ROLES
Site Editor
As Site Editor at Interior Design (ID), I oversaw all digital channels inclusive of interiordesign.net, four weekly newsletters, all social channels, video, as well as leading the development of a new sister site homes.interiordesign.net. While a portion of my duties encompassed repackaging print content for the site (usually rewriting headlines for SEO), the bulk of my work involved reviewing pitches and assigning, writing, and editing online-exclusive stories (including branded content); scheduling 12-15 social posts per day per channel; curating, writing headlines, and art directing newsletters; and directing and editing videos.
Writing and Editing
Chief among my responsibilities at ID was to ensure that an ongoing stream of new content appeared on the site daily, ranging from breaking news, industry announcements, editorial features, and sponsored content. On an average day I would field 10-15 pitches from publicists and freelancers and work with a large stable of writers to assign and edit projects on widely different timelines to ensure we stayed on track with the editorial calendar while writing and editing my own pieces.
NEW YORK CITY’S LOWLINE PROJECT IS ONE STEP CLOSER TO BECOMING A REALITY
WRITING
ART MEETS LIFE AT THE NEWLY RENOVATED SAINT MARTINS LOFTS BY 19 GREEK STREET
EDITING
LLADRÓ DESIGNING CUSTOM VERSION OF THE GUEST FOR INAUGURAL NYCxDESIGN AWARDS
WRITING
6 NEW BUILDS IN DENVER’S BURGEONING METROPOLIS
EDITING
10 QUESTIONS WITH CHRIS DOWNEY
EDITING
POLTRONA FRAU GROUP AND HAWORTH ACQUIRE JANUS et CIE
WRITING
ART INSPIRES ARCHITECTURE IN THE BOSTON OFFICE OF ELKUS MANFREDI ARCHITECTS
EDITING
Email Marketing
In addition to writing and editing editorial content, I led the curation, writing, editing, and art directing of three weekly newsletters (Designwire, 7 Must-Reads, and Featured Products) and an ongoing bi-weekly sponsored newsletter (Dedicated), each with their own unique audience averaging 58,000 subscribers. Working with our VP of Digital, I sought to bolster open and click-through rates with copious A-B tests encompassing deployment times, subject line text, imagery, and CTAs. Efforts from second quarter 2016 to third quarter 2016 yielded an 11% increase in opens and a 7% increase in click-throughs for Designwire while Featured Products and Dedicated remained flat. I also helped oversee the launch of the Interior Design Homes newsletter to align with the launch of the new sister site as well as the redesign of 7 Must-Reads whose click-through rate increased 17% between 2nd quarter and 3rd quarter 2016 likely as a result of its visual revamp.
Going All-in on Video
ID already had an ongoing stream of video initiatives when I arrived, covering everything from industry events, trade shows, project walk-throughs, and designer interviews. But when Facebook confidently declared that video was the future, we went all-in, nearly doubling our planned video output for 2016. I also oversaw a visual refresh of our video projects, introducing more sophisticated motion graphics that incorporated ID’s signature typeface and orange branding.
As part of our big push into video, ID’s Sales team ramped up efforts to sell sponsored showroom tours at one of the industry’s largest conventions, NeoCon. In 2015 the team had sold 15, but for 2016, the team reached 31. After reviewing previous tours I knew we could improve not only the production quality of each video but also infuse each tour with the element of story. Previously, showroom tours simply spotlighted new products and their features which made them feel recognizably sponsored and lacking an editorial voice and vision, but I worked with brands to schedule each tour and develop an editorial brief to dimensionalize each video and create a more compelling hook.
Bringing Offline Online
The print and digital teams operated on separate workflows, but at each issue’s close I was tasked with repackaging print content for both interiordesign.net and homes.interiordesign.net. Esoteric headlines were made SEO-friendly, images were optimized with a mobile-first mindset, and similar story types were curated to build upon our internal linking and SEO strategy.
Collaborating with Strategic Partners
In concert with the VP of Digital and Director of Digital Ad Operations, I worked with advertisers to develop branded content spanning sponsored social posts, the Dedicated newsletter, native ad write-ups on the site, and videos.
Growing Social Channels
When I joined Interior Design, the brand already had 4M+ followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. My goal was to expand our reach and attract more qualified followers—design professionals, not just enthusiasts.
On Facebook, our largest channel (4.5M followers), engagement and click-throughs rose sharply after we aligned content with our new Interior Design Homes spinoff. Click-throughs increased from 22% to 41% in three months, with Home content driving 77% of that traffic. We also grew followers by 10.8% and launched Facebook Live programming—from editor interviews to event coverage—boosting reach and taking advantage of algorithms that prioritized the new functionality.
On Instagram, we shifted from weekly to twice-daily posting, and followers grew 340%, from 110K to 370K during my tenure.