Written by Kate Fitscher
An internship? Over winter break? From my bedroom? Sign me up!
While 2020 has forced us all to learn how to work remotely from home, I never thought I would be able to do an internship this way as well. For the past two weeks now, I have been remotely interning with Discover716. I noticed the "interns wanted" post in November and jumped on it. While I was looking forward to having a winter break and thought there would be no way to squeeze in an internship then, here I am! Although the time frame is shorter than most students have for an internship, I am able to do it by adding more hours weekly. I am so happy I will be receiving credit while getting my feet wet in the media and marketing industry.
Located in the Buffalo area, businesses come to Discover716 asking us to advertise their company through our social media accounts and website blog. From there, each intern is assigned to companies of their liking. With it only being my second week, I have already worked with four different local companies including Buffalo Fishing Co., Patricia’s Christmas Tree Farm, 13thirty Cancer Connect, and Buffalo Booze Box. After being assigned to a company, I like to speak to the owner and figure out what kind of advertising they would like me to do for them. Most of the time, I create an informative post about the company for our Facebook and Instagram. I also do reposts of pictures they have posted or write a short story about the company for our website’s blog.
This internship really allows me to be independent with my creativity. I enjoy being able to come up with the content for my posts. With access to Discover716’s Instagram, Facebook, and website, I am able to work out a schedule with the companies to upload the posts at effective times. While each company gives me a general idea of what they would like posted, I enjoy the freedom of creating the visual of the post.
I also enjoy how this internship lets me choose which companies I want to work with based on my hobbies and interests. For example, I enjoy all outdoor activities such as, skiing, hiking, and hunting. One that is especially important to me is fishing. Before I pursued a major in media, communications, and marketing, I was going to school for marine biology. Although my career path has changed, fishing still holds a special place in my heart. This is why I was so excited when the first company I was assigned to was Buffalo Fishing Co.
Another company that I am currently writing a blog post for was introduced to me through a club at school. 13thirty Cancer Connect is an organization that I work with currently through a marketing and PR club at school that I chose to work with through Discover716. By giving them exposure to our website, we hope the organization will have more success.
Although I have only been interning at Discover716 for two weeks now, I do enjoy the mission of the company. By helping other companies get more business for free, I am learning a lot about this industry. With this being a hard year for everyone, what a better way to help others than by giving them a social media shoutout!
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