Marketing & Digital Engagement Intern

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (RF) is the largest comprehensive university-connected research foundation in the country.

Our mission is to provide talent, services, and technology that empower SUNY to research, innovate, and transfer discoveries that transform the world's knowledge economy.

Our vision is to make SUNY the best place for faculty, students, and staff to research, innovate and solve the world's most pressing problems.

The RF serves SUNY by providing essential administrative services that enable faculty to focus their efforts on educating students and performing life-changing research across a wide range of disciplines including Artificial Intelligence, Clean Energy, Biotechnology, Longevity, Substance Addiction, Nextgen Quantum Computing, Environmental Health, and Resiliency. We work with the academic and business leadership of SUNY campuses to facilitate research and discovery by administering sponsored projects and delivering intellectual property and technology transfer services that fuel innovation and move ideas and inventions to the marketplace.

The RF is committed to diversity, inclusion, and a working environment that enhances productivity creates personal and professional opportunities, unleashes everyone's full potential, and fuels innovation. We hold the organization and each other to the highest standards of integrity, accountability, and ethical behavior.

Visit www.rfsuny.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Learn about SUNY at www.suny.edu.

Job Description:

Background

SUNY Research Foundation (RF) has deployed new tools and utilized existing resources to evolve our focus to be more timely and quicker to market in announcing successes and wins - be it a discovery in the lab, a large grant, a patent award, a spinout company formed or funded, a technology commercialized, a faculty or student recognized, and to share opportunities for funding, learning and development, and training.

By example, we have achieved the following:

• Increased our subscriber base to nearly 30,000 subscribers;
• Increased outreach volume by over 1,400%; and
• Redesigned and optimized our newsletters - SUNY Research 360, and partner announcements.

We have new and bigger goals to accomplish, including:

• Increase our social media business development followers from 12% to 25%;
• Increase the number of technology marketing campaigns we do in a fiscal year, including running multiple campaigns simultaneously;
• Make informed decisions based on the data received from marketing campaigns; and
• Be able to turn around engaging creative content and sophisticated graphics in-house as opposed to having to rely solely on external contractors.

The Marketing and Communications Intern will support outreach and engagement objectives aligned with advancing the full story of how SUNY is an engine of innovation and commercialization. We are laser focused on translating these activities into securing more large grants, celebrating more patents, featuring more SUNY spinout companies, and helping to advance more SUNY technologies into the market. Getting the right information into the right hands at the right time is essential for our success. This role is needed to support the growing set of activities that RF oversees to enhance and raise the visibility of SUNY's research, innovation, and economic development efforts to both external and internal audiences. Given recent events and the shift to many things going virtual, there is a growing need for RF to double down on its efforts across digital marketing and social media platforms in order to effectively tell the story of SUNY research, innovation, and technology commercialization.

Position Description/Duties:

The Marketing and Communications Intern will support RF staff and campus stakeholders in the following areas:

• Work closely with colleagues to identify and achieve marketing and communications goals through content generation, deployment, and management of marketing campaigns that promote RF and SUNY research and economic development activities, programs, and achievements.
• Create and manage engaging content across various platforms, including social media, web, and various marketing collateral, and strategically disseminate it to relevant segments of SUNY and RF stakeholders.
• Drive interest and engagement for RF events, activities, and opportunities through various digital platforms.
• Advocate, through tactical execution of social media and other outreach plans, by identifying key influencers, trending topics, and conversations which are hyper-relevant to SUNY's research and economic development portfolio.
• Create and design various materials for print and digital collateral.
• Ensure projects are completed with high quality and on schedule.
• Coordinate output of internal and external digital marketing efforts on social media, including scheduling, targeting, and billing while utilizing tools such as Google Analytics, CoSchedule, Mailchimp, etc.
• Proactively measure and adjust communications performance by tracking campaigns, monitoring social channels, and analyzing impact of digital marketing efforts to constantly optimize for the highest possible return on investment (ROI) for these activities.
• Enhance search engine optimization and oversee search engine marketing efforts for RF-related content to reach a broader audience.
• Leverage micro-content from longer written and video pieces, utilize hashtags, and demonstrate know how around creating dynamic interactions via rich media.
• Be on the cutting edge of social media news, trends, and leaders in this landscape and understand how to drive engagement using social networks and other rich media.
• Easily connect the dots between marketing and communications, understanding and effectively navigating the delicate balance between serving a highly diverse audience and growing an international brand.
• Be an ace communicator who understands the dynamic needs of various stakeholders throughout RF and SUNY.
• Assist and support with the coordination of both physical and virtual conferences, showcases, meetings, seminars, workshops, and other events as needed.

Requirements:

Qualifications

• Is currently enrolled in an accredited degree program, a student from the State University of New York (SUNY) colleges and universities is preferred but not required.
• Has a deep interest in social media, digital marketing, and/or graphic design.
• Desire to understand/learn complex technical information and turn into simplified, easily digestible content.
• Storyteller's mindset with a keen sense of what will make a good story for engagement.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of key social media platforms and tools including but not limited to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.
• A self-starter with natural curiosity for learning.
• Ability to prioritize and handle many tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong organizational and collaboration skills.
• Open to learn or has knowledge of web-based tools such as, Google Analytics, Google Suite, MailChimp, and similar media distribution/management tools.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills across all communication formats.
• Has flexibility to travel periodically to provide support at select events.

You are the best candidate for this role because you are:

• A Creative Storyteller - You have an uncanny ability to create or orchestrate the creation of amazing creative content and visuals that get people's attention and have impact. You are able to effectively translate highly specific and sometimes technical information from others into a format that people can understand and want to engage with.
• Passionate - For you, this in not just another job. Our mission resonates with you, you truly believe in what we do and get energy from our collective wins. Like us, you want to make a difference. Here, you can.
• A Collaborator - You are able to quickly build rapport with key partners upon an initial introduction and can quickly and effectively work with others from a range of different backgrounds and experiences.

The compensation for this role is $20/hour

Additional Information:

As an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer, The Research Foundation for SUNY will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant's race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy-related conditions, reproductive health decisions, childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, transgender status, age, national origin or ancestry, marital status, familial status, citizenship, physical and mental disability, prior arrest or conviction record, genetic characteristics/genetic information, predisposition or carrier status, domestic violence victim status, military status or service, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under federal, state or local law. The Company will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant.

The Company will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

The Research Foundation for the State University of New York is not an agency or instrumentality of the State of New York. Employees of the Research Foundation for the State University of New York are not state employees, do not participate in any state retirement system, and do not receive state fringe benefits. The Research Foundation for the State University of New York operates under a contract with The State University of New York and receives no directly appropriated state funding.