It’s time for Social Media Training at CCOE

Picture: David Bailey in full activity/ Source: CCOE/ Kaminski

Spring 2016 has started with a special training at CIMIC COE. On 21 March, militaries and civilians working at the Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence in The Hague spent a day with David Bailey. The blogger and podcaster, former captain of the British Army, explained CCOE’s personnel and trainees the importance of a good use of social media in the nowadays digital world.

A world of connection and technology in which creativity, credibility and transparency still remain basic elements. But what can really makes a difference in order to achieve success online is a good storytelling: on the internet people want to watch, read and listen to stories. CIMIC is a good story to tell and this is why CCOE wants to reach its audience with it, by using the website and its Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr accounts. An approach also shared and encouraged by David Bailey: «You are lucky, as here you have the freedom to tell your stories».

The CCOE team attended the Social Media Training organized by the Public Affairs Office, learning about the right approaches and strategies for the use of social media both from the Cimic Centre and in the field. The presence of academic trainees was not only an example of civil-military interaction but also an opportunity to stimulate a constructive debate among the participants.

The potential of innovative and simple accessories for smartphones and devices was also stressed from David Bailey, showing that expensive tools are not always necessary to achieve good products.

CCOE’s staff will soon put into practice what they have learned from the training, confirming CCOE’s long-term priority of being specialists in the use of social media. Something that will also confirm David Bailey’s impression shared on Twitter: “Think we may have 4 new #ccoeguerilla change agents. @ccoe_org are brand leaders in the use of military social media”.

Article is written by CCOE/ PAO Intern/ Monica de Astis (ITA)