Social Marketing Internship

About the Internship

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) is accepting applications to social media virtual team internships to support non-profit organizations. 

SMWC uses a web-conferencing classroom that supports a team environment.  The web-conferencing classroom and this program was originally funded by the Ball Venture Fund.  It was very successful for both students and NFPs. 

In the internship, campus and distance education students will work in teams to establish social media presences for local area non-profit organizations. Students will partner with not-for-profit organizations and utilize the new technologies to conduct virtual meetings with fellow team members and their not-for-profit partners. Students will first determine the needs of the agency; secondly, establish a social marketing strategy to address those needs; and thirdly, implement the strategy. The students will learn to work in professional teams, earn college credit, and learn effective applications of social marketing.

What is social marketing?

Social marketing is the use of social networks, online communities, blogs or other online collaborative media for marketing, sales or fundraising, public relations, and customer service.  Common social media marketing tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Wikis, and YouTube are used to create messages that attract attention and become viral in nature, or "buzz."  Buzz is what makes social media marketing work.  According to Dr. Jennie Mitchell, principal investigator of the grant, "Research suggests that organizations [including not-for-profits] which adopt social media strategies can increase fundraising as much as 40 percent." 

Project goals:

1. Students will develop skills and ability to work effectively in teams.
2. Students will develop effective skills for working in virtual, online environments.
3. Students will learn to use social marketing techniques effectively.
4. Students will have an increased appreciation for value of diversity among team members.
5. Students will have an increased awareness of ethical concerns of social marketing.
6. Students will benefit from participating and presenting their social marketing projects in competitions sponsored by the Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) chapter.