An Intern’s Retrospect: A Summer of Understanding the Significance of Digital Marketing

I started my internship at Amsive Digital as a complete rookie – my knowledge on digital marketing and digital media was limited to the articles I read on TechCrunch, and the jargons I memorized and regurgitated during interviews.

I’ve come a long way since. Although my understanding of this industry and the science of digital marketing in general is just the tip of the iceberg, I am constantly motivated and inspired to make the most out of what I have learned from the team of astute and amiable individuals here at AmsiveDigital. Below are my main takeaways:

The Misconception of Ads

We are bombarded by ads almost all the time. You see it on your Facebook timeline, you are forced to endure one before you can watch Nigahiga’s latest YouTube video. You see one popping up when you play games on your smartphone. When used in the wrong way, ads can be ineffective and imposing – and nobody likes that.

With comprehensive and fitting strategies, ads can become a powerful revenue-generating tool for businesses. A paid search ad runs around-the-clock – that’s like hiring a salesperson that works for you 24/7! But behind the 3-sentence ads are meticulous research and planning to make sure that our campaigns are optimized, and are able to achieve the desired goals of our clients.

When creating ad campaigns, I would always keep the following in mind: What am I trying to sell? What would a typical person type on the search bar? What message would entice a user to click on our ad, and subsequently make a purchase? Does the landing page resonate the users’ intention? What are our competitors offering on their websites? Once I’ve thought them through, the process becomes less intimidating.

(One little hack I learned when creating ads is to type keywords into the search bar to prompt AutoComplete phrases. That’s about 4 (or more) popular ad group/keyword ideas for you!)

The Power of Social Media

Although there are few who might disagree to reaching out via social media, it remains indisputable that social media is growing at a pace that incites businesses to increase their spending so they won’t miss out. The power of Facebook ads lies in engaging the right users with our content that we already know they would be interested in. Likewise for smaller platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Vine that have been gaining grounds in terms of ads as of late.

As of 2014, there are about 1.61 billion social network users worldwide, and 67% of the US population has at least a social network account. I believe that the numbers are astounding enough to convince any consumer businesses to hop on the bandwagon. Social media is a potent PR tool, and businesses can take advantage of the rapid nature of social network to effectively create brand awareness.

TL; DR: My internship stint at AmsiveDigital has radically changed my view about ads and social media. I now have a more sophisticated viewpoint on digital marketing, and I can definitely see myself delving into the technicalities of this field in the near future.

Patsy Teoh

University of Southern California ’14 (Economics)

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