The following are some thoughts for tonight’s #SocialChat in order to give me a chance to focus on answering participant questions and not spend the hour spewing a lot of details.  I developed this website to share my experiences and I will provide a few links and additional comments that may help answer some initial questions and generate a deeper discussion.

What can a business learn?

I’ve heard it said “well that’s just the Army.”  We learned many things that are relevant to business and here are a few highlights:

1.  Marketing Strategy and Social Media Strategy

2. Employment Branding

3.  You only have 1 brand

4.  Have a crisis reaction plan

5.  Social media is not about Facebook and Twitter.  Its about engagement.  You can be social on your own website.  Our examples: Straight From Iraq and Army Strong Stories.

6.  Don’t benchmark against your competitors only.  If you do then you will be a follower not a leader.  I benchmarked against auto industry (long term commitment and car salesmen and recruiters both not liked).  I also watched music groups listened to by GenY to see how they were communicating with them.

Thanks in advance for joining me tonight.  Please feel free to post any questions below in the comments section and I will answer every one.

I’m Available

If you know of an organization looking for someone to help them run or develop a social media program I am available as a consultant or full time hire.