Hello, my name is Colten Brillhart. I am a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho, studying Communications with a dual emphasis in Public Relations and Digital and Social Media. Through my coursework and hands-on client work, I have built a strong foundation in social media strategy, brand voice development, content creation, and campaign planning across nonprofit, government, and academic contexts.
For my senior project, I partnered with Spark Performing Arts, a 501(c)3 nonprofit community theatre company based in East Mesa, Arizona. This project allowed me to apply everything I have learned in the classroom to a real client with a real audience while building and executing a full social media campaign from the ground up.
Project Overview
Throughout my project, I created and executed a full social media content campaign for Spark Performing Arts across Instagram and Facebook, with a specialty blog component on the Spark website. The overarching campaign goal was to grow Spark’s online presence and increase community awareness of their productions, including Matilda JR and Between the Lines JR, which happened during my project, while also building a loyal audience that would sustain the organization beyond a single show cycle.
My content strategy was organized around three content pillars: Show Spotlight, Community and Inclusion, and Behind the Scenes. Each pillar served a different stage of the audience funnel, starting from reaching new followers through production promotion, to building emotional connection through cast-forward community content, to driving loyalty and follows through authentic behind-the-scenes moments.
The strategy also included platform optimization review, a posting calendar for both Instagram and Facebook, original graphic design in Canva using Spark’s brand style (black backgrounds, bold gold and yellow headlines), and three original blog posts written to build long-term organic search traffic for the organization.
Below is the full case study, where you can learn all about the campaign from background research through final results.
Conculsion
This project helped me grow as a social media strategist and content creator, giving me hands-on experience translating classroom learning into a real-world campaign with measurable results. Working with Spark Performing Arts taught me how authentic, strategically planned content can build genuine community awareness and organizational trust for a small nonprofit.
The campaign produced meaningful results where it counted most. Instagram engagement averaged 20.7% per post against a 5% goal, reels around key production milestones drove the highest organic reach, and the website traffic trajectory across the campaign period reflected consistent and compounding social visibility growth. Follower growth remained modest given Spark’s starting audience size and hyperlocal reach, but the content strategy and blog infrastructure built during this project position the organization for sustained long-term growth beyond any single show cycle.
This project also reinforced that social media is a powerful tool when illistrating the clearest differentiator for small community organizations which highlights authenticity. Spark’s story is genuinely compelling. The work was in learning how to tell it consistently, across platforms, on behalf of a client I never met in person. I am grateful for the opportunity and carry those lessons forward into every communication project ahead.