Hi.
My name is Lauren and I like to write and eat.
My name is Lauren and I like to write and eat.
My current role involves implementing team-wide editorial strategy, ideating and executing special projects, and balancing business needs without comprising rigorous, ethics-based product journalism. Below are some recent strategy-based projects I’m particularly proud of.
Insider’s archive spans thousands of product reviews, roundups, and guides, but this coverage had never been aggregated in one place for our readers to find our “ride-or-die” products — the best things we’ve ever tested. I led this project from idea to publish, working with a team of writers, editors, designers, and developers to create a brand new story format in an engaging and interactive site design. I also operated as the liaison between creative teams and the business & licensing teams so that we could optimize the business opportunity without compromising editorial independence.
Large deal holidays had historically been a pain point for Insider’s writers and editors, since SEO strategy and guidance evolves minute-by-minute; often faster than could be communicated to the editorial team. In 2021, I took over strategic planning for large deal days. This involved a cross-team listening tour to understand the pain points, implementing a project management workflow, and applying a RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed) matrix to better delineate roles and responsibilities among writers, editors, producers, designers, product, business, and SEO. Post-mortem feedback and data indicated 2021’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday was our most successful year for traffic, SEO authority, and team confidence and happiness. I received Insider’s newsroom “rockstar” award for my leadership on this project.
I was brought onto the Insider Reviews team to standardize our product testing protocols, develop a system for tracking products, and enhance our expert sourcing to improve reader trust in our journalism. Under my leadership, the team tested 1,000+ new products in one year to rewrite more than 100 buying guides with original, hands-on testing. Major undertakings included coordinating testing of more than 30 mattresses for our guide (and figuring out what to do with all the mattresses afterward), developing and writing “why trust us” pages to improve transparency and SEO authority, and clarifying the relationship between business and editorial to improve story objectivity.
Themed content packages aren’t just about one story, but rather a coordinated publishing schedule across teams and verticals to flood the zone on a timely and trending topic. I’ve conceptualized and led “sleep week” coverage around Daylight Savings Time, “grill week” around Memorial Day, and a “secret sale” during lulls in traffic. These packages involve a detailed social media plan, cross-platform coverage, and coordination with the business team to optimize revenue potential. Themed packages I’ve led have increased weekly zPVs by up to 400% when compared to the same week in the previous year.