Military’s public relations practice in the social media era: exploring the Chinese military’s use of WeChat and public engagement

Abstract

Militaries worldwide have adopted various social media platforms to influence, inform and build relationships with strategic publics. Guided by the organization–public engagement framework, this study conducted a content analysis to examine the Chinese military’s social media practices for reaching out to the public. It analyzed the content patterns, message features, targeted publics, and engagement levels on WeChat. This study discovered that the Chinese military mainly used WeChat for information dissemination, promotion, mobilization, and interacting with intended publics (e.g. its internal servicemen). It also found that WeChat articles that used the promotion strategy, emotional appeal, fear appeal, conversational tone, and vividness strategy generated higher levels of public engagement. Theoretical and practical implications were also discussed.