If we did social media for... Her Majesty the Queen
Start practicing your curtseys, social media subjects, because Buckingham Palace is hiring a head of digital engagement to run the royal channels. This may or may not be related to recent reports of Prince Wills shunning his royal duties, one of which is, presumably, helping your grandmother use Twitter. We’ve had a look over the job description and decided we’re up to the job. To be fair, they had us at free lunch.
Here’s how we’d tackle the brief.
Get candid
Ever since @RoyalFamily, previously known as @BritishMonarchy (not to be confused with the LOL-a-minute @Queen_UK) joined Twitter in 2009, the royal feed has been a rather formal affair. It offers dutiful coverage of HRH engaging in activities such as hand-shaking, ribbon-cutting and schoolchild-greeting, so it’s no wonder she’s after someone to take over the tweeting. One is busy.
Predictably, it's the candid insights into off-duty moments that get royals-lovers’ pulses racing, like this copy of the Queen’s birth certificate.
The Queen was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926; it was officially announced in the Court Circular #Queenat90 pic.twitter.com/bFFcUIh1ln
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 20, 2016
So, we’d get leafing through the royal archives for some old family photos, tidbits and the like, and move away from rehashing press shots that everyone’s already seen in the papers. There’s still a place for “covering a state visit, award ceremony or royal engagement”, as the job description puts it. We just think there are better ways to cover live events on social, which encourage more participation and ultimately a better audience relationship.
Connect with the ‘yoot’
Next on the list: community management. Currently, there is none. This job spec asks for someone who can “find new ways to maintain the Queen’s presence in the public eye and on the world stage”. To us, this means showing some personality to a younger generation.
This is difficult when you speak about yourself in the third person. In a modern twist on the telegram-on-your-100th-birthday thing, we’d ask Her Majesty to select her favourite tweet once a year, and pen a personal reply to it.
We’ve picked out a couple of contenders to get the ball rolling. Like this guy, who’s angling for an OBE.
@BritishMonarchy will done wish I am the next
—(@moh7md2) April 13, 2016
Or this question, which, quite frankly, is a matter of public interest.
@BritishMonarchy could you please help resolve a bet...would the queen use cutlery or her hands if eating ribs of any kind
— Patrick Osadebe (@ShogunTaipan) August 30, 2015
Do something new
Her Majesty wants us to “develop our digital communications strategy, and ensure that we make effective use of a range of digital platforms to support these aims”. If that’s not an indirect way of saying ‘GIVE US A SEXY IDEA’, we don’t know what is. So here’s ours: corgi Snapchat lenses. Yeah, you heard that right. It’s the only logical follow-up to the Queen Elizabeth-Prince George face-swap.
Guys, I just faceswapped the Queen and Prince George. #SCREAMING pic.twitter.com/gbmDtmC9fh
— Jennywiththegoodhair (@jennywhojenny) April 19, 2016
So, to summarise: intimate insights, royal replies and a Snapchat debut. That’d be our to-do list for our first day on the job as royal head of Digital Engagement. And that’s just the tip of our ideas iceberg. Buckingham Palace, we’re available to interview at your convenience.
Louise Stapley is senior writer at We Are Social