7 Online Courses for
Social Media Marketing Managers
See also: Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing as a career opens up enormous opportunities. You can communicate with different people, arrange your working time to suit you, earn good money, and achieve career growth. There are therefore many benefits to choosing a career as a social media marketing specialist.
The Social media courses we have picked for you here will help you to develop your career and gain relevant qualifications, especially if you are a beginner or seeking to become a specialist.
This is our overview of the best social media marketing (SMM) study offerings.
What to consider when making your choice
It easy to get lost among the dozens of courses offered on the internet. To avoid becoming confused, try these suggestions.
Identify your priorities
Your time investment is crucial so be clear about your priorities. What is your desired outcome? Do you want to form a basic understanding of the area, do you want to boost your existing SMM skills, or do you want to step up to the next level? Identifying your priorities is essential in planning your learning development.
Plan your SMM studies and professional development
When you have defined the general direction of study, you need to draft a step-by-step plan of your future growth. Any course you intend to complete should align with the next step in this plan. In this way you will get the motivation you need to pursue studies and achieve your desired outcome.
Preselect options and request feedback
Don't limit yourself to one or two options only. Find as many good SMM courses as possible and shortlist the best ones that coincide with your priorities. We also encourage you to ask any acquaintances who have already passed SMM courses for their recommendations. Their feedback will be very helpful, and you will also expand your network of professional contacts.
Aspects to emphasize
Let's say you have already shortlisted some good courses. Here are some criteria to consider to help you choose the best ones among them:
- Type of content you may study
- Tutor availability
- Pricing
- The time required to complete the course
- Certification
Security Always Matters
When you are working with the internet, always take care to ensure your safety, especially when dealing with social media accounts. If you are careless with your security, you will be visible and a target for potential threats. In this case, a virtual private network (VPN) that works on the iPhone or Android may be useful as basic protection. Even free internet for iPhone using VPN can be safe if you select good VPN tools. As many people have iPhones at the moment, a good suggestion for a VPN is VeePN for iOS. Installing a VPN app for iOS or Android will make your SMM practice much better, safer and easier. Once you have ensured your entire security, we can then look at good online SMM courses for you.
The 7 Best Social Media Marketing Courses
1. Coursera
The first course we want to suggest is What Is Social from Coursera. This program explains how to generate a successful SMM plan and follow it through. The course will be useful for anyone who wishes to enhance their SMM knowledge.
What does this course cover?
- Intro to SMM
- Information about social trends
- How the business of social media works
Why choose this course?
- It is a good option for beginners
- It includes texts, quizzes, videos, peer-graded tasks
- It provides a clear explanation of SMM and its trends
- You can gain a certificate
The cons
- Extra but helpful content is available only by payment
- It doesn't focus on creating long-term SMM strategies
- It lacks good guidelines
2. Hootsuite Academy
Hootsuite offer an Advanced Social Advertising course designed by SMM experts. This course will be helpful for intermediate SMM specialists who want to boost their skills and it will help you launch paid campaigns on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
What aspects are covered?
- The SMM landscape
- Essential elements of a successful SMM advertising campaign
- Best practices for SMM targeting
- Strategies for creating and promoting social ads
- Buying and bidding ads
- Ways to measure the performance of social advertisements
Why choose this course?
- Learn with the help of texts, quizzes, and videos
- A free demo version is available
- An exam and certificate is included
- Advanced SMM training is available
The only drawback this course has is that it may not be very good for complete beginners.
3. IIDE - Online Digital Marketing Course
For businesses to harness the power of social media, a solid understanding of social media marketing (SMM) is essential. Marketers and professionals alike must stay up-to-date with the latest SMM strategies and techniques as the digital landscape continues to evolve.
The best way to learn the ins and outs of SMM is to enrol in a comprehensive digital marketing course that covers all aspects of SMM.
Among such institutes, IIDE offers an Online Digital Marketing Course designed to equip students with comprehensive knowledge and skills in the dynamic field of digital marketing. This course will help you succeed in the digital landscape regardless of whether you're an aspiring marketer or a seasoned professional.
What aspects are covered?
Digital Marketing Basics: Gain a thorough grasp of the numerous digital marketing channels, platforms, and techniques.
Digital Marketing Campaigns: You will learn how to develop, execute, and optimise effective digital marketing campaigns for brands.
Creating and Promoting Engaging Content: You will learn techniques for developing captivating content that connects with the audience of big brands and encourages interaction across numerous digital channels.
Sponsored Advertising Strategies: You will learn how to develop profitable sponsored campaigns on prominent platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and others.
Performance Tracking and Analytics: You will learn how to track and analyse the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns.
Why choose this course?
Comprehensive Learning Experience: You will be trained with a well-rounded curriculum that combines text-based resources, interactive quizzes, and instructional videos to enhance your understanding and retention of the material.
Certification: Towards the end of the course, you will receive a certificate that is well recognized in the digital marketing industry.
Advanced Digital Marketing Training: For intermediate and advanced learners, IIDE offers advanced training modules to enhance your expertise further in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.
4. Fiverr Learn
The Social Media Marketing Course will be helpful for those who want to start their SMM career or boost it further. The course provides an overview of the main aspects of creating a content strategy for SMM.
What is covered?
- It helps you set your SMM goals
- It facilitates defining your target audience
- You will be able to implement your SMM strategy
Why choose this course?
- It combines texts, videos, and quizzes.
- It includes a section with mapping to ensure a better understanding of your future users.
- It is exclusively practical so it will help you to design a workable SMM strategy.
- Good for beginners who learn fast.
- Professional instructors who are experts in their field.
The only one drawback we have identified is that the course doesn't award any certificate, but you may get a profile badge instead.
5. LinkedIn Learning
Social Media Marketing Foundations by LinkedIn is another great resource for SMM specialists. It provides you with an overview of how SMM works, how it can benefit businesses, and the main strategies for defining your target audience. But, the best point, from our perspective, is that you can learn how to make your own SMM strategy and measure its results.
This course covers topics you may find useful:
- Defines what SMM is
- Elements of SMM strategies
- Good publishing on social media
- Learn how to interact with your audience
- Helps to measure outcomes of social media activities
- Includes innovative, practical tips
Why choose this course?
- It effectively combines text, videos, and quizzes
- Beginners may find it very good
- It is divided into smaller and logically-connected sessions to help you grasp info faster and better
Possible cons:
- It lacks intermediate and advanced information about SMM
- It doesn't offer any certification
- Provides only general SMM techniques
6. Learning.ly
This platform is relatively new, but it offers a good course for business social media marketing. We consider it a comprehensive course and provided by real SMM experts. This course may be interesting for specialists who want to boost their career and get new customers. Small businesses that care about their social media presence may also find this course good.
What is covered?
- Comprehensive SMM background
- The best SMM strategies
- An overview of basic SMM tools you can apply in your daily practice
- SMM techniques to promote business
- Public relations basics
- Specifics of SMM for non-profit organizations and brands
Why choose this course?
- Learn best-tested info from texts, worksheets, quizzes, and videos
- Free course preview
- Real-life knowledge from SMM experts
- Affordable
The single drawback we have identified is that a course may appear a bit complicated for beginners.
7. Udemy
Social Media Marketing Mastery may be considered a course close to excellent. It provides you with a comprehensive overview of SMM and you will also learn how most social media platforms work. Sounds good, doesn't it?
What is covered?
- Content developed by experts.
- A comprehensive overview of how SMM works
- Extra knowledge of blogging
- SEO basics
- Tools to make your SMM practice more effective
Why choose this course?
- Excellent for beginners and more established specialists
- Updated regularly
- A course tutor will answer your questions
- The course includes articles, videos, and quizzes
- Approaches that are tested in the real world
- The course is available on mobile devices, TV, and the web
- You may get obtain a certificate
Cons:
- Cost
- It may be not a very good option for advanced learners
We hope you will find something suitable to help you achieve your SMM objectives here. We wish you the best of luck in upgrading your skills, securing employment, and developing new social media marketing opportunities.
Further Reading from Skills You Need
The Skills You Need Guide to Personal Development
Learn how to set yourself effective personal goals and find the motivation you need to achieve them. This is the essence of personal development, a set of skills designed to help you reach your full potential, at work, in study and in your personal life.
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About the Author
Rachel Burnham is top cybersecurity consultant, well versed in internet security, network crime, fraud prevention, technology deployment. She works in large financial and IT companies where her main task is to prevent infiltration of public infrastructure and ensure national security.