Developing My Social Media Skills

By Brenda Garcia

Although we don’t realize it, as people we are all happy to learn everyday and grow overtime. Through my internships, I have gained a lot of experience within many different work settings. However, none of my internships compare to the GMMB internship I obtained. I improved my writing skills, learned about different careers in this particular field, and also just learned how to work with others in general. The best part of this internship was how it wasn’t like a typical one where you go to meetings to a facility and learn with guidance. We still received guidance with our projects and blogs, through online communication methods such as Google Hangout. It was extremely interesting to have to communicate with others through online methods without meeting them; it gave me a sense of how I might have to work with some people online in the real work space. Sometimes I found it difficult to write blogs because I had run out of ideas, yet I still managed to pull through with my blog posts. I became really excited when I was offered a chance to do a small side project for GMMB that included recording some of my classmates reciting a linked learning script. Talking to people and not making eye contact was a little out of my comfort zone, but it turned out to be easier than I expected. I discovered that I can work with new projects being offered.

Not only did I learn and improved some of my writing,I also improved in other skills that I will need in the future anywhere I go. I learned how to manage my time a lot better! Since I also have 2 more internships going on within a week, I had to learn how to manage my time in between the week to fulfill the entire task each one of them gives me. I had to layout all my calendars and time schedules to figure out where to fit every single task, including the GMMB blogging and project we are current working on. It was somewhat challenging since I was not much of an organized person, yet I did it and learned strategies to better my schedule within a week or even a month in advanced. Staying organized was a difficult task for me, but with this internship I learned how to keep my documents in order Since my requirements included me submitting blogs, time sheets, etc. for GMMB, I always had to make sure to separate my internship stuff from my school stuff. All the folders in my computer appear to me more ordered than before I started.

I found myself paying more attention in all the new things I would learn or do during my internships in order to find ideas to brainstorm and write about. As a writer, I learned techniques that helped me better the way I think. I noticed that before I start a blog I need to sit down about a day before for a couple hours to brainstorm. After I had the ideas written down, I came to one of my final decisions on what my next blog topic would be. When I had a specific topic in mind, I spent the next day or two thinking and writing down main ideas. I realized that I need some time before I start writing to come up with sentences to help me flow a lot better. It was a really nice experience to learn about all these different techniques that helped me perform better. The incorporation of these techniques helped me improve in my writing at school and other personal writing, which was a really cool change to experience overtime. The way I speak has also changed because of how I express myself through writing.

I felt this extremely friendly and welcoming vibe from all the staff at GMMB, which included Leah, Allie, and all the guest speakers who gave up their time to offer some small workshops. It was great to learn about different careers in the 21st century. About 10 years ago, no one would have even thought that a social media skills would be part of a career. After listening to some of our guest speakers, I learned more about what my future goals might look like. I figured that since I was born into the social media generation, it might be interesting to look at trends over time of social media and marketing. I love learning about what’s going on in the world and teaching people about issues occurring or even educating people, , which is why I have planned to pursue a career in social media marketing. I feel that this career path might be a good one that will help me constantly keep up with things happening in our generation and the ones to come.

I am satisfied with all of the information, knowledge, and learning I have obtained within my time as an intern with GMMB. It was a great experience. The skills I have gained with this internship will stay with me anywhere I get a job or internship. It was a great new experience to work with others via the web. I can’t wait to see the final outcome of our project and present it to the GMMB staff. I am extremely glad that the internship showed me all of these different ways to improve my writing abilities.