Yesterday was National Techies Day. The reason I know that is because NASA told
me.
I am one of the 37.7 million people who follow NASA on
Instagram. Typically they post one or
two beautiful photos from space per day.
They also include a short paragraph about the pic, which fulfills my
need for more information.
But apparently they viewed yesterday as a recruitment
opportunity, so they took a different approach.
Here are their posts in the order that they appeared.
Clearly they are targeting the techie sub-culture. So what do you think?
What messages have they shared? Which core values will these messages appeal to? What about motivations? Do these posts tap into some of the findings from the happiness studies? Which ones? How?
What about Cialdini? Which principles of persuasion do you see at work here? Finally, will this campaign be a successful recruitment tool for NASA? Why or why not?
What messages have they shared? Which core values will these messages appeal to? What about motivations? Do these posts tap into some of the findings from the happiness studies? Which ones? How?
What about Cialdini? Which principles of persuasion do you see at work here? Finally, will this campaign be a successful recruitment tool for NASA? Why or why not?
12 comments:
The NASA advertisement could be the following principals:
Reciprocity because as Americans, specifically studying engineering, you could feel an obligation and responsibility to contribute with the country’s technological development and innovation.
Liking: because seeing how many people admire NASA makes other follow and desire to work there. Also, in a way influencing how people perceive your success (social proof).
Scarcity: because it is a demanding and very selective job. NASA is known among the engineers for having “the best of the best.” Being offered a job position in NASA is an opportunity granted to one in a million.
I think this advertisement made the techie sub-culture excited. Announcing its recruitment opportunity makes people have hopes but also makes the experience of recruitment a lot more overwhelming, since you know a lot of people are participating. The message is open for all who think they are apt for the job. It will be a highly competitive recruitment. I think is somewhat similar of what Amazon is doing right now with its HQ2 project. Were it open the possibility for real estate companies to give a proposal for Amazon to have its new location of business in that specific area of a city. (It is a lot more complicated that this because they are a lot of requirements and a huge amount of businesses representing the cities participated).
NASA's Instagram posts are touching on a number of concepts we've discussed in class. They are clearly enticing sub-culture readers to join a 'tribe' of their Techie community, and are offering acceptance and rewards to those who are personally fulfilled by scientific and mathematical endeavors. One of the articles in our reading material came to mind. In "Can Money Buy you Happiness" by Andrew Blackman; we learned of studies conducted by Cornell University psychology professor Thomas Gilovich. According to Gilovich, "...Experiences, on the other hand, tend to meet more of our underlying psychological needs. They’re often shared with other people, giving us a greater sense of connection, and they form a bigger part of our sense of identity." Cialdini principles which I believe apply here are those of Authority, which is the idea that people follow the lead of credible, knowledgeable experts. NASA is creating a feedback loop of intelligent people wanting to be part of an intelligent organization. Another Cialdini principle NASA is using here is that of Liking. Here, We like people who are similar to us, we like people who pay us compliments, and we like people who cooperate with us towards mutual goals. To conclude, I believe this in fact will be a successful recruitment tool for NASA because it is earnest and imaginative. There's just enough subtext to spark interest, without triggering cynicism or disregard in the reader.
The NASA Instagram posts are a great way to reach out to millennials and Gen Zers who are ultimately the biggest audience on the platform. Their posts incorporated messages to the techie subculture in a way that was informative yet intriguing. They demonstrated what they value most in their employees - innovation and experimentation. This shows that by working at NASA an individual will be given the opportunity to work on several projects while also making a lasting impact on the company. This in essence motivates any like-minded individual in the field to consider NASA as a potential employer. Cialdini’s persuasive principles are present in the posts. NASA is a respectable company - authority; NASA is committed to innovation and their employees - commitment; NASA demonstrates various projects that are currently being worked on - social proof. According to the happiness studies, challenges, giving to others, and experiences are all factors of living a fulfilling life. NASA does a great job of showcasing the challenging questions they are trying to answer and solve for aerospace technology. They’re also developing technology that is being employed by other industries such as the parachutes post which mentions how the auto industry has incorporated the technology in vehicle testing. They also demonstrate the experiences that are possible by working at NASA. All in all - I believe this is a brilliant and free way to easily get some buzz on job opportunities at NASA
Nasa Techie Instagram advertisement is targeting young techies who like the idea of exploring the realm of possibilities and who are interested space. I think it also focuses on people who are currently working in the space program and encourages them to think bigger and dream larger.
Nasa Instagram message provided an emotional connection for techies. It appeared to be an invitation to join a group of people that are passionate about technology and exploring what once was considered impossible.
Another exciting message that struck me was that the Instagram advertisement talked about the technology that the techies work on does not only benefit NASA, but companies around the world are using their discoveries.
What I thought about was Cialdini persuasion principle liking because by posting the pictures on Instagram on some of the adventures that a person will experience working at NASA. It invites viewers to be apart of the "party" therefore giving a connection to people who share a mutual interest.
I think the recruitment strategy will be successful because of the online interaction that will allow techies to connect with one another. I know that they also have an Instagram link to communicate with astronauts where techies can get an interactive idea of the projects and ask questions.
I think that NASA will probably have success with this campaign in reaching the "Techie" subculture and even bringing awareness to others outside of this subculture. I do not consider myself in the Techie subculture but who doesn't find space exploration super cool and fascinating? This taps into the core value we spoke about of responsibility. Many feel it is our responsibility as people on this planet to explore life on others. One of the posts talks about the 3D printer and the responsibility of those at NASA to create the lightest parts possible. This backs up the responsibility factor. Relating to the happiness studies, this is absolutely all about the experience factor.
NASA’s Instagram recruiting campaign not only spoke to their followers about the work they do but it showed how much they appreciate their team (“techies”) and look forward to bringing new members on board. The recruitment tool gave off a feeling of oneness between the Instagram followers, the current employees and potential employees of NASA. The oneness comes from the shared interest in technological advancement and the techies who make advancement possible. Because NASA is such a well renowned and credible institution outsiders may feel as though a career with them in out of reach; this campaign would put an end to those feelings and open NASA doors to new potential talent. By showing the variety of technologies they displayed what things they are doing all while highlighting what fields a potential employee could work within...making a career with NASA feel possible. NASA makes use of at least two of Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion; authority & liking. NASA, being such a reputable institution is trusted to be an honorable place to work-who wouldn't love to be or work with astronauts? The use of cool photos of their technology gets millenials (and other generations) to like them as a group they want to be a part of.
Ann Messinger
(I have no idea why I cannot remove the "Lucy in the Sky" moniker used in a previous course)
Hi class!
Happy Monday. Hope all is well!
I want to address Professor Lehrer’s first question, “who will respond to NASA’s Instagram campaign?” (See Post). Prior to doing any research, I assumed that Instagram’s largest platform would be the Millennial generation. That said, I wanted to confirm my hypothesis. Here is what I found: “Over 90% of the 150 million people on Instagram are under the age of 35, which makes it an attractive platform for many apparel, entertainment, and media brands focused on the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket. Now that Instagram has begun testing ads, it's a good time to dig deeper into its audience” (Smith).
It makes sense that NASA is targeting both the 18 to 34 and techie sub-culture. In my opinion, I find NASA’s six posts in one day to be somewhat excessive, perhaps even obnoxious. What I do think, however, is that the company is incredibly strategic in the layout of their posts. NASA starts with an individual, and the caption on that post claims that without such technology, these individuals really could not innovate to the same extent. The four following posts feature current projects of the company. And, the final posts states, “WE NEED YOU.”
I am currently looking through the “what are my values?” handout. I find that NASA’s six posts will reach the individuals, who circled achievement, advancement, challenging problems, creativity, intellectual status, knowledge, mental challenge, power and authority, sophistication, and perhaps a few others. I do think that NASA’s campaign will in fact be a successful recruitment tool.
Additionally, I find NASA’s posts to tap into authority. In class, we defined authority as the idea that people will follow credible knowledgeable experts; it is important to credit yourself to others before trying to influence them. NASA does just this!
I cannot wait to read the rest of your posts. See you tomorrow!
Best,
Grace
Smith, Cooper. “Here’s Why Instagram’s Demographics Are So Attractive To Brands.” Business Insider, Business Insider. 17 August 2014. .
NASA shared some photos about their daily works, and they want to create a science tribe to recruit more people. It use people's hobbies and curiosity to motivate the people. I believe NASA understand that people are seeking new experience to achieve happiness that money can't buy.
NASA also used two Cialdini principles, the first one is liking, they talk about how they love their employees and the science community. The second is scarcity, since only NASA can provide these high-tech machine and space adventure. I believe NASA can recruit some people, however, that's depended on their budget and only small portion of the population have a master degree.
It's a good strategy for NASA to publish these notification at the National Techies Day. The particular period makes lots of people who are interested in techies or not notice their information. NASA shows the scarcity of the real technology lovers and influences that technology made on our world in order to invite people who are interested in techies and want to explore more about the world to join the team. NASA also target the younger population by providing the techies competition to students. It is quite motivative that people's works at NASA are for contributing the society, rather than just generating money. I think Cialdini's principles all work here, especially reciprocity. NASA provides great conditions for techies lovers and they will get high reputation if new innovations are come out. The recruitment strategy will be successful since the Instagram can approach lots of users. So the values of these posts can be clearly transferred to viewers.
Shixiong Yang
Hi everyone,
I saw the NASA posted several pictures on National Techies Day on Ins. I think they want get people’s attention and let more people love technology. They are clearly target the techie sub-culture. On the ins, they use many pictures and videos to attract more and more people. They want passionate ad talented people to join the 'tribe' of their Techie community. Techie technology are used widely, even in a commercial world. I think principle apply there is liking. They are looking for some talented people and people who like techie technology. People prefer to cooperate with others because same hobbies or similarity to them. They will pursue their goal more effectively. I think this campaign will be a successful recruitment tool for NASA. They have such huge followers on Ins, Nowadays, people always use social media as a way to get new information. I think most of the followers love technology and techie, otherwise they won’t follow NASA. If they are interested in, they will join the “tribe” of techie community. Therefore, it’s a successful recruitment tool for NASA.
Jinjin Lu
It was clear that NASA’s Instagram was targeting a certain sub-culture that specific day. As mentioned it was National Techies day when they posted all six of these pictures, which from the first picture to the last were 4 hours apart. Something out of the usual for a page that professor Lehrer said posted only one to two pictures at most a day. The posts included hashtags that showed that they NASA was not only targeting techies, but also one that shows a high level of interest in the fields of Math, Engineering and Science.
The fact that they are recruiting via Instagram shows that NASA has changed the way that they want to interact with their perspective employees. Instagram is by far one of the most popular social media apps, especially for this generation. It would be interesting if NASA had posted any of these pictures between the time frame of 7PM-10PM because that is when it is reported for engagement to be at its highest. Working at NASA is possibly a dream job for many younger individuals, but posting online with those hashtags can make people feel like it is closer then they imagined. In regard to Cialdini’s principles I believe they touch on the aspect of “liking” because these posts show what work could be like over at NASA. I think that there is a chance that this can be a successful campaign because of the fact that techies are very interactive especially online.
I think that NASA will success about this Campaign. First, they uploaded the material on the instagam which the most of the users are Gen Z or younger generation. People are more easily to accept the information about the tech and effective way to spread out to the SNS through click like button. They well know their specific target and how to advertise their campaign.
Also they uploaded several pictures which is related with their tech and introduce to the people. At the end, they posted the picture which includes "WE NEED YOU" sign on the last which is encourage people to get involve in the recruitment. It's a innovative strategy.
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