My internship at Wonderful was extremely helpful because it taught me many practical skills related to marketing. For instance, how to design a Google display ad campaign, how to use Photoshop to create banner ads, how to boost Facebook and Instagram posts, and how to use tools such as Facebook Business Manager and Google Analytics. I was once even tasked with having a solo call with a Google ads staff member to learn more about how Google ad campaigns should be designed to be more effective. This internship gave me practical skills that I could not have learned inside the classroom.
In addition to that, this internship gave me experience working in an office. The company I did my internship at is very small, having a start-up vibe. I really enjoyed the close relationships I was able to have with my coworkers and felt so grateful that I got along well with all of them and genuinely enjoyed their company. However, I did feel drained by working in an office environment. I felt similarly at a previous job I worked at, despite also liking all of my coworkers and the work I did there. I am curious to see whether this is a symptom of office work not being a good match for me, or just the reality that work cannot be perfect and must have unenjoyable aspects. I will keep an open mind but try to experience another kind of work environment in the future to learn more about myself in that way.
A highlight of this internship was when one day the company suddenly had an inordinate number of website visitors and new sign-ups. My boss and I had a call with a Google ads representative, to see if there was a mistake in the numbers we were being shown. After analyzing our situation, the representative told us simply that our ad campaigns were doing exceptionally well and he even said “congratulations”. This was for the first ad campaign that I designed and published on my own, so hearing that from him and seeing the impact it had made me feel very proud of myself.
I would absolutely recommend this internship to others. In fact, as I type this on my last day of work, I am surprised that I feel sad to be leaving. I feel very grateful to have done my internship somewhere that has made me sad to stop working. My boss was so patient and supportive and created a work environment where I felt safe and respected.
Because I am ending my internship before analyzing my research data, I cannot report on if my company will incorporate any of the findings. However, I will tell my boss the results of my study as soon as I can. Knowing him, he is very likely to incorporate any interesting results into his future plans for the marketing department.