Social Media Commons^™

The Value Of An Integrated Marketing Campaign To Grow Interest In Visiting The U.S. National Parks, Hermine Granberry

Honors Theses

When the centennial celebration of the National Park Service was approaching in 2016, the National Park Service launched a two-year campaign to only commemorate the last century of NPS, but to also reconnect Americans with the parks. Ten years have passed since the initial creation of the campaign. This thesis researches the value of how another integrated marketing campaign could increase visitation to the U.S. National Parks in the future.

Through evaluating the previous Find Your Park campaign and current trends in travel and vacation, this research investigates not only future campaign ideas but also the use and incorporation of …

Understanding The Business Model Of Content Creation, Taylor Vahey

Honors Projects in Communication

Individuals who post niched consistent content to social media platforms have grown audiences, which presents an opportunity for content creators to monetize the attention their posts receive. Both content creators and marketing practitioners are using trial and error processes to learn how to utilize the newest online promotion strategy; influencer marketing. This research aims to outline the business operations from the perspective of the influencer. Research on all aspects of this industry is insufficient, with only a few hundred published peer-reviewed articles on the topic available. Most of the research focuses on the perspective of the audience or the marketing …

Tourism Marketing To Southeast Asian Countries Via Social Media And Its Ethical Implications, Emma Parker

Student Research Submissions

As the influence of social media on the tourism marketing industry continues to grow, it becomes necessary to analyze how these platforms are being used. This study aims to determine the ways in which the combination of visuals and written copy in an Instagram post work to create an advertisable overall image of Southeast Asian countries as tourist destinations.

Using a qualitative content analysis, twenty seven posts from the official tourism Instagram accounts of Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines were analyzed to determine what overall image is being presented, how this is being accomplished, and if the advertisement of these …

Performance Expectancy And Use Of Social Media For Marketing By Staff Of Selected Publishing Firms In South-West, Nigeria, Osarobu E. Igudia Dr, Solomon Tosin Ogunsina Mr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Social media are platforms through which people of the different networks create, share and exchange information, ideas and also market products such as books in a virtual community. They are instruments for communication that do not just pass information but interact with customers. Since many benefits are derivable from the use of social media for marketing, it becomes imperative to investigate how book marketers use social media to achieve the objectives of their organisations. This study adopted a descriptive research design of correlational type. The population of the study was 212 marketing and sales staff of selected publishing firms. The …

Bridging The Gap Between Skidmore Students And Local Businesses, Charlotte Benson

Self-Determined Majors Final Projects

Skidmore students are an underutilized customer base for small businesses in Saratoga Springs. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the purchasing behaviors of Skidmore students in order to determine how local small businesses can better attract them as customers. Current Skidmore students were surveyed and interviewed to ascertain overarching patterns in their purchasing habits. Results show that word of mouth and social media are influential at Skidmore, but are underutilized by local businesses. Findings also suggest that purchasing habits are largely formed during students’ first year at Skidmore. Finally, interview and survey results indicate that Skidmore students most …

How Agritourism Operators Make Marketing And Promotion Decisions, Katelyn Miller, Quisto Settle, Audrey E. H. King, Bree Kisling

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Agritourism operators in Oklahoma were interviewed to determine how they make promotional decisions. Three themes were found from the interviews. The first was Educated Guessing. Participants were not formally trained in promoting agritourism operations, but they used their past experiences and the resources available to them to make decisions. The second theme was Facebook First. All 10 operations in this interview used Facebook as their primary marketing method based on positive experiences with the site as a promotional tool, followed by other options, such as websites. The third theme was More of the Same. The participants mostly intended to keep …

The Buzz Behind Alcohol Advertising: A Study Of How Alcohol Advertisements On Social Media Impact Behavior, Alexis Morgan Campbell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol advertisements are known to be appealing and memorable, and several researchers have investigated what makes these advertisements so attractive. Several trends have emerged regarding the content within alcohol advertisements: themes of parties, celebration, and social success within television, magazines, and social media since the 1970s. Recently, several studies found that new themes in alcohol ads have been found to be popular, especially in social media advertisements (Campbell & Chung, 2022). The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) provides insight into why a person’s attitude could be more susceptible or why their behavior could be more easily influenced by certain types of …

How The Financial Services Industry Is Utilizing Social Media To Expand Their Client Base, Kristen Stewart

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Social media is becoming an increasingly important aspect of all companies’ marketing strategies. It is almost imperative for companies to advertise through social media if they want to have a fair chance of reaching the younger generation. In fact, “the majority (97%) of Gen Z consumers say they now use social media as their top source of shopping inspiration; 65% say they use social media to find entertaining content; and 61% of them are specifically interested in watching more video content” (Kastenholz, 2021). This proves that social media can make a significant and lasting impact on a company’s success. Social …

A Social Media Strategy Plan For The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry, Sara Katelyn Holm

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Jane B. Gearhart (JBG) Full Circle Food Pantry is a student-led program that provides food assistance for members of the University of Arkansas community. This thesis project includes a social media strategy plan that aims to increase the overall awareness of the pantry and its multifaceted services to decrease food insecurity levels at the University of Arkansas. This plan intends to create behavioral changes that expand usage of the pantry and social media engagement among UA students. Grounded in data-driven insights, this plan is designed from (i) literature on food pantry marketing techniques; (ii) a review of the pantry's …

My Journey To Create A Space For Young Adults To Grow In Community, Chelsea Simmeth

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project focuses on the development of a safe space for young adults to come together, create community and engage in activities. There is a gap in college-age students’ ability to find community outside the university. This project focuses on creating a place where they would be able to meet new people, play sports, and board games, and do arts and crafts. The development of marketing strategies, event planning checklists, and locations for holding events are outlined for the Young Adults (YA)- UNITE (Upbeat, New, and Inviting Transformational Environment) program.

The Effect Of Social Media On Providence College Students, Kathryn Ernst, Margaret Grasberger, Allie Mcguire, Mairead Ryan

School of Business Student Scholarship

Kathryn Ernst ’24, Major: Marketing

Margaret Grasberger ’24, Major: Marketing

Allie McGuire ’24, Major: Marketing

Mairead Ryan ’24, Major: Marketing

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kevin Newman, Marketing

Recent research indicates that social media usage is addictive both physically and psychologically. Due to the prevalence of social media, our group specifically wanted to study how its usage impacted Providence College students’ mental health, physical health, and communication skills (both in-person and online communication skills). We found that social media usage negatively affects students’ mental and physical health, with females being more impacted than males. However, we did not find evidence to support …

A Wellbeing@Ksu Journey: Mapw Portfolio, Meghan Cooper

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

A process narrative and samples and complete works from my time in MAPW and as a GRA within the health and well-being departments at KSU. The portfolio showcases my journey as a communicator and professional writer and how it has impacted my current career.

Come Close And Listen: Exploring The Intimacy Of Audio Media, Eleanor Kingwell Sharples Hoover

Honors Theses

This thesis aims to demonstrate the power of the audio medium to connect speaker and listener, as a result of the uniquely intimate nature of the medium. By understanding how speakers and listeners connect through audio, the research reveals that the audio medium is a sustainable media outlet, one that is durable despite changes in culture in the media market, that has transformed over time, all while keeping itself within the principal constraints of its original form, that being sound as conveyed to a listener. Three interviews were conducted with individuals situated in different areas of the audio media landscape; …

The Handy Ir Manager: A Toolkit For Recruitment, Intake, And Promotion, Melody Herr, Jessica Kelly, Cedar C. Middleton

University Libraries Teaching and Learning

You seek fresh strategies for recruiting new collections for your institutional repository (IR). You strive to improve intake workflows and expedite metadata creation for hosted collections. You wonder how to attract users to repository content. If you see yourself in any – or all – of these scenarios, come to this session for inspiration and practical tools.

The Scholarly Communications team will present successful strategies that we’ve developed at the University of Arkansas for recruitment, intake, and promotion, using examples from our work with research centers and student journals.

If You Can't Take The Tweet: Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Through The Lens Of Social Media Marketing, Julia Winterhalter

Honors Projects in Communication

Companies are increasingly taking action on societal issues and are aware of the impact that their corporate voice has on impressionable publics. Existing research focuses greatly on corporate social responsibility and the moral standards that set up companies to market themselves authentically to the values they build themselves on. The current study explores how three companies utilize their platform to share their values in relation to ethical issues arising in the modern world. Through the Twitter accounts of Ben & Jerry's, Patagonia, and Starbucks, a content analysis was conducted on their use of language related to their ethical standpoints on …

Rise Of Social Media Influencers As A New Marketing Channel: Focusing On The Roles Of Psychological Well-Being And Perceived Social Responsibility Among Consumers, Jihye Kim, Minseong Kim

Integrated Strategic Communication Faculty Publications

This empirical research investigated the structural relationships between social media influencer attributes, perceived friendship, psychological well-being, loyalty, and perceived social responsibility of influencers, focusing on the perspective of social media users. More specifically, this study conceptually identified social media influencer attributes such as language similarity, interest similarity, interaction frequency, and self-disclosure and examined the respective effects of each dimension on perceived friendship and psychological well-being, consequently resulting in loyalty toward social media influencers. The authors collected and analyzed data from 388 social media users in the United States via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk with multivariate analyses to test the hypothesized associations …

Tiktok’S Influence On Generation Z’S Buying Habits And Behavior, Tamara B. Munoz

Global Strategic Communications Student Work

As the digital era progresses, we continue to see how certain platforms capture the interest of various generations. Back then, Myspace rapidly appealed to millennials, and Facebook did the same with baby boomers. Today, TikTok is following their steps as it gains the interest of Generation Z in technologically advanced ways. In addition to providing entertainment, this short-video platform is now the go-to place to look for reviews of products or services. Due to this, the platform may be transforming how this age group behaves as a consumer. The overall purpose of this project was to further examine the impact …

Social Media Preferences Of Individuals Seeking Graduate Business Degrees, Peyton N. Boxberger, Hannah C. Lee

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to provide actionable insight to the Walton MBA Programs Office for a cohesive social media strategy that is inclusive of all audiences. This research hopes to help the Walton MBA program better understand potential and current students based on their social media behavior and learn how social media use has changed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This report will analyze the results of a survey crafted to better understand the social media preferences of individuals seeking graduate business degrees. From these, a social media marketing strategy can be created to tailor content to …

Kobe Influencer Marketing: Using Social Media To Promote A Herbal Tea Brand, Patricia Lui, Lipika Bhattacharya

Asian Management Insights

In July 2019, Evangeline Leong, co-founder and CEO of Kobe, a Singapore-based start-up providing influencer marketing services, had a challenging task ahead of her.

You And I: Parasocial Relationships, Social Media, And Fan Labor In The One Direction Fandom, Kathryn Meese

Honors College Theses

This study aims to analyze the ways in which fans of the band One Direction developed parasocial relationships, or one-sided, non-reciprocal relationships with media personae, through social media marketing, and to explore the economic implications of these relationships in terms of fans’ free promotional labor. At the heart of social media marketing is relationship marketing, or attracting and maintaining customer relationships, a strategy we explore here within the context of the music industry. Previous studies have explored the dynamics of online fan communities, or fandoms, and the free labor they carry out on the part of an artist, such as …

The Facebook Frontier: Harnessing The Power Of Facebook Live, Christine A. Anderson

South Carolina Libraries

Facebook Live offers librarians the opportunity for ongoing engagement with their community, even during a pandemic. During the COVID-19 quarantine, community organizations of all types used the site to continue to connect with their community. Kimbel Library used the social media platform to hold virtual versions of annual face-to-face events and create reference education for students and faculty. While there is no replacing the dynamics of face-to-face interaction with patrons, Facebook Live offers opportunity for continued safe social contact. It also is a “safe” place for less outgoing patrons to attend or even participate in library events they would not …

Crossfit, Instagram, And The Mediating Effects Of Social Comparison On Self-Esteem, Michael A. Contreras

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Over the last 15 years there has been a dynamic shift within the fitness industry, particularly for women. For decades, women were expected to participate in aerobic-based workouts and maintain a thin figure. This thin ideal has been harmful to women and contributed to low levels of self-esteem. CrossFit diverges from aerobics by encouraging strength training and teaching women that workouts can be functional, and beauty does not only lie in one’s aesthetics. The emergence and growth of CrossFit is shifting fitness-related gender norms and expectations, and possibly contributing to higher levels of self-esteem in women. This shift has become …

Market To Me: A Case Study On The Marketing Efforts Of Salesforce Software Company, Marissa Adrianna Spiess Espinola

Experience Industry Management

Social media platforms constitute outstanding channels for fostering relationships with consumers. Recently, there has been a drastic shift towards social media marketing and away from traditional marketing. Marketers are beginning to understand the importance of social media opportunity and are implementing social media marketing strategies and initiatives into companywide marketing practices. Companies cannot afford to lack presence on social media, as competitors could outpace them with marketing efforts of products and services to the public. Social media has become a necessary tool when marketing and advertising. The purpose of this study was to examine social media marketing practices of Salesforce …

5 Ways To Boost Your Business Through Influencer Marketing, Patricia Lui

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Covid-19 pandemic’s economic impact put pressure on marketing budgets. Brands are more careful when deciding how they spend the funds on digital marketing, including influencer strategy. The blog offers tips on how to tap on influencers to create brand awareness and generate business leads and conversions.

Facebook Activity Of Oklahoma Agritourism Facebook Pages, Brittany L. Bowman, Quisto Settle, Stacy Tomas, Angel Riggs

Journal of Applied Communications

Agritourism is recreational travel for agricultural activities. Agricultural operations benefit from income diversification, the public receives hands-on agricultural experiences, and rural communities benefit from economic development. However, agritourism operators have reported challenges in marketing. As social media becomes increasingly important in tourism marketing, the purpose of this research is to describe overall Facebook activity related to Oklahoma agritourism. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 174 Facebook pages of Oklahoma agritourism operations to describe posts, public interaction, events, and advertisements. Oklahoma agritourism operations had a mean of 1,330 page likes, and 69% of Facebook pages had posts during the sample …

Characteristics Of Oklahoma Agritourism Facebook Posts, Brittany Bowman, Quisto Settle, Angel Riggs, Stacy Tomas, Audrey E. H. King

Journal of Applied Communications

Agritourism is recreational travel for agricultural activities. While it provides many benefits, such as rural development and heritage preservation, many agritourism operators express challenges in marketing their operations. Social media is increasingly common in tourism marketing, but little research exists describing current marketing practices. Quantitative content analysis was used to describe 174 Oklahoma agritourism operations’ Facebook page activity in June 2018. Original posts created by the agritourism operations and community posts created by the general public had similar amounts of public interaction. Post interactions were not related to post length, and original post interactions were also not related to overall …

How Musical Artists Can Use Social Media For Successful Careers, Kian Hassankhan, Sutirtha Chatterjee

AANAPISI Poster Presentations

This research paper is about elucidating the current business model of the music industry and how artists or musicians can use it to their advantage through social media, specifically Instagram. Through paid and organic advertising, artists, producers and musicians can create successful music business startups and add an additional source of income to their lives. This paper dives deep into real, tangible goals while expanding the philosophy of the aspiring creative entrepreneur by giving them a road map to creating a successful creative brand through the lens of social media.

Asserting Librarian Expertise And Value In Strategic Marketing Efforts, Memo Cordova, Elizabeth Ramsey

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

This case study of librarian-led marketing efforts at a mid-size academic library examines workarounds to obstacles that librarians frequently encounter when taking on marketing for their libraries. These obstacles often stem from a combination of misunderstanding and/or misplaced priorities at both the unit and administrative levels. Challenges in this case study include a number of factors: no marketing strategy at the administrative level, a lack of understanding from colleagues generally, little time to complete tasks or improve marketing skills, and no dedicated funding. To address these challenges the authors embarked on an internal marketing campaign engaged extensively on social media …

Fake News And Editing: Marketing Techniques Used To Spin Controversies In Video Mediums, Alexandra Brand

Honors College Theses

This thesis explores the topic of fake news in today's digital landscape by analyzing how young adults (18-2) form and change prior opinions based on the media they consume. I measured this by showing respondents one of two bias montages in response to Google's Project Owl initiative. Project Owl is Google's controversial attempt to regulate false or abusive news by launching new feedback forms in addition to altering their algorithm in a way the company has not yet disclosed to the public (Sullivan). Each self-edited montage is two minutes in length and together they cover two radically different responses to …

A Guide For Hiring Mature Employees At Ascentria, Binghe Change, Calleigh Leach, Elsie Lu, Hongquiang You, Mengge Wang, Nina Mariotti

School of Professional Studies

This paper will explore existing literature on aspects of an intergenerational workplace in a nonprofit organization and provide recommendations for recruiting and retaining older employees for a human service organization, Ascentria Care Alliance, in Worcester, MA. The paper will review research on trends in the nonprofit industry, a comprehensive breakdown of generational workplace values, reasons people are returning to work and effective marketing strategies that appeal to older generations. Marketing strategies specifically will explore best practices for website design, social media usage, and job descriptions. Additionally, this paper will research case studies of nonprofits with successful intergenerational workforce initiatives, as …