Poets Corner Reading Series
Event Promotion
Poets Corner featured famous and aspiring poets at monthly gatherings un-interrupted for 26 years. While the pandemic sent them Zoom-ward, they were keen to revive community vibes in-person.
Overview
Poets Corner’s strongest assets were its loyal community and passionate board.
Each month, the non-profit society provided a paid opportunity for two well-known Canadian poets to read and promote their latest books. The gathering also featured open mic spots for 10 to 15 attendees.
The Society’s main communication platform was an email newsletter. Secondary were its website and YouTube channels. Social media accounts existed but had only sporadic attention.
My Approach
An introductory conversation allowed us to explore values and goals as a potential partnership, as well as the preferences and pet peeves of the Society’s unique audience.
After auditing the results of their current promotional strategy, I drew up an agreement detailing my strategies, timelines, and commitments, including:
- Newsletter refresh
- Email strategy
- Social Media
- Event Support
Newsletter Design
Before
- Small font
- Text heavy
- Inconsistent distribution schedule
- Lacked a clear call to action
After
First step was to freshen the design with a larger font, more images, links to the website, and a more streamlined, branded look.
Next I turned my attention to the copy, writing an opening “Letter from the Team” and other columns all in the same friendly, poetically nerdy tone as I observed at events.
Additional Changes
- Peppered CTA throughout the newsletter: Join us in person!
- Created mini-features such as Q and As with guest poets, Writing Prompt ideas, Poetry News, and Pay the Poets
- Invited subscribers to follow links to website for more info
- Increased frequency to twice monthly
The Readings
Experiencing the welcoming atmosphere of these gatherings in person was key to my success on this project.
My In-Person Contributions
- Announced donation opportunities and helped with the pass the hat system.
- Monitored the Chapbook sales.
- Welcomed guest speakers and attendees.
- Facilitated discussions and Q and As
- Took photos for social media. (I’m clearly not a photographer, but the “rustic” style worked with the group’s DIY tone)
- Strategized fundraising, tech support and promotions at monthly meetings.
- Chased authors for photos, bios and responses to Q and As.
Social Media
Paid Social
For a decade, Poets Corner had maintained a Facebook Group, which had limited capacity for promotion.
I designed and set up a Facebook Page account to take advantage of paid promotions and events listings.
Created monthly Facebook events pages, wrote descriptions, and set up target audiences for paid promotions.
Designed graphics, wrote copy, and set target audiences for paid Facebook ads
Organic Social Posts
To engage Poets’ current community, I increased the organic posting schedule to twice weekly and established four content pillars:
- Upcoming featured speakers – biographical information, images of the poet and book, previously published poems, answers to my Q and A interiews
- Poetry news – contest winners, quotes from essayists, etc.
- Poems or excerpts related to seasonal or current events
- Photos and videos from the events
Instagram carousel adapted from an interview with Metis poet Jonina Kirton.
I wanted to say thank you for the work that you did for us over the past year and a half. You gave our newsletter a fresh new look, came up with great content ideas, and improved our social media outreach. You were always professional in carrying out your activities for Poets Corner and we could count on you to deliver, on time, each month.
Let's Work Together!
I’m curious …. what kind of community do you want to build?