![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/social-media-internship-edited-1.webp\")
As social media dominates the cultural landscape, Grove City College students prepare to enter the workforce with a thorough understanding of the digital world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the 21st century, students did not need to know how to post Reels, write engaging Instagram captions or respond to negative comments online. Now, in the digital age, these skills are useful. Brands are searching for people who understand how to use social media to its fullest potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tava Derr got a job with Parkhurst Dining Services after graduating in May 2026. She previously worked there as a marketing and engagement intern and Parkhurst Dining asked her to return as a marketing coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Derr, who graduated with a degree in communication arts, said she was drawn to social media marketing because she \u201cwanted a role where (she) could make things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd so, (with) social media, you can take pictures, which I love,\u201d Derr said. \u201cYou can make videos. You can make graphics. It\u2019s kind of everything that I enjoy doing in one space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another Grove City student, senior Abby Bonaquist, spent this summer working as a social media intern for Portage Learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI helped brainstorm things for the larger marketing department. \u2026 I helped create carousel posts or come up with TikTok ideas,\u201d Bonaquist said. \u201cI acted in some TikToks, filmed them, managed their calendar scheduling system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both students credited the college with giving them the skills to succeed in these positions. Bonaquist found the social media writing course she took with communication arts professor Kimberly Miller especially helpful when dealing with online negativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn that class we talked about dealing with conflict \u2026 or dealing with rude comments online,\u201d Bonaquist said. \u201cPart of my job with my summer internship was to reply to the Google reviews, and sometimes those would be bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bonaquist could take the tools she learned in this course to handle and respond to these reviewers, \u201creaching out to them and truly apologizing and saying sorry for their experience,\u201d while also \u201cmaking a good impression for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Derr and Bonaquist acknowledged the importance of maintaining a balance of knowing what is happening on social media without sinking all their time into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI actually got an app blocker thing, so I try to limit myself to 9 to 5. \u2026 And then after that, in the evenings, no social media,\u201d Derr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides its addictive nature, there are other negatives to being on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to remember that people will only post what they want to post. \u2026 People are crafting these messages and editing things,\u201d Bonaquist said. \u201cI think girls especially will look online and be like, well, this girl\u2019s doing it all. This girl has perfect balance, perfect body, perfect everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou just have to remember that, I mean, a lot of times it\u2019s just these people\u2019s jobs to look like that, and they\u2019re getting paid to literally look perfect for social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 70% of American adults have some social media. According to Derr, social media is a fast, easy and cheap way to reach vast numbers of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s where the people are,\u201d Derr said. \u201cAnd we, the marketers, have to go where the people are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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