Seton Hill Business Students Partner with the Westmoreland Land Trust for Social Media Campaign

On October 29, students from two marketing classes and the MarComm Club came together to create social media campaign assets for the Westmoreland Land Trust. They did this in partnership with marketing majors Catie Flohr and Alayna Marion, and communication major Gabriela Torregrose Nazario who are completing field work with the Land Trust as part of their studies.

During the workshop, students were tasked with creating an eco-tourism itinerary that included one of the Westmoreland Land Trust’s four nature preserves in the area. From a bowl, each group drew a preserve, a demographic, and a length of stay to frame their itinerary. In addition to visiting a preserve, students utilized their knowledge of the area to recommend a place to stay and activities to do that aligned with their visitor’s demographic. Groups then created digital assets that outlined their itinerary so that the Westmoreland Land Trust could share them on social media.

Junior business management major, Aydric Burleigh attended the event for his Principle of Marketing class taught by Associate Professor Rachel Kaplan, Ph.D. His group drew ‘St. Xavier Nature Preserve’, ‘bored college student’, and ‘one day’. Working with his group, they formulated an itinerary which included stopping at local businesses and enjoying a local sandwich shop.

Burleigh enjoyed this opportunity to put into practice the skills he learns in class. “Doing this will help my skills in brainstorming and developing plans for future marketing campaigns,” he said.

The goal of this project was to create assets for the Westmoreland Land Trust to use as promotional material. The organization hopes to increase visitor frequency and strengthen their impact on the local community.

Through experiences such as these, students at Seton Hill University get the opportunity to gain real-world experience. They’re also given the chance to network with professionals in their field and gain skills and knowledge that are applicable to their future careers.