Official CAP Social Media - Any better examples?

[JC004]

On the national level, there has been a CAP social media uh..."thing" for a while and they clearly don't "get it."  Twitter alone - don't get me started...it's clearly not monitored, just posted to and that's a disaster waiting to happen since there's already bad stuff going on there.

My question is... Do you know of any better examples from the wings or subordinate units?  Are there any units out there actually doing this thing correctly?  Does SOMEONE out there get it and are they putting it to good use at their wing (or subordinate units)?  Post some examples, if you know 'em!

Bob: I have a feeling this thread isn't for you.  Just saying.  You know they're gonna jump on you.  Your choice.

The national things are here (CAUTION: if you're a marketing pro or digital native, they may drive you crazy.  You've been warned.):

• http://twitter.com/civilairpatrol
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maxwell-Air-Force-Base-AL/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/civilairpatrol/sets/

[RiverAux]

What do you see wrong with the FB page (other than the triangle thingy)?  They seem to be posting regularly, perhaps almost a bit too often as some of the items may be a little too local to spread (announcement of a Wing AEO of the year, for example). 

[davidsinn]

http://www.facebook.com/IndianaCAP
http://twitter.com/#!/IndianaCAP
http://www.youtube.com/IndianaCAP

Also this went out over the wing list today

Good afternoon, Indiana Wing:

A message regarding social media from your Public Affairs Officer:

You may have noticed some new logos included in email signatures and at the bottom left of www.indiana-wing.org
Thanks to 1^st Lt  G****** for making the clickable logos possible on our homepage!

Each member may include these logos with clickable hyperlinks in email signatures to spread awareness of our web presence and to increase our visibility in the community. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. You are welcome to substitute your social media hyperlinks for your particular squadrons as well. Many units have been utilizing social media to a fantastic extent, especially IN-201, which has more followers/likes than our own IN WG Facebook page. Congrats!

I know there is great anxiety regarding social media. Much like the Air Force, Indiana Wing focuses on cultivating a focused message that positively conveys our missions, our people and our core values.

If your squadron has not utilized social media, please contact me for assistance to strategize and provide uniformity to your approach. Also, I've attached pointers from my Wing Conference presentation on how to build your presence on Facebook.

Here are a few of the pages. Please let me know if I've missed a unit.
IN-002
http://www.facebook.com/monroecountycivilairpatrol
IN-201
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Wayne-Composite-Squadron-GLR-IN-201/110583128964687
IN-227
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plymouth-Composite-Squadron-CAP/129668017101641
IN-175
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Iroquois-Valley-Composite-Squadron-CAP/189235267773858
IN-211
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-Cadet-Squadron-Civil-Air-Patrol/167570023291448?sk=info
IN-036
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-Cadet-Squadron-Civil-Air-Patrol/167570023291448?sk=info
IN-214's appears to be under construction
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bakalar-Composite-Squadron-Civil-Air-Patrol/224902374192607


A helpful guide for new users of social media can be found here: http://info.publicintelligence.net/USAFsocialmedia.pdf

Remember, no photos or videos of Air Force assigned missions are allowed to be taken with personal cameras. Photos should not be seen on your personal social media sites.
More information will be coming to your PAO to help guide you through these, our busiest months.

PAOs, more info is coming to you, soon!
//SIGNED//

Public Affairs Officer, Indiana Wing (IN001)

[JC004]

What do you see wrong with the FB page (other than the triangle thingy)?  They seem to be posting regularly, perhaps almost a bit too often as some of the items may be a little too local to spread (announcement of a Wing AEO of the year, for example).

I was going to wait on those things, actually.  I was trying to see if I could get some good CAP examples first.  There is quite the laundry list of things that clearly show they don't "get it."  It doesn't mean they suck as human beings - it's just something that needs to be fixed if it is actually going to get out there rather than be an RSS feed on Twitter or Facebook.  (BOB - before you say anything - for the record, I like RSS and find it superior for some purposes) 

It's also best for me to wait until my blood pressure goes down.  It naturally skyrockets when I see those sites.

[Eclipse]

Bob: I have a feeling this thread isn't for you.  Just saying.  You know they're gonna jump on you.  Your choice.

Heh...

I've seen worse, in fact I'd have to say they have avoided most of the mistakes I've seen.

Twitter -
I don't see any of the "badness" you refer to, but I don't follow them, so maybe I missed the "fun".
They need to drop following anyone.  Despite what Twitter wants, an official Twitter account should be one-way only,
and only the org's message, with no risk for retweets or posts from other people / orgs appearing in your stream. 
They only follow 3 people, drop them and they are fine.

I don't see anything in the stream really inappropriate to our message, though the Bin Laden one is a bit on the edge.

FB -
Ditto for the most part.
They aren't showing "friends", and don't appear to be "liking" anything, etc.  It just looks like a really sad webpage with no focus.

FB Flicker Pics -
Whatever.  There are about 12 different better ways to store and display photos without them getting into the FB infrastructure,
but whatever. Didn't even notice that was Flicker and not FB, duh.  Still "whatever", but I am not a fan of Flicker, and on further
review it looks like they are just dumping pics instead of vetting them well.

Why aren't we using more professional tools than consumer Grandma photo pools?

[Eclipse]

FB - OK, they are allowing people to comment and "like" things, which opens Pandora on links to inappropriate content and personal pages.
Bad idea.

I wonder if they have disabled facial recognition?

[Woodsy]

Great timing on this.  I actually just set up a facebook page a couple weeks ago, and just really started pushing it the past few days. I'm up to about 20 "likes" just from people seeing it on my profile.  We will soon begin including it on business cards, letters, and other communications.  This page is intended for both internal and external audiences, to promote public awareness.  It will not be used for simple announcements such as meeting agendas, uniform of the day, etc.  It is my intention to use it to network with local business and community leaders, as well as with our own.


Please, feel free to like it with your squadron page and I'll do the same for yours.   Social networking is a great tool to see what other squadrons are doing, and learn from them.  Through this method ideas can be shared instantaneously and inspiration drawn from anywhere around the country. 

Here is a link to our page.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol-Jacksonville-Composite-Squadron-Fl-383/104475099640703

[Woodsy]

On the national level, there has been a CAP social media uh..."thing" for a while and they clearly don't "get it."  Twitter alone - don't get me started...it's clearly not monitored, just posted to and that's a disaster waiting to happen since there's already bad stuff going on there.

My question is... Do you know of any better examples from the wings or subordinate units?  Are there any units out there actually doing this thing correctly?  Does SOMEONE out there get it and are they putting it to good use at their wing (or subordinate units)?  Post some examples, if you know 'em!

Bob: I have a feeling this thread isn't for you.  Just saying.  You know they're gonna jump on you.  Your choice.

The national things are here (CAUTION: if you're a marketing pro or digital native, they may drive you crazy.  You've been warned.):

• http://twitter.com/civilairpatrol
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maxwell-Air-Force-Base-AL/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/civilairpatrol/sets/

Check out this facebook page...  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164#!/CAP.USAF.Aux


What's going on here?  One CAP page with 4,000 something likes, one with 14,000 something....  Why are there 2 facebook pages?  It appears both of these pages are ran by NHQ, and both of them are updated about the same frequency...  What gives?!   

[JC004]

http://www.facebook.com/IndianaCAP
http://twitter.com/#!/IndianaCAP
http://www.youtube.com/IndianaCAP

Not bad.  For sure, some room for improvement.  Do they ever engage people?  For instance, I see a testimonial there.  It goes unacknowledged and un-utilized.

...
Also, I've attached pointers from my Wing Conference presentation on how to build your presence on Facebook.
...

Can we see this?

...
A helpful guide for new users of social media can be found here: http://info.publicintelligence.net/USAFsocialmedia.pdf
...

Fail.

...
Remember, no photos or videos of Air Force assigned missions are allowed to be taken with personal cameras. Photos should not be seen on your personal social media sites.
...

What the hell is this?  I see 'em for Air Force missions overseas...  Is this an effort to reduce the pool of usable photography, since they currently (poorly) have to Photoshop uniforms and things for the magazine?

...
Twitter -
I don't see any of the "badness" you refer to, but I don't follow them, so maybe I missed the "fun".
...

You use twitter?  wth?  There have been a number of "interesting" things in the followers that went unchecked and the lists.  I eventually put CAP's page in one of my watch lists in my social media management setup and reported the spammers from like a dozen different accounts to get them banned.  They sat for months and I thought they were inappropriate for cadets.  The lists...well, whatever...I guess they'll either go away as some probably have or they'll eventually notice. Twitter Grade: F

...
They need to drop following anyone.  Despite what Twitter wants, an official Twitter account should be one-way only,
and only the org's message, with no risk for retweets or posts from other people / orgs appearing in your stream. 
They only follow 3 people, drop them and they are fine.
...

You're...you're...Bob.  Yeah, that.  NO.  FAIL.  Nobody who successfully runs twitter for organizations believes this.  Nobody.  Anywhere.  Ever.  There are a handful (like a HANDFUL) of celebrities that follow nobody, but that's about it.  They don't have to market anything.  There IS NO REASON that CAP cannot follow its units, related organizations, and people.  THIS is one of the problems.  You are talking about Dead Tree Media.  This is called social media because it's, well, SOCIAL.  Organizations that use it as a press release board FAIL.  I'm doing a case study on this now for my company's consulting work.  You seem confused on how the following works.  There is CURRENTLY NO RISK of anything ("retweets or posts") appearing in the stream AT ALL.  You must put them there YOURSELF.  You could follow the Nazi Party (hint, hint on something they should fix already) and not need to worry that it would appear in your stream.  Of course, it'd show that you were following the Nazi Party and I'm not even sure they have twitter, but yeah...

Social media is about social.  It is not really about media.  It is about engagement.

...
I don't see anything in the stream really inappropriate to our message, though the Bin Laden one is a bit on the edge.
...

That's fine.  But there is a lot missing that would better COMMUNICATE THE MESSAGE.  The CAP social media stuff isn't a HUGE issue as far as inappropriate things popping up (although there have been/are).  The issue is to communicate the message.  Currently, this looks like an RSS stream of random announcements that are not utilizing Twitter's system effectively.  There is a lot they could do to get messages out that would be shared, seen, and get the attention of either members, prospective members, or other stakeholders.

...
FB -
Ditto for the most part.
They aren't showing "friends", and don't appear to be "liking" anything, etc.  It just looks like a really sad webpage with no focus.
...

They won't show friends on this format.  This page is "sad."  Beautifully put.  It is lacking, well, anything that successful Facebook presences use.  Anything at all.  Well, it does have a logo.  Except it's an unofficial logo. 

It should be using the custom URL facebook.com/CivilAirPatrol   - these names should be UNIFORM (that's BRANDING, folks!).  Who is going to remember the current URL?  Anyone?  Nobody. 

There is a HUGE list of things that they could do to make this Facebook page work and it could be a SPECTACULAR recruiting/member engagement tool.  It would be some of the best marketing we've probably EVER done.  Ever.  Grade: F

...
FB Flicker Pics -
Whatever.  There are about 12 different better ways to store and display photos without them getting into the FB infrastructure,
but whatever. Didn't even notice that was Flicker and not FB, duh.  Still "whatever", but I am not a fan of Flicker, and on further
review it looks like they are just dumping pics instead of vetting them well.

Why aren't we using more professional tools than consumer Grandma photo pools?

I agree with you (crap) in that I'm not a huge fan of Flickr either, but I know how the winds blow and I've used it successfully.  There isn't NEARLY as much you can do with Flickr as Facebook but there's a good bit that can be done here.  Grade: D-

And, uh...where's YouTube?  Nevermind...they only get 2 billion views a day.  No big deal.

There's SOME of my analysis.  There's A LOT involved here and a CRAP TON that isn't being done.  I wish they'd give it to me and one graphics designer.  I'd get it all in gear in about 2 weeks flat - no problem (complete with a GUIDE and TEMPLATES for wings and subordinate units to do the same).

...
Check out this facebook page...  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164#!/CAP.USAF.Aux

What's going on here?  One CAP page with 4,000 something likes, one with 14,000 something....  Why are there 2 facebook pages?  It appears both of these pages are ran by NHQ, and both of them are updated about the same frequency...  What gives?!

That one is either unofficial or old but they haven't done anything about it like they should have in proper brand management on social media.  Brand management Grade: F

...
Here is a link to our page.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol-Jacksonville-Composite-Squadron-Fl-383/104475099640703

When you get to 25 likes, get a custom page URL.  Try to keep it pretty short like facebook.com/CAPJacksonvilleSquadron or something like that.  Also, try to keep the page name itself short...maybe drop the charter number if there isn't more than one Jacksonville Composite Squadron.  SHORT IS GOOD.  People type this stuff sometimes.  People also have to remember it.

[Eclipse]

Check out this facebook page...  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164#!/CAP.USAF.Aux


What's going on here?  One CAP page with 4,000 something likes, one with 14,000 something....  Why are there 2 facebook pages?  It appears both of these pages are ran by NHQ, and both of them are updated about the same frequency...  What gives?!

That page was set up by a member on his own recon with no authorization to do so, it has been up for a couple of years.  Ditto for the twitter
account that matches the name.

[Eclipse]

Without uber-quoting, I don't "use" Twitter, but I have accounts and check a few places on occasion - Twitter's RSS ability
lets me keep an eye on a few accounts I am interested in, though I wade in and out of the pool.

I'll leave the other stuff about the engagement level for another time, we both know I'll never agree on that stuff.

[Woodsy]

Wait...  so the unofficial page has 3 and a half times more followers than the official page? 

And they are both being actively updated, at least once a day, often more, with some of the same stories?

Why doesn't NHQ approach this member and have a talk with them?  Unless I missed it, it doesn't say anywhere that it's unofficial.  NHQ needs to get on this.  Either intervene with facebook and have that page shut down, or best case scenario, work with the member to combine the pages, then eventually phase one of them out.  If the guy has 14500 followers to NHQ's 4000, he's doing something right.  There needs to be ONE page, ONE team, ONE message.  Small groups and unofficial pages that members have set up, that are clearly unofficial is a different story.

[davidsinn]

http://www.facebook.com/IndianaCAP
http://twitter.com/#!/IndianaCAP
http://www.youtube.com/IndianaCAP

Not bad.  For sure, some room for improvement.  Do they ever engage people?  For instance, I see a testimonial there.  It goes unacknowledged and un-utilized.

...
Also, I've attached pointers from my Wing Conference presentation on how to build your presence on Facebook.
...

Can we see this?

It's a PDF of a powerpoint. I'll have to see if she'll send me the original so I can scrub it because it has her phone number and email address in it and I won't post that without her permission

...
A helpful guide for new users of social media can be found here: http://info.publicintelligence.net/USAFsocialmedia.pdf
...

Fail.

...
Remember, no photos or videos of Air Force assigned missions are allowed to be taken with personal cameras. Photos should not be seen on your personal social media sites.
...

What the hell is this?  I see 'em for Air Force missions overseas...  Is this an effort to reduce the pool of usable photography, since they currently (poorly) have to Photoshop uniforms and things for the magazine?

I was personally told this by our SD in the recent past. I assumed it was CAP wide but I guess not?

[JC004]

...
I'll leave the other stuff about the engagement level for another time, we both know I'll never agree on that stuff.

Cuz you think Twitter is about my cereal.  There are many, many fantastic examples of organizations doing spectacular engagement and doing great things like recruiting, raising funds, raising awareness, and the like.  If you know how to do it, it can be done easily and it would totally blow people away.  Give me a couple people, a couple weeks, and I'll show 'em.

Wait...  so the unofficial page has 3 and a half times more followers than the official page? 

And they are both being actively updated, at least once a day, often more, with some of the same stories?

Why doesn't NHQ approach this member and have a talk with them?  Unless I missed it, it doesn't say anywhere that it's unofficial.  NHQ needs to get on this.  Either intervene with facebook and have that page shut down, or best case scenario, work with the member to combine the pages, then eventually phase one of them out.  If the guy has 14500 followers to NHQ's 4000, he's doing something right.  There needs to be ONE page, ONE team, ONE message.  Small groups and unofficial pages that members have set up, that are clearly unofficial is a different story.

It has that many because they haven't managed this at all.  It's just some quick and dirty feeds stuck on Facebook and Twitter.

You are correct but I'm afraid they'd botch it like they did with the .gov to .com "transition."  They'd end up losing THOUSANDS of people if they didn't do it correctly and that's ridiculous.  Maybe before I have my coup and take over Col Weiss's administration, I'll stage a coup of the marketing people and fix up Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, LinkdIn, and all the rest.  I'd even make sure the RSS feed was awesome so Bob would be happy.

[JC004]

It's a PDF of a powerpoint. I'll have to see if she'll send me the original so I can scrub it because it has her phone number and email address in it and I won't post that without her permission

I can edit a PDF in a second.

...
Remember, no photos or videos of Air Force assigned missions are allowed to be taken with personal cameras. Photos should not be seen on your personal social media sites.
...

What the hell is this?  I see 'em for Air Force missions overseas...  Is this an effort to reduce the pool of usable photography, since they currently (poorly) have to Photoshop uniforms and things for the magazine?

I was personally told this by our SD in the recent past. I assumed it was CAP wide but I guess not?

It makes no sense.  If you take pictures of something that would be FOUO, that's a problem, but little is FOUO, really.  "personal cameras"?  huh? 

[Woodsy]

NHQ/PA would smart to implement a social media team.  It is specialized work, and everyone else has their hands full with the traditional stuff it seems.  A small, dedicated team specifically for social media would be a great tool. 


As far as the no personal cameras on AFAM's, I don't know what ya'll are working with but the only cameras our squadron has (excluding the 10 year old 2MP dinosaur that's worthless) are the the personal cameras that members are generous enough to bring and take pictures for us.  As the PAO and squadron photographer, I'm working with an old 8MP Canon rebel that doesn't work very well, has spots on the sensor, and a cheap, very low quality lens.  But I'm a broke 25 year old college student, so until Santa drops a nice new camera in my lap, I'll make it work.   

[JC004]

NHQ/PA would smart to implement a social media team.  It is specialized work, and everyone else has their hands full with the traditional stuff it seems.  A small, dedicated team specifically for social media would be a great tool.

That is exactly correct, but on CAPTalk, we don't talk about it publicly.  It's like talking about your secret uniform item vendors here.  They'll ruin it.  In this case, we're afraid they'll put together a team that will end up being the SOCIAL MEDIA POLICE and they won't have ANY idea what they're talking about, thus ruining it for EVERYONE.

There is a lot of talk about this off CAPTalk and solutions on how to get it done wonderfully but we don't bring it up here because we've already seen (as with the social media National Board agenda item) that they don't know what they're doing, aren't thinking it through, and are not using proper examples of social media implementation - just taking a glance at the armed forces' social media sites.  We know that if they don't get the right members working on it, it'll become the SOCIAL MEDIA POLICE instead and everyone will be out of luck.

...
As far as the no personal cameras on AFAM's, I don't know what ya'll are working with but the only cameras our squadron has (excluding the 10 year old 2MP dinosaur that's worthless) are the the personal cameras that members are generous enough to bring and take pictures for us.  As the PAO and squadron photographer, I'm working with an old 8MP Canon rebel that doesn't work very well, has spots on the sensor, and a cheap, very low quality lens.  But I'm a broke 25 year old college student, so until Santa drops a nice new camera in my lap, I'll make it work.

I'd like to see CAP's official cameras beat my Nikon D7000 16.2 MP, 6 fps continuous shooting, and full 1080p HD video "personal camera".

CAP NEEDS TO STOP MAKING RULES AND START MAKING OPPORTUNITY FOR INNOVATION AND SUCCESS.

[Eclipse]

I can't find anything I'm allowed to cite ((*sigh*))

http://www.capmembers.com/cap_national_hq/ex_and_cc_open_cockpit.cfm/open_cockpit_aprjun_2011?show=news&newsID=10479
Photography on AFAMs: National Headquarters is currently reviewing guidance from AFNORTH for photography missions.  An AFNORTH briefing titled AFAM Photography 13 Dec 10 was released to the field prematurely, and it should not be disseminated further at this time.  Several questions have been brought up from the operations and public affairs staff that need answers before we can coordinate and release proper guidance (including an updated briefing) to the field.

While trying to find an open copy of the briefing, I ran into the above, so I took down my quote from the presentation that made the rounds last Dec.

[JC004]

I can't find anything to cite, but I believe the photo issue on AFAMs is a USAF directive.  It has been SOP on the missions I've been
on for a while.

ummmm... ^{[citation needed]}

no?

[Woodsy]

I can't cite it either, but I remember reading a couple of places that any pictures taken during a mission had to be approved by the customer for release.  However, I have never heard anything about nit using personal cameras.  Seeing as CAP does not provide a camera (at least to my squadron) what is the alternative? 

[Eclipse]

See above, found it. 

[JC004]

So you're telling me that I run a SAREX with 3 squadrons with an AF mission number and I can't take any pictures?  They have to be approved by...what?  All the way up to 1AF?!  They need to take a serious look at how this is done and what it covers.  ROTC orientation flights?  How is a local sq PAO to know what to do with his picture from the ELT search, the ROTC orientation flight, the SAREX, or whatever?  My flight line pictures of CAP planes on a missing a/c search?

[JC004]

Another obvious social media item that I forgot to mention and is on my mental list of what I think should be done to the CAP stuff:

There is NO use of Twitter lists.  At all.  Totally a missed opportunity there.  Great marketing potential.  FAIL.  If units are interested in utilizing that for theirs, I could maybe provide some advice until my new article on this comes out.

[Eclipse]

So you're telling me that I run a SAREX with 3 squadrons with an AF mission number and I can't take any pictures?  They have to be approved by...what?  All the way up to 1AF?!  They need to take a serious look at how this is done and what it covers.  ROTC orientation flights?  How is a local sq PAO to know what to do with his picture from the ELT search, the ROTC orientation flight, the SAREX, or whatever?  My flight line pictures of CAP planes on a missing a/c search?

1AF wants full security on any photos taken during an AFAM,  I discussed this with a few "players" last Dec and the ramifications were pretty significant as you mention above.

That was last Dec with no further comment to the field since, but I can tell you that any AFAM's I've been involved in, including exercises, have included that briefing.

[davidsinn]

It's a PDF of a powerpoint. I'll have to see if she'll send me the original so I can scrub it because it has her phone number and email address in it and I won't post that without her permission

I can edit a PDF in a second.

...
Remember, no photos or videos of Air Force assigned missions are allowed to be taken with personal cameras. Photos should not be seen on your personal social media sites.
...

What the hell is this?  I see 'em for Air Force missions overseas...  Is this an effort to reduce the pool of usable photography, since they currently (poorly) have to Photoshop uniforms and things for the magazine?

I was personally told this by our SD in the recent past. I assumed it was CAP wide but I guess not?

It makes no sense.  If you take pictures of something that would be FOUO, that's a problem, but little is FOUO, really.  "personal cameras"?  huh?

I still want to ask her since she appeared to put a fair bit of work into it.

[Eclipse]

[JC004]

I can't find anything I'm allowed to cite ((*sigh*))

http://www.capmembers.com/cap_national_hq/ex_and_cc_open_cockpit.cfm/open_cockpit_aprjun_2011?show=news&newsID=10479
Photography on AFAMs: National Headquarters is currently reviewing guidance from AFNORTH for photography missions.  An AFNORTH briefing titled AFAM Photography 13 Dec 10 was released to the field prematurely, and it should not be disseminated further at this time.  Several questions have been brought up from the operations and public affairs staff that need answers before we can coordinate and release proper guidance (including an updated briefing) to the field.

While trying to find an open copy of the briefing, I ran into the above, so I took down my quote from the presentation that made the rounds last Dec.

Good.  Premature policy, so it only applies in people's heads.  Good thing they've never released a premature policy before.

Speaking of which, HEY! What about a long-overdue policy update on CAPR 110-1?!  I was asking for this in 2006...  Not even NHQ knew what 110-1 means in some cases (literally. It was referred to General Counsel, we discussed it, they said they didn't know because the people who wrote it left).

CAP would do well to put together a team of experienced people who know social media and to not tell Bob that it exists until it's too late.  (you didn't read that, Bob)

It would also do well to learn as much as possible from real professionals in this (not the silliness that was done before, which we joke about off CAPTalk). 

It would do well to put together a GUIDE and TEMPLATES, not a SOCIAL MEDIA POLICE. 

It would be outstanding if CAP would take lessons from all types of organizations and develop a comprehensive social media plan from there.  That means not just looking at the Army, Navy, Marines, AF and calling it a day.  CAP is a volunteer organization and needs to take lessons from volunteer organizations too.

The thing about a "social media plan" is this: it needs to be part of a communication plan.  Honestly, that's part of why the CAP social media presence is WAY behind industry standards - let alone best practices.  CAP doesn't have a real communications plan.  Having a social media plan is kinda like having a postcard marketing plan...sounds weird, huh?  It's really all part of a solid organizational communications plan.  These things are subsets.

I have multiple other things (a ton) that I'd do on the CAP social media presence if I ran 'em, but I was still looking for other examples from the organization itself.  Some people have suggested that I use CAP for the case study on poor non-profit social media implementation.  I'd rather see it improve.  Of course, the people at NHQ have to deal with a lot since the National Board has for many years neglected the issue of branding and everybody is trying to make it up as they go along so there is something... So it could take a while before it improves.  These issues, like others in CAP, stem largely from the AWFUL governance structure set-up inflicted on CAP.  The way this is, coupled with inaction by many years of National Boards (as in new NB members) has made the CAP marketing situation very bad.  It isn't the fault of the National Commander (or past), National Board (or past), NEC (or past), NHQ paid staff (or past), BOG (or past) - it's the mess this all creates and people doing whatever because of this mess.  There is, though, a whole host of things that can be done until the governance is fixed.

I'd still like to see good examples from the field!

[Майор Хаткевич]

Heh...I took marketing. They gloss over Social Media for the most part. Hope it's different for MKT majors, but it may be one of the "non-required" courses if it exists.

[JC004]

Heh...I took marketing. They gloss over Social Media for the most part. Hope it's different for MKT majors, but it may be one of the "non-required" courses if it exists.

That depends entirely on your university and how current the professor is on things.  One of my business professors in college still did his handouts on a typewriter and didn't use "the computer."  He has been since been sent to the glue factory, I think.  Nice guy though.  Great knowledge of philanthropy and enjoyed many out-of-class discussions with him about philanthropy, boards, governance, and other things that I work in/teach/write about.  Now it looks like I'm going to be teaching there as well.  Paid off to have those discussions that sparked it all.  My greatest pleasure there has been the opportunity to teach non-profit technology at a well-respected university.  That kind of spurred me into the work that I'm doing now.

[Eclipse]

Good.  Premature policy, so it only applies in people's heads.  Good thing they've never released a premature policy before.

For clarity, this is not a CAP policy, this was an AFNORTH directive.  I get no impression it isn't in force, just that no one can figure out
the practical realities of enforcing it. 

In at least one of my conversations on this, it came up that the military can't control their own people from posting photos in theater,
let alone civilians in their hometown.

I'd still like to see good examples from the field!

You won't find any because there aren't any.  Even those that are noted as "best" are all just doing the same thing - coupons and offers via Twitter
while minding their walls and discussions for people complaining their washer overloaded.

It's not "social", its just "marketing" and brand protection.  CAP needs marketing and brand protection, they don't need "social".

[Woodsy]

Heh...I took marketing. They gloss over Social Media for the most part. Hope it's different for MKT majors, but it may be one of the "non-required" courses if it exists.

I'm about ti graduate with a BBA in Marketing from North Florida. Technology has been the major area f study.  Internet based marketing, viral videos, and all sorts of social media is a major, say again, MAJOR focus of study.  In fact, I'd say that more time has been spent on social media than any other topic. 

[JC004]

Good.  Premature policy, so it only applies in people's heads.  Good thing they've never released a premature policy before.

For clarity, this is not a CAP policy, this was an AFNORTH directive.  I get no impression it isn't in force, just that no one can figure out
the practical realities of enforcing it. 
...

That's FANTASTIC.  So it's like...it could be a policy, it could not be a policy.  Do whatever.  It was released prematurely.  Don't give it to anyone else, but maybe enforce it.  Or not.  Whatever.  It's cool.  I'll get right on that...

I'd still like to see good examples from the field!

You won't find any because there aren't any.  Even those that are noted as "best" are all just doing the same thing - coupons and offers via Twitter
while minding their walls and discussions for people complaining their washer overloaded.

It's not "social", its just "marketing" and brand protection.  CAP needs marketing and brand protection, they don't need "social".

But that's...not it.  In fact, of my company's/website's 9,163 Twitter followers, and of the only 5,208 that I follow back, "dishwasher" does not appear.  None of them seem to be talking about their cereal.  You may have accidentally got subscribed to the GE Appliances Twitter list.  I would look into that. 

But it is social.  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social

They need effective marketing, branding, and public relations.  When people fast forward through commercials and block pop-up ads, marketing has changed.  When people refuse to accept their information from dead trees, communication has changed.  When people get upset about it taking 40 seconds for a web page to load, rather than being able to wait until the next morning for the same news, things have changed.  Changing with it is necessary to survival and success. 

Consumers now hold remarkable power and they DON'T want to be talked at.  When they are, with few exceptions, they turn you away.  Byez.

In my work, I have spent time with and collaborated with some of the most brilliant marketing minds there are today.  That includes those of highly successful political campaigns of recent times.  One said, correctly, that you no longer get to decide what's important and what the message is going to be ABOUT.  The public is deciding that and you have to decide how you will RESPOND to that.  You can dispute him all you like, but the results of his work are clear.  This is also what they're teaching at Wharton, BTW.  But those silly faculty don't know what they're talking about, I guess.

As I said, today consumers hold remarkable power and they use it.  Reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo  (yeah, that's 10.5 million)

[JC004]

Let's compare some metrics!


Here's my website - my creation, my marketing - a Twitter account (a resource in of itself) and a site dedicated to non-profit management on Twitter:



Here's @CivilAirPatrol on Twitter:


Clearly CAP is better.  I surrender.

There's also our very own Mike whose Twitter account I am managing while he's away.  I now have it above the number of followers of CAP.  He is one person and he's not even AROUND.  Win?

[Eclipse]

But reached about what?

If Jim's appliances sells dishwashers, that's all he cares about, and if the word "dishwasher" doesn't appear in the twitter stream,
he's wasting his time and money.

Jim's Dishwashers could care less about the customer's travel plans, family births, or recent meals. 

And as a consumer, I could care less about what someone invested in social media thinks about a something I want to buy or do,
I occasionally check the complaints, but reviews I leave for the mainstream sites.

[JC004]

With our respective marketing messages - whatever we decided to communicate, clearly.

What you don't seem to realize or mention is that as in anything social, people form small - perhaps large communities.  My community is made up of non-profit organizations, government agencies, corporations, volunteers, philanthropists, etc.  CAP's current community is made up of...well, Georgia Wing, Michigan Wing, and Air Force News.  It is followed by some random, some members, and a some organizations that may matter.  It has much to do in developing its community.

But if someone cares to sell appliances, they form a community around appliances.  Starbucks forms a community around coffee.

This is also both supplemented (to more precisely focus a community) and overcome (to go outside the normal reach/community) with things like hashtags, lists, Twitter directories, RTs, etc.  That is how it works...when it is done CORRECTLY.  If CAP goes and follows or otherwise communicates with 2,000 people off Starbucks' list, it will FAIL.  If it does so in volunteer, aviation, nonprofit, government, education, youth development, Search and Rescue, emergency services, and similar communities, it will WIN.

This is how I end up not hearing about Joe's dishwasher, but I end up forming an exciting partnership with a major corporation.  Or anther recent example, end up with a couple hundred applications for people who want to develop and contribute non-profit management resources.

[RiverAux]

JC, are there some examples of good FB pages from other membership organizations of similar size and scope to CAP that you could provide? 

I personally don't see the appeal of Twitter. 

[JC004]

What do you mean "scope"?  There's a lot that can be applied from just about any great Facebook page - even if it's Macy's (I actually don't know if Macy's is any good, but I thought it'd be a good example of being totally different from CAP). 

I have a number of them that I'm collecting, analyzing, marking up, talking to the marketing staff for, etc.  That article series isn't expected to be done for a bit, but I could see if I can find maybe a handful that I could put on CAPTalk.  Unless you had a really special reason not to, I'd even say we should consider organizations as different as CAP vs. Macy's.

Twitter is "microblogging."  It allows you to send a short (140 characters or less) message and provides a simple, scalable platform to connect either directly (say by following Starbucks) or by using hashtags (etc.) to connect on a topic.  You might see the appeal of it if you were running a revolution (Iran or Egypt), or if you wanted to connect with either a company/org or your company/org's constituencies.  It's fast, easy, and effective.  If you know what you're doing, you can pull in a lot of attention.  For example, in the current campaign that I'm running for my website, I've been pulling in 75-100 new followers per day (that's legit followers - every few days, I go through and weed out spammers and the like).

I can see what I can pull together as some examples.

[RiverAux]

Well, I was thinking of organizations that would be using FB for similar reasons as CAP such as attracting potential new recruits, keeping current members and supporters engaged with CAP, etc.  There is a bit of a difference between trying to sell product (Macys) and what we're doing, though of course you can learn from just about anyone.