Choice cuts from my social media marketing efforts, multimedia web content projects, and writings.
Get my resume.
Skip to a section
I. Social Media Campaigns
Booketology
In the weeks leading up to the 2012 NCAA tournament, I devised a March Madness style tournament of reading for the Kansas City Public Library called Booketology (a play on “Bracketology”). I used social media and blog content to drive online voting for the winning books in each round until there was one left standing: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The tournament lasted two and a half weeks and netted nearly 1,000 votes from just over 400 people. The point was to create engaging content around literature, introduce people to new books while celebrating the classics, and reach new online followers.
Building a Community of Readers Metro Bus Ads
The Kansas City Public Library contracted with KCATA Metro to place ads inside buses promoting the Building a Community of Readers early literacy initiative. My goal was to connect print ads to the digital world of readers’ services the library offers, either by delivering a mobile-optimized service then and there, or by teasing them with a story they could finish online. These ads never ran, but if they had, it would’ve been easy to measure their effectiveness.
Ad Concept One: Get Unbored
The idea was to provide mobile-device-equipped riders with an instant way to start using the library to enhance their reading lives. Four ads would show how to download an e-book, get a book recommendation on Twitter, use the library’s mobile app, and call dial-a-story. (Concept & copy by me; design by Jessica Didion.)
Ad Concept Two: Story Starters
This series would feature a story teaser with a QR code to allow riders to access the full-length story. The teasers would either be written in-house or by local celebrity authors. (Copy by Paul Smith; design by Jessica Didion.)
Pin Your Perfect Library Pinterest Contest
During National Library Week 2012, we invited our Pinterest followers to visualize their perfect library. Ten pinners ultimately entered, pinning dozens of cool ideas. The contest got a lot of mentions on Twitter; the Kansas City Public Library gained more than 100 new followers on Pinterest; and the Kansas City Business Journal gave a nod to our early adoption of Pinterest. Click the image below for more details.
Off-the-Shelf All-Stars
To capitalize on the excitement that surrounded the 2012 MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City, I turned to Facebook to ask the Kansas City Public Library’s followers to build their own literary All-Star team. Ultimately reaching more than 17,000 people and engaging just over 500 users, the ten-day campaign featured giveaways and drove lively, book-oriented conversation. To give the contest a life outside of Facebook, I crafted daily updates on the Library’s blog, KC Unbound.
More Social Media Contests:
- Victorian Valentines: Write Your Own Victorian Personal Ad for Valentine’s Day
- Tweeting Rainbow: Tweet to Meet LeVar Burton at the KC Library
II. Video Work
View more at youtube.com/kclibrary
Vision of a Downtown Arts Campus
A Paris of the Plains 2.0? Peter Witte, dean of the UMKC Conservatory of Music & Dance thinks building a Downtown Campus for the Arts could do wonders for Kansas City. This video promoted a panel discussion held at the Library to introduce the project to Kansas City.
John Lithgow on Reading to Children
Why read aloud to kids? For John Lithgow, reading with his parents was the closest he ever felt to them. I conducted this interview when John was in Kansas City for an event at the Library and Kauffman Center.
KC Library Mobile App Promo
My Overdue Masterpiece Theatre web ad to promote the Kansas City Public Library’s mobile app, starring me as “The Sun Also Rises” and John Keogh as “The Great Gatsby.”
Joplin 5:41 book trailer
A promotional video for the Kansas City Star‘s book of Joplin tornado coverage, featuring interviews with reporters Laura Bauer and Eric Adler.
III. Writing Samples
Kansas City Public Library copywriting
- How the KC Library Got Google Fiber
- LibraryLand: August 2011 Kansas City Public Library Staff Newsletter
(produced monthly, with all images and copy by me) - Robert W. Butler and the Library: A Beautiful Friendship
- Cradle of Entrepreneurs Re-cap: John McDonald of Boulevard Brewing Goes for Regionalism, Sustainability
- Tutorial: How to Check Out E-books from the Library for Your E-reader or Mobile Device
Freelance Copywriting
- Votertide.com: Web copy for a web analytics and social media monitoring tool for politicians
- Rockdex.com: Web copy and blogging for a web analytics and social media monitoring tool for musicians
- Locker Partner: Blogging for a social media consulting firm (samples below)
Pitch Arts Features
I wrote 400+ articles for The Pitch. Here a few of my favorites…
