How My Internship At SMD Changed My Life
Lauren Williamson | @Laurenew90
“So what are you going to do after you graduate college?”
The question haunted every family gathering and social event I attended during my senior year of college. I was majoring in journalism, but was unsure of how I wanted to apply this degree to post-college life. Newspapers were dying and the Internet was the medium of choice for the foreseeable future. I always avoided the question about my future proposed by family members and well-meaning friends, but the uncertainty stuck in my head.
“What WAS I going to do after college?”
Through a colleague, I heard about Social Media Delivered, a company that does nothing but social media and was offering internship opportunities. I had never thought about doing social media, but it seemed like the perfect place to apply my journalism skills in a new way. I decided to take a chance and apply for the internship.
At first, I didn’t know if I would be a good fit. The only “experience” I had in social media was making Myspace layouts in high school and spending time on my personal Facebook page in college. I was so nervous on the first day that I didn’t get much sleep the night before. But everyone at SMD was very helpful and before long, I was hooked. I started writing content for clients and researching and producing a social media blog. Most importantly, my internship was FUN and enjoyable!
One of the best parts of the internship was working with different clients and discovering what worked best for each one. It was a great way to expand my skills and made me want to learn more about marketing, in addition to writing and editing.
Towards the end of my internship, I started keeping an eye out for other social media jobs. Because of my experience at SMD, I was hired by another company to work internally on their social media and marketing. I started work immediately after finishing my internship at SMD, and after I graduated, the company brought me on full-time.
If you had told me a year ago that I would be working in social media, I’m not sure I would have believed you. But after my experience at Social Media Delivered, I can definitely say that I’m happy with the field I’m working in. Social media is fairly new industry that is quickly growing, and I am so happy to be along for the ride! So now when I’m asked what I’m doing after graduating college, I have a pretty interesting story to tell. Thank you SMD, for helping me discover my career path!
(Check out this fun video we made during my internship that is a spoof on social media intern stereotypes.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1UANEgfO6g[/youtube]