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Communicating authentically with young people across Scotland

 

Digital Information & Campaigns  

young.scot is Scotland’s leading information website for young people – packed full of quality-assured information tailored specifically for young people. We share this information with young people within the digital spaces they spend their time in – including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Spotify and YouTube. We also translate key information into Gaelic.  

We are experts in planning, creating content and delivering paid digital information campaigns. This includes campaign planning, setting SMART goals, budget forecasting, creative content production, campaign delivery and insights reporting. We also create stakeholder toolkits which helps increase the reach of our campaigns.  

We're experts in our field and that’s why partners who share our values choose to work with us to communicate with young people. We do this by sharing content and information that’s authentic, inspiring and fun. We combine this with influencer marketing and testimonial content alongside paid digital advertising to generate results. 

We also offer partners the opportunity to co-design campaigns with young people through our Young Scot Hive #YSHive service. This approach allows you to work in partnership with young people from all backgrounds and benefit from their insight, creativity and passion. 

The right to quality-assured and accurate information is a fundamental right of young people – and the need is growing significantly due to the surge of misinformation and fake news. That’s why we work with quality-assured partners and experts to develop information on important issues that matter the most.  

We’re also proud to hold the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency's European Quality Label for youth information. This certifies the processes we have in place when creating bespoke information for young people. 

Click here to find out more about what we offer!

 
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Targeted & Influencer Engagement 

Sometimes using organic content alone won't deliver the impact that’s needed. That’s why we increase our reach through digital advertising and influencer marketing. Our Digital Marketing Officer uses smart targeting techniques to improve content performance using paid advertising options across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, Snapchat, Twitter and Google AdWords. We take an agile approach to digital marketing, ensuring that we are flexible enough to move with young people's interests, issues, and trends. We can also target parents, carers and trusted adults too.  

Our team builds campaigns, defines target audiences, manages the content, and uses targeting to speak directly to young people. We also use testing and monitor click-through rates to identify who’s engaging and how best to spend the marketing budget on improving campaign performance. This includes testing and optimising ad copy and creatives and implementing lessons learned from previous campaigns.  

Every young person is an influencer to their peers! That’s why we source and build relationships with Scottish and UK-based content creators and influencers who represent our and our partners’ core values. This helps to create positive connections with young people and amplify key messages. We conduct research before working with potential content creators, fully brief them and work with partners to ensure content fully meets campaign objectives.  

By combining both digital advertising and influencer marketing, we ensure that young people from across Scotland have access to the highest-quality, most relevant and timely information they need to make informed decisions.  

 
@young.scot Find out more about how to fact check and arm yourself against the spread of fake news! 🚫📰 Ali Brian, Fact Checking Lead at @theferret.scot shares some tips on navigating the world of misinformation. #fyp #foryou #TheFerret #FerretFact #FactCheck #FactChecking #CheckYourFacts #Misinformation #FakeNews #Disinformation #YoungScot #Scotland #Scottish #GlobalMILWeek #GlobalMILWeek2022 #Fake #News #factcheckers ♬ original sound - Young Scot
 

Creator Collective 

Our Creator Collective is a group of young people on their content creation journey who work with us to make informative and inspiring content for our social media channels as well as their own.

Young people continually tell us that they value receiving information from other young people. Our Creator Collective is helping us to connect with our audiences whilst developing their own skills and talent for creating amazing content. This is helping us to reach a wider range of young people and relate to their varied life experiences.  

Our team works in partnership with the Creator Collective and supports them with script writing, filming and editing, personal branding, marketing, and more. This helps them to experiment with new techniques and bring their ideas to life in new ways. 

Whether it’s a vlog, podcast, video series, or something totally different, we support our Creator Collective to explore their personal passions and share them with young people across Scotland. 

@young.scot Meet the Young Scot Creator Collective! They’re passionate about social media and will be making content about topics that are relevant to you. Stay tuned to see what they get up to! #CreatorCollective #YoungScot #Scotland #ContentCreation ♬ Cute bright hip hop(1018707) - hope music
@young.scot Tha e a’ coimhead gun robh deagh àm aig @Alastair, @Sorley | Gaelic + Adventure agus @lauren aig na Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards! Éist airson fhaighinn a-mach dè bha iad a’ smaoineachadh a bha am pàirt as fheàrr! It looks like Alastair, Sorley and Lauren had a great time at the Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards! #YSAwards #Gaelic #Gàidhlig #Cleachdi #SundayMail #2023 ♬ original sound - Young Scot
@katyjjo AD | @YoungScot #AyeFeel Opening up about how you’re feeling can be a really scary thing to do. But if you’re a wee bit like me seeking mental health support might just be the best thing you ever do. #AyeFeel ♬ Aesthetic - Tollan Kim
@drproctor20 Are money troubles affecting your mental health? I teamed up with @m@Young Scot to share with you my personal story and tips for how deal with money issues. You can find more info and support on finances at young.scot/CostCrisis #AyeFeel #mentalhealth #finance #YoungScot #Scottish #scotland ♬ original sound - Greg_the_Graduate

 

Incentivisation

Our Young Scot Rewards programme encourages young people to be active citizens by rewarding them for taking part in positive activities.

Young people can use their Young Scot National Entitlement Cards (Young Scot NEC) number to sign up as a Member for free at young.scot and access Young Scot Rewards. Every young person is entitled to a free Young Scot NEC so there are no financial barriers to taking part.

Once they’re signed, young people can take part in lots of different types of activities and earn Young Scot Rewards points. The activities can be easily linked to completing online surveys and questionnaires related to our digital information and campaigns. This incentivises young people to engage with the information and content beyond what they see on social media.

Young Scot Rewards is a fantastic way to engage your organisation with young people from communities across Scotland. Over 80,000 young people are signed up to young.scot and the numbers are continually increasing.

 
 
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European Youth Information Quality Label

 ‘Every child has the right to reliable information from a variety of sources, and governments should encourage the media to provide information that children can understand.’ Article 17, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

We take our role in providing quality-assured, reliable youth information seriously. That is why we are proud to hold the European Youth Information Quality Label, which recognises the processes we have in place to create information for young people. This Label provides a visual sign that information is verified, true and unbiased.  

Today, young people have access to more news sources and different ways to access the media than ever before. Whether it’s news alerts, posts on Facebook, or videos on TikTok. Over the last few years, we’ve also seen a rise in misinformation and disinformation – and the pandemic has brought this issue to the fore. Therefore, young people must have access to trusted, verified and unbiased information that enables them to make informed decisions.  

What you might see on social media or our website as a single post or piece of information has been through a process that ensures we’re providing accurate, reliable and verified information to young people. We also co-design our information content with young people, ensuring their needs, views and ideas are included. We work with experts and partners to provide young people with a range of opinions, and the opportunity to ask questions and access expert information and advice. This all means that behind every piece of content or information is a process that involves several members of staff, recording of verified sources and a risk assessment. 

 
@young.scot European Youth Information Day happens every year on 17th April to raise awareness of the rights of young people to access reliable information. Young Scot has been awarded the European Youth Information Quality Label which means the information we create is verified, true and unbiased. Visit young.scot/DigiKnow to find out more about how to fact check and spot misinformation. #EYID23 #MyDigitalMe #MIL #DigiKnow #YoungScot #FakeNews #Misinformation ♬ Hey It's Me - Official Sound Studio
 

Insight & Innovation 

Across our entire organisation, we’re committed to building evidence and insights that guide our decision-making and improve the impact we make on young people’s lives. 

When planning each campaign we set SMART goals and ensure that our information and content are meticulously measured and reported in a way that’s simple to understand. We also use this insight to guide future information content campaigns.  

We track all usual metrics, such as reach, engagement and click-throughs. Also, we use Instagram’s polls, emoji slider stickers and Instagram Story questions to capture young people’s sentiments as they engage with the content. We use TikTok polls and question features too. We also complement this with interactive quizzes and surveys – and incentivise young people who are signed up as Members on young.scot to take part.  

We use surveys after campaigns to ask young people (who’ve seen or interacted with the campaign) what they learned, what actions they might take, and share any insight.  These surveys clearly indicate the campaign’s impact and showcase any behaviour changes made as a result of the content. 

 

  • “I will definitely start making planners of where I'm spending my money. Also making meal plans and walking to school instead of spending money on transport.”   

  • “I have been inspired to use more Gaelic on a daily basis” 

  • “…the info is reliable and in one place as well as easy to understand…” - #ThatsNotOK campaign on gender-based violence 

 
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Digi Know? Cyber Safety

Recently, we’ve continued to run our ‘Digi Know?’ information campaigns in partnership with the Scottish government. We delivered these in a variety of ways including co-designed with our #YSHive volunteers, paid marketing campaigns and organic. We focused on cyber security and safety, social media scams, misinformation and fake news, romance fraud, cost of living scams, phishing scams and shopping scams.

Across all DigiKnow activities across the year, there were:

  • 211,000 engagements

  • Reach of 6,800,000

  • 35,000 clicks 

  • 6,900,00 million impressions 

  • 215,000 video views 

  • 77% of young people found the information useful or very useful.

@young.scot Do you know how to spot and avoid scams? For information on avoiding scams, check out young.scot/DigiKnow #CyberScotlandWeek #YoungScot #Scams #DigiKnow ♬ Breaking News Background Music (Basic A)(1001538) - LEOPARD
 
@young.scot Have you noticed any cost of living scams? Make sure to ask yourself these 3 questions if you’re unsure something is genuine! Visit young.scot/DigiKnow for more information on how to avoid scams! #Scams #CyberScotlandWeek #DigiKnow #YoungScot ♬ Small Dawn long version - Fig. 🐢

Young Carers Campaign 

We partnered with Social Security Scotland on a campaign to inform 16 to 19-year-old young carers about the entitlement they’re entitled to, and to share information about caring to help young people identify themselves as eligible young carers.  

The multi-platform campaign delivered interactive social content across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. The multi-channel campaign achieved 2,600,00 impressions, 32,000 engagements and reach of 890,000. Some of the young people who viewed the campaign also said:  

  • 65% understood what campaign was about. 

  • 67% agreed campaign was clear about where to get information. 

  • 76% agreed the campaign was supportive of young people. 

  • 59% agreed that after seeing campaign they were more informed about entitlements available to young carers. 

  • 76% visited the website to find out more information 

  • 24% shared the information with a friend who might be a young carer 

 
 
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We’d love to hear from you!

Whatever your message, we can help you reach young people in Scotland. We might be digital communications specialists, but we still enjoy saying hello!  

Please get in touch to set up a coffee or a chat online – we’d love to learn more about your idea and share ideas on some of the ways we could support you.  

Please get in touch! 

 
@young.scot Love = Free under 22's Bus Travel! Find out more at freebus.scot #youngscotcard #youngscot #freebus #freebustravel ♬ original sound - Mao
@young.scot

Who cares for young carers? We do - get this bundle of exclusive treats for free! 🙌🙌🙌 Find out more at young.scot/YoungCarers!

♬ Piece Of Your Heart (Cg Remix) - Official Sound Studio
@young.scot You told us you wanted to know about the health impacts of e-cigarettes so we’ve put together articles on young.scot to give you the facts! #ecigarettes #ecig #Vaping #YoungScot ♬ Lo-Fi analog beat - Gloveity