Setting Hearts - Not States - On Fire
Rachel Terlep and Her Memes Prevent Forest Fires
Several years ago I found myself running a government social media account. After that first, brief, moment of panic (the can-I-do-this-yes-I-can feeling), I got to work.
First, I familiarized myself with the channel and its content and analytics. I dug into posts and asked a lot of questions. Second, I looked around to see who was in this public space and doing it well. That’s when I found the social media account from the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The account was deadpan, funny, and informative. I immediately wanted to know who was behind it.
Today I am thrilled to share: It’s the amazing Rachel Terlep! Rachel is the former senior social media manager for @WASHDNR on instagram and @WADNR on X. I spoke to her right before she transitioned to @WSDOT.
Catie Miller: First, can you tell me about your time @WADNR? I know you joined in 2021 and I discovered the account shortly thereafter. What was your role?
Rachel Terlep: I was hired as the senior social media manager in April 2021. Washington DNR is interesting because it's separate from the state's Fish & Wildlife and State Parks agencies. In many states, those three are under one umbrella. The DNR's mission is centered on trust land and natural resource management and generating revenue for the trust beneficiaries. Our charge was to tell that story in a way that our constituents could understand and relate to.
CM: Your team was allowed to experiment, which is always a plus. When did you realize you found the right voice and tone?
RT: On Twitter, I tested out a sort of 'deadpan' voice here and there throughout my first six months. Not only did we want to gauge the audience response, but I was still very much learning the broader agency story. I have to know what I'm saying before I can say it with any kind of authority.
By January 2022, we had a couple of popular winter closure tweets, and it was like, "Ok, we're going from dipping our toes to jumping all the way in. This is our voice." Once I brought Mary (DNR's former social media manager) on board, we began to pivot towards Instagram. At that point, shareable square graphics were all the rage, so we tested those a bit. Then, as the algorithm shifted, we started playing with Reels. I'd say we hit our Instagram stride by the end of 2022.
CM: In an interview, you mentioned you have weekly brainstorms with your team to develop new content and identify trends. What does that look like? How would you decide if a trend is for your brand or not?
RT: That job was made 20 times easier by having a communications team that was equal parts plugged into the agency mission and outright hilarious. We'd have a loose agenda of ideas to get the brain juices flowing. We'd dissect trends/memes/styles of videos and determine if we had something to offer in that space. We'd make sure the trend wasn't rooted in something mean-spirited or something that made a marginalized community the butt of the joke.
Sometimes those brainstorms were random 10 p.m. texts from teammates saying things like, "What if we had a firefighter do a wildfire readiness assessment of a Barbie Dream Home?" It was ultimately about being open to exploring every "what if we...?" that came to mind. They didn't always pan out, but they often served as the springboard to an idea that did pan out.
CM: What’s one of your favorite posts?
RT: Oof. It's like picking a favorite child. The pumpkin spice PSA and the subsequent follow-up tweet hold a special place in my heart because it was the most fun I've ever had on Twitter. The community was riffing off our original post, taking it to some hilarious extremes, and being dramatic in the best possible way.
Several other Washington-based agencies jumped in too, so it was a true community moment. It was one of those times when everyone understood the assignment and brought their A-game to the replies. It was a lesson in acknowledging when your community is being playful and seizing the moment to keep those good vibes going.
CM: You’ve recently moved to the Washington Department of Transportation (@WSDOT). Do you have plans to change the voice or types of posts?
RT: WSDOT was one of my biggest sources of inspiration when I first started at DNR. The then-social media manager, Mike, ran the ship for more than a decade and helped create one of the best state DOT accounts in the country. He focused on an authentic, transparent, and conversational tone that was, at the time, still pretty novel for a government account. If they needed to talk about an unusual traffic event but didn't have a visual? He'd just draw a rough interpretation with a pen and paper. It was such a departure from the "everything has to be a clean and highly-branded graphic" approach. And people loved it.
As far as what I'll do at WSDOT, I'm very much in the "watch and absorb" portion of the job. It's a very different world. As a transportation agency, social media is treated as one of the most important communications mediums - we have roads and trains and bridges and bike lanes, things that touch people's everyday lives. WSDOT is a much larger agency, too. At DNR, there were two of us. At WSDOT, a large group of communicators all contribute content. And I'm just in awe at the things they think of - writing (and recording!) an entire song about bridge lanes reopening or creating Microsoft Paint Maps to warn travelers about weekend traffic. I am really excited to work with them.
CM: You are from Indiana and you have said a big part of getting inspired and finding your brand’s voice on social media was tied to you exploring the PNW and discovering it for the first time. Several years in, how do you stay fresh?
RT: It never felt stale at DNR because my experience there was almost like unlocking new areas of a map in a video game. I started with a lot of Recreate Responsibly content because that was familiar to me. Then, I started collaborating more with the geology team. Then wildfire. Then forestry. Then aquatics. Everyone was so proud of the work they did and eager to share it. I learned so much from them. Now at WSDOT, there's a whole new lexicon to learn and stories to uncover. I've just learned that we have a dive team that inspects bridges and an avalanche control team that uses explosives to trigger avalanches. I'm pretty excited to explore both of those more.
CM: Any favorite accounts - gov or otherwise - that are a must follow for you?
RT: We all love the National Parks accounts. On X, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission are the absolute best examples of making an agency that doesn't inherently have an exciting mission unique, engaging, and fun.
On Instagram, no one does it better than the Milwaukee Public Library. An incredible marriage of creativity and a staff that leans all the way in. In the DOT world, I'm a big admirer of the Utah Department of Transportation. They had an incredible TikTok that unfortunately got shut down, but they made a brilliant pivot to Instagram.
CM: What advice do you have for fellow government employees looking to find their social media niche?
RT: Pay attention to how you use social media, how your friends and family use it. What are they sharing? What draws your eye, as a user? How can you adapt your strategy to capitalize on those preferences? Pay attention to other accounts in your industry that do it well. And take risks if you’re given the space. You will not learn until you try.
Big thanks to Rachel for taking the time to sit down and answer these questions.
Before we go, check out this round-up of Olympics posts from public accounts. I enjoyed seeing groups like the Library of Congress and NSW Department of Education participate in a cultural moment in a way that was authentic to them.
Finally, if you haven’t heard, Instagram is updating their metrics - and now allowing up to 20 images on a carousel.
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