Since joining Lifted Logic in 2019, I’ve gone from hesitantly writing metas from a dorm room to meeting with clients in the office! When I first started helping out with content insertion as a freshman, I didn’t even know what SEO was.
This summer, I’ve had the chance to work in the office alongside the OGs, soaking in every tidbit of knowledge possible. Here are some key takeaways from my copywriting internship in Kansas City.
Transitioning from remote to in-office
While my time working at LL in the office is coming to an end (for now), I’ve realized how useful balancing remote and in-person work is. While working remotely has its pros—especially when you live 45 minutes away—it’s also difficult to stay motivated without being around your peers regularly. Plus, being in the office gave me a chance to get to know the people I chat with virtually every day, as well as what people in the design department do!
Developing new writing strategies
I’ve always loved writing, so much that I would help friends with their papers in my free time, but I never thought I could make a career out of it. Upon beginning to write content for blogs, social media, and newsletters, I had the same strategy I used in school: research, outline, write.
While of course those are valuable tools, they don’t equate to good writing. Through meeting with clients and working with other writers at the office, I’ve learned how to tailor my writing to suit each brand’s storytelling style.
Once I opened up this simultaneously exciting and intimidating can of worms, I switched my major immediately to journalism! While I was posting on Twitter every day for journalism projects, I was also writing out social posts for the month for a range of clients.
While that may seem repetitive, it provided a unique experience of real life applications, in real time too. Plus, it gave me more of a perspective of what kinds of people interact with what kinds of posts on social media, as well as how that differs among industries.
Effectively planning for social media
When I first began writing social copy, I put myself in the viewer’s shoes and asked myself if I would interact with this post. While this is helpful in some cases, it isn’t always applicable. For example, I’m probably not going to interact with a construction company’s Instagram at all, but who would?
Understanding the demographics of your target audience is key to making the most of the time you spend planning out social posts. For example, I wouldn’t be so trusting of a doctor who uses the 🔥 emoji and “slay” unironically, but to each their own. I’ve also learned that in most cases, less is more. Brevity is crucial to a good social post, but it’s a hard transition going from essay and blog writing to social copy.
I’ve learned that one of the main goals of social media marketing is to tease some new information and direct the user to the client’s website, where we can continue to encourage them to engage and track how they spend their time.
Productively writing blogs
When it comes to writing a blog in a timely manner without sacrificing its quality, outlining is a lifesaver! Once I’ve done my keyphrase research, I begin to look for internal and external link opportunities that provide relevant statistics and information that will genuinely guide and educate the reader.
From here, I start with headings and naturally integrate keyphrases throughout. While some people prefer to go back and add these, this helps me create a content hierarchy from the start and intuitively lay out the information so I won’t have to constantly check if I’ve repeated myself.
Participating in constructive criticism
Once I’ve finished writing a set of blogs, I send it to another writer for internal review. Here, my peers offer constructive criticism and make suggestions on everything from grammar to good opportunities for puns! This interdependent process (of both having my work edited and reviewing others’ work) helps me pick and choose aspects of other peoples’ writing I can incorporate to suit my clients’ style.
It’s typically easier to notice mistakes in something you didn’t write, as you haven’t been thinking about it for hours, but reviewing other writers’ blogs has also helped me realize the best ways to organize a piece and switch things up!
Lifted Logic’s team and services are growing exponentially!
Although I wasn’t around for the birth of LL, I’ve witnessed the company continue to expand, both physically and with our services. Our team has recently begun adding exclusive insights for our clients in our resource portal, where you can find quick, reliable information about marketing, web maintenance, SEO, and much more.
My in-person copywriting internship in Kansas City has taught me how every team member works together to create a one-of-a-kind online experience from scratch. To learn more about our work, you can also browse our web design case studies!
Kaelyn Ross, Copywriting Intern
Currently a student at the University of Kansas, Kaelyn is the Liftednt Copywriting Intern at Liffted Logic. She never fails to wow our clients with her editorial speed and the tonal precision of her work. Her gif game is also genuinely remarkable.
