My internship at the interactive experience of Youseum
Working as a social media intern in one of the newest Instagram-themed pop-up museums in the Netherlands
By Danny Cao
Youseum is located in Amsterdam on the Amstel river, and was only founded in September last year. It is an experimental pop-up museum featuring up to 15 curated rooms with colorful art-installations designed for visitors to pose and take photos that they can post on social media. These kinds of new interactive museums have been popping up all over the United States this past half-decade, and it has made its way to Europe now too, attracting a lot of young millennials, digital nomads, and especially Generation Z. Youseum focuses specifically on the ‘you’ as a person, as it tries to connect their art to real-life issues, such as feminism, pollution and LGBTQ rights, and it makes you think about what exactly art is and what it stands for. Youseum encourages people to first and foremost have fun, taking selfies with friends inside their doors, while also inciting discussions about social issues with their themed-rooms with art and decorations for visitors who look for a more profound meaning behind the picture.
My position as ‘Social Media Intern’ was much more diverse than the title might suggest. My main tasks were to manage the brand’s social media accounts such as Instagram, Facebook, and the latest: TikTok. This included drafting posts, stories, and videos including the compilation of visual content, editing, and the production of copy to create new storylines, text, and captions that align with the brand of Youseum. In addition, I also had to consistently engage with the audience on related channels to continue promoting the brand’s personality, as well as communicate and research the latest topics and brands on social media for future strategies that could lead to more visitors and followers.
As an intern for a fresh start-up, working in such a small-scale environment was perfect for me to learn more about social media and marketing and also not to be overwhelmed at once. I became part of Youseum’s development and growth, and really felt that I was contributing to their content creation while also making their message clear for followers and other potential clients and collaborators on all social media channels. I developed other roles for myself as well, such as writing blogs, and advising on the aesthetics of Youseum like colour-, visual and music choices, which are crucial to understand for the younger generation. I learned how to work with communication and media in practice and have definitely learned how to create content for a brand and how to maintain good relationships with customers while also being socially aware. With the help of a very creative team of colleagues, I was able to reflect on my own performances and figure out what things I excel in and which areas of the business I want to contribute to and have more responsibilities for.
I absolutely recommend working in more small-scale creative industries, as it would be very beneficial to your personal growth, which you can use to build up a professional career. It offers you a lot of freedom for creative direction but also gives you a lot of responsibilities. Youseum supports personal and professional growth for all its employees and treats them like family. I felt very at home as part of their team for almost six months, and am very grateful for the things I have learned and the connections that I have made.