Navy Facebook Virtual Scavenger Hunt Snapshot

SOCIAL MEDIA SNAPSHOT

Navy Maritime Strategy Facebook Scavenger Hunt

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDY


Goal: Increase awareness of Maritime Strategy and other Navy command Facebook pages while

engaging with fans in a fun manner

Participating Command Facebook Page Pillar of Maritime Strategy Represented

U.S. Navy/ CHINFO Starting page

USS Carl Vinson Forward Presence

U.S. 5th Fleet Deterrence

Surface Warriors Sea Control

25th Naval Construction Regiment HA/DR

Submarine Group 10 Power Projection

USS New York Maritime Security

U.S. 7th Fleet Completion page


How it worked: the rules

Prizes*: The top three winners will be featured in “Navy Fan Focus” posts, and the first place winner will assist in choosing the official U.S. Navy Facebook page profile picture for the week of Memorial Day. Plus, bragging rights! How to Play: A total of 8 clues will lead scavengers to 7 different official command pages. The first clue will be posted on our page on May 18th at 9:30am ETD and the game will end after a winner has been determined on May 23rd. •Start by looking for the command Facebook page that the first clue alludes to. •Upon finding the participating page, you will see a congratulatory post. Comment on that post to show you have visited the page (you must “like” that command’s page in order to comment). •The next morning at 9:30am ETD the second clue will be posted on the U.S. Navy page, and the search begins again.•Repeat until you have found all participating commands! A total of six clues will be posted each morning on the U.S. Navy page at 9:30am ETD from May 18th to May 23rd.

The scavenger hunt ends when all of the clues have been solved and winners have been verified. In order to win, a fan must find and post a comment under the congratulatory post on each participating page. The first place winner will be a fan who has commented on each participating page’s post and is the first to comment on the last page of the scavenger hunt.

Rules and information about the scavenger hunt were posted as a note to the U.S. Navy Facebook page

*Please note none of the prizes had monetary value due to government restrictions


Some fans were confused about the virtual nature of the scavenger hunt and thought the event was being held near Navy bases.

Most fans were exited about the event and eager to participate!

Remember, the goal is to increase awareness of the Maritime Strategy, so we gave them a BIG hint ahead of time!

Pre-event promotion: Facebook + Twitter


Day(s)-of event promotion

Our friends at Facebook saw what we were doing and promoted the event on their Government on Facebook page!

On subsequent days, we helped our fans stay engaged by posting an update to the U.S. Navy page,

reminding them where to look for the next clue


Unsolicited, NavyTimes even helped promote the event and pointed their readers to a helpful resource to aid in

their hunt: the Navy Social Media Directory!


The clues: fun yet challengingSample clue posted to Submarine Group 10’s page to direct fans to the USS New York’s Page (Maritime Security capability):I’m the seventh ship by the same nameSupport and transport is our gameLook out to sea and you may see meSailing along as a LPDA new and official part of the fleetHistoric steel helped make our ship complete


CHINFO was granted temporary admin rights to the participating pages to help facilitate the clues at the exact date and time prescribed


Some fans were so excited to discover the answer to the clue, they shared it with others

Not all fans were happy about this sharing and encouraged those “over-sharers” to let the other participants figure out the clue for themselves


The top winner selected the Navy profile pic for Memorial Day weekend and the top 3 winners were contacted to be featured in a “fan focus” on the U.S. Navy Facebook page

Winner, Ryan Chan selected the image at left for the Navy’s profile photo on Facebook which remained up through Memorial Day weekend.

Fan focuses were created as a note on the U.S. Navy Facebook page. We posted the note in their own words and included the photo of their choice.


Results

• Fans were very receptive and highly engaged in the event• 1,157 likes and 1,213 comments on clue and winning posts alone!• Many of the participating pages saw increase in fans and engagement as a result of the event

– This scavenger hunt was truly what Facebook was meant for. My page jumped almost 100 people in the one day it was featured, and for a small unit with a new page, that was a huge number. The best part was reading the comments. People seem to be having a lot of fun with it. BZ to your crew there. --MCC(SW/AW) Scott Boyle, USN, CPO/E-7, Public Affairs Officer, 25th Naval Construction Regiment

– We saw an increase of more than 100 fans that were driven to our page as a result of the scavenger hunt. Additionally, the week following we saw our numbers increase in every category and our fan base is continuing to expand every day. --LT Brian Wierzbicki, Public Affairs Officer, Commander, Submarine Group Ten [Based on average weekly activity Wall posts +85; Visits to page + 506]

– We saw a net gain of about 45 more fans, despite being the last page of the scavenger hunt! --Jeff A Davis, Commander, U.S. Navy, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. 7th Fleet

• Cross-promotion of Navy pages introduced fans to new command pages• The event provided an opportunity to educate fans about Maritime Strategy in a way that made them

think about how the different components of the Navy work together to make up the various capabilities


Lessons Learned/Recommendations for future

• Planning and coordination is key. There are many steps from developing the clues to setting the rules to coordinating the exact date and time of posts on particular pages—do not overlook the complexity of this step.

• Remember your goal. Some participants had figured out how the game worked and liked all of the pages on the social media directory so they could see when the next “answer” was posted, and although that wasn’t how we intended people to play the game, we realized that they were still increasing their awareness of Maritime Strategy and had liked over 400 pages of other Navy commands.

• Make it clever and challenging. Our fans are smart and some of the clues were pretty difficult, especially for someone with minimal Navy experience. Mix up the difficulty of clues and include some that take a considerable amount of thought or research.

• Consider the timing for a protracted campaign. The scavenger hunt lasted over the coarse of the week so we had to take in consideration other new topics and current events.


Interested in conducting a virtual scavenger hunt or other creative, interactive event? Contact us to see how we can coordinate

execution and assist with planning!

Navy Facebook Virtual Scavenger Hunt Snapshot

Education

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