What exactly does…an intern?

Everybody knows it: The job of an intern is to make coffee, tidy up and even clean sometimes. Admittedly, someone actually once did tidy up for us, too. But the job of a social media intern includes more than making coffee and just doing what others tell them to do.

My internship started on July 1st 2015. The only thing I knew about social media was that it existed. Facebook and YouTube were somehow part of that as well and I found it fascinating to find out what people can achieve with it. So I applied at Travian. Just before I started reading about the topics. I even bought a huge tome to make sure I wouldn’t mess up in the job interview.

And now, just a year later, I’m supposed to write an interview about it? That’s easier said than done, I have to say. It’s not that it’s the first ever interview for me but… how often do you ask yourself questions?

Well, let’s start. First question:

How did you get the job?
Quite simply: I just applied. My big advantage was that I am a trained graphic designer, which could be a big plus for the job – for example, if your task is to create a graphic for a Facebook event. I had a really nice job interview with my boss-to-be. To be honest, I was a bit worried as to whether I could convince her to pick me for the internship. But my honest, positive and fresh attitude seems to have been appreciated. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

What actually is social media?
Honestly, for me as an intern only, this is still quite difficult to explain. Social media, as the name suggests, has to do with different media used in socializing, for example Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or blogs. It’s mainly about social interaction with everyone “out there”, the fans or users (however you want to call them). It’s about information exchange and communication with each other. There is no company that is aware of its customers and yet has zero interaction with them. Social media is the link between the company and fans.

How do you describe your job? What are your duties?
That’s a good question. It’s quite exciting. I work a lot with other people and communication is the key here , despite only sitting at a computer. Social media is much more than just a person sitting behind a screen and typing “Hi, how are you?” into their keyboard. You have to be responsive to people, even in difficult situations.
My tasks are multi-layered and widespread. For one, I write texts, like this blog entry. I also take care of the blog in general. That means planning texts, uploading them and keeping an eye on the comments.

I prepare graphics for Facebook events, take care of Facebook content, for example planning new posts and the like. Also, in cooperation with an amazing team, I come up with bigger events. That means I sometimes write multi-page concepts for an idea and then bring it to perfection. Moreover, I’m also part of the video/camera team. Maybe you have already seen one or more of our videos?

What does your typical day at work look like?
I get up, have breakfast and go to the office. Once there, I usually first check the Facebook pages I’m partly responsible for. I look at comments and new notifications. If there are any, I’ll reply to questions. The next step is checking office emails, followed by a look on the day’s agenda, which, apart from Fridays, is always full. That’s quite something for an intern, right? It’s quite normal here and I do actually enjoy it. It’s challenging while at the same time there is always lots of support as well.
That’s the daily business part. Then there are things that need doing. For example editing a video or preparing Facebook events. That tends to be a lot of work, if you want to do things properly. First you need to think of an event. Then the whole team talks about it to find out if the idea can be realized. If the answer is yes, the four Ws need to be cleared up: What, where, when and who. Essentially it’s planning, planning and more planning.

What’s the future of social media in the gaming industry?
I can only speak for myself here. In my view, the gaming industry is an industry where social media is critically important. But I also believe that especially in this sector, working with social media is relatively easy. The gaming industry generally offers a good social media environment. Here you don’t have the typical office sitters who try really hard to communicate in a perfect way with their customers, without noticing that they hurt their business with the way they speak with them. In contrast, here you can just communicate with others normally, like you would do with anyone else.

Is there a difference between the use of social media in the gaming industry and in other industry sectors?
I believe so, yes. Although it’s difficult for me to say, since I’m just a rookie. Nonetheless, I honestly think so, because, like I said above, communication is much more casual than in other branches, for example law firms or similar. We have a direct link to our customers. We get asked questions, people like our Facebook images and write comments under blog articles. All these are actions you can respond to quickly in a casual gaming-like atmosphere.

Ok, so that was my little insight into the job of an intern at Travian Games.

By the way: I only ever had to make coffee for myself so far 🙂

Giulia

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