Leading Up to The Internship
Before this internship, I had no clue what I wanted to do moving forward. I have been going to Bowling Green State University-Firelands full-time since my junior year of high school and will finish out my senior year there! Having a head start on my college career made me nervous about the future. Before this internship, I had a hard time finding hobbies or interests that I could apply to my post-college career. One of my biggest fears is to pick a career that I will not enjoy. I desired to find something relevant to my interest.
My high school sent me a Social Media Marketing Internship opportunity which I, unfortunately, got denied. This sparked my interest in social media marketing because I did not know this was a career before. Starting from scratch was difficult because I had nothing on my resume that pertained to my social media presence – but I knew it was something I was interested in. The one thing that separated me and the person who got the internship was their experience, which I understood. Building my resume was something I was struggling with until one morning. I checked my email and saw my Principle sent me another Social Media Marketing and Communication Internship opportunity. I applied to the internship for Ottawa County Improvement Corporation (OCIC) who were looking for an optimistic student from my high school. I was thrilled to get another opportunity to learn. I am glad OCIC was kind enough to have me!
What OCIC Introduced Me To
I strived for this internship because it seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn new skills needed for this career. I was vocal about what I wanted from this experience and my excitement from the beginning. Our assignments took me out of my comfort zone and forced me to become more creative which was new to me. Before this, I have only had experience in academic writing with a rubric as opposed to creative writing – it is still a hard adjustment. My internship leaders, Jessica and Anna, gave me the chance to gain hands-on experience and allowed me to create my own style.
I was granted access to each of the OC It’s All Here social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Eventually TikTok that I help create) with the freedom to post our own ideas to show off Ottawa County. I worked on writing blogs throughout my experience, but this was a weakness for me. Creating blogs was something I struggled with. I am working to get more of a feel for creative writing. On the other hand, I was introduced to new apps and resources which helped me get started with graphic design. This assisted me with creating content for our social media pages and broadened my range of skills. Posting on social media is something I found the most interest in. I enjoyed having to find or create content to post.
What I Did During the Internship
- Attended biweekly conference calls to discuss our progress, assignments, growth, ideas, and more!
- Witnessed daily ongoing growth within our Instagram page. We started with 575 followers and we reached 790 followers as of now!
- Experimented with different hashtags to see which ones had the best results.
- Observe different captions to see which one would get the more interaction.
- Introduced to the app Canva used to make graphic design for our blog banners, infographics, social media post, and Instagram stories.
- Worked on blogs that will be showcased on the Ottawa Co It’s All Here website.
- Periodically posted on Instagram and Facebook – I contributed over 30 posts!
- Soon we are going to meet with different businesses that have successful social media pages, and learn tips and get advice.
What I plan to do after my internship:
Working with these wonderful women and having their support inspired me to further pursue this field at Eastern Michigan University. I plan to major in Media Studies and Journalism with a minor in Graphic Communications and hope to be a Social Media Marketing Manage for large businesses. My superiors lead me in the correct direction to find what to major in, without them I would be lost. With Jessica’s approval and Anna’s support, they are allowing me to carry on with helping them showcase what there is to love about Ottawa County.