Read about other organisations that have changed their activities to be more inclusive and helped women and girls get active in ways that work for them.
We've created a selection of resources and toolkits to help make your activity more inclusive and welcoming for women and girls.
KEY PRINCIPLES
From our research we've come up with a set of key principles that can help you to put on activities that encourage women to get women and girls to get active on their own terms.
Inclusive
Ensure your space appeals to beginners and those less active.
Welcoming
Have someone friendly greet new participants and show them around.
Reassuring
Let attendees know that it’s fine to wear clothes they feel most comfortable in.
Representative
When promoting your sessions use imagery to show diversity, reflecting those living in your community.
As told by the 51%
This Girl Can and ukactive joined forces to create a practical guide to help leisure facilities make their spaces more welcoming to women and girls that covers a range of topics.
See the report
Digital Marketing Hub
The Hub helps you use digital marketing more effectively to promote events and increase participation and revenue - focusing on marketing strategy and mindset, audience understanding, social media, content marketing, search and SEO, email and website.
Sign up to the HubBrand assets and photos
This way to our brand assets and rights-free image library.
Get inspired
This Girl Can showcases Saltley Women's FC, an inclusive football club open to women from all backgrounds, created after a high demand from Muslim women in Inner City Birmingham to have more opportunities in football.
This Girl Can showcases Football Beyond Borders, a programme that aims to help girls that are passionate about football but feel disengaged academically.
This Girl Can showcases the British Mountaineering Council, empowering women to feel and stay safe, whilst having fun hillwalking.
Your guide to making the most of organic social media
Social media is an essential tool if you are looking to connect with your audience and build a following.
When posting to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram you will find two options – organic and paid social.
Any social media activity that is not supported by paid advertising is known as organic social.
Organic (or free) content – including posts, photos, videos, and stories – allows those who follow your account and the followers of those who share your posts to see your activity, whereas the paid social content is more targeted and further reaching; it can be tailored to your desired audience.
Organic social content can help establish the personality and voice of your club or organisation and can be put to great use if you are creative.
Adding relevant hashtags, producing original content, and posting to key audiences are all ways to increase the chances of your activity being seen.
Our top tips
Use images
Images can be highly engaging on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, so it's important to include them where you can.
Use preferred formats
On Instagram, the preferred content is Reels (vertical video), which can further boost engagement and reach.
Use hashtags
They can increase the potential of reaching a much wider audience who are interested in a particular topic. Put simply, a hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the hash sign (#). When we use them in a social media post, it means that people searching for that topic are able to find what we’ve posted.
Here are some guidelines on how to use hashtags:
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They can be used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Only use hashtags relevant to your post. It’s considered spamming to put unrelated hashtags in your posts so that more people see it (e.g. #justinbieber in a tweet about home workouts).
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Hashtags should always be in Camel Case – writing phrases without spaces by indicating separation with the use of capital letters (e.g. #ThisGirlCan instead of #thisgirlcan)
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On Twitter, keep hashtags to a minimum. Never use more than three per tweet – not only will it eat into your character allowance, it looks messy and makes the message harder to read.
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Don’t use spaces or punctuation marks in a hashtag. Using either will mean the hashtag won’t work.
Post regularly
Regularly posting ensures consistency for your community. Ideal times to post are 8-10am, 12-2pm and 6-8pm as these are likely times for people to be on their phone and scrolling.
Creating content
We’ve created this handy guide to the sizes you should use when creating assets for specific channels.
Sizes in blue are the recommended and prioritised image and video sizes - in pixels - for key platforms.
| TikTok | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landscape | 1080x566 | 1200x630 |
1200x630 |
600x315 |
| Square |
1080x1080 |
1080x1080 |
1080x1080 |
640x640 |
| Vertical |
1350x1500 |
1350x1500 |
1080x1920 |
|
| Stories |
1080x1920 |
1080x1920 |
1080x1920 |
|
| Profile picture | 320x320 | 170x170 | 400x400 | 20x20 |
| Cover photo | 851x315 | 1500x500 |
Top tips for creating content
Mobile first
When creating content, think mobile first. Most social media users use their mobiles to view content, and generally like visually pleasing content.
Keep it simple
Don't overcomplicate it. Keep it simple, yet eye-catching.
Show your personality
TikTok is a great platform to use to jump on trends and showcases your club’s personality. Instagram Reels mimic TikTok videos, so can be used in a similar fashion on both platforms.
Think about accessibility
Remember all social media video content must be subtitled if there is dialogue to ensure it is accessible.
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of the key takeaways from this page for you to easily download and refer back to later.
Background
Social media offers a great way to promote your organisation and share ideas and updates with your network.
Each platform has its own set of tools, including a paid ads feature which can be used to supplement your organic (unpaid) social media activity.
Paid ads work by increasing the reach and awareness of your message, while also targeting specific audiences.
This is a particularly effective way of connecting with and potentially increasing female participation in your activity, as well as making sure your campaign is seen.
This Girl Can has run a number of different paid campaigns to promote events or initiatives aimed specifically at women and have summarised our findings into key themes below for you to use in your own messaging.
Case study background
This page will talk you through key points we have found to increase female participation in sport activities. All insights are based on the following case studies:
This Girl Can Swim
A programme running across multiple pools in the country, set up to offer women the chance to enjoy swimming in a fun, friendly and relaxed environment.
We ran a paid social campaign to advertise these sessions to women, to help tackle the barriers that women told us they experience in relation to swimming.
This Girl Can x British Cycling partnership
This Girl Can partnered with British Cycling in 2019 to support promotion of their BREEZE programme: free, friendly group rides for women, led by women.
A social media campaign was developed with new photography and videos which were designed to engage a less active and less confident female audience.
Couch to Fitness
Sport England funded Our Parks to produce the Couch to Fitness programme of free, online workouts during the pandemic.
This Girl Can supported Our Parks to run a paid social campaign to increase awareness and registrations to the free online workout resource.
Although not designed specifically for women, over 90% of users are currently women.
Glossary
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Helpful definitions
Most of the results in this page focus on click through rate, but what does that mean? We've included definitions for that, and some other useful terms, below.
Read answer
- CTR (click through rate): a measure of how many people see a social post, ad, or other piece of content click through to take action.
- Impressions: a metric that counts how many times a post, organic or paid, is displayed on a social network. It counts the number of times a user might have seen the same post appear on their feed, which could be multiple times over a certain period.
- Reach: the total number of people who have been exposed to a social post, either organic or paid. It can indicate that the content appeared a user's social feed at least once.
- CPA (cost per acquisition): metric that measures the total cost of a customer completing a specific action.
- CVR (conversion rate): the number of conversions (this is defined by you e.g. downloads, sign ups etc) divided by the number of visitors. It measures how well social media efforts are working to achieve specific business goals.
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Imagery
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Individual focus
Use imagery with close ups of individuals looking directly at the camera.
Read answer
We found that individual close-up shots performed best during all three campaigns - looking directly at the camera also achieved a higher CTR.
One-woman shots, one looking at the camera, the other not looking at the camera.
Hide answer
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Show support
Consider also using imagery of women supported by instructors.
Read answer
Women being supported by instructors performed well in TGC Swim.
An instructor shot that performed well, versus a shot of two women that performed less well in terms of CTR.
Hide answer
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Give context
Consider using imagery of women in the context of the activity rather than doing the actual activity.
Read answer
The British Cycling campaign also found that imagery of women in the context of the activity (e.g. near their bikes) performed better than women actually doing the activity. This was also reported in the TGC Swim campaign.
A cyclist standing beside their bike, versus the same cyclist actually riding their bike - the left image performed better.
Hide answer
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Diverse imagery
Use inclusive imagery to show a range of body shape, size, ages, abilities and ethnicities.
Read answer
Couch to Fitness used a diverse cast across different ages and ethnicities in their campaign.
Hide answer
Messaging
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Keep it simple
Consider using simple messaging in your ads rather than clever slogans.
Read answer
When it comes to messaging, we found simple worked best for the British Cycling campaign e.g. 'Free bike rides for women' rather than 'Grab life by the handlebars'.
A simple slogan versus one trying to be clever - the simple one wins out.
Hide answer
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Reassurance
Use reassuring messaging e.g. around building confidence and having support.
Read answer
Reassuring messaging is also key for less active women.
The video that generally performed best for British Cycling focused on building confidence and the support and coaching you would get at a ride.
This is supported by findings from Couch to Fitness where, across the board, gentle and accessible language was key to good performance.
Hide answer
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Emphasise unique aspects
Highlight unique selling points (USPs) about your programme e.g. it's free or ‘female only’.
Read answer
Highlighting key words like ‘Free’ and ‘9-week programme’ positively impacted CTR in the paid social for Couch to Fitness.
The This Girl Can x British Cycling campaign and Couch to Fitness programme focus on conveying a clear message and highlighting the benefits of their offer - such as being free.
Hide answer
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Me time
Consider incorporating ‘me time’ within your messaging, particularly when targeting ages 34-45.
Read answer
Messaging focused on getting some ‘me time’ performed well in the 35-44-year-old brackets in TGC Swim.
This was supported by strong performance of ‘me time’ related ads in Couch to Fitness as well.
Hide answer
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Socialising
Consider incorporating messaging around ‘socialising’, particularly when targeting ages 45+.
One of the video ads for TGC Swim was focused around socialising and achieved the highest engagement from women.
Read answer
A still image taken from a TGC Swim ad with messaging focused on socialising - this performed well in the 45+ age bracket.
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Channels
USE FACEBOOK FOR OLDER AGE GROUPS
In terms of channel, we have typically found an older audience engage more with Facebook vs Instagram (Couch to Fitness). This can be exploited if the nature of your activity resonates more with an older audience e.g. swimming – this was supported in TGC Swim, with a higher CTR on Facebook for 45+-year-olds.
USE SCHEDULING ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Keep a note of best performing times of day and days of the week to refine your scheduling further. Couch to Fitness paid social campaign found that Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays performed best.
YOUTUBE SHOULD ONLY BE USED FOR BIGGER CAMPAIGN BURSTS
Ads on this platform do not achieve the same CTR as other channels. We recommend YouTube ads to supplement more direct marketing approaches as, with a healthy budget behind it, these ads can help the campaign by driving awareness. In addition, increased awareness likely has a positive knock-on effect to other marketing tools such as Google search.
TIKTOK SHOULD BE USED WITH A ‘NATIVE FIRST’ APPROACH
This means using the app and its features to create your ads and keep these in line with trends as they often perform better if executed this way. You should also consider the age of your audience when thinking about using TikTok for ads, as 42% of current users are aged 13-24 and 25% of these are women. If you have a larger budget, using TikTok influencers can increase relatability.
SNAPCHAT SHOULD NOT BE PRIORITISED FOR CAMPAIGNS
This is due to the below-average audience targeting features which are currently available.
GOOGLE SEARCH SHOULD RUN ON AN 'ALWAYS ON' BASIS
This allows for organic searches for your product. You should also consider adding seasonal messaging to boost views if appropriate, and using high-volume, low-competition key words to cover USPs of your product, or not used by competitor programmes.
Ad formats
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Results vary by age
During the TGC Swim campaign we found marginal difference between ad formats (single image, video or carousel of images) - however there was a notable difference between format and age groups:
Read answer
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Video format performed best in older age groups (45+)
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Carousel images (multiple images you can swipe through) performed best for 25-44 years.
Hide answer
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Cover all bases
Our suggestion is to use a mix of ad types to cover all bases and upweight the best format for each age bracket.
Read answer
Hide answer
Other considerations
1
Ensure ads are targeting postcodes within three miles of a class/activity in urban areas, or five miles in rural areas
We found the distance women were willing to travel to their classes varied for urban vs rural areas.
For TGC Swim classes, across urban and rural areas, around 75% of attendees to a class lived within three miles of the class location.
For urban areas alone this rose to 80% - this means the vast majority of women in urban areas are not travelling further than three miles to get to their activity, highlighting the importance of efficient postcode targeting with your ads to ensure there are activities available near to those who are viewing the ads.
For rural areas, women were more willing to travel further to attend a class, with a higher percentage of attendees living up to five miles from a class location.
We found similar location-based results in the TGC x British Cycling promotion
For TGC Swim classes, across urban and rural areas, around 75% of attendees to a class lived within three miles of the class location.
For urban areas alone this rose to 80% - this means the vast majority of women in urban areas are not travelling further than three miles to get to their activity, highlighting the importance of efficient postcode targeting with your ads to ensure there are activities available near to those who are viewing the ads.
For rural areas, women were more willing to travel further to attend a class, with a higher percentage of attendees living up to five miles from a class location.
We found similar location-based results in the TGC x British Cycling promotion
2
Run ads one-two days before your session is due to start
In the TGC Swim campaign we found the highest CTR was for ads advertising a class two days in advance of a session taking place, followed by ads running one day in advance - this was compared to adverts which were run with a longer lead time of the session they were promoting.
This indicates that promoting activities happening imminently provides a stronger motivation for women than ones taking place further in the future.
This indicates that promoting activities happening imminently provides a stronger motivation for women than ones taking place further in the future.
3
Ensure mobile compatability
During the Couch to Fitness campaign we saw that most engagement with ads came through a mobile phone or tablet, so ensure your ads are configured to support this.
4
Watch out for continued uplift after a campaign ends
During the British Cycling campaign, they continued to see an uplift in attendance 3-4 weeks after the campaign ended – this suggests that it took a while to convert contemplation into action.
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of the key takeaways from this page for you to easily download and refer back to later.
Create your own photography
This Girl Can encourages our partners to create their own This Girl Can-inspired images – the world needs them!
Showing how women and girls really look while playing sport and getting physically active is at the heart of the This Girl Can campaign.
It’s how we communicate with real women across the country, and how we motivate them to become more active.
That’s why we’re inviting you to create your own This Girl Can-inspired images – to celebrate women of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds exercising in ways that suit them.
We enjoy seeing your photos, so don’t hold back, and let’s see women getting active in your community - no filter, of course!
If you do decide to get behind a camera, please:
- Use women of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities.
- Capture women doing what they love AND hate – we understand that exercise isn’t always fun.
- Think outside the box/pitch/court/gym – women getting ready, having a half-time breather, or chatting afterwards make for some brilliant images.
- Don’t hide our women. Character and personality comes from their faces more often than not.
- Give context to help show what the girls are doing and who they are, otherwise it might not be clear what the image means – e.g. if they’re boxing, show a glove, if they’re playing tennis, show a racket. If you’re talking about a mum, maybe show them with a child’s pushchair, or if you’re showing someone who works out at home, show them in their home environment.
- Never retouch or airbrush any women – they are who they are and proud of it!
Image library
For those not able to create their own photos, we have a library of free-to-use and rights-free images showing women of different sizes and ages being active and playing sport, which can be accessed at any time.
Creating your own posters
Posters are a great way to draw attention to any activity you’re promoting, especially if you’re looking to encourage more women to come along to your club or class.
You don't need to be an expert to create an eye-catching poster that will appeal to your audience – all you need are some simple tools and your ideas.
By following a few easy steps, and including some carefully chosen words and images, you’ll be able to clearly get your message seen.
Top tips
Here are our top tips on how to go about making your own posters.
1
Think about the basics
Before deciding how you want the poster to look, it might be best to gather what you want to say in the poster. Most of the time it’s information you want to communicate such as the name of the class, what the class is all about, times, cost, contact information etc.
2
Start big
Sometimes the hardest thing is where to start - so start big. Place on the page the most important or eye-catching element; it could be the headline or maybe the image or maybe a combination of both.
3
Work from most important, to least important
Now we have the beginning of a ‘hierarchy’. From here you work your way to the next important bit of information e.g. a description of the class, who it’s for, the time and date, where the class is being held, who to contact, etc.
4
Keep things clear
From here, it is up to you how you arrange this on the page. Consider which fonts and colours suit your poster and how you use imagery. The only thing to keep in mind is legibility. If you find it difficult to read (no matter how nice it looks), others will find it difficult too.
5
Don't overcomplicate it
Keep it simple e.g. use one or two fonts.
Poster template
We've created a poster template that makes it easier to quickly produce your own This Girl Can materials without needing design skills or specialist software.
Volunteer guide
Research shows that significantly more men (63%) volunteer in sport than women (36%). It’s time we addressed this and let women across the country know that volunteering offers a great way to support their community.
Becoming a volunteer can offer some excellent benefits too, such as training, skills development, making new connections, and providing a sense of wellbeing, with volunteers hugely valued at any club or leisure facility.
Increasing the number of female volunteers helps to bring new perspectives to sport and physical activity and encourages more women to participate and even volunteer themselves.
The guidance below is taken from conversations with organisations that run female-only or female-focused volunteer-led programmes, showcasing some key principles and learnings.
We hope you will be able to apply some of the recommendations to your own area of work.
1. Recruitment
Make sure the benefits women gain from volunteering are clearly promoted.
Find out what the real barriers and motivators to volunteering are and use these to make what you’re offering appeal to women.
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Consider a “member get member” style incentivisation to recruit more volunteers.
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Ensure any messaging or visuals used in the recruitment reflect the demographic of women you're trying to recruit.
Putting it into practice
This Mum Runs found from their research that, as their volunteers were primarily busy mums, they could only commit to volunteering once per month, but they had a deep desire to help others like them.
2. Convenience
Excessive and confusing form filling is hugely off-putting for those that may be feeling nervous about volunteering.
Successful volunteer programmes, clubs and organisations do everything possible to make the paperwork as pain-free as they can.
A few suggestions to help make registering to volunteer a simpler process, include:
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reducing the number of fields that must be filled in
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providing in-person support at or before training
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avoiding the need to print or scan anything
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if there are online requirements, providing swift and personal technical support – or even do this on their behalf.
Putting it into practice
British Cycling have a policy of uploading the new Breeze trainee's profile on their behalf to their online system (with permission) as soon as seven days after training, so they are ready to get going!
3. Ongoing support
The transition from training to active volunteering is a key area of drop off for female volunteers. It’s important to intervene at this time with some strategies to encourage women to stick with it.
Here are some of our suggestions and examples:
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Focus on building a community of volunteers – this could be via a Facebook group, WhatsApp group or through social options such as long lunches or tea breaks.
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Offer repeat training – if possible, which will allow women the freedom to build confidence.
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Provide some transitional support – build responsibility slowly by offering opportunities for women to assist more experienced volunteers and practice their skills.
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Establish mentor schemes – offer more experienced women ‘lead volunteer’ status, with the responsibility of answering queries from newly trained volunteers. This not only benefits new volunteers, but also frees up any paid project managers to focus on expansion and growth plans.
Putting it into practice
Safe space
Female volunteers in one organisation rated the closed Facebook group as one of the most valuable aspects of the programme, with a much higher response than men.
Training opportunities
The ECB’s Dream Big Desi Women programme allows women to come along to an unlimited number of training sessions. Similarly, This Mum Runs offers flexible modules of online training which the women can repeat at their own convenience.
Make women feel comfortable
This Mum Runs also has a buddy system for new volunteers allowing them to pair up with experienced volunteers. Additionally, Active Life Essex’s ‘She’s Ready’ volunteering programme starts women off with smaller levels of responsibility and gradually grows their involvement in projects to allow time for women to feel comfortable.
Guiding hand
British Cycling’s Breeze programme has an experienced 'Breeze Champion' volunteer for each region who acts as a coordinator. They are on hand to support and mentor new trainees with both practical and administrative tasks (they are paid a small hourly rate for their time). Similarly, England Golf’s Buddy programme asked more confident volunteers to take more of a leading role in fielding questions and supporting the group (unpaid).
4. Reward
Ensure you recognise and reward the work and time women are putting in. Appreciation was the most highly rated reward identified by female volunteers in British Cycling’s Breeze programme.
Some examples include:
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Personal thank you messages
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Providing club-branded or personalised merchandise (environmentally sustainable is encouraged) to help women feel part of a team.
Putting it into practice
The YMCA Sutton Coldfield Girls Move programme and Active Life's She's Ready found that providing the women and girls with personalised, branded t-shirts and hoodies had a hugely positive effect on their engagement with the programme. Similarly, British Cycling's Breeze programme volunteers receive handwritten thank you post cards when they reach certain milestones.
5. Flexibility
Understanding what your audience needs and responding to this is important when attracting female volunteers.
Some examples include:
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Offering a choice of training days and times to help women work around other commitments, such as school holidays and religious festivals.
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Providing childcare or allowing partners and kids to join the training as well.
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Considering a ‘role share’ arrangement or setting up a WhatsApp group so volunteers can swap shifts amongst themselves.
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Always asking for feedback and ensuring the programme is not too rigid so you can react accordingly.
Putting it into practice
The ECB’s Dream Big Desi Women training programme allowed partners and children to attend, as they saw this as crucial to encouraging their target demographic to give it a go. Also, She’s Ready run yearly feedback sessions and make changes to their programme every time as a result.
Volunteering hub
Sport England has compiled a series of questions and answers that covers queries seven separate sections related to volunteering: getting started, volunteering and the law, safeguarding and health and safety, diversity, support, planning and organising, and dealing with issues.
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of the key takeaways from this page for you to easily download and refer back to later.
