The U.S. Space Force is the only branch to be “born digital” at the forefront of technological advancement and progressive conversation. Social media is the ideal place to demonstrate our modern military methodologies, shift the cultural idea of what service has to look like, provide real-time news and tap into trending conversations about innovation.
As the newest military branch, we need to increase the awareness, understanding and legitimacy of the Space Force mission with both the general public and future recruits. Our ultimate goal: reach new quality leads and encourage them to explore their opportunities in the Space Force.
In short, people don’t know what the Space Force is—some think we’re NASA. Our goal with this tweet was to ride the coattails of a trending meme and harness its popularity to acknowledge the differences between the missions of the USSF and NASA.
Twitter conversation happens quickly and uses memes, reaction GIFs and emojis freely. Our Twitter tone is strong and not phased by the trolls and opinions that flow freely on the platform. We strive to use text-only formats as much as possible to fit platform best practices. Most discourse surrounding Space Force is held here, so Twitter functions as our soapbox to set the record straight. We also take into consideration the fact that while the next generation does spend a lot of time on Twitter, the platform is also home to our other audiences—military prospects, civilian prospects and the general public. Our tactics on the platform focus on educating about STEM and the Space Force mission while also using well-written tweets to get the attention of wider audiences.
Our tweet helped us complete two of our goals:
1) Legitimize the Space Force and educate the public about why the Space Force exists and why the mission is critical to our daily lives while also establishing the Space Force as the thought leader on how space is part of everything we do.
2) Humanize Guardians. Showcase real Guardians and their stories; make human, relatable connections with our various audiences; and emphasize the Space Force’s focus on diversity and a global perspective.
The tweet accrued 37 Retweets, 12 Quote Tweets, and 233 lLikes, and for a relatively nascent account, these results were above average. It proved that our message was not only understood but that it was well received and that we were able to relate to Gen Z while promoting our message.
