1. SOCIAL MEDIA: GUIDANCE AND TOP TIPS FOR DELIVERY PARTNERS
Prepared May 2016 by The Prince’s Trust Digital Marketing team.

2. * CONTENTS BECOMING AN ONLINE ADVOCATE: DOs AND DON’Ts
‘STAND OUT’ SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMPLES
TONE OF VOICE AND CONTENT PRINCIPLES
TOP TIPS
GLOSSARY

3. *
DO’s AND DON’Ts

4. DOs AND DONTs Professional Personal Apply sound judgement 
ONLINE COMMUNICATION POSES SIGNIFICANT RISKS AROUND SAFEGUARDING FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE WE SUPPORT.
FOR YOUR SAFETY, WE ASK THAT YOU FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES:
Professional
Personal
Apply sound judgement 
Engage with The Prince’s Trust nationally
Follow relevant stakeholders
Check publicity consent
Reference Prince’s Trust in user name X
Official communications route
Accept friend requests from young people
See the Social media guidance for Prince’s Trust Delivery Partners document for more details.

5. *
SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMPLES

6. NATIONAL
Here is a collection of positive social media examples that have been shared online by Prince’s Trust staff, Delivery Partners and third party influencers. Take a look through and be inspired by how you can use social media to shout about the work you are doing.

7. NATIONAL

8. SOUTH OF ENGLAND

9. CENTRAL ENGLAND

10. WALES

11. NORTH OF ENGLAND

12. SCOTLAND

13. NORTHERN IRELAND

14. *
TONE AND CONTENT

15. YOUTHFUL, FUN AND TONGUE-IN-CHEEK IF IN DOUBT, REMEMBER THE VALUES
TONE
GENUINE AND HELPFUL
YOUTHFUL, FUN AND TONGUE-IN-CHEEK
IF IN DOUBT, REMEMBER THE VALUES
NOT PATRONISING
Tone of voice
Good communications is at the heart of everything we do. How we speak to our followers makes a huge difference to the way they feel about The Trust and whether they choose to support us, or turn to us for help.
Our tone of voice is:
Positive: Celebrating the achievements of our young people, staff and supporters
Remember the values: Our Prince’s Trust values should run throughout our online content
Inspiring: Encouraging people to support us, or turn to us for support
Down-to-earth: Speaking to our audiences on a personal level, without being too casual or informal
Don’t be afraid to be youthful: We are a youth charity and our language should reflect this e.g. Woop! Yay! and Wow!
Consistent across all communications – including s, printed materials, website content and social media posts
Clear, direct and to the point. We use short sentences, avoiding jargon, acronyms and abbreviations
Don’t forget!
Although The Prince’s Trust messaging occasionally references that we help ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘vulnerable’ 13 to 30-year-olds get into work, education or training, it is important to note that this is not the language we use when communicating directly with young people. In fact, many of the young people we work with do not classify themselves in this way.
Other terms that shouldn’t be used externally, include: Kids; Teens / teenagers; Suffering; Deprived; Needy; Underprivileged etc.

16. MAKE IT ‘RITE’ WHY DOES IT MATTER TO YOUR AUDIENCE? RELEVANT
INTERESTING
USE IMAGES / VIDEOS TO BRING IT TO LIFE
Make it RITE
Your social media content should always be ‘RITE’. See our checklist below to find out why:
 Relevant: Whether it’s useful, informative or helpful, every post should have be relevant to your audience
Interesting: Our posts should add value to our followers and encourage them to complete a call to action e.g. read more, sign up, share
 Timely: Social media works in real-time, so post updates while conversations are happening to have maximum impact. Don’t wait until tomorrow, or next week. It won’t work in the same way
 Engaging: Create a ‘connection’ between The Trust and our audiences. Find a ‘hook’ to make your posts exciting
But, without good content, we can’t adopt these practices. Our content helps us tell our story and make an impact on our key audiences.
Real life stories of our amazing young people are often the best way to attract people’s attention and interest. These stories can paint a picture of the challenges our young people have had to face. They can also reveal the dramatic turnaround that many young people achieve.
Visit: for the latest case studies.
TIMELY
POST / RESPOND QUICKLY
ENGAGING
ASK QUESTIONS AND MAKE CLEAR WHAT YOU WANT USERS TO DO NEXT
CASE STUDIES, IMAGE GALLERIES, TOOLS AND RESOURCES etc

17. TOP TIPS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS*
TOP TIPS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS
Once your tone and content is on the right track, follow these social media MOT checks to ensure your social media profiles are working effectively to:
Recruit young people
Generate positive conversations with stakeholders
Position yourself as a thought leader / online influencer

18. TOP TIPS CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR TO TRACK MESSAGING
KEEP YOUR MESSAGES SHORT AND SWEET
CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR TO TRACK MESSAGING
MAKE YOUR ‘STORIES’ SHAREABLE
WHO ELSE IS DOING SOCIAL MEDIA WELL IN YOUR NETWORK?
BE INSPIRED
DON’T JUST BROADCAST, HAVE CONVERSATIONS TOO
USE SHORTENED LINKS
e.g BITLY
USE GOOD QUALITY PHOTOS / VIDEOS
RESPOND TO EVERYONE
SCHEDULE POSTS TO SAVE TIME
e.g. Hootsuite

19. TOP TIPS: TWITTER IT’S OK TO TWEET THE SAME MESSAGE AT DIFFERENT TIMES
LIMIT THE NUMBER OF HASHTAGS
PIN YOUR MOST IMPORTANT TWEET
IT’S OK TO TWEET THE SAME MESSAGE AT DIFFERENT TIMES
USE LISTS GROUPED BY INDUSTRY OR TOPIC TO MAKE MONITORING EASIER
DON’T MEASURE SUCCESS ONLY ON FOLLOWERS, LOOK AT ENGAGEMENT TOO

20. TOP TIPS: INSTAGRAM INTERACT WITH USERS AND RESPOND TO COMMENTS
LOOKS ARE EVERYTHING. USE THE FILTERS TO ENHANCE YOUR IMAGES
POST REGULARLY TO ATTRACT NEW FOLLOWERS AND RETAIN EXISTING ONES
INTERACT WITH USERS AND RESPOND TO COMMENTS
USE YOUR IMAGES TO TELL A STORY
THINK ABOUT HOW YOU CAN USE SHORT VIDEO CLIPS TO ENGAGE YOUTH AUDIENCES

21. TOP TIPS: FACEBOOK COMPLETE THE ‘ABOUT’ SECTIONS RESPOND TO COMMENTS
ADD A CALL TO ACTION TO YOUR COVER PHOTO
e.g. SIGN UP NOW
COMPLETE THE ‘ABOUT’ SECTIONS
RESPOND TO COMMENTS
PIN YOUR MOST IMPORTANT UPDATE
CONNECT LIKE A FRIEND, NOT A BUSINESS

22. *
GLOSSARY

23. GLOSSARY Key terms Definition Direct message
A private message sent between users on Twitter. May be known as a private message on Facebook.
Engagement
Social media engagement refers to the acts of talking to, messaging or otherwise interacting with other people on social networks
Followers
Users who having opted to bookmark your profile and see updates in their own social media timeline are known as followers
Hashtag
The hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the “#” sign. #Hashtags are a simple way to mark the topic (or topics) of social media messages and make them discoverable to people with shared interests. 
Like
The positive process of someone showing you that they are fans of the content you are posting. On Twitter the ‘like’ symbol is a heart and on Facebook it’s a thumbs up icon. On both sites, users can opt to ‘like’ each post
Mention
The process of ‘checking in’ changes, additions and improvements which triggers an for the Customer Services Team to take next steps / action
Notification
An update you may receive via your social media account, or directly in your inbox if you’re set up for alerts, that tells you when and how someone has interacted with your post and / or profile e.g. new follower, new share etc.
Post
An update that is shared through your account is ‘posted’ onto your profile
Profile
An alternative name for a social media account. A profile contains all of your key information – such as name, contact details and calls to actions
Reply
A reply is a direct response to your Twitter post
Re-tweet
A re-tweet, occasionally known as an RT, is where a Twitter user shares your post directly with their followers – extending your reach
Share
A share is where Facebook users push your post out to their friends – extending your reach

24. *
QUESTIONS?
If you have any social media questions, talk to your local Prince’s Trust contact or direct message The Prince’s Trust digital marketing team via Twitter or Facebook:
Twitter:
Facebook: