According to Joint Publication 3-61, the U.S. military has an obligation to communicate with its members and the U.S. public, and it is in the national interest to communicate with the international public. Proactively releasing accurate information to domestic and international audiences:
- Contextualizes joint operations
- Facilitates informed perceptions about military operations
- Undermines adversarial propaganda
- Helps achieve national, strategic and operational objectives
It's a non-negotiable truth in public affairs: if the command has a social media account or intends to communicate with stakeholders online, a social media manager is a necessity. Managing command presences will undoubtedly take time. How much depends on the popularity of the content and the community size. There may be one person serving as the main point of contact and managing social media sites or a small team that collectively ensures there is no potential single point of failure for being able to manage information in a timely manner.
Social media managers, under leadership supervision, must have their service certificates and training in order to legally and officially operate on social media for the Department of War.
It is up to the unit or organization to establish its unique communication strategy. The social media manager’s role is to own the digital lines of effort and manage the accounts. Their diverse array of responsibilities are summarized in the following graphic.
What separates a social media manager from an entry-level content producer is the expectation of the qualitative and quantitative expertise necessary to interpret analytics and report on the organization's accounts in a way that is accurate, understandable and actionable.
Responsibilities & Daily Duties
According to JP 3-61, the social media manager should work within the command standard operating procedure to:
- Develop and post content when needed.
- Interact with those who engage the command within that social tool.
- Respond to public inquiries when necessary.
- Communicate periodically throughout the day.
- Provide oversight and management for a team of content creators.
- Ensure the health of social media accounts by communicating intent with the team and superiors.
- Report progress of events and campaigns.
- Provide training and guidance for social media use.
- Continuously look for ways to improve in order to achieve communication objectives.
Your day-to-day duties may include:
- Establishing and maintaining a social media strategy that is nested within the higher communication strategy and command narrative
- Knowing your team; training and using your people effectively
- Determining and tracking key performance indicators
- Overseeing and managing all social media content
- Understanding all platforms and how they work (algorithms, content types, etc.)
- Reporting on analytics and progress to leadership
- Following and staying up to date on all policy
- Engaging in social media listening and monitoring by setting up alerts and daily check-ins
- Building rapport with leadership
- Fulfilling Command's Critical Information Requirements (i.e., critical requirements for when to tell the boss)
- Managing issues before they become crises
- Understanding strategic vision and intent and establish access to the decision maker/leader
- Developing a decision matrix table so there is a plan in place for your social media strategy when a crisis occurs
- Following Operational Security protocols
- Identifying personnel who are authorized to post content to social media sites
- Establishing local procedures to ensure all information posted on social media is approved by the proper release authority
- Ensuring all information posted is done so in accordance with public affairs guidance
- Monitoring social media presences for posts that violate OPSEC and remove as necessary
- Conducting periodic training with personnel and families on what kind of content is not appropriate for posting online (not just to the command’s social media presence)
- Informing and periodically reminding service members and families about maintaining security and privacy settings on personal social media sites
Skills for Social Media Managers
Be creative! Look for opportunities to expand your reach and introduce engaging content. One creator can create multiple pieces of content across multiple platforms with multiple off-ramps to help take the stakeholder on a journey across your various platforms. One captured video can generate long and short-form video cuts and photos that can become media products for current and later use.
Be good with people! You will be responsible for interacting with your content team and leadership on a daily basis. You will also need to develop authentic and active audience relationships.
Demonstrate authenticity! Engaging with individuals often through posts and replies demonstrates legitimacy and authenticity. You are showing your audience you care about the information you deliver and the feedback you receive. Each time you reply to a message, post a status update or upload a video, you’re pushing your brand voice. It's important to stay consistent.
Be a good partner! Learn to leverage relationships with the command, the community, the media, partners and stakeholders to accomplish a mission.
Be a good (social) listener! Social listening is different than social monitoring (e.g., watching @mentions and comments). You will need to learn how global sentiment impacts your message, what types of language people associate with your organization and why perception shifts happen. Social listening is the perfect tool for identifying trends and information about your audience. By using it — and experimenting with different topics, headlines and content formats — you can ensure you’re creating content specifically for your audience.