Matt Turner, NPS Social Media Lead
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[intro music]
Dave: Welcome to MyParkStory presented by the National Park Service. People form connections with their favorite national parks and programs, and this parkcast is a place to come together and share those stories. I'm your host, Dave Barak. In this episode, we speak with social media specialist for the National Park Service, Matt Turner.
[intro music fades]
Well, you may not know his name, but you might know my next guest by his tweets. Here are some examples:
To avoid crowds, visit areas less crowded.
One day, you'll find someone who is obsessed with you... It's probably going to be a squirrel.
When hiking, the early bird gets the face full of spider webs. Bring a tall friend and let them lead.
Folks, I am really excited to introduce you to Matt Turner, our social media specialist at the National Park Service. Hi, Matt.
Matt: Hey, Dave, great to be here.
Dave: Thanks for joining us. Before we get to all your incredible work as the social media specialist, let's talk about how it all started. What's your park story?
Matt: Yeah, I've had the opportunity to be with the Park Service starting, actually, right out of college. I took a seasonal job working in an e-booth down in Georgia at Fort Pulaski National Monument, and it was really only supposed to be a three- or four-month gig and you know here I am 17, 18 years later. So, it's been a quite an adventure. I've had the opportunity to do work at several different parks and do social media, web work, give tours, work with the public, graphic design, so, uh, definitely a lot of cool stuff that I've been able to do just working with the Park Service.
Dave: Fabulous. How long have you been in your current role as the social media specialist for the Park Service?
Matt: Yeah. I joined our team in the Office of Communications back in the fall of 2018. Prior to that, I actually spent a few years in our Midwest Regional Office in Omaha and then it was in a couple parks moving around the country.
Dave: Cool. So as the National Parks Social Media Specialist, some might call you the voice of the national parks. What does the typical day look like for you? What is it you look for in social media and how do you connect with the public?
Matt: For us, it's all about, you know, engagement and being social. And I spend a lot of time on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram. I'm looking for opportunities to create content. I'm also curating from all the different accounts being, you know, managed by parks and programs out there. So, it's definitely seeing, you know, what kind of stories we can elevate to our national channels and help, again, share more of all of our story.
Another part of my job too is a lot of administrative tasks, maybe not some of the fun stuff all the time, but I help parks with a lot of troubleshooting. So, passwords and emails, there's always going to be glitches with the platforms themselves. I work in the communications office, you know, we're almost 24/7. There's always something going on and during the work week, lots of meetings. Lots of, uh, you know, talks about messaging and policy and guidance that we can kind of help share with the field.
Dave: You are an incredible resource. When I was in the field, I was at a park in Louisiana, Jean Lafitte, and you were an immense resource to me as I tried to connect with the public, in this case during the pandemic when social media was so crucial for that communication. I want to know how you, how you find your humor because you have this incredible way of teaching people and educating the public while using tweets and posts that engage and make us laugh. So where did this incredible sense of humor come from?
Matt: Oh, I hope people enjoy the humor. If you don't, it was someone else who was tweeting it, so... it wasn't me. But yeah, I think a lot of my kind of humor just comes from observing the world around. It's kind of maybe dry, maybe, some sarcasm at times. But I think definitely my experience working in parks and just pulling from that. You know, I've worked at an e-booth, I've, I've given guided tours, I've been with people on vacation, and you know, I've seen how people kind of interact with parks and with Rangers. So, I definitely pull from a lot of that experience when I'm thinking about that monologue in my head to create a longer post or a tweet, and how can I insert, you know, maybe a little pun here, or you know, a reference? I'm also always just pulling from pop culture, you know, what's kind of trending out there? What's something that we can kind of repackage for the Park Service to kind of make that connection and really create that shareable content that I think hopefully will kind of go viral, but also, you know, have that educational component as well? So, it's a lot of edutainment in a way.
Dave: And I think that's so crucial because you've had so much experience in parks working with the with the public face to face. Your style isn't just coming from a place of social media where it's you're here and they’re there. You know how to talk to people in person and that really comes through in the warmth and the style of your tweets. It's as if we're just like hearing from a friend and they are making us laugh and making sure we are safe and doing the right things in national parks. Speaking of which, what is your favorite tweet you've written? I'm guessing you’ve written thousands, but I named a few earlier, but like, what's your favorite?
Matt: It's always hard to pick and choose. I think one that has really just gone viral, not too long ago as well, you know, we've always done a lot with bear safety. We did one where if you come across a bear, never push a slower friend down, even if you feel the friendship has run its course. And I think that really surprised some people and got people's attention. You know, that was kind of the hook of that tweet. So, we did attach with it two other threads that really shared, you know, safety tips and also provided a link to our website, which had more resources. And that's kind of our strategy is to use those kind of, you know, hopefully funny or really, you know, exciting first tweets or posts and then we hook people and get them to learn more. You know, they read the whole post, or they click that link and go back to our website. So, we're always trying to have that educational component as part of that kind of experience.
Dave: And what I've noticed you also do, and you've touched on it a little bit, is a lot of your tweets and your posts have a call to action. And in this case, you were talking about, you know, clicking on a link towards bear safety that will give them like the real information, the real meat of what they need to know. Are there other types of calls to action that you find have been successful?
Matt: Yeah, for sure. I mean, social media is all about being social. We want that engagement. We want to have these conversations. So again, a lot of these calls to actions, it's simple questions. You know, we want to ask people to share their stories, their experiences, you know, share us your great photos, share your tips. You know, a lot of people are out there on the trails. They have their favorites. They have, you know, they're kind of tips and tricks for a most successful experience. So, we really want to have our entire kind of online community really come together and again share what they, you know, think is special about our national parks.
Dave: You've talked about bears. They are popular online. What other animals get people's attention?
Matt: Well, obviously the big animals, the bears, the bison, definitely an iconic symbol of the Park Service. So definitely, we're always doing a lot of, you know, wildlife watching tips and kind of a safety with a smile with trying to get people to stay safe around these animals. It's almost like the bigger the animal, the closer that the public wants to get to them. So, we're trying to warn them about, you know, you don't want to injure vacation too soon. So definitely, you know, use your zoom on your camera and keep your distance, and hopefully you'll have a much better experience in your parks.
Dave: Great. Speaking of experiences in parks, you told me once that you met Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones at a park, and I want to know, were you on Wall Street? Or were you in Chicago? That's a good joke.
Matt: That was an epic, epic moment, nah. It was actually in Savannah, GA. They actually stopped by for a tour, and I happened to be the Ranger to give them a tour. And it was one of those things where it was really kind of cool to have someone of that stature want to take a tour of the site. And I wanted to make sure and treat them like normal people, you know, they just wanted to see the park and experience it. So, I didn't ask for a photograph or anything, which I now regret, but they actually had a good tour and we walked around the Fort, they saw a cannon firing demonstration. So, I think it was just a cool experience to see that, you know, everybody loves their parks, no matter, you know, kind of where they come from or who they are.
Dave: Celebrities. They're just like us, right? So, what does the future hold for Matt Turner and social media with the National Park Service?
Matt: Yeah, hopefully a lot more puns, a lot more tweets, a lot more safety. You know when will they learn not to pet the fluffy cows and get too close to the bears? So, we're definitely looking to continue our strategy and see wh
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