Center for Innovation in Technology & Learning
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Responsibilities:
* Work with clients (logos included next to text) * Assist in the implementation of multiple marketing plans. * Write, edit, and proof content for print, email, web, and social media. * Collaborate with academic partners across campus to develop relationships and content. * Develop and execute social media strategies. * Communicate with PR and Media outlets. * Occasionally attend client meetings with the creative team. * Assist in managing the unit’s master calendar. * Collect data on prospects, competitors, and market place and consolidate information into actionable items, reports, and presentations. * Provide competitive analysis on other institutions. * Adhere to University of Illinois, Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning and Illinois Online branding and style guides. * Serve as a department ambassador and positively promote the department and academic partners at events and activities. |
Certifications
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Social Media Content Portfolio |
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Information Accessibility Design & Policy Certificate of Professional Development
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Master of Science in Strategic Brand Communication
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Online Master of Science in Teaching Biology
Experiential Blog
This blog highlights my first 8 weeks at CITL.
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Week #1: October 1 & October 3, 2018
Topic: On-Site Experience, Summary of Week Tasks This week marks the first full week of my internship at CITL. On October 1, I began working on my Google AdWord certification. One of my many responsibilities will be to have AdWord campaigns for every one of my four clients this semester. Google AdWords allows us to understand the key ways to reach target markets through search and display optimization techniques. So far, I have made it through the training sessions of Google AdWords Basic Fundamentals. Unfortunately I received a 75% on the test and you need an 80% to pass! So catch me back on Google AdWords Basic Fundamentals next week. Other than AdWords, I began doing research on my clients. I have four online program clients- so far. The Strategic Brand Communication Graduate Degree (SBC); Earth, Society, and Environment Online Degree (ESE); Recreation, Sports, and Tourism Online Graduate Degree (RST); Information Accessibility Design and Policy Certificate of Professional Development (IADP). Each client is exceedingly unique and presents their own problem for us to solve through marketing. So far, I have done background research on each one of the programs and have a basic understanding of each one. My first client meeting is Tuesday, October 9 with SBC. This meeting is called a “Think-Tank,” which has been defined to me as a brainstorming session between our team and the client. About an hour left in October 3 at the office and I was emailed a task to complete by end of day 10/08. My job is to sort and organize the files an Excel file and make sure that our website is up to date on all the Online programs we offer. Very excited to get back to work on Monday! |
Week #2: October 8 & 10, 2018
Topic: On Site Experience, How the Supervisor Assigns Responsibilities My supervisor assigns tasks through a platform called Work Front (example on right). Here, she can assign tasks a due date and we can log our progress on the assignment. For example, under "Abby Tasks" there is: Abby New Hire Tasks, Abby Google AdWords tutorial, Abby Facebook Lynda Ads, and HootSuite tutorial, and Intern Schedule October Posts. In the system, you go into your task and you can do many things. You can change the due date, if you change the due date however you need to explain why you are moving the date. Some things you cannot move the deadline, such as scheduling posts. Each month the posts need to be scheduled before the month they are to be posted. For example, my Google AdWords Certification is tentatively supposed to be done October 19; however, my supervisor knows how time consuming this process is and is open to having to extend the deadline. In addition, you can log comments on the tasks. For example, if you are working on the task you can @ your supervisor and then they know exactly how far you are and what you have been doing. I email my supervisor multiple times in a work day requesting contact information and other essential information for my assignments. I worked with her this week to schedule my first interview and I sent her my questions, she approved and wants a draft by next week. There are some activities that are very loosely assigned. When it comes to my clients, I am given almost complete control and creativity to decide what I will create to go on the Illinois Online social media (link on right to Facebook page) to be posted about them. All I am told is to to schedule the posts for them to be approved. This week, I am working on a timeline campaign for a client and I plan to pitch it to my supervisor and if she approves I will then send it on to my graphic designer to make images to get published next month. |
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Week #3: October 15 & 17, 2018
Topic: Networking, Informational Interview- 5 Questions Profile Kalee Ackerman who has been working as the Marketing and Communications Specialist at CITL for the past 11 months but has been working for the University of Illinois for the past 10 years. 1) Can you describe your typical day? “No day is the same, which is why I love marketing,” she exclaimed excitedly. A typical day involves a several meetings with either the marketing team or an academic partner (client). Otherwise, it depends on the campaign we are currently working on and the tasks associated with it. These tasks may include: writing a press release, working with a media buyer, communication with a designer for ads or promotional materials, writing/proofing social media posts, managing interns, etc. 2) What education is required for this work? Certification? Skills? Experience? This position requires a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, advertising, journalism, or a related field. Depending on the exact position, it may require a few years of experience. 3) What jobs and experiences lead you to your current profession? “I majored in communications in college and always thought I wanted to do athletic public relations,” she says. Then Kalee moved back to Urbana- Champaign and started in the University Athletic Affairs office which lead to a position in Advancement where she was introduced to marketing and communications teams across campus. 4) If you could do things over would you choose the same path? What would you change? “I would absolutely take the same path!” However, she wishes she took a other classes in college to better prepare her for her job today but “marketing was different 12-15 years ago,” she says. 5) What part of your job is most satisfying? Most challenging? “The most challenging is the ability to work with and help multiple academic units across campus. The most challenging is exactly the same! Competing priorities are tough and working with each unit- who thinks theirs is the most important can be difficult to manage,” Kalee says. |
Week #4: October 22 & 24, 2018
Topic: On Site Experience, Day in the life of an intern at CITL When I came into work on Monday, I immediately checked my calendar. I had two meetings on my schedule. Before my meetings, I completed scheduling the rest of my social media posts for October. For each of my clients I have to have 3 posts for the month. One being created content, meaning I make original posts for my client. Second, just sharing content from the client on the Illinois Online social. Finally, posting about facts/deadlines the client’s program has. Once I secured all my post dates and the pictures with them, I have to wait for my supervisor to approve my posts caption and images. After this stage I schedule my posts on HootSuite, an online social media scheduling tool. HootSuite is great because you can write out posts to be scheduled across multiple social outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Once I finished this task, it was time for my first meeting. I went to my first meeting with the Information Accessibility Design & Policy (IADP) certificate program. The cool thing about my office, is two out of my five clients have representatives housed in the office so they are super close and accessible when we need to meet. Speaking with the program advisors, we discussed social media strategies such as upcoming campaign ideas and working on their LinkedIn group page. Next, I met with an advisor within the Recreation, Sports and Tourism (RST) graduate online degree. We talked about working on Alumni Spotlights and Google Adwords. He was very excited to get started and plans to send me over alumni ASAP to feature! After my meetings, I sent recaps to both of the clients with items I need from them to get started on our list of priorities. To finish out my day, I worked on a few courses in the Google Adwords Display certificate. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has to offer! |
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Week #5: October 29 & 31, 2018
Topic: Big Picture, What advice would you give to an intern before you actually start? Before you start working as the Marketing and Communications intern for the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning, there are a lot of things I would recommend doing. First, you should take advantage of the fact that as a student you can get the Google AdWords certification for free. I spend a lot of time everyday trying to get through the courses and individual parts of the certificate like Search, Display and more. I wish I would have finished this certification prior to starting at CITL. However, my job allows me to learn on the go but I have to start performing AdWord functions for my client before I have even finished learning formally how to do it. Second, try to take a writing class during/before this. Establish a connection who you can take your pieces to for criticism. Everyone at CITL has a marketing background but few have critical writing background. My supervisor gives me great feedback, but taking the piece to my public relations writing teacher- he ripped it apart- in a good way! Another thing, when you accept the position, ask who your clients are going to be. I wish I would have done some background research on my clients prior to having deadlines to meet for them. It was nice sitting down with each one of them when I started, but I wish I had some more guidance on what they were looking for instead of just having to figure it out- but that is kind of the industry we are in. Being thrown into the fire- so it’s good practice! Finally, before you start, make sure you have a portfolio where you can publish the work you do. It’s so much harder to go back at the end of a long period of time to compile all the work you do. With five clients and at least three posts a month, you will have a lot to be proud of. Have a place ready to have this work placed when you complete it. This is also a good place to put screenshots of your posts so employers can see the numeric affect of your efforts. |
Week #6: November 5 & 7, 2018
Topic: Networking, Talk about some of the connections that you made during the internship and how they might help you in the long run. My first most important connection is with my supervisor. She has been the most active supervisor that I have ever had in an office setting. My last in-office internship was the summer going into my freshman year at the Illinois Film Office in Chicago, IL. My supervisor there would drop various tasks on my desk and leave me to figure it out. At the time, I had struggled with Excel, and they had asked me to sort through large tax break information with large monetary values. I expressed that I did not know how to do it and instead of trying to teach me, my supervisor dismissed it and gave me a new task. Here at CITL, my supervisor does anything she can to teach me. I will always remember the kind of supervisor I will want to be one day under my supervisor’s example. Next, my co-interns. The first day I was introduced to one of the other marketing interns. She was very eager to help me in anyway she could. She is exceedingly good at Google AdWords and has expressed that whenever I need help, she will be there for me. I expressed to her in return the huge interest of advertising agencies for the Google AdWords skill. She realized a day later after putting this in her skills on LinkedIn that sure enough, agencies were looking at her! I will always value my co-interns at work and look forward to seeing where they go. Hopefully one day they will be my references! Overall, I very much value the connections I have made at CITL. Other than my coworkers and supervisors my clients are also valuable assets from my internship. These people will be able to speak to my skills and work ethic just as much as people internally. |
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Week #7: November 10 & 12, 2018
Topic: Career Goals, How does your internship contribute to your long-term career goals? Professional Development? My internship encompasses so many assignments that I look forward to doing in my professional career. First, I have clients. I have worked with clients like registered student organizations for a club I am in outside of work, but these are students. In my internships I work for working professionals within the academic sector of Illinois Online and their outside connections. For example, I get to consult my clients on social media strategies to generate more students for their online programs. For example, I meet with my IADP client weekly to discuss ideas and suggestions for their social media. We are working on launching a LinkedIn site and I am consulting the partner on the best ways to go about doing this. Second, I have deadlines and responsibilities. Specifically, I have to generate social media content for the next month by the 15th of the current month. As I have explained before, I have to create one original content post, share content of the partner, and post about deadlines. Well some clients, like IADP and OMST, do not have social media. Sometimes they only have one lingering deadline for the whole semester. So really this turns into three original posts. This leads me to my next point, I love getting deep insights into these programs from recent participants and staff within the program. For example, for the past month I have been working on a feature story for SBC. It was a learning process. I conducted my interview mid October and the story isn’t expected to launch till this Friday, November 16. I realized that I really like hearing these insights and utilizing my quality writing skills and curiosity- I will be able to do this for my future employer. I believe these insights are crucial to convince other people to do our programs. Lastly, I am working on search engine optimization on Google AdWords. As difficult as this has been for me, I am learning to master it. This process has taught me to not give up even when things are difficult, they will pay off in the long run. |
Week #8: November 26 & 28
Topic: Big Picture- Tell me what you gained from the internship and new skills you’ll walk away with. I gained a lot of very valuable skills in my internship. First, I realized what I enjoy the most is content creation. Starting from an idea and going through the research and working with my graphic design intern and then seeing it executed gets me really excited. I learned invaluable research and strategy skills from having to brainstorm and strategically put together documents to post on social media. I also did a feature story where I scheduled the interview and conducted a professional interview which created a lovely piece for our website. I am very proud of that piece! I have begun to work with Google AdWords and it continues to challenge me and I hope by the end of the school year I will be able to use the program sufficiently. In addition, I have worked with the graphic design intern a lot in the past couple months and both of our teamwork skills have improved. Without her I could not execute my ideas and for that I am grateful. She always seems to know exactly what I am looking for even though I sometimes am bad at explaining it. The internship can be a challenge sometimes since we are given a very long leash and are trusted to do what we think is best for our clients. I get to meet one-on-one with my clients and learn about their business and it’s a lot of fun! So working well with clients is a huge skill that I have walked away from my internship with. Overall, I look forward to working for CITL, hopefully, until I graduate May 2020. I have learned a lot about myself and what I want to do in my career. I’m so lucky to have found this internship and recommend it to everyone who is interested! |
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