AQHA Case Study of New Media.

1. AQHA Case Study
DeLynn Butler, Rebecca Gresham, Josi Reed,
and Leah Zadel
MCOM 3305

2. Background
• Founded on March 14, 1940 by Anne and James
Goodwin Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.
• The American Quarter Horse Association, located in
Amarillo, Texas, is the world’s largest equine breed
registry and membership organization.
• AQHA has registered more than 5 million horses since
its inception in 1940.

3. Background
• Competitions- AQHA members can enjoy the thrill
and excitement of competing in the many
competitive events AQHA offers, from halter to
jumping and everything in between.
• Horseback Riding Program- Earn awards for the time
you spend in the saddle. This program is offered
exclusively for AQHA members. If you don’t own a
Quarter Horse, you can enroll in the All-Breeds
Horseback Riding Program.

4. Background
• Records- AQHA members can get all the information
they need on a particular horse or competitor with
AQHA’s Online Records service. Shop for a new
horse, check out a stallion’s breeding performance,
evaluate your showing competition and more.
• Museum- The mission of the American Quarter Horse
Hall of Fame & Museum is to preserve and interpret
the history and modern uses of the American Quarter
Horse and cultivate future enthusiasts.

5. Mission
• To record and preserve the pedigree of the American
Quarter Horse while maintaining the integrity of the breed
and welfare of its horses.
• To provide beneficial services for its members which
enhance and encourage American Quarter Horse
ownership and participation.
• To develop diverse educational programs, material and
curriculum that will position AQHA as the leading resource
organization in the equine industry.
• To generate growth of AQHA membership via the
marketing, promotion, advertising and publicity of the
American Quarter Horse.
• To ensure the American Quarter Horse is treated
humanely, with dignity, respect and compassion at all
times.

6. Stakeholders
• Members
• Donors
• Corporate Sponsors

7. Magazines
• American Quarter Horse Journal - Serving as the voice of the
American Quarter Horse industry for more than half a century,
The AQHA Journal has brought its readers the greatest events,
introduced them to legendary horses and people, and provided
tips on riding, training, racing, management and health.
• America’s Horse Magazine - America's Horse magazine is one of
the benefits of being a member. The magazine is filled with
informative articles that help you make the most of your
experience with horses, whether it’s keeping them healthy,
correcting behavior problems or having fun on the trail.
• Q-Racing Journal- The Q-Racing Journal a monthly digital
publication for the Association’s racing owners, breeders and
fans. Within the magazine, you’ll find coverage of the American
Quarter Horse racing industry, featuring news, history, industry
topics, sales and race statistics.

8. Twitter
• @AQHA is used mainly to drive traffic to their blog and online
article posts, as well as answer customer questions and act as
a public relations tool by favoriting, retweeting and replying.

9. Twitter
• @AQHAJournal account for their flagship publication, The
American Quarter Horse Journal. @AQHAJournal is used to
disseminate Association news – mainly showing- and ranching-
related, as well as drive traffic to blog posts and online articles,
plus build their relationships with customers by favoriting,
retweeting and replying.

10. Twitter
• AQHA has other Twitter handles (@AQHARacing, @AQHYA,
@AQHAnews) but they are not as prolific and generally their
tweets are generated via RSS feeds.

11. Facebook
• The Director of Online Interactive Communications and
the Internet Editor manages the AQHA Facebook page
(960,000 fans) as a public relations and marketing tool.
• Several of AQHAs customer service
representatives handle customer service-related
requests on the page’s timeline and via internal
messages.
• https://www.facebook.com/aqha1

12. Facebook
• They also have smaller AQHA-themed Facebook pages:
American Quarter Horse Youth Association (40,210 fans,
managed by the AQHA Online Communications and
Publications intern).
• Q-Racing for Quarter Horse racing (5,300 fans, managed
by the Q-Racing Journal editor).
• Quarter Horse Outfitters for our gift shop/online store
(12,600 fans, managed by store staff).
• American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum (28,200
fans, managed by museum staff).
• AQHA En Espanol (11,300 fans, managed by AQHA
international department).

13. Instagram
• The Internet Editor
manages the AQHA Instagram
account (51,700 followers,
@officialaqha).
• It is used as a public relations tool
to strengthen their
relationship with American Quarter
Horse owners and AQHA fans via
liking, commenting and
regramming user posts that utilized
our branded hashtags.
• The Online Communications and
Publications intern does the same
for the @officialaqhya account
(5,354 followers).

14. Pinterest
• The Online Communications and Publications intern
manages their Pinterest account (9,849 followers) with
The Director of Online Interactive Communications and
the Internet Editor overseeing the pins and pinning
strategy.
• AQHA utilizes Pinterest as a way to drive e-
commerce through Quarter Horse
Outfitters, memberships and magazine subscriptions, as
well as drive traffic to our blog posts and online articles.
• https://www.pinterest.com/aqha1/

15. Media Measurement
• AQHA measures their social media success by
total page likes and account followers, but
especially engagement rates.
• Their goal is to get followers from social media to
their website, and from there, to move them along
their
e-commerce model.
• Facebook and Google analytics are
especially helpful in determining where web traffic
is originating from and the success of each post.
AQHA also looks at the time of day when posts were
most successful.

16. Photographs
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum located in Amarillo,
TX.

17. Sources
• Primary Research:
• Executive Director of Shows for AQHA
• Internet Editor for AQHA
• The Director of Online Interactive Communications
for AQHA
• Secondary Research:
• www.aqha.com
• Photographer: Leah Zadel