We are always on the quest for best practices, and sometimes we find them in the most unlikely of places.
Case in point, the social media storytelling tied to Fleet Week NYC. I met Marycate Walsh, a U.S. Naval Academy grad now working on the communications side of the Navy, through a mutual friend a few months ago in Washington. Not knowing much about the “media” side of the Navy, I was intrigued to learn more, and quickly understood that the KPI’s for the military in building consensus and telling broad stories, especially to young people who might consider areas of engagement and careers, was not that different from what the sports industry does.
In short, use tools and technology (TikTok is really the one tool off limits due restrictions the U.S. government has on engagement on the platform) to excite, inform and grow an audience who may have shaped and framed an opinion of the military from past experiences or thoughts. Yet it might be a message that is not exactly accurate or up to date.
Simple, hearts and minds and building a different kind of fandom and brand loyalty. Check out the hub of all the content capture here.
I walked away impressed and interested in learning more, which took me to this week. I met Beth Baker, Fleet Week Director, who oversees all of Fleet Week to include media outreach and digital storytelling efforts for the Navy, Marines and the Coast Guard. Fleet Week New York, if you don’t know, is one of the largest literal “touchpoints” that the sea-services have with the public every year. Ships dock in New York and open to the public while the Navy gets to take its best stories to events and meeting points throughout the tri-state area over a five-day period, with various interactions with media helping to tell the story along the way.
However, this is New York, the land of millions of stories, and it is a holiday weekend, so how to best amplify and create content and distribute that content when those traditional outlets may be limited for time? Roll out a robust and engaged social media plan and strategy that hits targets, finds a new audience, and amplify the narratives 24/7.
While I understood the goal, when I met the team on pier 88 Wednesday morning as the USS Wasp and other ships arrived in New York, I underestimated the breadth, scope and talent of the digital storytelling that was taking place starting that morning. It really rivaled the scope of what big events like The Super Bowl do, all with a dedicated team of military personnel whose chief tasks are to lift the storytelling and the brand of the Navy to an audience who should know more.
Some of the numbers we learned about.
The Fleet Week social team had 65 members dedicated to telling the Fleet Week story, including a dozen or so team members who were gathered in the room on the Pier collecting, editing and then placing video.
The content capture team was equipped with devices to gather stories on many of the ships, at each of the over 50 activities that are taking place, on aircraft in and around the area, and at key places across the five boroughs where conversations and interaction cane be taking place with members of the military and the happenings of New York.
All of the video is sent back to the communications hub (the Joint Information Bureau, in military-terms), where senior members of the team), edit, tag and post the video across all the social channels in real time both for the services and for specially created platforms dedicated to Fleet Week. The preferred platform continues to be Insta Stories with short form video, although Twitter and Facebook, and Linked In all have their own key metrics for success.
There is also longer form content being developed, as well as the proactive feeding of content out to news outlets who cannot cover the breadth and scope of the goings on, all of which is tagged and monitored for success.
The measurement of success for the Navy is again similar to KPI’s on any social media campaign. Reposts and shares, short form video for a time challenged audience, inclusion in conversations in the social space, and ultimately altering or expanding the narrative or the preconceived notions an audience might have about the Navy, all through the lens of the social team.
Now unlike the Super Bowl or the Daytona 500 or the US Open, there is no culminating event to point to, so the actions the social team have to capture need to sustain a narrative that raises constant awareness, and that’s not always easy to do. However when you walk away and see the level of professionalism, the carefully thought out planning (which you would probably expect from the military) and the attention to detail, you quickly realize that the efforts being put in to build and enhance stories around this massive New York multi-day event are on par with any major event we have seen.
How much does this well engaged social strategy move the needle for awareness and engagement with a younger audience? It isn’t on par with what “Top Gun Maverick” or “NCIS” may be doing for pop cultural awareness, but those shows or films have to be viewed in a different light. They are big budget, well marketed moments in time. The well thought out social campaign tied to Fleet Week is more the constant steady, reinforced flow of short form storytelling that enhances and reassures the work of the overall mission, which is non traditional (for the military or for many legacy brands) targeted engagement with an audience where they are consuming media on whatever device they choose.
The combination of the two gives the Navy a much better chance of success for interest and engagement by telling stories that are fun, large scale and very nuanced.
It is a great best practice, adaptable and understood by anyone in the “hearts and minds” business, and one filled with lots of lessons on the path to brand success. Maybe most importantly, it is executed by professionals in their field with an understanding of mission and little room for nonsense.
In short, the Navy’s Fleet Week New York social plan sails really well, and is a template for success worthy of recognition.
The things you find when you show up.
