Intern Diary: Maya
When embarking on my internship search, I didn’t imagine that I would end up at a PR firm. Specifically, I didn’t think I would be working for the PR firm of an entrepreneur I randomly followed on Instagram one day. However, working for JMG Public Relations this Summer as a Social Media Intern has been an extremely gratifying experience that I will always cherish.
By January 2023, I had applied to over 40 internships for the Summer of 2023 and had only heard that they were going to pass on my application. Giving up hope, I abandoned my typical way of applying through LinkedIn and started scrolling through the businesses and accounts I follow on Instagram. One of those accounts was that of Jenna Guarneri, CEO of JMG Public Relations (JMGPR). Feeling like I had nothing to lose, I sent Jenna a direct message asking if JMGPR offered Summer internships and any advice she had to offer on the application process. She was happy to tell me that they offer Summer internships and that she would flag my application since I already followed Jenna and JMGPR on Instagram. This was my first experience truly networking and being able to see the benefit of it. I have only been able to grow my skills at this company since being hired.
My main tasks of the Summer consisted of creating Instagram Story posts using the graphic design software Canva, using artificial intelligence to turn blog posts into social media posts, and compiling statistics on how our posts performed across various social media platforms. Every week, I was tasked with creating five Instagram Story posts for every day of the workweek. In order to keep track of what would be posted and when, we utilized an Excel spreadsheet that acted as a social media content calendar. I would then go into Canva and design the necessary Story to my creative heart’s content within the limits of fonts and colors included in JMG’s brand kit.
Another aspect of creating these Stories was going through JMG’s archive of Stories for research on the kinds of images and themes they used to represent themselves in the past. Another large part of my internship was using artificial intelligence (AI) for much of my research. Whether the task was to create ideas for Story posts or break down an existing Forbes article written by Jenna to turn into a main post, AI made my job tremendously easier. This experience has made me much more comfortable working with these kinds of software and taught me how to structure my requests to yield my desired results. The other main task I performed weekly was using HubSpot, LinkedIn analytics, and Instagram insights to see which posts were doing well and which were receiving lower engagement and needed boosting. I’m glad I was able to practice so many different aspects of digital marketing in this internship, from creative graphic design to data analytics.
In doing these daily tasks, I have been able to build my hard skills in ways that I’ve never been able to in a classroom setting. Classrooms have allowed me to sharpen my soft skills like networking, communication, empathy, and more. However, I gained quantifiable and specific experience with different software and engaged in social media projects that I would have only been able to simulate in a classroom. Being able to use these tools to help a real company grow has taught me so much about how abstract ideas like tracking analytics with platforms such as HubSpot can be used to implement strategies that help the business grow.
This internship fit my career objectives in more ways than I thought it would when applying. I figured that this internship would be a stepping stone to the career path that I wanted. I needed to gain some experience in a field that I am less passionate about in order to show the fields that I am more passionate about that I have the skills required to work for them. However, actually working in public relations has shown me that I could be happy in a career as exciting and current as public relations.
It has also shown me that working in digital and social media marketing was the right choice for me. Keeping up with social media trends has always been something I enjoy doing. This journey has taught me that I don’t need to work for my dream company in music like I once thought, but rather be doing work that makes me happy so I can enjoy the live music industry off the clock.
