The Case
Being Prepared for All Responses
Navigate the timeline by selecting points of information.
May 23, 20196:05 PM
Initial Tweet
The Army tweets a #WhyIServe video a few days before Memorial Day.
1/7
May 23, 20197:34 PM
Starts the Conversation
The Army replies "How has serving impacted you? " to start the conversation from the initial tweet.
2/7
May 24, 20191:25 AM
The Public Response
An overwhelming amount of responses poured in from service members, wives, family members and friends.
3/7
May 25, 20194:41 PM
Army Validates Stories
Two days later, the Army connected with and validated the stories with a tweet thanking those who shared.
4/7
May 25, 20194:41 PM
Immediate Follow-Up
They continue validating the stories by replying immediately to acknowledge and honor "...those who came back home with scars we can't see."
5/7
May 25, 20194:41 PM
Crisis Support
The Army then tweeted the phone number and website for the Veterans Crisis Line.
6/7
May 27, 201912:37 PM
Event Media Reports on Incident
The tweet continued to garner engagement and gained the attention of national media, including USA Today and NPR.
7/7
The Thursday before Memorial Day, the Army sends out a tweet that leads to a communications issue. The initial tweet shows a private explaining how serving has influenced his life. The next tweet is a reply to the video that says, "How has serving impacted you?"
The responses start pouring in, but unlike the uplifting tone of the original tweet, these are negative, heart-wrenching replies that reference mental and physical injuries of service members. The horrific responses come from service members themselves, their family and their friends. The tweet receives more than ten times the engagements most Army tweets receive, going viral, but not in the way any service or organization would want.
After two days of silence from the Army account and horrid stories, the Army responds to the public. The account publicly validates the experiences and stories shared by users and emphasizes their commitment to their soldiers. They follow up with two more tweets that incorporate Memorial Day and reassure their audience that they have not forgotten about service members who did come home. Their follow-up also provides the veterans' crisis line website and number. All of this was not enough to stop what was already in motion from the virality of the tweet among the public and the negative responses continued coming in.
Because of the attention the tweet receives, the media discovers the responses and runs with them, shedding further light on the "agonizing response" from veterans and their families, while exemplifying a complete loss of the narrative by the Army to the public.
Lessons Learned
The response the Army gave was proper and could have sufficed for their own audience but it was too late. The two-day delay helped the post go viral, beyond their primary audience, in a definitively negative light. This let the general public take control of the narrative to cast serious doubt around how much the service cares about the men and women in their charge.
If potential responses to the post had been more thought out prior to posting, this scenario could have been avoided entirely. Even an earlier response on the first two or three replies may have turned the situation around.
Before posting on any platform, be prepared for all responses. Think through at least three scenarios:
- What is the best way this post could be received?
- What is the worst way this post could be received?
- How do I expect this post to be received?
Have responses prepared for each scenario so that you can respond immediately to keep control of the narrative and have a better interaction with your audience. Knowing the audience is the key to being prepared. Put yourself in their mindset while thinking through the scenarios and how they could possibly respond. Use these scenarios to inform the post before anyone sees it, and to avoid "going viral" for the wrong reasons and causing a public affairs issue.