I spent 3 months as an marketing intern at Vanke, a leading real estate company in China. The project I worked for is located in Guangzhou, a city where you can see historical heritages lying among steel-and-glass skyscrapers. The internship experience was stressful and fulfilling at the same time. I would say that the happiest moment of a typical working day was when I got out of the glass buiding after work, and saw streetlights shed dim, soft, yellow light on the city and the ancient ancestral temples on my way home.
At the beginning, the idea of doing an internship was intimidating, and the experience was constantly dragging me out of my comfort zone. I remember the first few weeks in the project when I was shy, but wanting to impress others at the same time. I was constantly asking questions, learning about the industry, and new knowledge to help do my tasks.
My main tasks were to collect and analyze advertising statistics and customer study statistics; assist in managing social media live stream marketing; create social media posts and video editing. In order to perform bettwe, I was always reflecting, combining my communication science knowledge and learning new things about marketing and social media.
I was grasping the essences of integrated marketing campaigns through my experiences: online advertisements, promotion of Key Opinion Leaders (KOL), offline events, and promotion in online and offline stores. I was engaged in all of these process and obtained a clearer understanding of marketing in practice at Vanke.
During the internship, I also conducted communication science research related to my tasks: the effect of live stream shopping on consumers’ brand attitude and purchase intention, and the moderating role of source credibility and parasocial interaction. The result is interesting: the more a marketing source is perceived as credible by the consumers, the stronger the effect of live stream shopping on purchase intention will be. The same result applies to parasocial interaction. If the consumers establish deeper parasocial interaction with the marketing source, the effect of live stream shopping on both brand attitude and purchase intention will be stronger.
An important takaway from my internship was that, always fully communicate my working progress with teamates, manage my time, and never hesitate to ask for help. Finally, what I appreciate the most of Vanke’s company culture: always learn new things, and always engage in sports!