For the past six months, Greenline has been host to a wonderful Digital Marketing Intern, Ellie Michael. She's beginning her senior year at the University of Minnesota, Duluth and we're so grateful to have had her time, talent, and energy for the better part of 2021. Ellie is proof there is a new generation of creative young professionals excited to learn and be part of changing the marketing game. As her internship with us comes to a close, I asked Ellie to take a moment to reflect and document what she's learned over the past several months - which you can read, below. If you're looking for a bright, hardworking graduate come May, I know she'll be great in a variety of roles. Cheers, Ellie!
A Look at My DIgital Marketing INternship
Saying ‘I learned a lot’ during my 6-month digital marketing internship with Greenline Marketing, would be an extreme understatement. Not only did I learn more about the ins and outs of digital marketing, but I got to get true hands-on experience with various elements of it. Everything from social media marketing to SEO... I was able to dig into topics that are sometimes skimmed over in my college courses. My tasks within my internship gave me fantastic insight into what aspects of marketing I want to pursue post-graduation. These tasks included creating social content for all Greenline Marketing platforms every week, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This also included writing copy and creating designs for Instagram. In addition, I wrote a weekly blog on a variety of digital marketing topics. While working on these tasks, I was able to apply concepts and skills I learned in my courses to real-life situations.
What I Learned: Creating Social Media Content
I’m not going to lie, when I first started, I was a bit overwhelmed. I had never had much experience in creating social content - unless you count my personal social media accounts. But as I began to work on writing copy and choosing articles to share on various platforms, I realized something very important, very fast. Every social media platform is so different! That might be super obvious for some people, but in terms of content and a posting schedule, I was surprised to learn that each platform was unique in its own way. For example, when writing copy for LinkedIn, I used a more professional tone. When I would write copy and find articles for Twitter, I was able to be a bit more relaxed and add in things like emojis.
When talking about the number of posts, certain platforms perform better when you post more often or less often, which I hadn’t known before! I also learned that when scheduling social posts, it is important to consider time. Spreading posts out throughout each week and throughout the day made the social accounts seem more organic and not like a robot (or intern in this case) was behind the profile. In terms of actual content, I tried to focus more on things that would really draw the audience in. This would mean including quizzes or trivia questions in Instagram posts or stories or sharing articles that were relevant to the current times. All of these aspects combined gave me a much more comprehensive idea of what social media marketing is all about.
What I Learned: Writing Blog Content
When it came to blog content, I was really excited because I have always loved to write. When I got to college, I originally wanted to major in journalism or communications. However, once I got into marketing, I realized that writing often comes in handy. Like social media, my first blog assignment was also a bit intimidating. Most writing I had done throughout high school and college was in an academic setting and style. In blog writing, I have learned I can be much more personable - even when it’s a blog on how to start a podcast or email marketing tips. As I wrote more and more blogs I developed a system in which I could complete blogs in a more organized fashion. When I first started, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information on the topics I was writing about that I didn’t know where to start. The system that saved me, was first creating an outline of main points that I wanted to cover. Then I would research other articles or sources that gave me more insight into those main points. Being more organized when writing blogs didn’t just save me time, but it also made me a better writer in my college courses. Once I had the system down, I was able to apply it to other assignments I had in school.
What I Learned: Organization, Organization, Organization
I have to say organization three times just because of how important and relevant it is. This internship not only taught me things about digital marketing but also taught me some serious life skills. One being time management. I was able to learn how to properly prioritize my time to be able to accomplish and send in my social content, blog content, and also keeping up with school assignments and projects. As time went on in my internship, I was able to see what tasks would take more time and which ones I could get done more quickly. Planning out my week and setting time aside to work on my assignments helped me a ton as well. I also was able to create separate deadlines for myself so that I could ensure I would have things completed when they were needed.
I cannot thank Greenline Marketing enough for this amazing opportunity I was given. I learned not only an infinite amount about new topics, but I also learned some amazing life skills that I will be able to utilize far into my future. I truly developed a love for digital marketing within my internship and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
