Mia worked on the Debbie Wilhelm Team at Coldwell Banker team's social media and online presence while getting real experience with marketing, branding, websites, reviews, and customer communication.
Why did you choose this internship?
I chose this internship because I knew I wanted to do something related to marketing and social media since that is the general direction I want to go in after college. My mom works in real estate, so I was familiar with her work on the property side but I had never really been involved in the marketing side of things. I knew there were things with her website, social media and other online profiles that could probably use some updating. It seemed like a good opportunity to pursue for my internship because I could practice skills that actually relate to what I want to do. Regardless of the industry, I figured the marketing experience would be transferable.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
I ended up doing a varied mix of things throughout my internship. A lot of it involved going through the team's online presence and figuring out what was useful versus what was not really used versus what was outdated. We looked at website traffic data to see which pages were popular and I looked through client review websites like Yelp and RealExpert to see where different leads were actually coming from. I helped update the main website by rewriting some of the bios that needed updating. I also got to experiment with AI tools for marketing from industry leaders like Jason Pantana's AI program. Before doing this internship, I honestly didn't realize how many different websites and platforms a small business has to keep track of. This experience taught me how much work goes into creating one aligned brand for your business.
What new skills did you practice in this internship?
One thing I got a lot better at was looking at things from the client point of view. There were definitely times when something made complete sense to us because we already knew the business, but then I would look at it like I was a hesitant buyer or new seller finding the team online for the first time. Using that skill of empathy helped me see where we could be more clear with our message. I also did a lot more writing and editing than I expected, especially when we were working on bios and website information. I got experience researching and navigating different platforms, organizing information and providing the team with rationale for my choices. I also learned more about using AI for actual work. It can definitely save time, but I learned pretty quickly that you still have to go through AI outputs because sometimes it sounds completely unnatural or doesn't really fit the business. That is something I think will be useful in basically any marketing job now.
How was the internship related to your Applied Humanities degree?
Before doing the internship, I honestly didn't think that much about how Applied Humanities would connect to real estate marketing. Once I actually started working, though, I could see the connection a lot more. So much of marketing is really just understanding people and figuring out how to communicate something in a way that makes sense to them. I was constantly thinking about what a potential client would see when they Googled the team or went onto the website and what impression they would get from our materials. My Fashion Studies emphasis also has me thinking a lot about branding and how businesses present themselves, so I found myself using that mindset even though I wasn't working for a fashion company. If anything, it showed me that what I have learned isn't as industry-specific as I used to think.
What was the most satisfying part of your internship?
My favorite part was probably getting to give my own opinion instead of just being handed a list of things to complete. Since I spend so much time online and on social media, there were things about the team's online presence that stood out to me pretty quickly. Sometimes something was functional, but I thought the aesthetic could be improved or maybe the layout wasn’t how I would expect to find information if I were searching for a business myself. I liked being able to point those things out and actually explain why I thought changing them would help. It also made me realize that being younger and having grown up using social media can actually be useful in a professional setting, which I hadn't really thought about before. Seeing some of my suggestions actually turn into changes was probably the most satisfying part because it didn't feel like I was doing work just to check off an internship requirement.
What did you find most challenging about your internship and what did you learn from it?
The hardest part for me was probably figuring out where to start (and stop) because once I started looking through everything, I kept finding things I wanted to fix. There were different websites, reviews, bios, social media accounts, client information and other random things spread across our online presence. At first I wanted to go through basically all of it, which wasn't realistic. I had to get better at figuring out what actually mattered and what could wait. I also had to remind myself that I am not necessarily the target customer for a real estate business--something I personally think looks better isn't automatically the best marketing decision when the actual clients are a different age demographic and have different priorities than I do. Learning to think about the audience before my own preferences was probably one of the more useful things I got out of the experience.
How has your internship experience influenced your plans for your future?
If anything, the internship made me more sure that I want to go into some type of marketing, PR, social media, branding or creative strategy after college. Fashion is still the industry I'm most interested in, but I don't feel like I have to start there anymore. I realized that what I actually enjoy is looking at how a business presents itself, figuring out what could be better and thinking about how people are going to respond to it. I also liked that marketing can be creative without everything being reliant on what is trending at the moment. There is an actual reason behind why you're doing things and who you're trying to reach. Before this internship, most of my experience came from projects I had done for classes, so it was nice to finally work on something where the decisions could affect an actual business. I still don't know exactly what my first job after college is going to look like, but I have a much better idea of the type of work I want to be doing.