Erin Pomrenke
As they say, communication is everything, and on Kiawah Island, Town officials take that seriously. When the Communications Manager Erin Pomrenke presented the Town’s Communications goals, future strategies and more at Town Council’s Fall Retreat on September 11, it was clear that communication really does mean everything, or at least a lot, to Kiawah Island residents.
For example, Pomrenke, who has only been the communications manager since March of this year, said the open rate for their e-newsletter is 58%, while the national average for e-newsletter open rates sits at just 22%. She also noted their high engagement rates on social media. While the typical engagement on most social media platforms sits at 1% to 5% on average, Pomrenke noted that their LinkedIn account is at 11.56%, their Facebook account has a 11.79% engagement rate, Instagram is at 5.98% and the platform previously known as Twitter is about average, at 1.94%.
As for publications and how they disseminate news to their constituents, the Town Council questioned Pomrenke on whether doing both Town Notes, which is a quarterly digital and printed publication, along with a weekly e-newsletter, was a good use of the communication department’s time and resources.
The quarterly Town Notes can be viewed digitally, but they also have printed copies in Town and KICA office lobbies and send to about 100 residents in the mail. Pomrenke said that the last edition of Town Notes was viewed about 200 times online.
With the e-newsletter successful open rate at 58%, many Council members wondered about the need to have both news outlets. Pomrenke stated that she has other ideas to increase the e-newsletter open rate even more by partnering with KICA to have them send it out to their email list as well.
Council Member Bradley Belt suggested that they no longer print the Town Notes because of the expense and the amount of people and resources involved. “Some of the content is repeated from the e-newsletter, and with only 100 people wanting a hard copy, that isn’t enough.”
Pomrenke mentioned that the difference with content in the Town Notes versus the e-newsletter is that since the Town Notes is quarterly, the content is more evergreen, while the e-newsletter is more timely content.
Council Member Michael Heidingsfelder said, “From a Kiawah Goes Green standpoint, printing Town Notes is bad for the environment and a waste of money and resources.”
Mayor John Labriola voiced that he is in favor of doing anything they can to get the word out on the various initiatives coming down the pipe. “We’ve already heard some negative viewpoints about the arts center, and all we are doing is a study; we haven’t done anything yet. People need to know that. It matters how things are conveyed to people.”
Heidingsfelder commented that he would like the Town to consider eliminating quarterly Town Notes and enhancing the e-newsletter, which is currently sent weekly. “Maybe do the e-newsletter once a month. I just think we need a shift because there is too much time and energy going into Town Notes. We need to be more proactive as a town.”
There is also a private listserv that is not managed by the Town called Inside Kiawah, or iKiawah, that discusses timely topics among residents. Heindingsfelder noted that as a Town, council members should consider interjecting facts on many of the iKiawah posts.
Council Member John Moffitt and Belt agreed. “I think it is fine to comment and acknowledge what is inaccurate. For example, sometimes issues are brought up that aren’t even dealt with by the Town. They are KICA issues and we should comment on that and make people aware.”
Ultimately, it was determined that Pomrenke should discontinue printing Town Notes and explore other ways to enhance the e-newsletter.
Pomrenke manages the communication department for the Town of Kiawah Island. Her team includes a communications specialist and the arts and cultural events coordinator. Since starting the position in March, Pomrenke has served as the communication representative on the Kiawah Goes Green Work Group and the Marsh Management Work Group; assisted with the new website release; facilitated a variety of podcasts with community members and Council; coordinated hurricane preparedness communications; served on the Arts Council Board and assisted with planning Arts and Cultural Events marketing efforts; written volunteer highlight pieces featuring local volunteers and their efforts; coordinated communications with other island entities; assisted with several community events, such as the Volunteer Appreciation event, the 35th Anniversary celebration for the town, and the Bobcats and Bluegrass event – all while maintaining the communications operations for the town.
Before coming to Kiawah, she was the primary editor for internal and external publications for Charles County Government in Maryland. In that position, she developed content for many digital platforms and print materials, led the internal Social Media Work Group and trained all new social media admins, and assisted with emergency preparedness and response communications. She also co-led a regional social media group of communication professionals. Some of her key achievements during her time with Charles County were increasing the Facebook reach by 45% and their Twitter (X) reach by 20% in a year. She also successfully increased the e-newsletter open rate by 15% and pitched a local historic event to news outlets with pickup from The Washington Post and CNN.
In the presentation, Pomrenke defined the communications department as an entity of the Town that works to encourage, facilitate and maximize citizen awareness and engagement in significant town policy issues, programs and initiatives, as well as arts and cultural events.
Another important role of the department is to provide essential and timely information before, during and after emergency and crisis situations.
The goals of the department are:
• Protect residential character
• Protect natural environment
• Support economic viability of resort and communitybased enterprises
• Ensure transparency of Town Council
• Ensure fiscal integrity of the Town’s finances
She also presented future strategies for her department, which include increasing brand awareness, providing more quality visual content and increasing overall reach on digital platforms.
Pomrenke ended her presentation at the Fall Retreat with a request. She mentioned that videos and visual content always get the best feedback and that the Town currently doesn’t have anyone that can professionally take videos or photograph events. One of the ways that Pomrenke believes she can achieve the Town’s future communication goals is by adding a full-time video/audio specialist to the communications team.
“Video is a great way to get information out. This person would be able to get video and photos from events, which would be so beneficial and really help our social media.”
The meeting ended with the Town Council asking Pomrenke to come up with a job description to present to them for consideration of the new video/audio specialist position.