| Course | MKT 574 Marketing: Social, Mobile, and Analytics (MKT/574) |
|---|---|
| Week | 4 |
| Paper type | Social media marketing strategy |
| Length | about 1,178 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MKT 574 Week 4
Keeper Stories, River Days and After Dark: A Social Media Marketing Strategy That Brings Local Visitors Back to a Louisville Aquarium
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
MKT/574: Marketing: Social, Mobile, and Analytics
Week 4 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Riverfront Aquarium, its accounts and its results are composites written for a model paper.
Over three weeks Riverfront Aquarium, the made-up Louisville attraction studied here, has defined a strategy of return visits, three target segments and a brand that promises something new on every visit. Social media is where most local residents encounter the brand between visits. The aquarium has about 96,000 followers on Facebook, 41,000 on Instagram, 6,500 on TikTok and 9,000 on X, managed by one social media coordinator. Yet in the visitor survey, only 7 percent of local repeat visitors said social media prompted their last visit. This paper audits the aquarium's social activity, reviews research on social media's effects and presents a strategy.
Auditing the Accounts
A review of 620 posts from the past year found that 71 percent were single animal photos with short captions such as "Happy Monday from our sea turtle." Event announcements made up 18 percent and fundraising appeals 6 percent. Only 3 percent told a story, such as a keeper explaining an animal's behavior. Comments received a reply in under 10 percent of cases. The most engaged posts were the few story posts and videos of feedings. Evening events were promoted under the old Night Tide name. No post mentioned the river conservation work.
Firm Content and Customer Spending
Kumar et al. (2016) studied a specialty retailer and linked customers' exposure to the firm's own social media posts with their purchases. They found that firm-generated content had a positive effect on customer spending and cross-buying, beyond the effects of television and email, and that the effect was stronger for customers who were more experienced with social media and more willing to engage. The finding suggests that what the aquarium posts can influence behavior, but only if posts reach and engage the right people.
How New Media Change Relationships
Hennig-Thurau et al. (2010) described how new media, including social networks, shift control of customer relationships toward customers, who can create, share and comment on content in public. They argued that firms must listen and respond, accept less control over brand messages and design for customer participation. An aquarium that posts but never replies treats social media as a broadcast channel and misses this shift.
Valuable Sharing
Akpinar and Berger (2017) compared emotional and informative advertising content and found that emotional appeals made ads more likely to be shared, but that content which integrated the brand into the emotional story created more valuable virality, improving brand evaluations and purchase intent. Viral content in which the brand was incidental did little for the brand. For the aquarium, a cute otter clip may spread, but a story in which the aquarium's keepers are the ones caring for the otter builds the brand.
The goal is not posts that people share; it is posts that make people want to come back.
Objectives
Over the next 12 months, the strategy aims to raise the share of local repeat visitors who say social media prompted their visit from 7 to 15 percent, sell 40 percent of After Dark tickets through social links and add 1,500 memberships attributed to social offers.
Content Pillars
Four pillars organize content, each linked to the brand promise and to a segment. New This Season shows arrivals, exhibit changes and limited-time events, aimed at families and explorers. Keeper Stories features staff explaining animal care and behavior, building trust and emotional connection for all segments. River Days follows the conservation team's field work on Kentucky rivers, giving explorers and families a reason to feel the visit does good. After Dark shows evening events with music and glowing exhibits, aimed at young adults.
Platform Roles
Facebook serves families and members with events, member news and keeper stories, and hosts a members' group. Instagram serves families, explorers and young adults with visual stories and reels. TikTok serves young adults with short, playful keeper videos and After Dark clips. X will be used only for service announcements, such as closures, and receive little effort.
Community Management
The coordinator, supported by two part-time staff, will reply to questions and comments within 24 hours and to complaints within four hours on weekdays. Keepers will answer animal questions in a monthly live session. Visitor photos shared with the brand tag will be featured weekly with permission.
Paid Support
A paid budget of $60,000 a year will promote After Dark to young adults within 20 miles, membership offers to local parents and new exhibit launches to families, with geographic targeting limited to the metropolitan area and the regional drive market for launches.
Working With Visitors and Partners
Visitors already create much of the best content about the aquarium. The strategy will invite them in through a monthly theme, such as the best jellyfish photo or a child's drawing of a favorite animal, with winners shown on the aquarium's screens. Local partners extend reach: the downtown business association, the university's biology department and river conservation groups will share River Days stories, and a small group of Louisville parents and food writers will be invited to After Dark preview nights, with any free admission clearly disclosed in their posts. These partners bring credibility that the aquarium's own accounts cannot.
Responding When Things Go Wrong
Social media also carries risk. An animal death, a broken exhibit or a crowded holiday weekend can bring public criticism. The coordinator will follow a response guide: acknowledge quickly, share facts as they are confirmed, move detailed complaints to private messages and involve the communications director for serious issues. Honest, prompt responses protect the trust that keeper stories build.
Content Calendar
Each week will include two New This Season posts, two Keeper Stories, one River Days story and, during event months, two After Dark posts. Reels and TikTok videos will be produced in batches each Monday.
Budget and Staffing
The current coordinator spends much of each week on routine posting, so batching production on Mondays frees time for replies and planning. A shared calendar visible to keepers, event staff and the membership team will prevent last-minute requests and keep every post tied to a pillar. Beyond the $60,000 paid budget, the strategy needs two part-time content assistants at about $48,000 a year combined and a small video kit. The coordinator will lead planning, and keepers will contribute about an hour a week each, which managers have agreed to schedule.
Measures
Measures include engagement rate by pillar, reply times, clicks to ticket and membership pages, tickets and memberships bought through tracked social links and the share of surveyed visitors citing social media. Members active in the online group will be set beside inactive members on visit frequency and renewal, with caution about self-selection.
Conclusion
Riverfront Aquarium's social accounts have a large audience and little purpose. Research shows that firm content can influence spending, that relationships now depend on listening and that brand-integrated stories create valuable sharing. A strategy built on four pillars, clear platform roles, responsive community management and outcome measures aligns social media with the goal of bringing local visitors back.
References
Akpinar, E., & Berger, J. (2017). Valuable virality. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(2), 318-330. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.13.0350
Hennig-Thurau, T., Malthouse, E. C., Friege, C., Gensler, S., Lobschat, L., Rangaswamy, A., & Skiera, B. (2010). The impact of new media on customer relationships. Journal of Service Research, 13(3), 311-330. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670510375460
Kumar, A., Bezawada, R., Rishika, R., Janakiraman, R., & Kannan, P. K. (2016). From social to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on customer behavior. Journal of Marketing, 80(1), 7-25. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.14.0249
What the MKT 574 Week 4 instructions ask
In Week 4, MKT 574 students are often asked to evaluate marketing practices through social media and to develop a social media strategy for an organization. Expect to audit current social activity, define objectives tied to the marketing strategy, select platforms for each target segment, plan content themes and formats, describe engagement and community management, consider paid promotion and influencers and set metrics that connect to business outcomes. Some versions ask for a content calendar. A strong paper evaluates current practice honestly, uses research on how social media affects customer behavior, aligns content with the brand platform and explains how results will be measured beyond likes. Cite peer-reviewed sources in APA format.
How this MKT 574 Week 4 example is built
Riverfront Aquarium has 96,000 Facebook followers, 41,000 on Instagram and a small TikTok account, yet survey data show social media rarely prompts a visit. The paper first audits a year of posts, finding mostly animal photos with little story and almost no replies to comments. Research linking a company's own social posts to customer spending, research describing how new media shift control of relationships toward customers and research on why some shared content helps a brand while other viral content does not shape the strategy. Four content pillars follow, each tied to a target segment and the brand promise of discovery. Platform roles, a community management standard, a modest paid budget and measures connecting social activity to visits and memberships complete the plan.
MKT 574 Week 4 grading rubric: where the points go
Social media strategy papers are graded on alignment, evidence and measurement. Instructors reward an honest audit, objectives tied to the organization's marketing strategy rather than to follower growth alone, platform and content choices fitted to defined segments and content consistent with the brand. Research on how social activity influences customer behavior should support the plan. The best papers address community management and paid support realistically and propose metrics that connect social activity to outcomes such as visits or sales, with a method for attribution or testing. A calendar or sample posts, organized structure, scholarly sources and correct APA citations complete a strong submission.
MKT 574 Week 4 help: mistakes to avoid
Many social media papers set goals like increasing followers by 20 percent without explaining how followers create value. Tie objectives to the business, such as repeat visits or memberships. Another common weakness is a content plan that ignores the brand and the segments, producing a feed of pretty pictures with no purpose. Organize content around themes that serve specific audiences. Students also overlook community management; answering comments and messages builds relationships and is part of the strategy. Some papers recommend every platform. Assign each platform a role and drop the rest. Finally, measure carefully; engagement is useful, but the plan should include a way to link social activity to behavior, such as tracked offers or comparing engaged and unengaged customers.
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MKT 574 Week 4 questions, answered
What does MKT 574 Week 4 usually cover?
It usually covers evaluating marketing through social media: auditing current activity, setting objectives, choosing platforms and content for target segments, managing community and measuring impact.
Where can I find a free MKT 574 Week 4 sample paper?
The social media strategy for a composite Louisville aquarium, with its audit, content pillars and measures, is published in full above.
Does social media marketing increase sales?
Research has found that firm-generated social content can raise customer spending and cross-buying, especially among more engaged customers, but effects vary and should be measured rather than assumed.
What are content pillars in social media strategy?
Content pillars are a few recurring themes that organize an organization's posts, each tied to its brand and audience, so the feed stays consistent and purposeful.
How should social media success be measured?
Combine engagement metrics with outcome measures, such as tracked visits, sign-ups or purchases, and compare the behavior of engaged and non-engaged customers or run controlled tests.
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