The Brains Behind One of the Best Nonprofits

Why the USO Uses Social Media:

Mark Phillips, Vice President for Communications

Em Hall, Web developer

What is the main purpose for using social media?

• To increase USO stakeholders because more people are affected than they think.
  


• One step closer to the USO mission of supporting every military personnel



• Bring the USO into everyone's daily activity instead of waiting for them to come to their website or offices.



• Gives the company the ability to listen, increase customer service and quickly respond and connect to stakeholders
  

What Types of social media do you use the most?

• Facebook and Twitter
  

Do you ever get overwhelmed by it all?

• No because the benefit to social media is that other people can act on behalf of the USO in answering questions people may have
  
• If someone asks where they can volunteer or donate items for example, someone else on Twitter can read that and answer back to them

Where do you find all of the information you tweet about?

• RSS Feeds, Google Alerts and other USO office tweets along with current events and news within the USO headquarters

As a communications/marketing department would you say you are transitioning over from traditional to social media or are you still maintaining a balance of both?

• Still using traditional media for donation requests and some press releases


• USO is mostly sending out social media releases in order to quickly and efficiently get messages out to a wide variety of people


• Social media releases can be tailored but typically will include a headline in 140 characters or less to be posted to Twitter and Facebook along side pictures or video that corresponds.