START HERE
Have you filled given us your biographical information, photo, and Honorarium information?
Please complete the form (or update what we have on file) here.
Now Let’s Market Your Workshop!
Thank you for bringing your voice to the faculty at the Highlights Foundation! We are so glad you are part of our community.
This guide will help us work together to market your workshop more effectively.
What We’re Doing to Market Your Workshop
Choose the tactic below for detailed information. Marketing continues until your workshop sells out or starts, whichever comes first.
Your workshop is listed on our Upcoming Workshops page, and various other places throughout our website by genre and type.
Your faculty page is linked from the workshop, but can also be found in our Faculty Listing. (If you haven’t already provided your website bio, photo, and social media handles, you can do so here.) If you need additonal or urgent updates to your faculty page, contact us.
Your faculty page also contains links to your upcoming workshops, and links to content you’ve created for the Highlights Foundation.
We announce your course by email shortly after it is listed on our website.
We continue via a suite of emails until the workshop sells out or passes, whatever comes first.
The suite of emails is a combination of content-based, sales-based, and interest-based messages, depending on the workshop.
If you’ve taught with us before, we also send personal messages to those who attended and/or were waitlisted for your prior courses when applicable.
We also announce your workshop via social media as it approaches, tagging you as long as your social accounts are “taggable.”
You can help us by amplifying these posts, initiating your own, and more. Read on to find out how.
We support your workshop with continued email marketing, social media reach, and other strategies as needed. This information center is filled with ways you can help and support our efforts with varying degrees of commitment and time investment. Read on to find out more!
More Ways You Can Help
1. Follow Us On Social Media
If you follow us, that will help facilitate our ability to tag you in workshop marketing posts, and interact with you. You can also amplify our social posts about your workshop when you see them.
2. Make Proactive Social Posts
This can be a simple post that invites people to register/attend, or a more personal post that includes your “why” for the workshop. We will reshare and amplify them.
We try to make this as easy as possible by providing graphics for you (see download instructions below).
Remember to:
- Tag @highlightsfound
- Include the link to register (Find your workshop here, click the description title, and grab the URL of the description page. Or ask us for it!)
Example of a Standard Social Media Graphic
Download Your Social Media Graphics
We store workshop social media graphics in Google Drive. You can access the folder via this link (even without a Google account).
Individual workshop graphics are in labeled folders by start date. If you have trouble finding yours, let us know.
Please note that images vary in sizes/dimensions.
- The square image is best for Facebook and Instagram posts. [File name contains (FB or Instagram Post) at the end.]
- The short rectangle is best for Twitter posts. [File name contains (Twitter Post) at the end.]
- The tall rectangle is best for Instagram Stories. [File name contains (Instagram Story) at the end.]
To download the graphic of your choice, right click the button with the three vertical dots near the file name, and select Download.
3. Share with Groups and People Who Might Be Interested
Send an email, call, or write a post in an online group or forum. They’ll be happy to hear from you!
This could include:
- Social media interest groups or kidlit orgs (i.e. your local SCBWI chapter)
- Your editor or agent
- Your email list if you have one
- Bloggers you know
- Other organizations you are a part of, including those outside of kidlit (i.e. social justice non-profits)
If you need a press release or other content for outside organizations or contacts, please let us know.
4. Help Us Create Content
With your help, we can create content that will yield dividends through our website, email, and social media—all at the same time.
Blog Posts
Is there an aspect of your workshop that would make a good short, educational article? We’d love to include it on our website’s Blog!
This is a great way to help your workshop, the Foundation, and your own brand. A link from our website to yours can be great for search engine optimization, and your own self-promotion.
Send us your post in a document or email, and we’ll do the rest. Or, work with us to brainstorm an idea.
Here are three great examples:
- Picture Book Word Count, And Other Rules that are Meant to Be Broken by Miranda Paul
- Getting the Work Done: Shifting Negative Self-Talk to Constructive Ideas by Chris Tebbetts
- 12 Nonfiction Picture Books with Emotional Resonance with Eileen Robinson
We also create infographics from blog posts where possible. Here is an example:
Q&A
This is a great choice, because it helps our Highlights Foundation community make personal connections to our faculty. A Q&A can take several forms.
- We can send you a list of questions to answer briefly by email to publish on our blog. (Example with Teresa Robeson, or with multiple faculty answering the same questions.)
- We can do and record a Zoom interview, and turn it into a video or podcast. (Example with Daria Peoples)
- We can schedule an Instagram Takeover or Facebook or Instagram Live where you answer community questions about your workshop.
If one of the above interests you, tell us and we’ll get it scheduled.
Quotes for Graphics
If you don’t have time to write or contribute to a blog post, you can provide a quote or small piece of text that offers a bit of context for your teaching style, your philosophies, and your content to give people a better idea of what to expect in your course.
We can use these both on social media, and in email marketing.
This is a great example from a faculty member who taught a course for author/illustrators. It explains her underlying approach to creating picture books in a relate-able way:
Video
If you’re not camera shy, this can be a quick way to showcase a point of interest from your workshop, and help us with both email and social marketing.
Here are some ideas:
- You can send us a video file right from your phone, or do a recording with an online meeting software. It can be as simple as you talking for 30 seconds in your office. We can help with editing if needed. (Example from Erin Dionne)
- If you’ve taught for us before, perhaps you remember a session from a past workshop that was particularly poignant, or had a great soundbite. Or maybe you have a video of you teaching that we can use. Let us know, and we can include it on your workshop and/or faculty page so people can get an idea of your style. (Example with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen)
Frequently Asked Questions
I am tight on time. What's the most effective thing I can do to help you market my workshop?
If you don’t have time to write or help with content, making a proactive social post from your own account that we can amplify is probably the most effective thing you can do.
It can be as simple as including our downloadable graphic and a link to the registration page, but the most effective posts are generally ones that show your “Why” (i.e. what makes you excited to teach this workshop).
I want to help market my workshop, but I'm stuck. Can we brainstorm?
We are happy to work with you to develop a more custom marketing effort for your workshop. Contact us to set up a meeting or brainstorming session.
Faculty Program Discount
We are pleased to offer all Highlights Foundation faculty a discount on select Highlights Foundation programs as a thank you for being a part of our team. We hope you’ll use it to continue your own professional development, and build your kidlit community with us. Use code FACULTY at registration for $100 off your working retreat, in-community retreat, or online workshop over $499.
Contact Us
Thank you for working with us! Contact us and our staff can get back to you, usually within one business day.
