content Portfolio
Current position: Head of Content @ Instaread, Inc.
About the company: Instaread is a publishing and podcast startup that offers subscribers access to a growing library of well-researched summaries of new and classic bestselling books, as well as original content streams that are unique to the Instaread app. Instaread also licenses exclusive content from the New York Times licensing group for conversion to audio and distribution to subscribers.
My role: Originally hired as Managing Editor, I built the Instaread publication pipeline from the ground up by hiring a team of writers and editors to produce dozens of short publications each month. Throughout this process, I refined production operations to achieve higher quality output at greater efficiency.
After two years of building this asset repository, I was elevated to Head of Content. In this capacity, I manage the development of all Instaread content across platforms and media, including email, push notifications, blog entries, web copy, video features, and social media. I also select the content that Instaread licenses from third parties according to insights gleaned from back-end user engagement data. I oversee marketing and engagement content strategy while still functioning as Managing Editor for product content.
My work places me at the intersection of product and marketing content strategy, and I have specialized in the development of brand voice for communications across channels. At Instaread, the product is content. This means that content marketing, engagement campaigns, and calls to action must all reflect a brand voice that is already familiar and well established in the product itself, while still accomplishing their various functions.
In summary: I lead a small but mighty team of writers and designers to help a young startup get the most bang for its buck. Samples of our content and communications work appear below.
Email body for LIBRARY2020 promotion.
email promotion: Retention
“A Special Offer from Instaread” Recurring promotion. Email auto-generated as users fulfill criteria.
Instaread issues a number of semi-annual promotions, as well as special offers that are sent to targeted cohorts of users.
This promotion is targeted to users who have downloaded the Instaread app and added content to their personal libraries, but who have not yet committed to a paid subscription. The purpose of this email is to encourage users with a demonstrated interest in the product, and who have engaged with specific pieces of content within the app, to purchase a discounted subscription.
Production details: I identified the user funnel, commissioned artwork, and wrote the text for this promotion.
Funnel: trial users who have added 3 pieces of content to their personal libraries, and who then allowed their trial subscriptions to lapse without consuming the saved content.
Open rate: 22%
Conversion rate: 0.6% of recipients respond with payment for an annual subscription.
Detail from “So You Wanna Be Successful?” Email promotion featuring Instaread Success Stories on Sheryl Sandberg, Tim Ferriss, and Kylie Jenner.
email promotion: ENGagement
“So You Wanna Be Successful?” Recurring promotion. Email auto-generated as users fulfill criteria.
Instaread produces an original series of content called “Success Stories.” These profiles describe the trajectories of influential executives and the bold decisions and tradeoffs they’ve made en route to the top of their respective fields. I lead product design and manage the editorial processes for this content module. Profile subjects are selected according to an algorithm I developed to predict engagement success.
I also create targeted content marketing emails directed at users who engage with specific Success Stories. The email promotion shown here targets users who opened the Instaread Success Story on Jeff Bezos, one of the most popular pieces of content in the Instaread library. The text of the email encourages users to continue by sampling Instaread Success Stories on Sheryl Sandberg, Tim Ferriss, and Kylie Jenner.
Production details: I identified the user funnel, wrote text, and designed the layout for this promotion.
Open rate: 10.3%
Conversion rates:
12 % of users who received the message opened the app.
2 % of recipients opened the app directly from the email.
Content Marketing Blog Post
“What’s Going On With WeWork?” The Nugget. 9 September 2019.
Written during the weeks of turmoil leading up to WeWork’s stalled IPO, this blog post offers an analysis of reporting on WeWork’s 2019 summer of discontent. The post provided updated context for a feature that Instaread licensed from The New York Times Magazine for audio production and publication to the app. That article, titled, “The Rise of the WeWorking Class,” was one of the top-performing pieces of content published to the Instaread app when it debuted. The blog entry and corresponding email generated a renewed surge of engagement with the article months after the initial release in May 2019.
Production details: I conceived the topic for this post and assigned it to a writer on my team. Upon receipt of the content, I edited, formatted, and published the post.
email promotion: new release
“How Much Do They Know?” New release email blast. 3 October 2019.
This email promotion announces the publication of a new release in the Instaread Original Short Cuts series, titled, “The Data Trade.”
Instaread sends five new release emails per week, each of which showcases one to three new releases.
Production details: I conceived the topic and assigned the research and writing of this Short Cut to a writer on my team. Upon receipt, I fact-checked and edited the content prior to publication. Another writer on my team wrote copy for the email promotion, which I then edited and scheduled. The promotion mailed to more than 99,000 past and present Instaread app users and, along with a corresponding push notification, generated 1475 unique engagements for the app within 48 hours.
Email promotion for“ The Data Trade.” An Instaread Original Short Cut.
Content marketing blog post
“Five Tools Used by Highly Effective People” Promotional blog post. The Nugget. 23 May 2019.
This post was commissioned by the marketing manager to be used in paid advertisements intended to drive traffic to the Instaread landing page, where visitors are encouraged to sign up for a free trial of the app.
Production details: Along with a writer on my team, I co-wrote the post, then edited and revised it to meet the specifications of the marketing manager.
Stable link to promotion text: click here.
Email promotion for: “Sex on the Brain.” A licensed publication from The New York Times Magazine.
Email promotion: New release
“Sex on the Brain” New release email blast. 29 September 2019.
This email promotion announces the publication of a new release from one of Instaread’s partner publications, The New York Times Magazine.
Production details: As managing editor and content director, I choose the articles Instaread licenses from partner publications, using a number of data feedback signals to inform my selections. I supervise the audio production and art renderings for each third-party publication. A writer on my team produces the first draft of each promotional email, which I edit and schedule for release.