SOCIAL MEDIA
1. Adapting to the platform
When I became an Arts & Entertainment editor, I inherited the responsibility of leading InReview — a monthly set of short reviews, each around 150 words long and posted exclusively on Instagram. InReview tapped into some of our greatest social media strengths by covering recent media in a short, digestible way. However, I also identified potential for improvement; here's how I tackled it.
Design
Despite the clean, modern design, large walls of text are unappealing to a social media audience. People will barely read 150 characters on Instagram, let alone 150 words.
I changed the content to be more Instagram-friendly by focusing on key information instead of full reviews. Rather than putting each review on Instagram, writers chose a pull quote, star rating and tagline (or fun fact) to include.
When creating the new template, I used design components including color contrast and text size to create a visual hierarchy that would guide viewers through the post: first to the title, then the tagline and finally the pull quote.
Disconnect
InReview features reviews from our staff, but there’s no clear connection between the post and the rest of our review content online. If readers skim through InReview, they might not know that we have more reviews on our website.
The full reviews are published on our website using collapsible SNO infoboxes, creating a concise reading experience. When readers reach the bottom of the page, they are shown other stories tagged under “Entertainment” and “Reviews,” encouraging them to read more.
Dimensions
The previous cover was designed before Instagram switched to a 4:5 profile ratio, cutting off some of the title text and making our grid look less clean.
For the cover, our publication collectively agreed not to change our use of the square aspect ratio for the 24-25 school year. Even so, I adapted by putting the important information in the middle of the cover without compromising the feeling of a complete visual once viewers clicked on the post.
These changes made InReview a much more Instagram-friendly format without compromising depth or quality. The Instagram story received 508 views, and InReview posts saw an increase in shares — from 4 to 27 shares each — in part because of the repostable nature of each slide.
A similar initiative I took was adapting alt copies for social media. El Estoque often creates strong alt copies with fun, creative visuals, but these tend to go underappreciated on our website. These stories didn’t lack student appeal or engaging writing relative to our more popular stories — they just weren’t being showcased to a responsive audience.
I adapted “Snack attack” — a review of seasonal Trader Joe’s snacks — for Instagram, hoping to highlight its cohesive visuals and relevance to MVHS’ students’ love of food. Although the story has 28 views on our website, the post received more views than our average Instagram post, with 2684 views and 118 likes. 19% of these views were from non-followers, indicating that our reach was expanding due to this post.
2. Strategic Editing
Although we sometimes create promotions for our physical magazine, I wanted to improve the format by appealing to what viewers want in an Instagram Reel — concision, engaging construction and quality visuals.
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I used a large, bold font to emphasize the issue I was promoting. This also helped the thumbnail stand out on the Instagram profile when placed next to our other posts.
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The video circulates through different featured stories using a smooth, dynamic animation. Each slide lasts less than three seconds, keeping the viewer’s attention.
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I selected stories that were the most likely to capture community interest, such as a story about a recent cheating scandal and a story about prom.
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On Instagram and TikTok, I overlaid a trending song for background music, which helped establish the video’s rhythm while also appealing to students.
The promotion received over 5,000 views within 48 hours of its release, with over five hours of watch time. 64.9% of the views came from non-followers, indicating that the video had significant reach beyond our follower base.
I also created a fun video to promote an episode of our new video series, “El Estoque Hot Ones.” Some parts of my strategy — such as trending music, snappy cuts and community appeal — remained the same, but I focused on the participants’ funniest and most intense reactions to the spicy chicken, as well as their one-liners. By doing so, I wanted to entertain people just enough to get them interested in the full video on our website.
The reel hit 2,000 views and 20 shares within three hours of posting. Critically, 42% of the video views were from non-followers, with 59% of viewers encountering it in their feed. This suggests that, because of the entertaining and trendy aspects of the reel, Instagram was pushing the video to people outside our existing audience. With this in mind, I encouraged other staff members to add trending music to their posts, giving them recommendations when necessary.
The Issue 7 promo stands out compared to other reels in our grid.
Hot Ones and Issue 7 were the most popular posts this month.
Analytics for the Issue 7 promo.
Analytics for Hot Ones.
3. Staff Involvement
I organized staff involvement in our social media output — specifically, for Homecoming coverage and InReview.
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The social media calendar on our Pitches & Edits spreadsheet allowed me to track who was in charge of each aspect of Homecoming Week reporting. Since Homecoming is the most popular event in the entire school year, we expanded our coverage to include not just video and written coverage, but also TikToks and Instagram stories. Social media played a critical role in directing people towards our website after our photography caught their attention on Instagram.
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I designed the story promotion template for Homecoming Instagram stories, which helped our coverage appear clean and cohesive. I advised reporters to choose eye-catching photos. These stories are kept in our “Top Stories” highlight on our profile, readily accessible year-round.
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As I took on my new role as editor-in-chief, I passed along the resources and templates I used for InReview to the new Arts & Entertainment editors, walking them through the process of organizing the moving parts. I also provided them with suggestions for next steps, such as enforcing a more consistent word count for the online portion.
Homecoming Results
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3,597 views
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217 link taps
Instagram Stories
TikTok Posts
Across five video posts
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10,383 views
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399 likes
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Over 25 hours of watch time
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10 second average watch time
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86.6% of viewers were not followers
Instagram Posts
Across six photojournalism posts
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30,818 views
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1,627 likes
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11,432 accounts reached
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1,422 interactions
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839 instances of profile activity
Website Hits
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2,070 views (9.5% from Instagram)