HOHENFELS, Germany - U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels is now on Facebook and a host of other social media sites in the hopes of reaching an audience of current and future community members that is increasingly turning to the Internet as their primary source of news and information.
Some of the sites offer new ways to access previously available information, like AFN videos posted on YouTube, while some actually increase the community's access to information, like the Facebook Virtual Town Hall.
"The biggest thing about social media in general is that instead of forcing new people coming into the Army to adapt to our traditional way of communication we adapt to the way they are already communicating," said Troy Darr, U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels public affairs officer.
Darr said it is his hope that community members post their questions or concerns on the Virtual Town Hall section of the U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels Facebook page so the garrison can better address the community's concerns.
"We can't improve our services unless we get feedback from our customers about what it is they like and don't like, what they understand and don't understand about what it is we do," said Darr, adding that he aims to respond to town hall queries within two business days.
To get to the Virtual Town Hall, users can type "U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels" into Facebook's search field. Click on the page (hint: the garrison site says "Government Official" under "Type"; there is also a Facebook group named "USAG Hohenfels" that is not connected to the garrison) and navigate to the "Discussions" section, then click on "Virtual Town Hall."
Darr said that despite this new online option, he wants to reassure people that traditional methods of customer feedback, like the Interactive Customer Evaluation system, will still receive top garrison priority.
Darr said the garrison uses Facebook not just to receive questions from the community, but also to provide the community with information by posting upcoming events and links to news stories about Hohenfels.
Though Facebook is the most interactive and perhaps the most widely used of the garrison's new social media products, it is not the only weapon in their social media arsenal.
Community members can also get updates about garrison happenings by following USAG Hohenfels on Twitter or view photos by visiting the garrison's Flickr page at www.flickr.com/photos/usaghohenfels.
Because Flickr only holds a limited number of photos, Darr said the site gives an overview of life at Hohenfels and is geared mostly towards potential or future community members.
For current videos about Hohenfels, visit www.youtube.com/usaghohenfels to view videos posted by the garrison. When watching a video posted by USAGHohenfels, click the yellow "Subscribe" button to be notified when new videos are posted.
Darr said that by using a wide range of social media outlets, he hopes to reach not only current community members, but also people who may be moving to Hohenfels in the future and are curious about what to expect.
"We're a small community and we don't have every single thing that a large community has, but there are a ton of things to do off post and that is what we're trying to show," said Darr. "We're trying to fight the misperception that Hohenfels is not a great place to live and work."
As Hohenfels develops its social media efforts, it follows an Army-wide trend to update their methods of communications to better reach the newest generation of Soldiers, family members and civilians.
"We are an organization made up of the young and run by a newspaper generation that came into their adult years before the Internet and social media," Secretary of the Army Pete Geren said during a public affairs event at the Pentagon in April. "The future of our Army depends on how we communicate with our audience in between the ages (of) 15 and 25."
Related Links:
U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels Facebook page
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