Army's ten-hut Facebook page draws fans

The Army has 496,927 friends on Facebook, as of this writing. While it’s is not unusual for an organization, even a federal agency, to have its own Facebook page, the Army’s Facebook landing page is drawing more praise than some might have predicted.

Writing on her GovLoop blog, Heather Coleman critiqued the site and approved of its clean design and its overriding consideration to forwarding the Army’s message through clever graphics and links.

Two big nods to Army culture are immediately visible on the page. The first is a graphic proclaiming “Join the Army Conversation” with a hand pointing the “like” button. Coleman writes that this is a bit of marketing 101, but it lets stakeholders immediately know what is expected of them.

The other Army-specific feature is the “Hooah” main page. As the service’s battle cry, hooah has a very specific meaning to the organization and it immediately get’s to the heart of its culture.

Coleman noted that the page is a good example for government organizations thinking about launching a social media page. She explained organizations should think about their history, culture and services and how these are conveyed on a landing page. Facebook offers customization tools for organizations to add such specific fluourishes as a tab labeled "Hooah," if they know how to take advantage of them.

Additional pluses on the Army’s Facebook page include lots of active links to a variety of related sites, such as the official Army website, the mobile Army site, the Army on social media and the official Army blog. All of these individual links are also represented by bold, easily recognized graphic icons. The landing page also features videos on a number of Army-related issues and news articles.