| Course | SOM-7020 Social Media Marketing |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 3 |
| Paper type | Briefing note 2: social media analytics |
| Length | About 875 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for SOM 7020 Module 3
Briefing Note: Midseason Social Media Results Look Strong, but Need One Test Before the Budget Shifts Again
Student Name
Master of Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University
SOM-7020: Social Media Marketing
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Briefing Note: Midseason Social Media Results Look Strong, but Need One Test Before the Budget Shifts Again
To, From and Issue
Memo for the pier's owners from the marketing manager, on social media results through July and next season's budget. This second note covers the first half of the season under the social program the owners approved in spring (the pier remains a composite business), separates what the numbers prove from what they only suggest, and asks for approval of a measurement test in August that will guide next year's spending.
What the Program Has Done So Far
Of the $100,000 moved into social media, $58,000 has been spent through July, mostly on paid Instagram and Facebook placements targeted at households in the pier's drive market, plus short videos of rides and evening events. The paid campaigns delivered about 4.2 million impressions and 38,600 clicks to the ticketing site, a click-through rate of about 0.9 percent. Online ticket purchases tracked to those campaigns totaled 4,120, worth about $173,000 at an average of $42 per transaction.
| Measure, May through July | Social media program | Print and radio (promotion codes) |
|---|---|---|
| Spending to date | $58,000 | $96,000 |
| Tracked online sales | 4,120 | 2,250 |
| Cost per tracked sale | about $14 | about $43 |
| Tracked revenue per dollar spent | about $3.00 | about $1.00 |
Organic results are also encouraging. Short videos of rides and fireworks averaged an engagement rate of 6.4 percent, compared with 2.1 percent for static photos, and visitors posted about 6,800 photos and videos using the pier's hashtag, up from roughly 1,900 last season. Tuten (2020) treats such visitor content as earned media, valuable because it reaches friends and family through people they trust.
What the Numbers Do Not Show
These comparisons flatter the social program for two reasons. First, the platforms count a ticket sale as theirs whenever the purchase followed a click on one of the pier's ads, but some of those families would have come anyway; the ad may have been the last step, not the cause. Second, print and radio are measured only through promotion codes, which many listeners never use, so their true effect is understated.
Research on advertising measurement shows how large this problem can be. Gordon et al. (2019) compared randomized experiments on Facebook with common observational methods and found that the observational methods often gave substantially wrong estimates of advertising effects, frequently overstating them. Lewis and Reiley (2014), in a controlled experiment with a large retailer, likewise showed that only an experiment could reliably separate the effect of online ads from sales that would have happened anyway.
What the Content Results Suggest
Whatever the test shows about paid ads, the organic figures already point to changes in content. Videos outperformed photos by about three to one in engagement, and the best-performing posts showed real families on rides at dusk, not staged promotional shots. Posts published between 6 and 8 p.m., when parents plan the next day, drew roughly twice the engagement of morning posts. Visitor-made photos reached audiences the pier never paid for. For the rest of the season, the social team should publish evening videos four times a week, repost visitor content with permission and credit, and feature the water park on hot days, when searches for beach activities peak. None of these changes adds cost; they redirect the staff time already budgeted.
Recommendation
Before shifting more budget, run a simple test in August. Pause paid social advertising in a few randomly chosen ZIP code areas within the target region for three weeks while keeping it running everywhere else, and compare online ticket sales per household between the two groups. The difference shows how many sales the ads actually caused. At the same time, add a short question to the online checkout, asking how buyers heard about the pier, to give print and radio a fairer comparison. The test costs nothing extra and risks only a small share of August revenue in the paused areas.
How the Results Will Be Read
The test compares online ticket sales per thousand households in the paused areas with sales in comparable areas where ads continue. If sales in the paused areas fall by about as much as the platforms' tracked figures imply, the ads are causing most of the purchases credited to them, and the $14 cost per tracked sale is close to the true cost. If sales barely change, many tracked buyers would have come anyway, and the real cost per additional visit could be several times higher. A result in between would justify keeping social media at about this year's share while improving targeting. Weather and holiday weekends affect both groups equally because areas are chosen at random, which is why the comparison is fair. The marketing manager will report the result, with its uncertainty, at the September owners' meeting.
Decisions Requested
Approve the August holdout test and checkout question. Approve continued spending of the remaining $42,000 in the social budget through Labor Day outside the test areas. Defer next season's budget split until the test results are reviewed in September; if the ads prove to cause most of the tracked sales, a further shift from print toward social media would be justified, and if not, the mix should stay closer to this year's.
References
Gordon, B. R., Zettelmeyer, F., Bhargava, N., & Chapsky, D. (2019). A comparison of approaches to advertising measurement: Evidence from big field experiments at Facebook. Marketing Science, 38(2), 193-225. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2018.1135
Lewis, R. A., & Reiley, D. H. (2014). Online ads and offline sales: Measuring the effect of retail advertising via a controlled experiment on Yahoo! Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 12(3), 235-266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11129-014-9146-6
Tuten, T. L. (2020). Social media marketing (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Reading the SOM 7020 Module 3 assignment instructions
The second SOM-7020 briefing note falls naturally in Module 3, social media analytics, where the course turns from creating content to measuring what it achieves. The syllabus defines a briefing note as a short summary of a complex issue that a leader can act on, so expect to interpret data rather than simply report it. Present the key metrics in a small table, explain what they mean for the organization's goals, state clearly what the data cannot prove and recommend a decision or a next step that would make the evidence stronger. If your module supplies a data set or a dashboard export, use its figures exactly and say what period they cover; if not, explain where each number would come from in a real program.
Inside the SOM 7020 Module 3 example
The note restates the decision context in its first lines and reports results with a compact table comparing the social program with traditional media on the same measures. Organic results are interpreted with the textbook's earned-media concept. A separate section explains the limits of platform attribution and promotion codes, supported by two field-experiment studies. The recommendation proposes a low-cost holdout test with a clear design, and the closing section lists exactly what the owners are asked to approve, which keeps the note decision-ready. Every comparison uses the same measure for both channels, and the note never claims more than the tracking can support, which is the habit good analysts bring to any dashboard.
Reading the SOM 7020 Module 3 grading rubric
Briefing notes count for 20 percent of the SOM-7020 grade together and are scored out of 100 each. Mentors look for accurate interpretation of metrics, honest treatment of what analytics cannot show, and recommendations tied to the organization's goals. Using research to explain measurement problems shows graduate-level judgment. As in the first note, brevity, scannable headings and a clear request for a decision are part of what is being assessed. Recommending a test that would settle an open question, rather than a larger budget on uncertain evidence, shows the kind of disciplined judgment mentors reward. Clear tables and dated research complete a strong note.
SOM 7020 Module 3 help: mistakes that cost marks
Analytics notes often list every metric the platforms provide and declare success. Pick the measures that connect to business goals, such as sales or bookings, and explain how they were tracked. Then say what the numbers cannot prove, especially whether ads caused the results they are credited with. A recommendation for a simple test is often more valuable than a recommendation to spend more. Our writers can prepare a SOM 7020 analytics briefing note using the data your module provides. Watch for vanity metrics such as follower counts, which rarely belong in a note about business results. Keep the note to about two pages and end with the specific decisions you need from the reader, so nothing is left ambiguous.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
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SOM 7020 Module 3 questions, answered
Where can I find a free SOM 7020 Module 3 sample paper?
The second Social Media Marketing briefing note is shown above: midseason social analytics for an amusement pier, the limits of attribution and a holdout test proposed before the budget shifts.
Why can platform-reported conversions overstate results?
Platforms credit sales to ads that buyers clicked before purchasing, even when some of those buyers would have purchased anyway.
What is a holdout test in advertising?
An experiment in which ads are withheld from a randomly chosen group so that sales in that group can be compared with sales where ads ran, revealing the ads' true effect.
Which social media metrics matter most to a business?
Those tied to its goals, such as tracked sales, cost per sale and revenue per dollar spent, supported by engagement measures that explain why content performs.
How many briefing notes does SOM-7020 require?
Two, worth 20 percent of the course grade together.