Gastro Obscura
I created templates in Canva for audience team members to use for single posts, carousels, and stories on Instagram.
Most of the time, content shared on the Gastro Obscura account was a photo without headlines or graphics. But occasionally, the team wanted to provide context for a non-food photo, or tease a feature article with a social-focused headline.
These templates made sure the graphics created for these use cases would be legible, not too busy, and visually on-brand. These templates also helped make content production for branded partners faster and more consistent.
I also suggested that we test out a carousel format including photos and a graphic of a recipe, to see if people would engage with the post more than they would to a post simply containing a photo. Results on early tests were mixed, and follow-up tests are queued to learn more.
Atlas Obscura
For Atlas Obscura, I made Instagram templates and bespoke content for branded or sponsored partner content, as well as owned media in support of the editorial, trips, or courses teams’ objectives.
I championed a new way of thinking about the content created for and shared on social. Instead of simply using social media as another channel for the same content shared via email and on-site promotion, I started making unique pieces that leveraged platform features– like incorporating polls into Instagram stories.
I identified core themes that the audience responded reliably to, and structured the content calendar to mix posts fitting those themes with recently published articles and branded partner content.
Although I often designed slides, illustrations, or graphics in Adobe programs before bringing the assets into Canva, I usually would build social content in Canva for internal handoff. This gave cross-team coworkers editing access so they could make small tweaks to copy or images, limiting production bottlenecks.
I enjoyed incorporating video and animation in Instagram stories, imagining them as mini-magazines with complementary content (rather than duplicative) of the articles they were promoting.
Instagram templates promoting upcoming Courses and new Places added to the database.
From a series of field guides focused on outdoor kid activities for Visit California