Presentation NASA's Social Media Manager Stephanie Schierholz gave at the 4th Annual Social Media for PR & Corporate Communications conference presented by Ragan Communications and PRSA in February 2011.

1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Taking social media efforts
out of this world
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
Stephanie Schierholz, Office of Communications 1

2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
2

3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Achieving Escape Velocity
• Use your organization's star employees to provide a personal
perspective
• Adjust your communication strategies and tactics to
incorporate and effectively use social media to communicate
real-time activities
• Find and connect with your fan base and bring them into a
community
• Enable and encourage interaction with your followers
• Host an out of this world Tweetup (even if you don't have a
space shuttle)
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
3

4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Social Media Opportunities at NASA
Social media tools allow NASA to:
• TELL our own story (without a filter)
• Listen, respond and INTERACT with followers
• Build a community of advocates through
ENGAGEMENT
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
4

5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Incorporating Social Media
• Just do it. Don’t waste any more time.
• You learn by doing.
• Look for those who are doing it well and see what
you can copy and apply.
• Social media is most effective during a crisis, but you
must have a presence before the crisis hits.
• At NASA, the social media function is a good fit in our
existing Office of Communications.
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
5

6. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Social Media Foundation at NASA
According to the National Aeronautics and
Space Act:
• Sec. 203. (a) The Administration, in order to
carry out the purpose of this Act, shall—
– (3) provide for the widest practicable and
appropriate dissemination of information
concerning its activities and the results thereof
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
6

7. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Social Media Challenges at NASA
Bureaucracy
24/7 in a 9 to 5 work world
Lack of Resources
Noise
Inaccuracy spreads quickly
No rules
Keeping up with the NEW
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
7

8. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Find and Connect with your Fans
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
8

9. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Blogs
NASA blogs give website
visitors perspectives
from all over the agency
– from the NASA
administrator to the
web team “Behind the
Page”
http://www.nasa.gov/blogs
9

10. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA and Twitter
Beginnings…
• May 2008 - JPL’s Veronica
McGregor, tweeting as the
@MarsPhoenix Lander
• 3rd most popular Twitter
account - ~75,000 followers
• 2009 - @NASA, ~1,000
followers
Today…
• 110+ NASA Twitter
accounts
• 801,221 followers
• 20+ astronauts on Twitter,
including @Astro_Mike
with 1.27 million followers
http://www.twitter.com/NASA
10

11. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
First Tweet from Space
@NASA/astronauts
@NASA_Astronauts
@Astro_Mike
@Astro_127
@Astro_Jose - retired
@Astro_Sandy
@Astro_Tim
@Astro_Nicole
@StationCDRKelly
@ShuttleCDRKelly
@Astro_Jeff
@Astro_Flow
@Astro_Bones / @ZeroG_MD
@Astro_Wheels
@Astro_Soichi
Tweeting from @Astro_Naoko
space now: @Astro_Clay
@Astro_Nicholas
@Astro_Cady @Astro_Cady
@StationCDRKelly @Astro_TJ
@Astro_Paolo @Astro_Ron
@Astro_Taz
@Astro_Box
@AstroIronMike
@Astro_Paulo 11

12. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
First Live Tweet from Space
@NASA/astronauts
@NASA_Astronauts
@Astro_Mike
@Astro_127
@Astro_Jose - retired
@Astro_Sandy
@Astro_Tim
@Astro_Nicole
@StationCDRKelly
@ShuttleCDRKelly
@Astro_Jeff
@Astro_Flow
@Astro_Wheels
@Astro_Soichi
@Astro_Naoko
@Astro_Clay Tweeting from
@Astro_Nicholas space now:
@Astro_Cady
@Astro_Bones / @ZeroG_MD
@Astro_Cady
@Astro_TJ @StationCDRKelly
@Astro_Ron @Astro_Paolo
@Astro_Taz
@Astro_Box
@AstroIronMike
@Astro_Paulo 12

13. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Televison
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
http://www.youtube.com/NASATelevision 13

14. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA.gov to go
Mobile version of nasa.gov HTML 5 videos on your mobile
http://mobile.nasa.gov
14

15. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
A picture is worth…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto
15

16. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Do you “like” NASA?
297,600
“likes”
http://www.facebook.com/NASA
16

17. NASA + Gowalla:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Search for the Moon Rocks
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/gowalla.html
http://www.gowalla.com/NASA 17

18. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Discover NASA with Foursquare
http://www.foursquare.com/NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/foursquare.html 18

19. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Discover NASA with Foursquare
• Play video:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogaller
y/index.html?media_id=22022681
http://www.foursquare.com/NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/foursquare.html 19

20. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Apps
NASA App (iPhone, iPad)
NASA Spinoff (Android) New!
Space Weather Media Viewer (iPhone, iPad)
3D Sun (iPhone, iPad)
Lunar Electric Rover Simulator
NASA Images
Space Images
http://www.nasa.gov/apps
20

21. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Enable and encourage interaction
• Remember that social media is a conversation –
spend as much time listening as you do speaking.
• Provide GREAT content that will get people talking.
• If you start a conversation, participate in it;
don’t start it and walk away.
• Ask for and enable feedback – respond to mentions
on Twitter, comments on blogs, Facebook, etc.
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
21

22. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Chat with NASA
Dec. 21, 12-5 a.m. ET
Chat room at capacity
(250) within 5 minutes
until 4:30 a.m.
3,208 questions received,
2,393 answered
Total of 3,174 chat
participants
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat
22

23. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Make it easy to share
• Tweet the title of the story and URL
• “Like" the story on your Facebook profile
http://www.nasa.gov/news
23

24. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Share NASA videos too
Switch to a new player
in 2010 (VMIX) that
emulates YouTube
has made our videos
much more popular
1,500 videos online =
about 7.4 million
plays in 2010
http://www.nasa.gov/videos
24

25. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Create a Community:
Host an out of this world Tweetup
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
25

26. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
What is a NASA Tweetup?
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
26

27. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Tweetups are in person…
Bring
together
people who
follow
@NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
27

28. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Tweeps Come from Far and Wide…
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
28

29. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Tweetups are
virtual and online…
Enabling and
encouraging
interaction
with their
followers
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
29

30. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Follow along at buzzroom.nasa.gov
30

31. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
How does the
community
find each
other?
Same hashtag: #NASATweetup
Same account: @NASATweetup
http://buzzroom.nasa.gov
31

32. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Successful Tweetups are
special and memorable
Provide unique or exclusive:
Information
Speakers
Access
Setting
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
32

33. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Successful Tweetups rock logistics
 Short (sessions)  Interactive
 Connected (WiFi)  Powered
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
33

34. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Tweetup Milestones
Jan. 2009 – 1st Tweetup
Feb. 2011 – 15th Tweetup
• Live downlink with
International Space
Station
• 3 Tweetups at space
shuttle launches
• 6/10 NASA centers
• World Science Festival
http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
34

35. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Out of this World:
Moving people from…
ADVOCATES,
Fans,
EVANGELISTS,
Followers,
CREATORS,
Consumers
COLLABORATORS
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
35

36. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Foster the community
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
36

37. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
But don’t own the community
37

38. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
“You may not have a spaceship, but your
company has a fan base. They won't think of
themselves as fans until they're in a room with
like-minded people. They won't think of
themselves as members of a community until
YOU bring them together.”
- David Rosen, @davidhrosen
(group VP, Makovsky + Company)
38

39. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Provide a Personal Perspective
• Anthropomorphized accounts like @MarsPhoenix
• Personal/professional accounts: @Lori_Garver +
@Astro_Wheels
• Personalize your interactions:
– Be human in your posts – if you screw up, admit it and
apologize.
– Don’t be afraid of emoticons, but use them sparingly.
– Emotive words work well for NASA: “whew” “cool”
“embarrassed”
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
39

40. http://www.nasa.gov/connect
Your Title Here 40