Today marks the last day of my internship here at Get Talked About for the summer. Come Monday morning, I know what I’ll miss about my usual day. I’ll want to see all of my lovely coworkers working at their computers, go to IMU’s page to watch more webinars on inbound marketing, check out the latest updates on Google Analytics, and meet with our clients to discuss strategy. Instead, I’ll be preparing to return to school, and while getting an education at a respectable university is important, it will not match the experience that I have had this summer at GTA. In this respect and for my last day I’d like to reflect on all the things I’ve learned here that will prove to be invaluable for my future that I would not have learned otherwise.
While at Get Talked About, I’ve been exposed to a multitude of tools that we utilize to manage our data, keep track of our performance on various sites, and eventually report these findings to our clients; however, in order to utilize these tools effectively, it requires an understanding of how each one operates and what purposes they each serve. A couple of tools I learned to use were Google Analytics and Hubspot. Each provided a unique set of data to analyze our clients’ performance on different media including social media sites, web pages, email marketing campaigns, search engines, etc.
Although I knew at first all these tools were helpful, they were useless to me without learning what the data meant. Inbound Marketing University and GAIQ (Google Analytics’s training course) both explained the significance behind what inbound marketing did, how it should be employed, and what the resulting data meant from these practices. I learned a broad range of concepts, and I even got the chance to write about and apply some of them in past blogs. The classes covered everything from defining SEO, describing the importance of blogging, providing helpful tips on how to use social media for business, giving examples of effective (and not so effective) CTA’s and landing pages, defining different metrics like visitors vs. visits, and countless others.
After learning the concepts, it came time to make sense of it all in the field. I had the tools and the knowledge, but what was really important was using them together in an experience with a client who I actually had to satisfy. This required me to go outside of the realm that IMU taught from because not everything that IMU spoke to was helpful for every single client. Consequently, my work here at GTA sometimes involved more research. I gathered information on stocks and industry trends to put together a market report for a prospective client. I helped out on another project with a client who was looking into advertising. I called up various advertisers (radio, billboard, television, etc) and put together a spreadsheet that they will utilize to decide what they plan to do for branding and awareness. I have sent press releases to news stations in the hopes that they will publish them to gain some exposure for our clients. I have also written blog posts, shared on social media, and looked at keywords for SEO for a number of clients. Each experience with each client has been different, but it has been experience all the same.
That being said, I really have enjoyed my summer as a marketing intern. As I’ve said, I think the experience I have gained from Get Talked About is precisely what I have been missing out on. Finally being able to utilize my skills and knowledge from school in a work setting where the clients care about what happens with what I’ve worked hours on is extremely rewarding. I look forward to returning back to this line of work sometime where my efforts are valued and worthwhile. Until then, I’d like to thank Get Talked About and all the wonderful people here for their guidance. It’s been a pleasure working for you and I am extremely grateful to have worked here. To the people at GTA thanks for teaching me, and, for those of you reading my posts, thanks for reading!
Interested in hearing more about Katie’s internship? Leave a comment below, and she’ll be happy to tell you more!