At shows and competitions, the performers, competitors, and producers all have clear expectations for roles…
The Long Game: Social Media for PoleCon Workshop Leaders (Part 1)
How to build interest without posting the same flyer twelve times
Hi, I’m Tammie. I’m half of Cosmic Grip, a Houston-based pole doubles duo, and I also have an undergraduate degree in Advertising specializing in Interactive Media. So when we started teaching at PoleCon, naturally one part of my brain was planning what we wanted students to learn while the other was quietly building a campaign.
Over the last two years, we’ve used social media to promote workshops, sponsors, giveaways, travel, and everything happening around PoleCon. What we’ve learned is that successful promotion isn’t about posting endlessly. It’s about giving people enough reasons to care.
This is Part 1 of a two-part series on promoting your work at PoleCon without turning your feed into one long advertisement. I’m starting with workshop leaders, where registration benefits from advance planning; Part 2 will focus on performers and building anticipation for the stage.
Start the conversation before the sales pitch
One of the easiest mistakes is waiting until your workshop is approaching to start talking about it. By then, you’ve skipped much of the relationship-building that makes the eventual registration ask effective.
For PoleCon: West, we started when the teaching schedule was announced in June, well before the September event. That did not mean three months of yelling “BUY OUR WORKSHOP.”
We announced our return, explained what sets our approach to doubles apart, shared practice clips and bloopers, then provided registration details.
By the time we made our strongest push, the workshop was already familiar.
Consistency is not copy-paste
Starting the conversation early is one thing. Keeping it going without sounding like a broken record is another.
Yes, people usually need to encounter information more than once.
No, that does not mean posting the same flyer every Friday.
Potential students have different questions about the same workshop:
- What are you teaching?
- Is this appropriate for my level?
- What makes your class different?
- Will I feel comfortable there?
Each question offers a chance to share something useful without making another ad.
Before creating anything, ask what it should accomplish. An educational post demonstrates expertise. A preview reduces uncertainty. A countdown creates urgency.
The workshop stays the same; the reason to pay attention changes. Give individual posts specific jobs, and together they become the campaign.
Show them the instructor, not just the curriculum
One of those questions deserves particular attention: Will I feel comfortable learning from you?
Pole dancers are excellent at showcasing finished products, and those absolutely belong on your page, especially when you’re asking students to trust you as an instructor. But polished movement doesn’t necessarily tell someone what spending 90 minutes in a room with you will feel like.
A list of moves is useful, but it is not the whole class.
Be clear about prerequisites and level. Show representative movement. Tell people what they will work on. But also give them a sense of your personality, what you value as an instructor, and what kind of environment you’re building.
At a convention with many workshops competing for limited time, money, and very tired bodies, students are not simply choosing content. They are choosing who they want to learn from.
Expertise gets someone interested, while approachability can be what gets them through the door.
Let the calendar earn its keep
Once you’ve started that relationship, the calendar offers natural opportunities to revisit your workshop.
Timing is more than deciding what day of the week to post.
- “Two weeks until PoleCon” means something different than “register for my workshop”
- “On this day last year…” gives you permission to revisit a memory while connecting it to what comes next
Relevant cultural moments can also create organic reasons to revisit your workshop, as long as the connection is genuine. You should not need to force your workshop into National Donut Day just because the calendar says you can.
Your feed can’t do everything
Good timing matters, but so does where you deliver the message.
For Cosmic Grip, the Instagram feed holds our longer-lasting story: major announcements, reels, and workshop previews. Stories handle timely reminders, while Notes keep us casually visible.
Make it easy to say yes
When someone is ready to register, make the next step obvious.
Give them the workshop name. Date. Time. Level. Important prerequisites. Where the registration link lives. Mention deadlines or discounts while they are actually relevant.
Don’t spend weeks building interest only to send students hunting through three profiles for a registration link.
The algorithm isn’t your audience
Remember that the person on the other side of your post is a person.
You do not need to manipulate them into caring.
Let them see the people and the experience behind the workshop.
We want them to arrive feeling like they have already been traveling there with us.
That is a much better place to start a class.
Tami Nigma is a Houston-based pole performer, instructor, and one half of Cosmic Grip, the doubles duo she shares with Sugoi Sammy. Together, they teach and perform everything from floorwork and low flow to aerial tricks, and have brought their work to both the PoleCon stage and classroom. Off the pole, Tami works as a licensed massage therapist and acupuncturist with a background in communication, bringing an anatomy-informed perspective to what bodies can do and what happens when movement becomes a conversation within ourselves and with each other.
Latest posts by Tamie Nigma (see all)
- The Long Game: Social Media for PoleCon Workshop Leaders (Part 1) - October 23, 2026
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