All The Ways In Which I Failed as a Digital Media Analyst Intern

Summary

The author shares their experiences and challenges faced during their internship as a digital media analyst at the Illinois Science Council (ISC), including getting ISC's Google Ads account suspended, spending weeks researching CRMs for nothing, and failing to sell even one t-shirt through Google Ads.

Abstract

The author, a digital media analyst intern at the Illinois Science Council (ISC), shares their experiences and challenges faced during their internship. They discuss getting ISC's Google Ads account suspended due to directing ads to an EventBrite page instead of the ISC domain. The author also spent weeks researching Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems for ISC, only to find that the organization chose a different system that was not on their list. Additionally, the author struggled to sell even one t-shirt through Google Ads, despite achieving an "Excellent" Ad Strength rating. Despite these challenges, the author expresses gratitude for the experience and the opportunity to learn new skills, such as using Airtable for tracking the food scene in San Francisco.

Opinions

The author enjoyed their internship experience at ISC and appreciated the opportunity to work on a good cause with good people.
The author acknowledges their mistakes, such as getting ISC's Google Ads account suspended and failing to sell even one t-shirt through Google Ads.
The author expresses frustration with the limitations and challenges of using Google Ads, such as the requirement to direct ads to URLs within the ISC domain only.
The author emphasizes the difficulty of finding the perfect CRM system for a nonprofit organization, as many systems market themselves to nonprofits but charge high fees for larger organizations.
The author appreciates the opportunity to learn new skills and tools, such as Airtable, during their internship.
The author is determined to continue trying out every Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco to find a decent banh mi.
The author encourages readers to join their email list or become a Medium member to receive updates on their future posts.

A Collection of Anecdotes of My Time At ISC

This year (2021), I got a glimpse of the non-profit world through my internship at the Illinois Science Council (ISC). I want to preface what follows with the fact that I loved the experience. It was a good break from my job-hunting, where I got to work on a good cause with good people for 10 hours a week. And what follow are dramatic ways to frame the various situations I got myself into while working the job. Enjoy!

I Got ISC’s Google Ads Account Suspended!

Because ISC is a verified non-profit, it got the Google Ads grant. The grant gives nonprofits $10,000/month to market their organizations with a few restrictions. An end-of-year fundraising cocktail party was coming up, and my supervisor said ‘Hey, why don’t you put out a few ads to drive up sales? Here’s the Google Ads account.’

I went through the Google tutorial, clicked a few buttons, and voila! I published an ad campaign. Easy peasy lemon sque — the account got suspended.

Turns out, I was only supposed to direct ads to URLs within the ISC domain only. Because it was an event that was posted on EventBrite, I though it made the most sense to direct users to the EventBrite page so that they could just order the tickets right away. Whoops? It didn’t take long or much for the account to get un-suspended though.

I Spent Weeks Researching CRMs for Nothing!

There are so, so many Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems out there. ISC has grown to the point that it makes sense to have one, but its size also means that it’s quite costly to get one. Many of these CRMs market themselves to nonprofits but charge an arm and a leg once your nonprofit is of a certain size. Also, there are many features that make sense for some nonprofits but not to others. There really is no one perfect CRM, not even for a given organization. So, it takes quite a bit of effort and time to do the research. ‘Hey, I don’t mind. As long as it’s helpful.” I said.

I dug through the Google search results, forums, and pushed my sleuthing skills to their limits. Came out with a pretty spreadsheet, and my ‘expert’ recommendations. End result? They’re going with a CRM system I’ve never heard of, but wouldn’t pick anyways because without external funding, it is obscenely costly. But ISC has external channels that could waive these fees. I am glad for the experience though, because it introduced me to Airtable! It’s a relational database with minimal code and a very cute front-end. I’m using it to track the food scene in San Francisco. I am determined to try out every Vietnamese restaurant in the area to find a decent banh mi. No luck yet.

I Couldn’t Even Sell ONE T-SHIRT!!!

Google Ads continues to spurn my attempts at a half-decent ad campaign. As most nonprofits do, ISC sell apparels and products to fund their events. After the cocktail party, my supervisor said ‘Why don’t you put out a few ads for our end of year science swag sales?’

I thought, ‘I shall redeem myself!’ I dug further into this curious platform, uncovered pitfalls, tips & tricks. After two days, I got an Ad Strength of Excellent! I published the ad campaign, and the next day the account didn’t get suspended — a minor victory! Then it went through the learning period to determine how much it should charge for a single click. 5 days it took, and at the end of it, there wasn’t a single click.

Turns out, there are many factors that determine whether your ad shows up on the first page of Google Search. Frankly, nobody looks at the second page. As I later found out, it’s not just the ads, but the landing page the ads lead to also play a significant role. ISC’s website is in need of serious maintenance, so I suspect that’s one of the reasons why the ads weren’t showing. Also, the products land smackdab in the middle of a very competitive market. So, I guess that’s that.

Here’s a Canva presentation that I put together for ISC (with private company info removed) for the next person that comes along who wants to take on Google Ads. I’d imagine it’s useful enough.

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