Featured image by Vlada Karpovich

When I started my internship with NISM, I thought I understood everything about social media. Turns out, there was a whole different side to it that I had actually never explored before. I am a student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney studying Business Administration with a minor in Digital Marketing. 

Just a couple of weeks before finishing my junior year, I learned about the National Institute for Social Media’s summer internship and the timing was perfect. I had recently shifted my focus from Marketing to Digital Marketing, and this internship gave me extremely valuable insight. 

 

What I Did

When explaining to people what I did, I liked to say that I was learning and working at the same time. As interns, we were taking the same course anyone would take in order to become a certified Social Media Strategist. However, Jennifer Radke, our instructor, tailored it to be as insightful as possible for interns. 

Throughout this whole internship, we ended up reading the entire Comprehensive Field Guide for Social Media Strategist book. We would take all this information and demonstrate our knowledge through assignments, blogs (like this one), and content for all social media platforms. 

 

What I Learned

Looking back, this internship was nothing like the cliché movies where interns are stuck doing busy work. Instead, I was assigned tasks that challenged me and really pushed me to think outside the box. As I reflect on what I have learned, I want to break it up into two categories: soft skills and hard skills. Both played a vital role in my professional development, and I’m equally grateful for how I’ve grown in each area. 

Soft Skills: Although this was a completely remote internship, I developed my public speaking skills more than I expected. Through weekly meetings, recording a podcast episode, and meeting SMS professionals, I learned how to communicate clearly and confidently. Another area where I saw real growth was time management. Balancing my internship, job, and summer classes was honestly not an easy task. Were there weeks where I was extremely overwhelmed? Absolutely. But I learned from it and planned out how to do better next week. 

Hard Skills: One of the areas I noticed the most improvement in was video editing, even though I came into the internship with almost no experience. I learned to present valuable information in a short and engaging way. As I practiced, I developed a true interest for editing and found joy in making visually appealing videos. I also learned how to write captions tailored to its graphic and platform. Through trial and error, and many edits, I picked up on how to adjust my tone, length and messaging. These are just a couple skills, but I know that everything I learned will help me build my career. 

 

Obstacles

Like every other learning experience, I faced multiple obstacles throughout this summer. One of the biggest ones being stepping out of my comfort zone. In the beginning, there were many times where I doubted myself. However, I trusted the process and gave myself some grace, and slowly but sure I caught onto the routine. I had to learn how to push away my negative thoughts and accept that, inevitably, there were going to be times of failure, but also great success. 

 

Thank You

As I wrap up my time with NISM, I’d like to thank every single person I had the opportunity to learn from. Jen and Celeste, thank you for all your time, patience, and guidance throughout the summer. You two were truly so supportive and helped me feel empowered every single day. 

Another big part of my experience was being able to connect with so many wise professionals. Thank you for greeting all of us interns with open arms and making us feel so welcomed. Everyone I interacted with was so willing to share their story and give us advice to help us grow in the field. 

My advice to any student that may be considering applying for this internship is do it! In the beginning, I honestly did not know what I was getting myself into, but I don’t regret it one bit. I learned how to embrace the challenges and be a part of something bigger than myself. I am tremendously grateful and plan to carry this experience with me into my last year of college and beyond. 

 

Author Bio:

Liliana Marquez is a current student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Digital Marketing. Liliana was a 2025 intern with the National Institute for Social Media, where she had the incredible opportunity to enhance her marketing/social media skills throughout the summer.

Connect with Lili on LinkedIn!