The Social Station

I really can't believe this summer internship is already a few weeks in. It seems like just the other day I was freaking out over not being able to obtain one for the summer, and now here we are.

My summer internship is for The Social Station. We handle social media accounts for all sorts of businesses from salons, to restaurants, to hotels. Our clients range from high end resorts to hotel lobby restaurants and everything in between. My title is technically a "Social Manager". Eventually I will be given clients to handle on my own. This will include generating content, providing posts, responding to reviews, and making sure all of the social media platforms are running smoothly. As of now, I have't been asked to get anyone's coffee or pick up dry cleaning... so I guess you could say I'm off to a good start.

http://thesocialstation.com/

We are located in downtown Allentown in a better part of town. It's been a challenge to get used to city driving and finding a place to park. Recently the city has been under a huge renovation project in order to revive the city. Our office is in a beautifully renovated and refurbished building called Velocity. Our break room is filled with complimentary K-Cups, which honestly is amazing for staff to keep going through the day.The building is filled with start up businesses like us and has a primarily young clientele.

Mainly I am in charge of the hotel, Row located in the heart of NYC. I come in every day and write responses on the hotel's behalf regarding reviews on all sorts of travel sites. We utilize a specially constructed platform which was created exclusively for Social Station employees. It pulls all reviews, comments, tweets, and anything remotely similar to Row into a server so we can analyze and respond to them.

http://rownyc.com/

The server is extremely easy and convenient for us. It neatly places all of our content into separate tabs so we are able to access it at a later time. Mainly all of the reviews are pretty much similar. Being in the heart of the city, space is limited. I have to come up with ways to apologize for the lack of space, but highlight all of the other fabulous amenities of the hotel. It's a rough balance, but you must ensure future guests you know what you're talking about, even though you've never stepped foot in the hotel.

Writing responses to reviews has already greatly improved my writing skills. My first day I was instructed to write a response to a review and have it looked over by my boss. I thought I was doing fantastic, until told otherwise. The responses were genuine and wording was right, but the personality was not there. I realized I was being super generic and not putting any real heart into it. With a little guidance and instruction, I was off again to write more responses. Within a day my writing had skyrocketed and my boss was impressed to see how much improvement I had shown. It truly was a great feeling to know that with a little help I was able to succeed.

All of my co-workers/interns are super friendly and relaxed. My uniform is whatever I feel like that day because I don't meet with clients personally. We are allowed to take lunch whenever we would like (within reason) and have a really relaxed vibe when coming in to work. Alex, my boss, has informed us that he believes we will work more proficiently if we are comfortable in our workplace. I definitely agree with this statement, because I love coming in to work every day.

I've never really had an experience with a job where I willingly hopped out of bed every morning to get there early. The workplace is so enjoyable that I find myself arriving early and staying later just so I can learn more. This experience is everything I hoped it would be and more. I definitely think I chose the right company to work with for my internship. Being a part of a start up company was scary at first, but watching it grow is inspiring. One day I can look back and say I was a part of the beginning stages of such an amazing company.