Simternship

    Throughout the course of the semester, my class and I have been completing an online simulation of a social media internship. This was a unique experience as I have never had to implement a social media strategy of my own. There were three different kinds of strategies we used to gain things as reach, engagement, and revenue. 

    The first strategy we used was organic content which is the cheapest and most organic type of content. Organic content can be anything from posting user-generated content to interacting with customers on social media itself. As a social media manager, I had the responsibility of budgeting out certain posts and then deciding what platforms to post on and at what time. This was a new experience, but I caught on quickly and learned what kinds of posts work better on different platforms. The next strategy I used was paid content. 

    A paid social media strategy includes sponsored advertisements and paid influencers to grow the awareness of a brand or product. When using a paid social media strategy, the budget becomes more important as you must decide what and how many posts should go out on which platforms. Another part of a paid strategy is selecting a target audience in which platforms like Facebook or Instagram will target your advertisements to. This includes demographics and psychographics such as age, gender, and interests. The last strategy we used, which goes along with paid advertisements, is influencers. 

    Influencers have a huge impact on marketing products to people that use social media. Influencers are paid by a brand for a certain type and number of posts they must make. Through the internship simulation we were to pick which influencer goes along with our target market and then go into the negotiation phase. During the negotiation phase, I made offers to influencers for a certain amount of money for a certain number of posts. Many times, I was declined for offering too low of money, but I guess that is part of the business. 

    Overall, I learned a lot about managing social media platforms and especially the analytics that go along with it. Learning how to read and understand the reach, engagement, and conversions is very important in running a successful campaign. It is vitally important to know what is working and what is not so that you do not invest in strategies that go nowhere.