The Army wants you, and it will find you in Facebook and Twitter.
Even the U.S. Army can’t ignore the benefits of using social media and has turned to its powers to increase the number of potential recruits. According to Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, Commanding General of Army Accessions Command and Fort Knox, Kentucky, they are working double-time to increase their social media presence.
The Army recognizes that young people who watch TV multitask using their smart phones and use the TiVo during commercial breaks. They aim to reach out to more people through discussions made possible by social media platforms. Their campaign aims to connect potential recruits with real soldiers, in order for the former to get know more information about the life and how to get in the Army. The campaign that they are using utilizes blogs, video clips, and a microsite.
The Army extended its recruiting initiatives by getting on a sponsorship deal with 20th Century Fox for the movie X-Men: First Class. Visitors who go to the Army’s Facebook page will get invites to view the trailer, commercial, and exclusive content from the film. The commercial, which promotes the Army, compares the life of soldiers to X-Men heroes.
General Freakley added, “[The movie] is about young people who are ordinary doing extraordinary things. Ordinary people come in the Army and do extraordinary things every day.”
The sponsorship deal between Fox and the Army was brokered by Clifford E. Marks, sales and marketing president of National CineMedia in New York. The promo content can be seen by viewers on websites that belong to the network of National CineMedia. According to Marks, the deal between the Army and the studio represents “the big screen and the small screen working together.” Traileraddict.com and rottentomatoes.com are some of the popular websites that are part of that network.
The deal was also made with the help of Universal McCann, one of the seven agencies that hold the advertising account of the Army.
Check out the campaign’s microsite, armystrongstories.com. For the Army Facebook page, go to facebook.com/goarmy. For the official recruitment page, check out goarmy.com.
Image source: morewhat.com.
