“It’s gone by that quickly?” my internship coordinator said with surprise. Ten weeks’ time is never long if I am challenged, especially with learning new skills or further developing ones I have already used. My internship at World Music/CRASHarts has provided me with an experience in both.

With many integrated marketing strategies incorporating social media and online campaigns, I am fortunate to be participating in executing strategy though my internship. Concepts like a relevant content stream, event listing, search engine optimization, and personal voice have all been ones I have applied at my internship. I have practiced them before through my work-study experience at The Red Room, in addition to my promotion of my band; but despite previous experience, further exploration has refined my understanding. Even the accomplishment of tasks I have already performed before is—to me—a lesson in perceived importance and popular usage.

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Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend two of our shows. I am responsible for producing comprehensive reviews for both of them. That, in addition to many others, is a reason I abstain from alcohol consumption during work events. Obvious to some, I owe myself the focus and discipline required to perform at my absolute best. I have attended few assignments where alcohol was available; one of which I discovered was more of a party (it was actually sponsored by a beverage company) than the marketing panel it was initially thought to be. My experience in acceptable consumption is limited to that and live shows—both are environments not associated with professionalism. I might be guided by naïve perfectionism, but I am not comfortable combining partying and work: my internship is neither at a bar nor a club.

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In my last entry, I expressed my concern in providing content for a blog. Since then, I have focused on quickly identifying possible content for use, effectively screening content, and providing useful commentary for posts. My concerns about efficient performance of this task have mostly subsided.

As another reminder of content streams’ importance, they have been discussed in every marketing and networking panel I have attended—as ways for consumers to be informed, entertained, and involved with the product or service in which they are interested. As long as posts are relevant the brand, even trivial questions to fans can garner effective involvement. All Shall Perish, a metal band I follow on Facebook, posted on the 4^th of July, “How many ASP fans plan to grill large amounts of meat today followed by blowing s*** up?” A day later, the post was crowded with hundreds of responses.

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