We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dr. Brian Curtice. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dr. Brian below.

Dr. Brian , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

We launched during Covid to “Bring the Museum Home” since so many museums had closed. I realized that, though I’d never used social media, I didn’t have FB, Twitter, or YouTube accounts and had no idea what Instagram and TikTok were; these were the most expedient ways to share the wonders of paleontology.

I decided to run the Fossil Crates social media personally. I didn’t want to, far from it, but no one else had easy access to 30 years of paleo images and a deep knowledge of taxonomy, anatomy, and morphology. I pick images I think are cool, select music with lyrics that complement the subject, and provide lots of accompanying text that isn’t simply warmed-up Wikipedia facts but rather comes from the academic literature and my personal experiences.

The results have been great! One video went “viral” with over 4 million views, and we’ve had a few other million+ videos. I am the person typing responses to our 50k+ FB and IG followers, and I have to say I’ve learned a lot from them! We are expanding our YT offerings, which are often educational, and I do all the video editing, so be kind :-)! We are looking at trying out TikTok in 2024.

Social media takes time. I spend nearly an hour each day writing content, editing videos, and responding to questions and comments. I view it as an investment as I’ve learned what paleo fans like and showcased our products in fun ways. We weren’t an overnight success; it has taken years of consistent content to achieve what we have. To business owners considering social media, all I can say is to be authentic and consistent.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m “that guy,” the one who loved dinosaurs since birth, sharing their awesomeness even if you didn’t want to hear it, and I simply never outgrew it. Dinosaurs are the best gateway to science. They empower youth, providing a massive vocabulary and word fearlessness, with new animals being named weekly with names parents can’t even say. You probably know a young person who can effortlessly rattle off Pachycephalosaurus and can tell you what that 18-letter name means and how to spell it, all by age 5! Dinosaurs lead more people to become scientists than any other subject. I read all I could about them, checking out every book seemingly ever written about them from my local library. I knew I wanted to be a paleontologist as far back as I can remember, but there is no single path to becoming one. Every paleontologist has a unique journey.

Fossil Crates formed during Covid, when museums worldwide closed their doors. We created a way to share our access to dinosaur and other prehistoric specimens never before seen by the world. I asked museums if I could sell casts of their neatest teeth, claws, and jaws, paying them a royalty on each item sold. To our delight, many said, “Yes! Every dollar counts.” For each cast we commission unique artwork and I write a fact sheet. Our wooden crates are some of the most fun items to unbox, the casts nestled inside a burlap sack sitting atop wood shavings, the way fossils were shipped in the early 1900s.

We offer museum-quality casts of amazing specimens, with more always coming out. Our products expanded from crates to Scaled Skulls, 3D-printed skulls made from scans of the original bones. We also sell the skulls we display in museums to the public.

I am proudest of our involvement with the Ankizy Fund, a 501(c)3 charity helping save the lives of Malagasy children. Beelzebufo, the “devil toad,” Adalatherium, the “crazy beast,” and the incomparable Majungasaurus are but some of our Madagascar fossil cast offerings. Every Madagascar item sold improves the life of a Malagasy child.

Fossil Crates hasn’t ignored the future! Our virtual reality Tyrannosaurus rex is better than anything Hollywood has offered, and our digital exhibits are some of the best in the world. With museums reopening, we now offer, via our ExpressExhibits.com website, some of the most spectacular paleo exhibits ever at budgets the smallest of museums can afford.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

FossilCrates.com sits atop a Shopify backend. I had never built a website or run an e-commerce business, yet there I was in 2020, staring at a blank Shopify template. Two hours later, I had the site up and running! I couldn’t believe it. Shopify had done the impossible, allowing a dirt-digging paleo lad to create a fully functional e-commerce platform. Over the ensuing week, I spent many hours photographing specimens, writing copy, and learning about SEO. Shopify made it incredibly easy. From inventory to shipping labels to returns, all the modules you need to run a business from start to finish are included in their basic package! Thank you, Shopify!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Authenticity! I am an actual paleontologist. I specialize in sauropod dinosaurs, the ones with the long neck and even longer tails. Because I write our social media posts, they are typically laden with jargon, I don’t “dumb down” the science in our posts, rather, I treat the audience with respect. I can’t tell you how many people have DM’d me, thanking me for explaining something they hadn’t understood, or answering their questions in friendly ways.

I provide images and videos that the public doesn’t always have access to, and the accompanying text with our social posts provides lots of information. Some teachers use my posts as a “fact of the day” for their classrooms. How cool is that?

Our products are “the real deal” in that they are actually in museums on display around the world. We sell casts made from the actual specimens and include facts and artwork unavailable elsewhere. When new discoveries are made, I update the factsheets and artwork.

We provide an unmatched unboxing experience with our wooden crates. They are the perfect gift for dinosaur fans. We keep bringing new products to the market with new teeth/claws/jaws, Scaled Skulls, and digital products like our Experiential Reality Tyrannosaurs rex.

I love sharing the academic publications (we have roughly one every quarter!) and professional presentations with Fossil Crates fans. I have a book coming out on 27 dinosaurs people haven’t heard of, which was fun to write as I learned about dinosaurs even I hadn’t heard of!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fossilcrates.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fossilcrates/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FossilCratesDrBC/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Fossilcrates
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/fossilcrates