Overview Of Marketing The Trails: A Content Analysis Of Great Plains Trail Network

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Marketing the Trails: A Content Analysis of Great Plains Trail Network Great Plains Trail Network (GPTN) is a Lincoln-based nonprofit that advocates and supports a network of trails in Lincoln and Lancaster County. Interviewees from GPTN’s ethnographic study mentioned a concern for membership numbers (aka donations) from younger generations. Observations emphasized this concern as almost all GPTN board members lie within the late Gen X and early Baby Boomer category. Ethnographic research raises questions about GPTN’s online presence and its effect on different generational audiences. What is the text saying? What types of information are they pushing toward their audience? Younger generations are immersed in the online scene with ninety …show more content…

By pinpointing the main themes, GPTN can better understand what information they present to their audience and where they can grow. From this information, two research questions emerged: RQ1: What are the primary themes of the post’s written text? RQ2: What are the primary themes of the post’s visual text? Since the majority of GPTN’s Facebook posts include both written text and visual text, a content analysis of both areas is necessary. Written text reveals different promotional and persuasive tactics than visual text does, so both research questions prompted separate coding categories. These questions provide insight into GPTN’s social media marketing efforts. Method Unit of Analysis & Category …show more content…

GPTN’s Facebook posts promote the organization’s events, celebrate important people and places, alert its audience of trail updates, call for community members to donate, and much more. Through its online presence, GPTN encourages people to stay connected to the nonprofit, the trails, and each other. As seen in GPTN’s ethnography, the group excels at cultivating a community through common interest, passion, and advocacy for the Lincoln trails. Ethnographic interviews expressed a need for additional engagement with younger audiences. Social media is the place to do that. Considering how GPTN advertises its mission through social media will continue to be crucial to the organization’s online