5 Lessons We Can Learn from NASA’s Social Media Program

Brad McCarty of The Next Web interviewed NASA’s Social Media Manager Stephanie Schierholz about NASA’s outreach and ongoing social strategy for a fascinating post.  I love watching a major presence evolve its use of social tools. It’s even better if, as NASA has, they share what they’ve learned from the experience. I’ve distilled the lessons from NASA down to these:

1. Create a Connect page on your website so those interested can easily find where to follow you on various social platforms. Check out NASA’s here http://www.nasa.gov/connect/
2. Think of the social element as a natural extension of what your brand is already doing.
3. Watch and consider what the people in your community are doing/using. Is FourSquare useful to your brand? If your customers are using it, then find a way to connect it to your business.
4. Again, watching what the community is doing, is your brand’s story a visual one? If so, video and photos may already be an important part of how your community shares information. Harness that.
5. Take the online offline, and bring it into in-person contact. NASA has found dramatic success with Tweet-ups, connecting NASA enthusiasts with one another. How can this translate to your business?

It will be very interesting to see how NASA’s online presence evolves as its brand and mission changes. There’s much we can learn from the organization beyond what’s happened in space.