This summer, we were fortunate to have four talented interns join us virtually at NISM. Throughout the internship, they gained hands-on experience crafting content, engaging with our community, and applying social media strategies learned through our course materials. They participated in weekly SMS prep courses led by Jennifer Radke and benefited from insightful feedback sessions with their mentor Celeste Russell. Additionally, Q&A sessions with our Advisory Board members provided them with fresh perspectives from seasoned professionals. Each of them has shown a strong commitment to learning and growing in the field of social media marketing, and they’ve worked closely with our team to prepare for the SMS Certification exam.

As their internship comes to a close, we’re excited to highlight each intern and share their journey with you. Today we’re pleased to introduce you to Sam Cuellar. Learn more about Sam and join us in supporting his professional journey by connecting with him through LinkedIn, Instagram, or YouTube or leaving a comment below.

 

Hi, Sam! To kick things off, could you share a bit about your background and what led you to join this internship?

Before joining NISM’s 12-week summer internship program, I had just recently graduated from DePaul University in March of 2024. I completed my bachelor’s degree in digital marketing. Currently, I am at the very beginning of my marketing career and was very fortunate enough to join the NISM team this summer, along with three other amazing interns who showed a great passion for social media marketing.

Aside from this internship being remote, which was a big plus, I had to be honest with myself by accepting the fact that I did not have much real-life social media marketing experience working for an organization, and needed to start somewhere. This internship provided just that, from learning incredibly valuable content creation, and social media marketing material, as well as creating irreplaceable connections.

You definitely came to the right place, and we’re so glad you did. What aspects of this internship stood out to you as particularly impactful?

The mentor meetings, content feedback, and meetings with multiple NISM board members all stood out to me.

The weekly mentorship meetings with Celeste and the other three interns had to be one of the many highlights during my week. Not only were these meetings informative regarding social media content creation, but everyone in the meetings always brought a positive attitude, great questions, and a fun vibe, which made the learning experience in these meetings that much better. 

Regarding content feedback, we would receive constructive feedback from Celeste on a weekly basis. This feedback consisted of what we excelled at and what needed improvement. In addition to the weekly constructive feedback, I also really enjoyed the one live content feedback session we had. In the session, she pulled up one great and one not so great graphic or video that we each created (interns) for that week. She then gave each of us constructive feedback on our content. Additionally, she gave us best practices on content creation, which included things like where to position text on videos and how to spice up our graphics by including fun textures.

The third aspect that stood out to me the most was the fact that Jen, our weekly SMS prep course instructor, brought numerous SMS certified professionals from very different backgrounds and geographical locations to our meetings. In short, this was impactful for me because not only did we gain one new LinkedIn connection each week, but we also had the opportunity to ask field-related questions and hear about everyone’s unique experience.

We’re happy you valued connecting with just some of NISM’s talented professionals and we appreciate your willingness to learn and grow with constructive feedback. In addition to content creation, you were also asked to engage with some of our online community.  How did this hands-on approach shape your understanding of social media strategy?

The hands-on approach NISM’s internship provided reshaped my understanding of what I originally thought social media strategy was. Previously, my experience was limited to a past social media marketing course at DePaul and a marketing and PR internship with Samuel Goldwyn Films, where I cut artwork in Photoshop. 

At NISM, it was amazing getting to learn how to effectively create copy, graphics, and video that aligned with NISM’s mission and previous social media posts. Knowing that the content we created for NISM was going to be used for their socials added both pressure and motivation to create the best possible copy, graphics, and video that I could. 

Additionally, all interns were given the responsibility to oversee NISM’s social media channels. I was given access to their TikTok account where I had to engage with up to 40 accounts (up to 20 each week) that fit into our target demographic. This involved following and engaging through meaningful comments, likes, and DMs, which helped me understand how to approach each user from a genuine place.

What tools did you learn about during this internship that you want to continue using or learning about?

Two tools that I absolutely adored during this internship were Canva and CoSchedule. 

After initially getting introduced to Canva by Celeste, the tool we primarily used to create content during our internship, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to use for creating effective artwork. If it is allowed, I can totally see myself using this for any brand I work for down the road. Furthermore, I can see myself using this valuable tool for creating content for the two bands that I am currently in to help with our promotion efforts. 

The other tool, CoSchedule, is essentially a headline analyzer that rates your headline with an SEO score. I primarily used this tool to help create eye-catching titles for the various blogs we were tasked to write during the internship. It was nice to receive scores that told me how great or terrible my headlines were. I will also have to say that it saves you from lots of guess work! That is, it prevents you from publishing a blog with a title that you’re unsure will perform well on search engines.

We loved watching your confidence and skill utlizing these tools increase each week. How do you plan to use the knowledge and skills you’ve gained during this internship to achieve your professional goals?

As I have not quite decided on a specific industry yet, attractive ones to me include the music, travel, and fitness industries. I know for a fact that I can apply what I learned in the 12-week summer social media strategist internship to any of these fields. 

In fact, I am currently in the two bands Liquid Faction (a multi-generational rock cover band) and SYRG (an instrumental progressive metal band), and I know that right now, I can use the content creation, social media management, and audience engagement skills I’ve learned through NISM. The acquired skills can certainly help promote these two projects to interested audiences and grow our fan base.

We can’t wait to see you put what you learned into action! Before we go, what advice would you give to future interns or aspiring Social Media Strategists who are considering pursuing the SMS Certification? How can they make the most of their learning and internship experiences? 

For any future interns who plan to help out NISM and pursue their SMS Certification, I would recommend a few things.

First off, I would say that if you have a question during one of the two live meetings each week but feel too shy or nervous to ask in front of everyone, go for it anyways! Often, someone else in the room, or in this case, the Zoom meeting, may have the same question you have. 

Secondly, don’t be afraid to reach out to your fellow interns and Jen or Celeste if you are stuck on an assignment for the class portion, or unsure of what to do for a work task. They are all there to support you! There have been a handful of times where I struggled through an assignment or task because I was too stubborn to take the two minutes to reach out to one of these individuals for help. Please learn from this and don’t let that be you! 

Thirdly, take notes during any prerecorded video lectures or live meetings. I can’t tell you how often the notes I took helped and sped up assignments I had to do for the internship. As the saying goes, it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Excellent advice, Sam! We’ve so enjoyed having you join our team this summer and we wish you all the best as you prepare to sit for your SMS exam. Readers, we hope you’ll connect with Sam on LinkedIn, Instagram, or YouTube and support him as he continues his journey!