Social media training materials you can actually use in the room
A policy you can copy, a slide by slide deck outline, a printable pre-publish checklist, a feedback form and a training plan structure. All written out in full on this page, nothing behind a form, and free to use inside your own organisation.
We have been running social media training since 2009. These are the materials we use, published rather than described.
What you may do with these materials
Every other page in this corner of the internet is either silent on licensing or explicitly restricts reuse, which is unhelpful when the whole point is that you need something to hand out. So, plainly.
- Copy any of it into your own training deck, manual or intranet. No attribution needed internally.
- Use it in sessions you are paid to run inside your own organisation.
- Edit it, cut it, rename it. It is a starting point, not scripture.
- If you republish it publicly, or sell it as a product, please credit and link back to this page. That is the only thing we ask.
- Nothing here is legal advice. Have your policy checked by whoever advises you on employment matters before you issue it.
A social media policy you can copy
Most policies fail because they are written by legal and read by nobody. This version is deliberately short and written in the second person. Take it, change the names, get it checked, then have people acknowledge it in writing rather than posting it on the intranet and hoping.
Why we have this
We want you to talk about your work. This policy exists to make that easy and to keep you, our customers and the organisation safe. It applies whenever you can reasonably be identified as working here, including on personal accounts.
Who speaks for us
Only named account holders post on official channels. A current list is held by [name, role]. If you are asked to comment on behalf of the organisation and you are not on that list, pass it to [name] rather than replying.
What you can share
Anything already published by us. Anything you would be comfortable seeing on the front of a newspaper next to your name. Use your own words rather than copying the corporate caption, because it performs better and it is more honest.
What you must not share
Customer or client information of any kind, including anything identifying that arrives by direct message. Commercially sensitive material, unannounced work, financial information, or anything covered by an agreement with a client. Photographs of people who have not agreed to be photographed. Colleagues’ personal details.
Data protection
If somebody sends personal data through a direct message, move the conversation off the platform and into [named system]. Do not screenshot it, do not forward it into a group chat, and do not paste it into any external tool. UK GDPR applies to a direct message exactly as it applies to an email.
Artificial intelligence tools
You may use generative tools to draft and edit. You must read and take responsibility for everything you post. Do not put customer information, unpublished work or anything confidential into a public tool. Where content is substantially machine generated and presented as a personal view, say so.
Advertising rules
If you receive anything of value in return for a post, including gifts and free products, disclose it clearly and in the post itself. Advertising Standards Authority guidance applies to employees as well as influencers.
When something goes wrong
Do not delete it and do not argue in public. Screenshot it, then contact [name] on [number] immediately. Out of hours use [number]. Nobody is in trouble for reporting quickly. People are in trouble for hiding it for a day.
Complaints and criticism
Acknowledge, do not defend, move it to a private channel within two replies. If it is factually wrong, correct it once, politely, and stop. Never respond while angry and never respond alone if it is escalating.
Personal accounts
Your account is yours. We do not monitor it. We do expect that you will not post material that is discriminatory, harassing, or that would make a colleague or customer feel unsafe, and that you will make clear that views are your own where there is any risk of confusion.
A slide deck outline, slide by slide
Sixteen slides for a half day session. Deliberately light on text, because the exercises carry the day rather than the deck.
| Slide | Content | Note for the trainer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Title and the objective for today, in one sentence | Say the objective out loud. Leave it on the wall. |
| 2 | What this session is not | Manages expectations early and saves the awkward question at the end. |
| 3 | One thing that went well in our sector | Use a recent, named, real example. |
| 4 | One thing that went badly in our sector | Not a competitor if you can avoid it. Nobody learns while enjoying themselves. |
| 5 | Six of our own posts, numbers hidden | The screenshot audit exercise. Do not skip this one. |
| 6 | The same six with the numbers revealed | Let the room react before you explain anything. |
| 7 | Who we are actually reaching | Real audience data. Age, location, device, time of day. |
| 8 | What people are saying about us right now | Live search, done in the room, not a screenshot. |
| 9 | Content pillars, blank | Fill it in together on flipchart rather than presenting one. |
| 10 | A good post and a weak post, side by side | Both from your own channels. |
| 11 | The policy, three clauses only | The three people actually break. Not all ten. |
| 12 | AI: what is fine and what is not | Agree the disclosure rule in the room and write it down. |
| 13 | The crisis scenario | One slide, plain text, no clip art. Hand out printed copies too. |
| 14 | Escalation: names and numbers | The single most useful slide in the deck. Print it as a handout. |
| 15 | The four numbers we will report | Named owner against each one. |
| 16 | What happens next, with dates | Do not end on thank you. End on a diary. |
The pre-publish checklist, printable
One page, laminate it, stick it by the desk of whoever posts.
- Is this true, and can I evidence it?
- Does it fit one of our content pillars?
- Would I be comfortable if this were screenshotted and shared?
- Have I checked names, figures and spelling twice?
- Does any person in the image know they are in it?
- Is there customer or client information anywhere in this?
- Does it need a disclosure, and have I added it?
- Is the link right, and does it go to a live page?
- Is there alt text on the image?
- If this gets an angry reply, do I know who handles it?
The post-training feedback form
Five questions. Anything longer gets ticked without being read.
- Before today, how confident were you posting on behalf of the organisation? One to five.
- And now? One to five.
- Name one thing you will do differently in the next fortnight.
- What did we spend too long on, and what needed more time?
- Do you know who to contact if something goes wrong? Yes or no.
Ask questions one and two again at ninety days. The gap between the day and three months later is the only honest measure of whether the training worked.
The training plan template
One page, written before you build anything. If you cannot complete it, you are not ready to book the room.
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Primary objective | One of five: risk, advocacy, competence, accountability, or a named business number. |
| Audience | Which of the four groups. All staff, client facing, the social team, or executives. Not a mixture. |
| Behaviour change | What somebody does differently on Monday. Written as an action. |
| Length and format | Sixty minutes, half day, full day, or modular across weeks. |
| Exercises | At least three. A session with no exercises is a presentation. |
| Materials | Deck, printed policy, printed escalation card, flipchart, feedback form. |
| Owner afterwards | A named person, agreed before the session, not volunteered on the day. |
| Measurement | The before and after questions, plus one operational metric. |
| Follow up | A date in the diary at ninety days, booked before the first session runs. |
Free courses worth sending people to
If your objective is baseline competence rather than behaviour change, a self serve course does the job and costs nothing. These are the ones we actually recommend. Check the current price and length yourself before you send anybody, because providers change both without notice.
- Google Digital Garage, Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. Free, certificated, broad rather than deep. The right answer for a large group who need the basics and a certificate.
- HubSpot Academy, Social Media Marketing. Free and certificated. Strong on strategy and content, weighted towards inbound thinking.
- LinkedIn Learning, Social Media Marketing Foundations. Paid or included with LinkedIn Premium, and often free through a public library card in the UK, which is worth checking before you buy licences.
- Meta Blueprint. Free modules on the Meta platforms specifically. Useful when the gap is platform mechanics rather than judgement.
- Hootsuite Academy and Sprout Social’s resource library. Both mix genuinely free material with paid certifications. Useful, though written to sell the tool.
What none of these do is change how your particular team behaves, because they cannot see your channels, your policy or your risks. Use them for knowledge, and run a session for behaviour.
Free tools to use in the session
- The platforms’ own analytics. Free, accurate and almost always underused. Have them open on screen rather than presenting a screenshot.
- Google Trends. Free. Good for the audience and competitor exercise, and it makes an abstract point concrete in ten seconds.
- Google Alerts. Free. Set one up in the room for your brand and your competitor. It is a two minute task that most teams have never done.
- Canva free tier. Enough for the image exercise. You do not need a paid design tool to teach the principle.
- A shared document. The content calendar exercise works better in something everybody can edit than on a flipchart, if the room is remote.
How to assemble all of this into an actual session
Take the policy from this page, the deck outline above, and the twelve exercises and minute by minute running order on our social media training tips and course plan page. Between the two pages there is a complete half day that you can run yourself this month without buying anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use these materials in training I am paid to deliver?
Inside your own organisation, yes, without restriction. If you are selling training to third parties using this material, credit and link to this page.
Why is none of it behind a form?
Because gating a handout that somebody needs on Thursday is a poor trade for an email address. If the material is useful you will remember where it came from.
Do you have these as downloadable files?
Not yet. Everything is published in full on this page so you can copy it straight into your own document, which is faster than a download for most people. Tell us if a file would genuinely be more useful.
Is the policy legally sound?
It is a well structured starting point, not legal advice. Have it reviewed by whoever advises you on employment matters, particularly the personal accounts and disciplinary sections, before you issue it.
What is the difference between this page and your tips page?
This page is the artefacts. The tips and course plan page is the method: the objectives, the twelve exercises and the timed running order. Use both together.
How current is this?
Reviewed August 2026. The artificial intelligence and disclosure sections were added this year, which is the part most existing training material has not caught up with.
Who is publishing this
Prohibition has been running social media training since 2009. These are the materials we use in the room. Training and campaigns delivered for the NHS, universities, local authorities, charities and B2B manufacturers, alongside the brands below.
PRCA DARE Awards 2026 winners. The Charity and Not for Profit Award for The Build, our campaign for Martin House Children’s Hospice, which produced 219 placements and a reach of 161.4 million. Prohibition has won more than 45 industry awards.
Do you have rules for AI use yet?
Most teams using these templates are also using AI without a written policy behind it. If that describes you, the AI policy workshop is a facilitated half day that ends with a drafted document rather than an intention to write one.
Or have somebody run it for you
Private in-house sessions built on your own channels. Half day £1,200, full day £1,800, up to six people, excluding VAT, delivered UK wide.
Last reviewed August 2026. Policy template updated to cover generative AI use and UK GDPR in direct messages.
Part of our strategy and measurement training, alongside every social media course we run and our training formats. Last reviewed August 2026.
