🏆 PRSA Mercury Awards: Gold, Social Media and Tactical Campaign, 'Best in Show' (2025)

Creating a cohesive social media system through strategic content systems, adaptable design templates, and platform-specific storytelling to support long-term brand growth.

Building a Mission-Driven Social Media Presence

Role: Co-Vice President of Social Media Manager; Lead Designer

Platforms: (Potentially built for) Instagram, Facebook & TikTok

Teams: Social Media, Graphic Design, and Photo & Video

Client: Good Sam Foods

Timeline: 12 weeks (Spring 2025)

Tools: Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, CapCut, Microsoft Office

As part of The Agency at Quinnipiac, I led the social media strategy and content design for Good Sam Foods, a mission-driven snack brand focused on sustainability, clean ingredients, and regenerative agriculture. I was responsible for developing the overall social media framework, creating adaptable content systems, and designing platform-specific assets across Instagram, Facebook & TikTok.

Working collaboratively with social, design, and photo/video teams, we created a more intentional and scalable social media presence that balanced product promotion with mission-driven storytelling. The final strategy provided Good Sam with a flexible content system designed to increase engagement, reach a younger demographic, and support long-term brand growth.

Summary

Good Sam Foods is a purpose-driven snack brand committed to sustainability, ethical sourcing, and regenerative agriculture. The brand works directly with farmers around the world to create snacks that support both people and the planet.

While Good Sam had a strong mission and visually compelling products, their social media presence lacked structure and consistency. Content was not being posted frequently enough, relied heavily on static formats, and did not fully leverage storytelling opportunities across Instagram and TikTok.

As a result, engagement was limited and the brand struggled to connect with a younger, more digitally active audience.

What is Good Sam Foods?

Our Objectives

Increase social media engagement while balancing product promotion and mission-driven messaging
Expand Good Sam’s social media presence through consistent posting and visual identity
Engage with a younger demographic
Further promote sustainability, organic sourcing, and regenerative agriculture
Support B2B and influencer outreach through cohesive digital assets
Develop a reusable content system for long-term scalability

Research:

Before designing, we:

Audited Good Sam’s existing social media content
Conducted a SWOT analysis to evaluate strengths, gaps, and opportunities
Reviewed engagement trends and competitor content
Identified opportunities to expand into stories, carousels, and short-form video

This research, supported by a SWOT analysis, helped identify gaps in content format variety, posting consistency, and engagement opportunities—guiding the overall strategy and system design.

Ideation:

Using insights from the research phase, we structured the social media strategy around three core content areas:

Product Spotlights: showcasing individual products & benefits
Mission Posts: highlighting farmers, sourcing and brand values
Promotions: featuring sales or bundles with clear CTAs

These pillars guided content planning while ensuring a balance between education, storytelling, and conversion. To stay organized, we created a shared content planning system outlining post types, captions, and design needs.

I led the development of adaptable templates to maintain consistency and flexibility across platforms.

Graphic Design & Creative Director

Worked closely to ensure all graphics aligned with Good Sam’s brand kit, typography, and visual language. Designs were reviewed to maintain clarity, consistency, and accessibility.
Social Media

Collaborated on content strategy, caption writing, and platform-specific execution to ensure posts were engaging, and aligned with campaign goals.
Photo & Video

Collaborated to expand content into user-generated content, stop-motion, and motion graphic gifs. Introducing, more dynamic storytelling, they built trust through authentic customer experiences.

Reels & Short-Form Video

Motion graphic reels
Stop-motion product content
User-generated content reposts

3 Key Content Areas

Stories

Product highlights
Promotions with link stickers
Interactive polls and engagement tools

Graphics, Posts & Carousels

Product spotlights
Mission-driven storytelling
Promotional announcements

View the Full Strategy

The final deliverables included:

A scalable social media strategy executed primarily on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
A reusable, template-based content calendar system for feed posts, stories, & carousels
A cohesive visual feed with engaging content formats to support brand storytelling
Strategic recommendations for short-form video and user-generated content

Each design was created as part of a template-based system, allowing the team to easily swap images, copy, or featured products while maintaining a cohesive feed aesthetic. Captions and calls to action were intentionally written to encourage comments, saves, and clicks, supported by a sustainability-focused hashtag strategy to improve discoverability and engagement.

Final Deliverables:

Delivered a structured, repeatable social media framework
Improved consistency and clarity across digital platforms
Strengthened alignment between product promotion and mission storytelling
Provided scalable tools for future campaigns and content planning

Results

Leading social media strategy requires both creative execution and systems thinking
Consistent visual frameworks improve efficiency and brand recognition
Mission-driven brands benefit from educational and storytelling-focused formats
Applying UX principles beyond social media strengthens the overall brand ecosystem