Okay, you’re a digital native, you live and breathe social media. Now you want to make it a career but you can’t even manage to snag an internship.
What’s going wrong?
Chances are your social media intern resume isn’t cutting it.
Even internships get dozens or hundreds of applications, so you need to stand out.
Here’s how one HR professional who regularly hires social media interns put it:
The interviewer knows everyone probably has the core skillset… [they’re] looking to see what else [you] can bring to the table. Try and stand out. What have you done in Social Media that is cool, different, successful and put your focus on this.
A senior marketer’s advice to social media interns
In other words, if you can’t stand out with your resume, you don’t stand a chance.
Fortunately, we’ve been talking to hiring managers and looking at thousands of social media intern resumes to bring you the best examples, advice, and tips to get you hired.
This social media intern resume guide will teach you:
- How to choose a resume layout that works best for a social media internship
- What makes a resume header catch the hiring manager’s eye
- Why a professional summary is a good idea
- How you should write your work experience
- What you need to include about your education
- How to choose the right skills and include them
- What AI-driven big data can show you about choosing the right skills
Looking for related resumes?
- Social Media Specialist Resumes
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- Brand Ambassador Resumes
- Copywriter Resumes
- Marketing Intern Resumes
- Public Relations Specialist Resumes
What makes a social media intern resume effective?
Because you’re not likely to have much formal work experience in social media, a functional resume layout is the best choice.
This layout focuses on demonstrating your skills and experience instead of focusing on your work history.
Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include your previous jobs. Many hiring managers mentioned how customer service experience is highly valued when hiring social media interns.
The top social media intern resume sections
- An objective or summary
- Work experience (with an emphasis on social media and customer service)
- Relevant skills
- Certifications
- Education
- Something to show personality like “most proud of”
For more information on the best resume formats, read our guide: The Best Resume Formats You Need to Consider (5+ Examples Included).
Social media intern resume header: How to stand out
When a hiring manager is flipping through dozens of resumes, they’re not looking deep into the experience section of each one. No, they’re glancing at the headers.
Most social media interns don’t give this section a second thought, but there are things you can do to really stand out here.
Start by listing any certifications (more on which ones are best below). Right away this shows that you’re more serious than most candidates.
Then, include links to relevant social media profiles. If you can show you’re active in social media related groups in places like LinkedIn and Reddit, you’ll make a strong impression.
Compare these two examples to see what we mean:
If you want more ideas for stand-out resume headers, read through our guide Perfecting Your Resume Header so You Get Noticed.
Social media intern resume: professional summary tips
If you’ve acquired your social media skills from a variety of sources and experiences, a short professional summary can be a great way to bring it all together into a coherent narrative. In the meantime, you’ll also be showing off your writing skills.
Below are two examples to show what makes a social media intern resume summary effective:
The first version may not be able to offer specific numbers (which is ideal), but they make up for it by being specific in other ways. Using industry language and mentioning active work on obtaining a certification are a nice touch.
Pro tip
Never promise specific results like “your Facebook account will gain 10k followers a month, that’s a red flag for anyone familiar with social media marketing that you’re using black hat tactics.
For more tips on crafting an attention-grabbing resume summary, check out our guide Resume Summary: How-To Guide (30+ Examples You Need To See). If you’re looking to craft a compelling resume objective instead, read our writing tips at 10 Resume Objective Examples You Need to Steal (How-to-Guide).
Social media intern resume experience: how to include it
Chances are you’ve never had a formal job as a social media coordinator or other professional, but you can still frame past work experience around it.
As mentioned, customer service skills are highly valued, so emphasize them if you have them.
02/2015 - 11/2017 
- •Handled regular weekend dinner shifts, serving over 40 covers in an evening while maintaining the top quality customer service the restaurant is known for.
- •Managed social media promotion for special charity events hosted at the restaurant as well as promotions for new dishes and specials.
- •Regularly stepped in at the last moment to take over for colleagues in emergencies.
As always, being specific and including metrics helps, even though it’s not always possible. This experience section focuses on just the aspects of the job relevant to a social media intern position: social media promotion experience, customer service experience, being able to work under stress, being ready to work outside of regular hours when necessary.
Accentuate how social media can impact ROI and why it’s important to develop a meaningful marketing plan before doing anything with social…. Play up any prior experience you have in customer service.
A Director of Social Media’s advice for social media interns
For more ideas on how to create an actionable resume experience section, check out our guide How to Describe Your Resume Work Experience.
Social media intern resume education section tips
If you have a degree in marketing, business, communications, or something else related to social media work, definitely include it. Even if your degree isn’t related, it shows your ability to learn.
If some of your coursework or other university experience relates to a social media internship, include those details as well.
02/2014 - 11/2018 - •Senior thesis was analyzing Dollar Shave Club fazorburn strategy.
- •Handled social media for the university’s Young Democrats club, promoting events, handling trolls, and growing our Facebook page from 400 to 7,500 likes.
Pro tip
The person hiring you will likely look at your personal social media accounts, so make sure you’re prepared.
Browse more essential tips on how to feature education on your resume, in our guide Perfecting the Education Section on Your Resume.
Social Media Intern resume skills: How to decide which ones to emphasize
As mentioned above, most social media intern resumes should be functional, IE emphasize skills.
The two questions then are:
- Which skills should you include?
- How should you include them?
The first rule about which skills to include is to focus on the skills mentioned in the job description. Not every social media intern job is the same, so you need to tailor your resume to show you have the exact skills asked for.
That said, there are also general social media skills that are always worth including:
10 soft skills to include on a social media intern resume
- Community management
- Communication
- Organization
- Strategic planning
- Creativity
- Crisis management
- Writing
- Curiosity
- Independence
- Analysis
8 technical skills to include on a social media intern resume
- Google analytics
- Facebook ads
- Google ads
- LinkedIn ads
- Email marketing
- Photoshop
- Buffer
- Zapier
But where should you include your skills?
The best way is with a dedicated section. List your skills, making sure you write them the same way they’re written in the job description (so if they ask for “Ability to meet deadlines” don’t list it as “Reliability”). Then, below each skill, write some number or example which demonstrates that skill.
Are you still not sure what skills will win recruiters over? Check out our guide on How to Create A Resume Skills Section To Impress Recruiters (+10 Examples You Need to See).
Social media intern resume certifications
As mentioned above, if you have just one or two certifications it’s best to include them in your resume header. Otherwise, create a separate section for them or include them in the description of your skills.
The top 5 social media intern certifications to include on your resume
- Hootsuite’s Social Marketing Training
- Twitter Flight School’s Marketing Leadership Course
- LinkedIn Learning’s Social Media Marketing Courses
- Boot Camp Digital’s Social Media Certification
- Google Analytics Academy
For more information on how to properly list resume certifications, we recommend reading our guide How To List Certifications On A Resume (Examples Included).
Other sections to include on your resume
Depending on the company, job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Social Media Intern resume:
- Language skills
- Hobbies and interests
- Projects
- Volunteer work
- Highlights
- References
- LinkedIn on Resume
- GPA
Social media intern resume: key takeaways
There may be a lot of competition for social media positions, but these tricks can still put you ahead.
- Find ways to stand out by focusing on unique approaches to social media you’ve employed
- Use a functional resume layout that puts the emphasis on your skills
- Emphasize customer service experience
- Get a certification or two and include it in your header
- Show off your writing skills in a short professional summary
- Be sure your past social media experience shows ROI as much as possible
- Choose skills that are asked for by the job description and which stand out amongst the other social media intern resumes
