A Day in the Life of a Marleylilly Intern
It’s unbelievable that 10 years ago, I was religiously browsing the Marleylilly website for the latest flash deals. From monogrammed jewelry, rain jackets, and pocket tees, it’s safe to say that I did my share of contributing to the overall success of the company. I remember my favorite purchase was a navy, short sleeve t-shirt with a red and white chevron, monogrammed pocket. I bought it with my own money and remember thinking I found such a great deal on it (can't pass up a Marleylilly flash sale!). Those were the days when my only worry in the world was what style monogram to choose.
Fast forward to today, and I’m accomplishing my 12-year-old self’s biggest dream. Working at Marleylilly these past 18 weeks has been nothing shy of a dream. I have met some of the most wonderful people and gained valuable, real-world experience along the way. With that being said, I wanted to share with y'all some of my tasks as a Marketing and Social Media Intern, along with some tips and tricks that I learned throughout the semester.
One of our main tasks at Marleylilly was creating Instagram stories. On the marketing team, you are typically scheduled to do this 3-5 times a week. This required us to choose 4-6 products that were on sale, check inventory, and design slides to post. This was one of my favorite tasks because I enjoyed playing around in Canva. In my free time, I would create slide templates for anyone to use. It was satisfying to see others use my slides, too.
Here are 3 of my favorite templates. As you can see, I enjoyed working with Christmas themes. Prior to this position, I didn't have any experience working with Canva. It's safe to say, that now I'm extremely comfortable when working with Canva and even bought my own subscription.
Another one of our tasks was filming try-on sessions each week. This was another task that I hadn't done prior to working at Marleylilly. Each week, we were assigned 4 products that we had to film ourselves talking about in 20-30 seconds. In the beginning, this task was difficult because we weren't comfortable with the names of the products, materials, or terminology. It took about 2 hours to film 2 minutes worth of video. Towards the end of our internship, we were much better at this task. We even upgraded our setup. We got a fancy ring light, spruced up our background, and got creative with our slides in Canva. We definitely channeled our inner "influencer."
Each week, we were required to post 28 tweets and 28 pins on Pinterest. This included adding product spotlights, memes, quotes, and retweeting mentions. For Pinterest, we mostly focused on photography and new arrivals.
On the creative team, we assisted with product photography and attended photoshoots. Before photoshoots, a lot of prep goes into preparing the clothes. On the shoot, we made sure the next outfit was ready and that the monogram was always showing. In the studio, we assisted with lifestyles, selfies, and shoefies. These were just pictures taken of us holding bags or wearing the shoes, along with pictures we took ourselves of the shoes or accessories.
TikToks are a huge part of our duties at Marleylilly. On the creative team, you have to post at least 2 TikToks a week. We actually set the record for the most viewed, liked, and shared Marleylilly TikTok. Our TikTok got 874.5K views, 34.7K likes, and 2.3K shares. Check it out here! During the duration of our internship, we increased Marleylilly's followers on TikTok by 70%.
At Marleylilly, they truly want you to be successful. I shared with y'all 6 tips and tricks that I learned throughout my time at Marleylilly. The great thing about internships is that you get to gain real-world experience. The most important aspect I learned is to arrive at work every day with an open heart, mind, and a willingness to learn. Your day-to-day tasks may vary, and some are easier than others. Remind yourself that you play a vital role and everyone wants to see you succeed. Not only will I apply these tips to my future career, but to my life in general. I will carry the lessons learned with me forever.
The most impactful aspect of this internship would be the nature of the environment. Everyone is so uplifting and truly wants you to be successful during your time at Marleylilly. I loved how Marleylilly sets time aside for work and social events to allow you to build meaningful, long-term relationships. Overall, Marleylilly does a wonderful job with their intern program. They go out of their way to make you feel special and a critical part of the team.
Looking back on my internship with Marleylilly, it was the most impactful five months. Coming from a previous internship that treated me like an inconvenience, Marleylilly went above and beyond making me feel loved, empowered, special, and a crucial aspect of the company. Sometimes you don’t realize how special something is until it’s gone. My time with Marleylilly will be something I cherish forever and an experience that taught me so much. Marleylilly, you have exceeded every expectation I had for this internship! All I can say is that wherever my career takes me, they have some big shoes to fill.
xoxo, Cati Beth Ridgeway
Marketing + Social Media Intern
Fall 2021
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