Fossil Hall view with dinosaur mounts

#DeepTime Fossil Hall Social Media Campaigns

Unprecedented access and audience participation

Dinosaurs capture imaginations young and old. The Smithsonian and its National Museum of Natural History capitalized on the public’s passion for all things “paleo” to present social media campaigns that would inspire a new generation of scientists and science enthusiasts. While our campaigns featured plenty of sharp teeth and fierce fossils, we also shared stories of the humans whose research helps us understand the distant geological past—known as #DeepTime—as well as current life on our changing planet. 

Humanizing scientists and creating approachable entry points into science were at the heart of our six-month campaign concluding in June 2019 with the opening of the new hall. We brought scientists and audiences together, sparking meaningful interactions that led to 1.1 million engagements for our 892 posts across platforms and over 7.6K uses of the hashtag in the two-week finale of the campaign.  

Sneak peek tours

Through Twitter, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Stories, we invited our followers inside the fossil hall before it opened to the public. The snackable social media tour gave audiences a taste of 3.7 billion years of life on Earth, starting with a battle between T. rex and Triceratops. A pre-opening event connected 42 diverse influencers with our paleontologists and resulted in 17K engagements for 81 posts.

Feeding audience curiosity about the Cretaceous—and cats

In our nine-episode IGTV series “The Dr. Is In,” Smithsonian paleontologist Dr. Hans Sues answered audience questions about dinosaurs and, because it’s the internet, house cats. One parent commented, “My seven year old is going through Dr. Sues withdrawal. Please bring this funny, informative, delightful series back ASAP.”

Meet the new faces of paleontology

From laying on the floor to illustrate the size of an ancient fossil sea monster to divulging their research into dinosaur body size, seven young Smithsonian paleontologists took over the National Museum of Natural History’s Instagram account to share authentic first-hand stories of #ThisPaleoLife.

Ask the paleontologists

Using the Questions tool on Instagram Stories, our audiences asked questions of Smithsonian paleontologists in three sessions, providing access to staff experts and behind-the-scenes spaces where specimens such as mammoth teeth are stored and studied. Topics ranged from extinct ocean monsters to petite T. rex arms.

Matthew Carrano

Deep Time opening

Ask about extinct mammoths

Mystery fossil guessing games

Can you name the animal from a few of its bones? Our social media audiences became fossil detectives with an interactive guessing game. While sparking curiosity and honing observation skills in dino pros and novices, we communicated the idea that specimens aren’t found in a complete state, but in pieces that scientists must learn from.

How we built that

Project manager Siobhan Starrs took over the @Smithsonian Instagram account the week the fossil hall opened, revealing what it took to build the exhibition, from the large team required to carefully install the T.  rex pelvis to the creation of subtle details, such as an extra tiny family of roosting bats in a diorama’s miniature Paleogene Forest scene.

Doodle your dino

Recognizing that the best way to inspire the next generation of scientists who will tackle global challenges is to appeal to both their thirst for knowledge and their passion for big, awesome dinosaurs, we aimed to put the right amount of playfulness into our science communications. We challenged social media audiences and museum visitors to share their dino drawings with us, including one made by the Smithsonian’s dinosaur curator in second grade. His childhood dino dreams really came true—and we hope they do for many of our audience members as well.