Better #5

Welcome to another edition of Better. 

This month we’re all about the Defence Force, which means we’re all about probably the best-looking public sector socials in New Zealand.

Big call, I know, but honestly the photography and video is consistently scroll-stopping, and while they deal with a lot of different topics, the tone is always spot on, too. So yeah, you could say I’m a fan.

For this edition I chatted with Taylor Eustace, Senior Digital Channels Advisor at the Defence Force, about creating content, the perks of the job, and the weight of the organisation.

Oh, and I learned apparently they’re called ships, not boats 😆

Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers,
Seamus 👋

I don’t often get jealous of people’s jobs but I’m pretty jealous of Taylor’s.

Hanging outside of helicopters shooting video? Beats sitting at a desk all day, and reminds me of the thrills and opportunities I used to have as a journalist.

Basically, it sounds like a content creator’s dream.

Here’s the interview 👇

Firstly, where do you work, and what do you do?
I work for the New Zealand Defence Force as part of the Defence Public Affairs team. I’m the Senior Digital Channels Advisor there. I help to manage our social media channels across our brands (NZDF, Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army, and Royal New Zealand Air Force). My day-to-day work also involves running the main page of our intranet, as well as our external-facing website (www.nzdf.mil.nz).

What’s the team set-up?
My direct team is a dream-team of three - we are small but mighty! It’s myself, my Digital Channels Manager Jamie and Digital Advisor Bradley. That’s three people looking after 15+ accounts, each with different requirements, messages, and tones.

Describe your general approach to content and social media?
Each social media practitioner is different. I personally have a story-based approach to content. I try to transport our audiences into the shoes of our personnel, or at least paint a clear picture of the environment and our purpose in the situation. I take myself back to the days where I thought our Defence Force was literally the Army. There was plenty of quick learning to do in my initial days, as you can imagine [laughs]. 

The angle and tone of the content is all dependent on the nature of how the story or news comes to my team - a tip-off from our personnel, a media release from our media team, re-writing a service magazine article etc. If the content is a media release about an exercise, we beef up the basics. If it’s more alerting in nature, Cyclone Gabrielle for example, we stick to the point alongside our media team - prioritising the need-to-knows for our communities looking to us in times of disaster and response.

Some of our stuff is definitely more ‘sparkly’, and we know it’ll perform well if it’s crafted in the right way. For other pieces we have a more straightforward approach, publishing the facts.

Who are your main target audiences?
Target audiences always differ in relation to what we’re trying to hit, or what is going out at that time. In a general sense, there will always be a recruiting angle to our content (for this our focus is 18-24 year olds) which mainly sit on Instagram/Threads/YouTube for us. 

LinkedIn holds our more strategic audience, and Meta provides a platform to promote our day-to-day mahi in Aotearoa and abroad as well as pushing any important messaging New Zealanders need to know about our military movements.

You mention Threads, how are you finding it so far?
I think Threads is still working out what it wants to be. For now, I find it a happier place. Its users are definitely playing around with the creativity Threads’ different features offer - notably the voice-note function. In saying that, I hope some of the kinks are ironed out, like the algorithm showing multiple accounts on your singular feed which you don’t follow. It has real promise, if the developers listen to their audiences.

Getting the right kinds of content from the field is always a challenge, how do you motivate people to contribute? And how do you coordinate it all?
Not everyone is camera keen, and that is totally okay. We seek out those who are passionate about their job, and who are comfortable to speak to us and share that spark. We have plenty of personnel who are proud to be on our channels, representing our country’s military.

Coordinating content like this comes down to our wider team, and who is assigned to tasks. Usually there’s an exercise happening with a key point of contact. My direct team brainstorms creative outputs, we loop in photographers and editors and it all stems from there as to what is captured, how it’s packaged, when it’s released and to who.

Collaborating with other militaries and brands is also another way we showcase our people and how far their work reaches. This year we’ve collaborated with the Hurricanes, The Invictus Games, Mental Health Foundation, NZ Customs, LandSAR NZ, Wellington Zoo and the Ministry of Education to name a few.

The quality of photography and video you showcase is exceptional. Who is shooting it all?
Thank you! I’ll pass that onto the teams. On the photography end, we have Defence Photographers on board who are uniformed personnel capturing the goodness for us. It’s helpful having them in uniform to create that link, and there are circumstances that being in uniform is helpful, like being embedded in an international exercise with multiple militaries.

Videography-wise, we have a team of three talented civilians who craft our stories in video format. Together these teams have a wealth of talent and a plethora of knowledge in their fields. We are so lucky to have them out in the thick of the action, bringing back visuals that no one else can get. And it doesn’t stop there. Most of our reels are captured by my direct team, our people, and our photographers. We wear multiple hats in this creative world.

Presumably a lot of the content is also shared internally via newsletters and magazines etc?

Correct. Our story-weaving champion magazine editors are top-tier writers. They have their finger on the pulse in their respective services, ears to the ground for stories and news. My team will often get a tip from an editor about an interesting story which we’ll then come together to plan how this content could look across the channels. Stories come from anywhere if you have the time to speak to your people and listen to their experiences.

What are some of the perks of your role? Do you get to travel sometimes, or go in cool vehicles like boats, tanks and helicopters? 

We have travel opportunities in our role for sure. We have multiple camps and bases across Aotearoa - I often travel to Waiouru Military Camp, RNZAF Base Ohakea, and Linton Military Camp. My Navy colleagues will kill me if I don’t correct the mention of ‘boats’ - they’re ships! I definitely learnt that one quickly - they’re a proud service. Same goes for Army ‘tanks’, they’re LAVs (or Light Armoured Vehicles). So I hope there are a couple new facts for the day [laughs].

I’ve been on multiple ships including HMNZS Manawanui, HMNZS Aotearoa and HMNZS Taupo - Navy ships are something else. It’s always such a meaningful time capturing content on board, and eating in the galley yarning to our sailors.

Air Force-wise, I’ve been on a C-130 Hercules while they were conducting tactical flying training - this aircraft has small portholes for windows in the cargo-hold, so I’m glad I have a steel stomach. The Air Loadmasters hooked me to the side as the backdoor of the Herc was let down, and I went to look out over the landscapes below as we flew above!

My absolute favourite experience though was when I spent multiple days with No. 3 Squadron in their NH90 helicopters as they were conducting low-flying manoeuvres. We were flying over the Ruahine Range in the South Island - all so desolate and snowcapped. Beanies, gloves and thick jackets were the go, as the doors were often open so the Loadmasters could observe while in the air. 

At one stage the pilots commsed me through my headset: ‘So have you winched before, Taylor?’. Next thing you know I’m being briefed on how to hold on for dear life, and I was dangling out the side of the aircraft. I’m lowered as the rotors whirl with force, and the rest I close my eyes for - I’m in the mountains dangling from a chopper, what on earth!

Not all your content is bright and breezy. You cover some heavy topics, including mental health, injury and death - how do you approach that, and how important is that content for your active and past military followers?
Our channels are a real mixture of content for sure. With content like this we follow our wider team’s lead by putting our people first, as well as providing the facts. Military personnel are human, and our content follows that. This is extremely important to our personnel. We are their voice, so communicating in a clear and thoughtful manner around ‘hard’ content is appreciated.

We’ve worked closely with our Chief Mental Health Officer, gaining his advice on sensitive topics as well as creating bespoke mental health awareness content with him. Notably, we’ve made reels on ‘checking in on a mate’, and ‘giving meaningful compliments’.

The Invictus question jar content was awesome - how’d you come up with that?
Thank you! I’m an avid YouTube/reels watcher, and I’m a fan of the Jubilee, Cut and WIRED accounts. WIRED has a ‘Web’s Most Searched Questions’ series, and I wanted that feel, as well as the quick pace of question/answer. To add the banter in between, I wanted the competitors to be asking each other these questions similar to Cut’s interview series. That way the hard hitting questions were asked by a comrade who knew the hardships fought through. A safe space, but a great opportunity to show the laughter and true aroha these humans have for one another.

Do you feel the weight of the organisation sometimes? The responsibility of representing that long and rich history?
There’s definitely weight. You’re a bridge between worlds, without completely belonging to either. I’m not uniformed, but nor am I a member of the public without in-depth military knowledge. Often there’s a weight to communicate for our people in the ‘right’ way. We do our best to have all of our content signed off by uniformed subject matter experts, and we guide them along the ways of social media and breaking down their information-packed stories. They in turn support us to communicate to the public.

What are you most proud of in your work?
Personally, I’m most proud of the reels I’ve made. I love the process of video coming to me, or planning a shoot, and going ‘what could this look like?’, ‘what’s trending right now which would align with our brand/s?’, ‘how would our audiences like to receive this message?’.

Some key ones would be a reel I made on the phonetic alphabet, the No. 3 Squadron tactical flying reel, and HMNZS Manawanui teaching our audience some te reo for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Check them out!

Quick 6 with Taylor Eustace…

1. Strategy or tactics?

People first, and know your audience. I think to myself - if I were in the military, would I be proud reading this? Would a civilian understand this? It’s all about that connection and simplicity.

2. Favourite platform?
Instagram, hands down.

3. Least favourite platform?

Twitter/X - enough said.

4. One public sector account to follow?

I’m in love with NZTA’s account. It’s fun and informative. It’s a secret goal of mine to appear on ‘Merge of the month’ - my merging powers are pretty strong if I do say so myself. Hint hint!

5. One non-public sector account to follow?
There are so many! Personally, I love the ‘She’s On The Money’ account. Based in Australia, this team is fronted by money-savvy women who educate on anything money, investing, and home-ownership related. They make their content digestible and friendly, they listen to their audiences, host Q&As often, and have killer branding. Their podcast is educational too.

6. Something you wish you’d known earlier in your career?
To make time to put the devices down and be present. It’s easy in our line of work to feel like you constantly need to be ‘on’. Now I take pleasure in purposefully taking time for myself - spending time with loved ones, listening to music, reading a book, gaming, going for a walk in nature. Nothing is more important than your mental health. You are not your job!

Ok, that’s it for this edition.

I’d be super grateful if you could hit reply on this email and send me some feedback! I’d love to hear what you like, what could be better, ideas for future editions - send it all my way.

And please consider sharing this newsletter with someone you think might benefit from it 🙌

See you again next month for more tips on how to get a little bit Better 👋