Internship with Dowers Club Records L.L.C
About My Internship
Here is a week-by-week breakdown of trainings and work I did
during my intership.
Content Creation Intern
Downers Club Records
Week One: December 20 - December 24, 2021
Introduction
For the first week, I learned about DCR and went over what I will be doing for the internship. Overall, this 15-week program will provide me with the skills needed to succeed as a digital marketer in the music industry. Following a 3-week education period, I will assist and take ownership over the blog and social media before focusing on career planning and growth for the Intern. By the end of the internship, I will receive a HubSpot/Google Certification.
For Class--Focus on Learning: Two takeaways I learned this week are to take risks and the power of reassurance. I had applied to several internships through the "quick apply" function on LinkedIn. After interviewing with DCR I realized how perfect and different this internship was and how educational it would be. It's a lot, but it's nice to see ways that my majors can actually apply to the adult world. As for reassurance, as I dive into my educational training I am seeing similarities I learned in classes as well as in my master's program. It's nice to know that I chose right, and to see what is to come after college. :)
Week Two: December 27 - December 31, 2021
Education
For the second week, I learned about the importance of keywords for internet traffic. My boss and I walked through the website's highs and lows through Ubersuggest. Next, we created our top SEO opportunities that I could focus on when I start blog writing in week four.
For Class--Focus on Learning: Two takeaways I learned this week are the importance of timeliness and research. Google is such a powerful tool that when I was learning how its analytics break down keywords and code, I got overwhelmed. It's crazy to see how much word choice plays into how websites and articles rank on Google. It just shows how important it is to get the correct information in your piece, as well as do it before your competitors.
Week Three: January 3 - January 7, 2022
Education
For the third week, I learned about social media. I did extensive education modules on Hubsuite about how each social media platform works differently and the keys to being successful in each. I looked at our social media pages as well as some clients to dissect what they need to do in order to be better.
For Class--Focus on Learning: Two takeaways I learned this week are the power of analytics and the importance of social listening. While it's easy to check numbers and graphs to see the best time to post, it's much more in order to truly engage the audience. That is where social listening comes in. Social listening takes data from our users in a more qualitative area and helps build strategies to get people to come to our pages and engage with the content more.
Week Four: January 10 - January 14, 2022
SEO and Blogging
For this week, I started creating artist profiles for our blog. The artists I was assigned are dltzk, YN Jay, and GrindHardE. It was a very different style from what I am used to, and used language I am not used to using in my journalism world.
For Class--Focus on Professionalism: A big thing that we are working towards, as a company, is getting information out as quickly and correctly as we can in order to beat our competition. We do this not only by pushing content, but by also using research into keywords, hashtags, and what is being searched in Google.
Week Five: January 17 - January 21, 2022
SEO and Blogging
This week I worked on building our company's social media presence. I created a spreadsheet of ways to advertise our many services across platforms (i.e. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn). This required a lot of time not only getting to know our company but researching keywords to use in order to bring new traffic to our pages.
For Class--Focus on Diveristy: One way I observed diversity in the workplace was that we have unique clients that range in age, race, gender, education, orientation, genre, and success. We never say no to someone seeking help with the music industry and ready to get started. It makes the business more successful not just for monetary reasons but for experience--I get to work with so many different people and gain so many new experiences from it.
Week Six: January 24 - January 28, 2022
SEO and Blogging
This week I moved on to client-based work. I created another spreadsheet to help generate an audience for The Shape's newest music release, apparel, and overall fan base. After deep-diving their accounts and connecting with them about what they wanted to get from their fans, I built posts to encourage engagement.
For Class--Focus on ADA: I think that going forward my company should look into disability add-ons to our website for anyone that has visual or hearing impairments. The music industry has always been one of the most accepting areas for people--we need to make sure it's at the forefront of our message. While we represent clients that are diverse, we need to make sure we are always making our clients and audience as welcomed as possible.
Week Seven: January 31 - February 4, 2022
Social Media Management for DCR
Continuing my content creation, I produced four articles for our website: three artist profiles (347aidan, Wiardon, Septembersrich) and one Top 5 article. This meant searching the web for information about the artists, listening to interviews, diving into their music and social media.
For Class--Focus on Problem Solving: I had a client two weeks ago message my personal Twitter page. I had written a profile on the artist with the information I had gotten not just online but from my boss. However, the information was outdated. Our client had recently had a birthday and changed their pronouns. It was very upsetting to them--and rightfully so. My boss and I were able to contact the client to sort out any misunderstanding. While I asked my boss for help in reaching out to the client, I took the responsibility for the misinformation, fixed all links, and updated our paperwork. The client greatly appreciated our understanding and quick action. The lesson I took away from it was the importance of timeliness and communication.
Week Eight: February 7 - February 11, 2022
Social Media Management for DCR
These next two weeks I am taking a break from creating content in order to learn and study for my certifications. This internship is providing me with Social Media Marketing and Digital Advertising certifications through Hubspot. Each contains over 11 lessons and a one-hour exam.
For Class--Focus on Writing: My writing skills will impact my future because I want to use my degrees to be a leader in my fields. In order to reach these levels, I need good writing, communication, and editing skills. I have mainly improved my editing skills with this internship--the writings I have done are very different from my usual style so it's been hard to judge how they've improved. I think being able to gather so much information and deliver it in the voices of my clients has been difficult but extremely rewarding.
Week Nine: February 14 - February 18, 2022
Social Media Management for DCR
This week I am continuing my break from creating content in order to learn and study for my remaining certification. It is the Social Media Marketing certifications through Hubspot. It contains over 11 lessons and a one-hour exam.
For Class--Focus on Networking: One way I have expanded my network during my internship has been by using my social media handles in my blog posts. It allows artists to reach out if they need to, as well as helps me network with new clients. I have been able to attract new customers to our company and to my personal social media because of the work I have done. I think going forward, my boss will be the most influential in helping my career because he can speak to my work, professionalism, and how my posts have brought in clients (analytics).
Week Ten: February 21 - February 25, 2022
Social Media Management for Clients
Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with the software we use this week. Due to this, we had a lack of communication for assignments. I just did one blog post about how to create your stage name for new artists looking at companies to use.
For Class--Focus on Skills: I like to joke that I chose my majors because I simply couldn't decide what I wanted to do, but the reality is that I like to do everything. I want to be able to write, photograph, design, edit, and report on stories; I don't want to be limited to just one type of media or style. Having all of these skills I think will not only make me a more well-rounded person but a more fitting candidate for jobs. With this internship, I have been able to not only learn but be certified in certain skills, and I think it will leave a resonating impact on my resume. Having the proof that I can do these just solidifies my choices in my path here at Ball State and helps me gain footing in the professional world.
Week Eleven: February 28 - March 4, 2022
Social Media Management for Clients
This week I was back to my blog posts, doing three posts on three up-in-coming artists/clients. I spent most of my time listening to their music, researching their career, and then communicating with my boss to get their information (such as pronouns, age, etc). With the work we (the interns) have done, we are now a month out on content so these pieces won't be published a few weeks later.
For Class--Two takeaways that will contribute to my growth as a media professional will be to always quadruple-check your facts and to make sure you attribute where you get your information.
Week Twelve: March 7 - March 11, 2022
Social Media Management for Clients
This week is spring break on campus, so I am just doing two blog posts that review the top five New York Drill and Pluggnb artists. To finish up my internship I will start doing more individual tasks to help strengthen DCR across social media and in Google search.
For Class--Focus on Learning: Two lessons I learned this week are to use your notes and to trust your gut. While I got certifications in both Social Media Marketing and Digital Advertising, being given creative freedom was very nerve-racking. I know a lot about social media because of my major and my personal use, but deciding what to say and post is very intimidating. I do it for my sorority, but I think it's because I am representing people I know rather than doing something for a "boss". However, my ideas thus far have been big hits so it's the usual lesson of "trust your gut".
Week Thirteen: March 14 - March 18, 2022
Career Planning
I've been given creative freedom for posts, so I had to idea to write a blog post about my boss about why he started the company and what makes it unique. It's what sold me for my internship, so why not share it with potential customers!
For Class--Focus on Learning: Two take-aways I had this week were to be more confident in myself and to research our brand. What I found when I was researching our clients was that it was very popular to share Q&A interviews--so that's what we are going to try with my boss's interview, unless it would read better to be written like a post. As for confidence, it's been a difficult internship because it wasn't "journalism" writing, it was a lot more casual. It made me doubt my writing skills/abilities, but it has been much better as I've turned assignments into my own and pushed my own ideas.
Week Fourteen: March 21 - March 25, 2022
Career Planning
This week I am wrapping up my internship. I wrote three additional blogposts that we needed because we've had an increase in new clients (that my boss had to devote his attention to). I might be writing three more but we will see about the timing.
For Class--Focus on Learning: Two lessons I learned this week are to check job postings and to take everything as a lesson. I was nervous about getting an internship with the pandemic because places weren't having them, everything was remote, and there was just a lot of competition. And there are surprisingly a bunch of pyramid schemes on LinkedIn. When I got this internship, I didn't research it at all. From talking with my boss it sounded perfect on paper, but after looking at our clients and our websites I realized how much this truly was a startup. "Record Company" to me was a place to buy vinyl's, not to work with artists. And then my "work" with artists became beating other companies to post about who they were, a lot of keyword research, and poor language. While it wasn't what I was expecting, I learned a lot of lessons from it. I do have a taste of the music industry, which is super cool, but I don't want to be a blog writer.
Week Fifteen: March 28 - April 1, 2022
Career Planning
This week I finished my internship. I wrote my last three blog posts that were assigned to me. I had a zoom call with my boss to go over the internship, reflect on what I had learned, and discuss what to change for the next intern.
For Class--Focus on Learning: Overall, I think what helped me grow the most during this internship was how different it was--both in style and in content. Writing about rappers is harder than it sounds, but it's been really interesting to write about their origin in their music. It helped me conduct better interviews for my journalism stories, and be mindful of how to turn things around in narrative.