New Kid on the Block: A Digital Marketing Internship Experience

Hi, I’m Sydni!

Hi! I’m Sydni Johnson. I love to create and share my work with others! I applied to Planet Argon’s Digital Marketing Internship to gain some formal experience in digital marketing. I post my artwork on social media platforms, liking and hopping on trends, but I wanted to post with more structure. I also wanted to work with an experienced team, gain more structure in posting on social media, and get to know and adapt to a new audience. Planet Argon was a perfect place for me to start!

Before the Internship

Before I began my internship at Planet Argon, I was nervous. I was going to be the new kid on the block, which meant I wouldn’t automatically know the ins and outs of things anymore. New people, new tools, new work environment– the more I thought about the upcoming months, the less “new “ felt like an accurate word. That being said, I was also really excited and grateful to gain some enriching experiences.

While this was my first internship, I had a few expectations for myself, including being quick at being “bad” so I could be faster at getting “good.” I didn’t want my “new kid on the block” smell to linger, but eventually, I realized that it was all part of the learning process! Despite my somewhat harsh expectations of myself, I wanted to gain and leave with new skills and expected the company to be a fairly enriching experience. So far, those expectations have held up!

Before my internship, I didn’t know anything about Planet Argon, but I hoped to learn more about collaborating with a team. As an introverted visual artist and writer (who still loves to talk!), I’m used to working solo unless it’s with class projects or a poetry club meeting.

I also hoped to gain a better and more formal understanding of digital marketing. How do companies keep up with everything… everywhere all at once, especially in today’s trend-hopping world? What tools and strategies do they use? I wanted to learn more about these to apply them to my marketing strategies and future career endeavors!

Onboarding

During my first week, I felt nervous and a bit overwhelmed. I struggled with the feeling of starting from ground zero again and faced the reality that I would have to be bad at some things before I became decent at them. I forgot how normal it was to make mistakes and that asking questions wasn’t annoying. But I knew Planet Argon was a good company.

I also forgot just how fun learning things could be! During my time at Planet Argon, I was introduced to tools like Ahrefs, Buffer, Hubspot, writing in Markdown, etc. While I was already familiar with Canva and Google Docs, just like with anything, there is always something new to learn! It was fun learning what aspects make a simple yet compelling graphic. Markdown was my favorite new tool to learn. I had to pry myself away from playing with it because it was entertaining and stimulating.

Despite my initial anxieties about the internship, the onboarding process went well! Onboarding took around one week to complete.

My First Week

This internship was what I expected and more! I was surprised at how creative the tech/coding world could be. I was also surprised you don’t necessarily have to be a tech wiz to market tech well. Sure, having a good understanding of what you’re writing about can help a post feel hearty, but you don’t have to be a wiz on the subject. Being a good communicator is key!

I tend to be shy, but reaching out and talking to people proved much easier than I thought! The team is here to help; they won’t bite you or shout “off with your head” if you need to request something. Not that I thought that would happen, but I learned that I have a good network of people to ask if I need something!

One of my favorite “aha moments” was while working on a social media design. I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere, So I put it down for a while. I thought about the Maya Angelou quote, “Nothing works unless you do.” How can I make these fun facts more engaging? How can I make the photos stand out more? By asking for feedback and working through the suggestions, I could finish it and publish it that day.

The Next Few Weeks

Over the next few weeks, I became more acclimated to the team. My meet-and-greet sessions with the Planet Argon team members were pretty chill, welcoming, and extremely helpful– and they carried those traits throughout my internship. Ms. Autumn guided me through my projects and tasks and was always there to give helpful feedback. I forgot how to record something for M10? No problem! I needed feedback on a graphic to make it more enticing? She was there to help! I appreciated her help throughout this entire experience. Mr. Robby and Mr. Mena welcomed me to the company, telling me about their experiences and that if I needed any help, I shouldn’t hesitate to ask.

I liked how collaborative the Planet Argon team was. During the meetings, my main goal was to listen and absorb information, but I also felt there was a safe space for me to share my ideas and opinions. They truly listened, encouraging me to come out of my shell. One of the projects I worked on was planning the cultural event, which we combined with the Planet Argon birthday.

I appreciated how Planet Argon creates a hardworking yet non-judgmental work environment.

Going Forward

At the start of my internship, I was sure my “new kid on the block” smell would never disappear. I expected myself to be “bad” at doing things for a prolonged period and that I was expected to be a pro by the end. I came out the other side, realizing that 1) the only one with those harsh expectations was myself, and 2) I’m not a pro at everything, but that’s not a bad thing! We’re always learning new things (even new things about old things), but learning new skills can be fun if you let it!

This internship was valuable to me because it was my first internship, and it allowed me to test my strengths, improve my weaknesses, and build new skills! I had to prove to myself that I could complete cool tasks and apply myself.

In the future, I hope to work in areas of publishing, specifically self-publishing. Self-publishing gives me a lot of freedom and control as a creative; however, it doesn’t have some of the same benefits as publishing through a publisher, including marketing my work. I will have to do almost everything myself (with a good team, of course), including making the designs, analyzing data, and more. While Planet Argon is a software development company, I’ve learned many transferable skills that will take me far in my literary and design career!

One of the skills I hope to take with me is my new graphic design skills. While I’ve used Canva in the past, I mainly worked on things that appealed to me. Now, I know how to make things more visually appealing for myself and others. I also hope to use my skills in writing in Markdown and using data-collecting tools like Ahrefs and Hubspot. Most of all, I hope to bring my experiences collaborating with a team to future career endeavors. Whether working with other visual artists and poets or writing stories and publications, I know how important it is to get feedback and work on fun projects with others!

Something that stuck out to me with this internship is that, more often than not, people are willing to help; you just have to be willing to ask! Another thing that stuck out to me that I’ll always carry with me is that there are some things you’ll pick up quickly and others you won’t. You won’t be good at everything immediately, but you can use this time to grow and make mistakes! For example, while I had some experience with Canva, I wasn’t exactly skilled in creating graphics for a specific company. While making graphics for Planet Argon, I played around with different designs, finding what worked and what didn’t. Eventually, things began to click, and the process became less daunting!

My experience at Planet Argon was more beneficial than I imagined. I would recommend this position to anyone interested in digital marketing! You don’t have to be a wiz at it initially to do something great. Just be hardworking and keep an open mind! You might surprise yourself with how much you can accomplish if you just let yourself do it. :)