By Rachel Dambrot
RITTA Intern – Summer 2021
From the beginning of college, professors and advisors stress the significance of gaining hands-on experience in the field you want to pursue. An opportunity that combined my passion for social media and my need for field experience fell into my lap. Thanks to Kevin Janosz, RITTA COO, and his network of colleagues, I landed my first real-world internship, and it did not disappoint!
Many times, what you think you want to do is not what you end up loving. But in my case, RITTA strengthened my passion for my original plans: a career in social media. Jacqueline Millstein, RITTA CCO told me “You don’t know you really love something until you know more about it.” And she was right! What did I know as a 20-year-old kid with no prior experience? I knew that I liked to take pictures, come up with fun captions and time my postings right, when I knew I’d get the most views, likes and comments. But that’s only part of what social media is in the business world. Yes, there are many pictures and captions to go along with it, but there’s a world beyond the basics and that was the most important takeaway I got from my time at RITTA.
In my six weeks of work, I gained invaluable experience and learned what it was like to work at an agency specializing in marketing and advertising. Even though I initially joined the team remotely, I was still embraced with open arms by my friendly coworkers. They took me under their wing and taught me the ins and outs of the agency and about my position. When I finally began working in person, I shadowed and worked alongside account executives to help plan, edit and design material.
I was able to work closely with Melissa Marchesani, RITTA Social Media Coordinator. She walked me through her job responsibilities, highlighting her daily schedule and noting significant aspects of her job: copywriting, analytics and project management. There are a multitude of things I learned from her and Mike D’Ambrosio, the Automotive Associate Creative Director. The most noteworthy is the importance of matching your copywriting to the target audience, and the severity of the consequences to the company should it not align. If the copywriting does not align with the voice of the audience, there is minimal engagement with the post.
Another idea I’ll take with me is timing. While I know from my personal social media feed when my friends will be most likely to react to posts, I didn’t really understand the idea of timing for business purposes. Ads are constantly shown when scrolling through media feeds, so why does it matter when certain ads are posted? Although they’ll be seen, it doesn’t necessarily lead to engagement. There is a strategy to posting, and the audience needs to be considered. For example, early morning posts are less likely to be seen by adults as they are still asleep, but posting during lunchtime when employees have a break, will catch their attention.
Clearly, I learned that social media is much more than a picture with a caption. Social media is a huge umbrella term, encompassing strategizing, critical thinking and strong communication between departments and companies to audiences. There is also the physical graphics part, an entirely different ball game that must generate the proper images, size them to fit all displays and make sure they will grab attention. This definitely isn’t something that can be done by one individual; it takes a well-formed team to carry out an effective post.
At RITTA, I gained invaluable hands-on experience that solidified my desire to pursue a career in this field. RITTA has given me insights that I will take back to college and use in my future. Thank you for the best summer, for a wonderful experience, and for showing me the passion the employees have for what they do. I truly appreciate the time, effort and attention you gave me; it will go a long way. I’ve grown so much through this opportunity and am now eager to continue!
