Military Recruitment: Actions Required to Address Digital Marketing Challenges

Key Chapter Title List

1. Background
2. The Military's Use of Social Media, Websites, and Recruiters in Digital Marketing
3. All Services Have Established Digital Marketing Policies, but the Air Force and Space Force Lack Formal Risk Management Strategies
4. Military Digital Marketing Performance Evaluation Incorporates Most Best Practices, but Some Do Not Measure Progress Toward Goals
5. Military Marketing Funding Faces Challenges and Is Not Fully Resolved
6. Conclusion
7. Recommendations for Executive Action
8. Agency Views
9. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
10. Views of Young People and Their Mentors on Military Service
11. Views of the Department of Defense
12. GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

Document Introduction

Favorability towards military service among the U.S. Generation Z (born 1997-2012) continues to decline, with several military services missing their recruitment targets by thousands in fiscal year 2023. Digital marketing has become a core method for the military to attract this demographic. This report, mandated by the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, focuses on the practices and challenges faced by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the military services in using social media and other technology platforms for recruitment marketing.

The report centers on four main issues: the specific implementation methods of military digital marketing, the establishment of related policies and risk management systems, marketing performance evaluation mechanisms, and the problems and countermeasures regarding funding support. Through reviewing DOD and service studies, guidance documents, and plans, interviewing agency officials, and comparing against best practices for commercial advertising effectiveness evaluation, a systematic analytical conclusion was formed.

The audit found that the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force all conduct digital marketing across multiple platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube, covering content like career paths and life in the military. However, significant differences exist in key areas. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps have established standardized marketing crisis response and risk management strategies, while the Air Force (including the Space Force) employs a case-by-case approach; all services list Generation Z as a target audience, but the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force lack specific metrics for some of their strategic goals; all services commonly face the issue of uncertain timing for marketing fund disbursements, affecting the efficiency of digital media procurement.

The report puts forward eight core recommendations, including the DOD establishing a risk management process, clarifying performance metrics for strategic goals, and standardizing the marketing fund disbursement mechanism. The DOD concurred with seven recommendations and partially concurred with one recommendation regarding Army funding processes. This report provides an authoritative reference for understanding the complexities of the digital transformation in modern military recruitment and offers important policy implications for optimizing military marketing resource allocation and improving recruitment effectiveness.