During the 2024 presidential election, NPR took an innovative, visual-first approach to live coverage — combining live-blog, host-led video updates, and shareable visual content optimized for social media. On Election Day (Nov. 5–6), I led the team for Instagram cards curating 25 real-time update cards, spotlighting key state races, Senate and House results, and historic wins. We also posted two brief videos featuring licensed wire footage of each candidate.
A key part of our strategy was prioritizing sharable Instagram cards—designed to make election updates faster to consume, easier to share, and more impactful. These cards positioned NPR as a go-to source for the information that mattered most to our audience, reinforcing trust through clarity, timeliness, and relevance.
The results:
• 1.1M+ interactions
• 5% average engagement rate for the entire coverage. The posts that were shared the most were these three:
Alsobrooks wins Senate seat in Maryland
• Nearly 20 million users reached over two days.
As part of the campaign, we also published several carousels using the same brand identity, focused on topics we knew would resonate with our audience. These two stories served as a lead-up to our election coverage, helping to establish a consistent visual language so viewers could easily recognize that it was all part of the same editorial effort.
This campaign demonstrated the power of mixing timeliness and visual storytelling to engage audiences in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment—helping NPR connect meaningfully with millions during a pivotal moment in democracy.
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