Fiona Maley gained experience in social media marketing and building skills in organization and integrating client feedback.
How did you get your internship?
I got my internship through a referral my friend sent me. This past summer a friend sent me an Instagram story from a local marketing agency where they posted an ad saying they wanted fall interns. I immediately sent my resume and set up an interview with the site supervisor. I knew I needed an internship for the fall and I hadn’t heard back from other organizations up until this point so I figured I would give it a try. The interview went really well and I scored the internship.
Why did you choose this internship?
I chose this internship because I had the opportunity to learn a lot more about social media. I feel that social media is the primary platform for marketing amongst my peers and with GenZ, so learning more about the behind the scenes of social media marketing was interesting to me. The idea of combining creativity, strategy, and analytics really appealed to me, and this internship was a great chance to explore that. I also love that it was local to campus and I would be working with companies in Tucson, so I knew I would be able to be involved while still managing my schoolwork.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
Throughout my internship, I worked on a variety of tasks that helped me understand social media marketing. I was responsible for creating content calendars, brainstorming ideas for Instagram posts, and designing graphics for stories and carousels. I also helped with influencer outreach by communicating with local content creators to collaborate on campaigns. One of the bigger projects I worked on was to make a “Wine Wednesday” campaign, which was a partnership with a restaurant on campus to build more student clientele. I had to focus on making it engaging and visually appealing to the target student market. I also participated in team meetings to share ideas and get feedback, which helped me learn the importance of collaboration in marketing.
What new knowledge and skills did you learn in this internship?
This internship taught me a lot of skills that I can carry into any future career. I learned how to stay organized and meet deadlines by managing content calendars, which required me to plan for weeks in advance. I also developed better communication skills while working with my team and local influencers. Patience and perseverance were big takeaways, too. Sometimes a post didn’t perform as expected, so I had to learn to analyze what went wrong and find ways to improve. Overall, I gained confidence in my ability to contribute ideas, work through challenges, and stay flexible in a fast paced setting.
What is unique about your situation that influenced your internship selection?
What made this internship unique for me was how directly it tied into my interests and coursework. Social media marketing is something I’ve always been curious about, and I felt like my minor in E-Society had already given me a strong foundation to build on. Another factor was the flexibility of the internship. It allowed me to balance my schoolwork and internship responsibilities so easily. I also loved getting the hands-on experience of actually running an Instagram account for a client and getting to execute all the creative ideas for the account.
What did you find challenging about your internship?
The most challenging part of my internship was learning to navigate feedback. At first, I would spend a lot of time perfecting something, only to hear that it needed changes or didn’t quite match with my supervisor’s vision. It was frustrating at times, but I learned to not take feedback personally. Instead, I started to see it as a chance to improve and better understand what works for the client. This experience taught me the value of flexibility and having an open mind, which will help me in any career I pursue.
What was your favorite part of your internship?
My favorite part of the internship was seeing the content I helped create go live and get positive engagement. There’s something so satisfying about watching your hard work pay off, especially when people respond well to it. One example that stands out was the “Wine Wednesday” campaign I worked on that I previously mentioned. I felt proud of how the designs and content turned out, and it was exciting to see people interact with it. This was meaningful to me because it showed that the effort I put into planning and creativity really made an impact and helped the restaurant.