mobile version of JCS.mil so that it will display properly on mobile devices like Blackberry and the iPhone.

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Tagged: chairman of joint chief staffs, mike mullen, social media, social media strategy, us defense service

Posted in: Social Media Marketing, Social Networking