I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity, and as it is coming to an end, I wanted to reflect on everything I had learnt.
I have been working with the wonderful Naomi who is the owner and founder of Earthkind, over the last two months, as a Social Media Assistant. This internship has been an incredible experience, and I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to take it on.
Earthkind is a really fantastic, sustainability-centered business with a very important mission - to help people reduce their plastic usage, to educate people on the importance of making more sustainable choices, and to bring packaging-free shopping to people in Plymouth and the surrounding areas. Earthkind does this through Refills on Wheels, Naomi's mobile zero-waste shop - Gertie the Refill Van! Refills on Wheels stocks plastic-free dried foods, toiletries, snacks, and lots of other goodies. The van makes several stops around Plymouth each week, in different towns, and people simply need to bring their empty containers, refill them with their favourite items from Gertie the Refill Van - and no plastic or packaging is involved!
So what have I been doing for Earthkind?
Well! My main responsibilities are as follows:
Producing new topics and themes for social media. These range from educational topics, to 'top tips', to recipe ideas, or promoting certain products.
Social media content creation - I thrive off being creative so I am really enjoying this! I have been creating new recipes using ingredients from Gertie the Refill Van and photographing the results as well as making some TikTok videos to show customers the process involved with each recipe.
Canva - I have been using Canva to create some new graphics to advertise new products, and ensuring that these are all within branding guidelines as well.
Campaign management - Plastic Free July is coming up very shortly, so I have been researching this movement, and creating 31 new posts for each day of Plastic Free July. These posts are all based around plastic-free swaps, such as using vegan wax wraps instead of clingfilm, bamboo cotton buds instead of plastic ones, and using toothpaste tablets rather than plastic tubes of toothpaste - and lots more! This campaign will hopefully serve to educate customers on the importance of reducing their plastic-usage in their day-to-day lives, as well as being a great opportunity to promote all the fantastic products that customers can buy from Gertie the Refill Van.
Using Planoly to schedule posts and to write engaging captions for each one.
Hashtag research - Instagram algorithms are constantly changing, so it is important to ensure that appropriate and effective hashtags are being used on each social media post, to maximise exposure.
Refills on Wheels has had such a positive impact on the community in Plymouth, and more and more people are now choosing to shop in a zero-waste environment, which is amazing.
This internship has not only provided me with some great social media experience, but I have also learnt so much about sustainability and how to reduce my own impact on the environment, which I think is very valuable. I hope to continue working with Naomi in the future and watching her wonderful business continue to grow.
If anyone is interested in learning more about Refills on Wheels, please do have a look at Naomi's website: https://earthkindrefills.co.uk/ - you can even order her zero-waste products by post!
