As the U.S. has increasingly adopted social media into the day to day of normal life, the U.S. armed forces has established its own military recruiting strategy and social media accounts to facilitate communication and interaction with potential recruits, family members, and friends.
Throw in a pandemic where military recruitment teams cannot meet people where they are at, and personnel are forced to get creative in reaching new candidates – especially ones coming from the tech savvy Generation Z.
Jason Singleton, who has around a 10-year notch on his U.S. Marine Corps belt, has taken social media a bit further with his USMC career: he uses it as a recruitment tool, but also to showcase the man behind the uniform and highlight some of his life while balancing being active duty with being a military spouse and managing the chaos of military moves with his family.
While the growth of social media use has expanded the options available for military recruiting, it also allows us to explore how we can best leverage technology to improve the effectiveness of recruiting and the ways it connects with youth. As we saw with the U.S. Army taking its hiring days campaign virtual, we have seen an increase in Instagram Live interviews between military influencers, affiliate programs for military or veteran friendly brands, and shout-outs from accounts like Military Fresh Network that showcase the men and women behind the uniform. These are some of the tools that the USMC recruiters have relied on to connect with potential future recruits as they adapt to this new age of recruiting.
Along with being able to reach more people operating online, social media has also allowed the military to become more relatable. Instagram accounts like Jason’s, Staff Sergeant Walker’s, Army Recruiter Lopez’s, or Chief Mariano also show their personal side, allowing potential recruits to see that they can be a part of a great organization like the U.S. military, but also not lose themselves in the enlistment process.
Is social media making military recruitment better? It’s certainly expanding the military’s reach into new markets, allowing virtual engagement, and giving potential service members the chance to explore the military in new ways – and those are all good things.
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Jason Singleton serves a dual role in the United States Marin Corps as a Recruiter and Intelligence specialist, supporting all phases and facets of intelligence operations. He has been involved the collection, recording, analysis, processing, and dissemination of information/ intelligence managing multiple sections of his command.
