Guard looks to new media to attract recruits Published June 10, 2009 By Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy National Guard Bureau ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- The end strength for the Army and Air National Guard remained above 100 percent in May due in part to various social media outlets, such as You Tube, Facebook and Twitter, currently being used by both services. "Social networking and new media as a whole is the fastest growing communication medium out there, and it would be ignorant of us as recruiting professionals not to use that to get to our market," said Tech Sgt. Matt Leas, noncommissioned officer in charge of advertising for the Air Guard. "It's a softer approach, which is one way to reach a lot of folks. It's not in your face, join today type stuff." The Air Guard has its own channel on You Tube, while the Army Guard has a presence on You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Although one of the goals is to bring in new recruits, tracking a direct link between those who visit the Army or Air Guard pages on one of the social networking sites and those who actually enlist is difficult. "I can tell you how many people have clicked through from our You Tube page to our GoANG Web site," said Sergeant Leas. "At that point, I don't know how many of those people have turned into a lead." Sergeant Leas did say that 25,000 people have clicked through to the Air Guard Web site from the You Tube page. "If you figure 10 percent, which is the recruiting standard for the numbers that become leads, so 10 percent of 25,000 are more than likely going to the recruiters." Having a presence on these sites has other benefits as well. "This is the first time that people have been able to interact so directly and immediately with what we are doing in the Guard," said Rick Breitenfeldt, who oversees new media initiatives for the National Guard Bureau. "Our NGB (social media) sites don't focus on recruiting as much as they do on telling our joint story and letting people who support the Guard have a place to share their opinions and connect with others who are in the same boat." Sergeant Leas has noticed similar instances with the Air Guard's You Tube page. "It's just proven to be effective, because it's the first time that people can interact with the organization or something that happens in the organization," he said. "It causes our organization to be discussed, which is a cool thing as it puts it in the forefront of people's minds." And that, ultimately, is the goal of using these Web sites. "That's why (it) is so good," said Sergeant Leas. "It's just a huge medium to reach lots and lots of people in a different way than has ever been done."