According to the Social Recruitment Monitor, the US Coast Guard has the top recruiting page in all of Facebook. Last week, with just eight posts, the USCG attracted almost 800 comments and spurred 1,600 shares. The Monitor also rates the Coast Guard as the #10 recruiter on YouTube, with 46 videos and more than 314,000 views. How does the Coast Guard beat not only other branches of the military but the Disneys and Starbucks of the world? Here are the keys to their smooth sailing.
Courageous Honesty
The USCG’s most recent Facebook post, as of this writing, was elegant in its simplicity: “Do you have questions about joining or serving in the Coast Guard? Ask a recruiter in the comments!” Remember, this isn’t a “fun” brand like Oreo; this is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, engaged in counter-terrorism and drug interdiction. I’m impressed that the Coast Guard is hosting a frank question-and-answer session on a public website. As often happens, the commenters have begun talking to each other, with some active Guardsmen providing their own experiences and insight. One mentioned that boot camp is in Cape May, New Jersey and added “you DO NOT want to be there in July and August.” The USCG hasn’t edited or deleted that post, or any others, as far as I can tell.
So did the strategy pay off? The original post drew more than 30 shares, 90 comments, and 415 likes. One of the comments: “No question just a statement to say I think this site is wonderful! Lots of info for those interested!” You can’t buy good impressions like that.
The Takeaway: Be bold. Let job-seekers ask questions, make comments, and even lodge complaints on your social channels. How you respond to those interactions will say a lot about your brand externally and how you treat employees internally. If a branch of the military can do it, openly and publicly, your organization can do it, too. The Coast Guard even goes one step further than many consumer brands and provides the names and titles of the people who run their Facebook recruiting page.
Honest Courage
And if that wasn’t brave enough, the Coast Guard also publicly talks to its own employees on its Facebook page. A recent post mentioned the teamwork and camaraderie of the Guard and finished with “Tell us about the best crews you’ve served with.” An open-ended offer like that is virtually begging for negative responses from employees. But the stories from Coasties, which ranged from their current ships to Vietnam experiences, were all positive, and many were heart-warming. This simple concept drew almost 4,600 likes, over 100 comments, and 236 shares.
The Takeaway: As above. Have the fortitude to host an open and honest dialogue with customers, employees, and job-seekers. The conversation is already happening on message boards, personal Twitter feeds, and sites like Glassdoor and Yelp. Join the conversation and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.
Thrilling Videos
The USCG maintains two YouTube channels. GoCoastGuard is a traditional recruiting venue, which the Guard describes as a place to “check out the different jobs, officer programs, commercials, and cool new video profiles on real Coast Guard members.” The fast-paced videos give brief profiles (often less than a minute) of Coasties in positions ranging from intelligence specialist to electrician’s mate. This channel has 3,728 subscribers.
The other channel features “the best clips of the US Coast Guard in action,” with exciting rescues and other operations. One 20-minute video gives a rare and fascinating look at what life is like aboard a Coast Guard cutter. For shorter attention spans, there’s a three-minute video on “A Week in the Life of the Coast Guard.” These videos and many of the others don’t shy away from either the monotony or the danger that co-exist in military life.
The takeaway: Many jobs and company cultures are hard to describe in print or pictures. You need videos to truly engage job-seekers, to show them “a day in the life” of your organization, and to let them hear from real, smiling employees who love working for you. Maybe you can’t match the cinematic excitement of a Coast Guard rescue, but you can still show off your break room, or film your company trip to a baseball game, or share testimonials about employees’ volunteer work.
“Semper Paratus”
Since the Coast Guard doesn’t sell a product, we can think of all their social profiles as recruiting channels. That would include @USCG on Twitter, which offers photos, historical fun facts, and news of the Guard’s latest operations. I also love the Guard’s Flickr account, with 201 albums of images. There is some great employe brand messaging in those photos, with albums like “Women in Command” and “A Week in the Life of the Coast Guard Academy.” All of these social media efforts create a compelling case for joining the Coast Guard.
The US Coast Guard is clearly semper paratus — always ready — to engage job-seekers looking to make a difference in their lives and their country. And for that, I name them a Social Media Recruiting Superstar.
Jason Ginsburg is Director of Interactive Branding at Brandemix.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
