This post shares social media marketing tips from the Pluto flyby. This week, NASA’s mission team completed an incredible feat. After a 9 year, 3 billion mile journey, they sailed the New Horizons spacecraft past the dwarf planet Pluto and sent the citizens of Earth some amazing images, never before seen by humankind. This historic victory for space exploration has quite a few things in common with social media marketing, and here are 4 tips I gathered from the news of New Horizons’ close encounter.
Did you catch the coverage of the Pluto flyby?
4 Social Media Marketing Tips from the Pluto Flyby
- Look to the Distant Future
We frequently recommend looking to the future when you run public relations campaigns, but with the Pluto flyby, we see foresight that’s much longer. In addition to planning social media marketing activities weeks or months in advance, the passing of Pluto shows us that sometimes it pays to look years to the future.
- Wait Very Patiently
The scientists who sent the probe off into space did so more than 9 years ago and have been eagerly anticipating the results ever since. Patience is always recommended, but the Pluto flyby shows us that we should take extra care in our planning, and be extra patient in our waiting. Organic social media efforts often take at least 6 to 12 months of consistent posting to start gaining momentum.
- Celebrate Your Wins
Once New Horizons passed by Pluto and snapped its photos, it decided to “phone home” and alert NASA it was safe and sound. When the news hit that the mission was a success, the control room erupted into happiness and elation, and reporters took to Twitter to cheer the win. Using a large success to create a big push and excite people on social media is a great way to spread the good news about you.
- Stay Positive
Although photos were sent back from the ship, it wasn’t until the next day that scientists were able to confirm New Horizons had survived the encounter. During the day-long blackout, they stayed upbeat and positive that the mission had succeeded, and waited calmly for word that everything was alright.
Looking far into the future, waiting very (very!) patiently, celebrating your successes and always remaining optimistic are all great tips that can apply to your public relations campaigns.
Have you watched the coverage of the Pluto flyby? What social media marketing lessons do you think I could add?
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