Bill Nye, patents, and Play Doh — oh my!

This column was originally published on Catie Miller’s blog at Public Social, I Love You and was republished here with permission from the author.

I was talking to someone recently who said working in government “feels like a thing I should really do,” but was bemoaning the fact that it was so hard to get hired. Fair! Navigating government HR — especially federal HR — is not for the faint of heart.

Talking about government can be even harder. Before you open your mouth or type a word, you need to know what regulations, lawyers, or political appointees will allow you to say publicly. For social media staff, add in the perception that anyone posting to an account is a fresh-faced intern–despite the fact over 68% of American adults use Facebook and other social platforms. This is a J-O-B, people!

It can also be challenging to find resources. Your agency may be strapped for cash, and you’re a social media army of one. Or IT and budget restrictions prevent you from downloading a certain app that would make scheduling posts so much easier.

Yet we persist. Thrive, even. The communicators I have met in public service are some of the most generous people I have ever met. Generous with their time, their expertise, and their passion for their agency’s mission.

This week I spoke with Amanda Dolasinski, the Social Media Manager for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Amanda is a trained journalist, and it shows. Not to mention, she taught me a thing or two about Play Doh.

Let’s jump in.

Catie Miller: First, can you tell me how you found your way into social media? 

Amanda Dolasinski: Long before I started creating social media content, I was a newspaper reporter. I studied print journalism at The Ohio State University and worked for daily newspapers and a national military association’s magazine for about 14 years.

In 2021, I moved into communications and served as the communications officer for the City of Alexandria’s Stormwater Management Division. I was tasked with creating messaging on the division’s efforts to protect water quality as well as the city’s efforts to build and repair infrastructure to mitigate flooding. This is where I started honing my social media skills because, quite frankly, sewers aren’t a glamorous topic to create messaging on.

I joined the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January 2023, where I’m responsible for helping to craft the agency’s social media strategy, as well as creating content tailored for agency platforms.

CM: Patents can be an abstract concept for people. How do you connect to your audience? 

AD: We look for ways to make patents relatable and easy to understand.

One tactic for this is joining  the conversation during pop culture moments. On Star Wars Day, we created a video that put a USPTO spin on iconic lines from the movie to teach people about these types of intellectual property protections.  Both the sound of lightsabers and Darth Vader’s breathing are protected by federal sound marks (trademarks for sounds). Most people may not realize sounds can have federal trademark protection, so while everyone was talking about Star Wars, the USPTO entered the conversation to teach people about these lesser-known federal protections.

CM: I admire the fun reels and collaborations you have been able to do. Bill Nye has patents! Who knew?! How have some of those moments come to be?

AD: Patents and trademarks are everywhere, but it’s not always obvious.  I take a proactive approach to finding ways to connect patents and trademarks to people.

Through an internet search and confirmation in the agency patent database, I found Bill Nye has three patents. Bill was a staple of my childhood education, and I knew he had recognition from an international audience that spans generations. Because of his wider audience, I knew if Bill would talk about his patents, he could help us reach new audiences.

I reached out to Nye’s publicist to ask if he would be willing to shoot a short video for USPTO social media channels to talk about what his patents mean to him. I couldn’t pay him, so I appealed to his passion for education. I was transparent and told his publicist I wouldn’t be able to compensate Bill for the video, but hoped he would be inclined to help the agency with educational messaging. I also offered to tag any accounts. Bill loved the idea and sent a video to us when he was able to fit it into his schedule. According to our metrics (as of June 2024), Bill’s video has reached more than 28,200 unique accounts and has been played more than 24,700 times on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

CM: Your pitching game is clearly strong! Any advice for others in government social? 

AD: Take the chance and make the pitch. I find more often than not, agencies and organizations want to come alongside the USPTO to help with educational messaging. Make sure pitches clearly state the government agency’s goal and what the ask of the collaborating agency or organization is. I always offer to tag accounts and attribute images/videos properly.

CM: We are always asked about legal permissions in government. How are you able to source and use images?

AD: As the federal intellectual property protection agency, we are hypersensitive to the responsibility of protecting other people’s intellectual property, including images. We regularly use images that are part of our public documents, such as patent drawings and trademark specimens. We also source images from the owners — with permission and attribution, press kits, and images with no known copyright restrictions from the Library of Congress and National Archives. We do not use images that we can not confirm we have permission to use, which includes memes or GIFs. In those cases, we create our own memes and GIFs (seriously, search @USPTO on Giphy 😊).

CM: Looking at all these patents and trademarks, you have a wealth of fun content to use/pull from. Any favorites?

AD: There are so many projects I’ve loved working on over the past year and a half. One of my favorites was asking people on the street to smell a mystery scent and guess what it was. This was to educate them on federal scent marks, which are trademarks for scent — a lesser-known federal protection. I found Play-Doh has a scent mark, which was a perfect example because I knew the nostalgia factor would get adults. They would recognize the scent, but probably struggle to pinpoint exactly what it was. I stuffed Play-Doh in an unmarked box, grabbed two colleagues and we walked around Old Town Alexandria to ask people to smell and guess. People’s reactions were genuine and hilarious. The video even got the attention of Play-Doh, which commented “Woo hoo 🙌”

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