I remember way back in October when I saw an email from my department at Iowa State University about a Marketing-Communications Internship with Decision Innovation Solutions. I was immediately intrigued and thought to myself, this sounds like the perfect position for me! I was definitely correct and am very happy and grateful that DIS offered me the position back in November. I have learned more about social media, marketing, and communications than I ever could have imagined. So far, I have learned how to use Mailchimp, Hootsuite, Canva, Google Analytics, and expanded on my Microsoft Word and Excel skills.
When I started in November of 2018, I was excited to see what kind of posts and ideas I could create for the social media pages. I may have only been here for 5 months now, but I have seen growth in my creativity and I am thankful for the freedom I am given while creating posts and ideas! I am always encouraged to push myself out of my comfort zone and I always feel like I am being challenged here and I love that!
Aside from creating social media posts, I also am in charge of keeping our website up to date, creating the monthly newsletter, writing blogs, tracking our social media statistics and analytics, and have also been included on a couple projects, specifically updating elevator capacities for different states like Kansas, Tennessee, Missouri, etc. and on the RMS Roller-Grinder survey project.
As far creating posts and campaigns for DIS’ social media channels goes, I have been in charge of creating the content for the following:
- Crop Progress Report updates
- Economic Impact from Hurricane Michael
- Posted about the 8 counties impacted
- Creating posts for the blogs that DIS employees create
- AFIA Campaign
- All 50 States and the economic impact of the animal feed industry
- National Ag Day
Currently, I am working on:
- Employee Spotlights
- Soybean Meal Demand Assessment Social Media Campaign
DIS has been a great fit for me because it combines my two favorite things: agriculture and communications. I have always been an advocate for agriculture as I was born and raised on a farm and I love spreading the good word of agriculture to people! This internship has given me an opportunity to understand and present research through social media and it has been great! I think that when used correctly, social media can be such a beneficial tool to share research and inform others. This internship has also taught me more about the economic research aspect of agriculture and I have witnessed how beneficial and crucial the research is for the agricultural industry to continue to thrive.
Stay tuned for more updates and posts about what is happening here at DIS! We continue to expand our team and clientele and we are excited to continue to share content with you through our social media channels!
