11 Most Popular Social Media Marketing Training Courses
1997 saw the introduction of SixDegrees, and the world started connecting in an unprecedented way. Nine years later, in 2006, Facebook, previously accessible only by students of Harvard University, opened itself to a vast network.
With this, businesses that remained skeptical actively started using social media to engage with their customers. Today over 3.78 billion people use various social media worldwide.
Skilled hands are in need to create and manage engaging and relevant content to attract social media users. In this article, we discuss the best social media marketing training courses to take in 2021.
What is Social Media Marketing and why is it Considered Important for Business Growth?
Marketing on social media can take many forms like text content, images, videos, and even live streams and other paid social media ads. Major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat often provide users a space to share details such as their location, date of birth, and gender.
These details help marketers to tailor the advertisements and contents to suit the target users. While engaging with social media users, many businesses gain a personification and thus promote their culture and mission more effectively.
User-generated content or earned media is another benefit of social media marketing. The general public talking about their experience with your products or services seems more credible to a prospective buyer than an advertisement prepared exclusively for marketing purposes.
Above all, social media marketing allows businesses to interact with diverse groups of participants such as customers, employees, journalists, bloggers, social media influencers, and the like all in one place.
Learn to curate content that converts on social media with the Best Online Content Writing Course
Key Terms that Students of Social Media Marketing Should Know
Strategy:
Social media marketing, just like traditional marketing, tends to fail if it lacks proper planning. Even when the audience for a social media ad campaign is overwhelming, it is necessary to ensure that your ads are relevant to a target group.
To begin with, you can study your competitor’s strategy. Goal setting is also a big part of strategy making. The goals that you set for your business must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
2. Planning and Publishing:
Your efforts will be in vain if you publish content in your business account on social media without much planning. Any content should be published, keeping in mind the particulars about your audience. It is also important to publish good quality content which also resonates with the mission of your brand.
Timely content published regularly is what would pique the interest of your audience in your social media posts. You can also unburden yourself by utilizing some scheduling tools designed for social media to help you publish the right content at the right time.
3. Listening and Engaging:
Social media marketing is not just about posting your ads. It also requires you to be respectful of both the positive and negative discussions about your brand. Customers appreciate it when you can address a concern and resolve it quickly.
But engagement on social media is not just about ensuring a good customer experience. It also benefits you in identifying new trends with your customers and what they expect of your industry in general.
It is a great way to get in touch with influencers who can help you drive shoppers to your target niche. Social media listening tools can help you aggregate all those conversations about you and save you a lot of time.
4. Analytics:
Tracking the course of your social media campaign is inevitable for many reasons. It is necessary to get insight into the behavior of your audience. You get a clear understanding as to which ad captured their attention at a given time.
It helps you to discover the best platform that benefits your business the most. This stage also involves the analysis of your competitors. In short, analytics can guide you in all the steps you take for your future campaigns and help you spend your time on viable campaigns.
5. Advertising:
Social media advertising can be organic, paid, or earned. Organic content is the one to focus on if you have monetary limitations on social media marketing because these pick up views naturally.
Paid content is a way to ensure success in your ad campaign. Earned content, as they sound, is obtained through your engagement with your audience and is free content in the form of likes, shares, and comments.
Thus, we have discussed the definition of social media marketing and have gone through the benefits and related terms. Below enumerated with a detailed overview are some of the best social media marketing training courses you can consider joining in 2021.
Learn laser-sharp social media marketing techniques within the ambit of digital marketing with the Best Digital Marketing Course
Best Social Media Marketing Training
1. Social Media Certification
Social Media Marketing course is an effective certification program by HubSpot Academy. It is one of the top free social media marketing training courses available online.
The course enables you to create engaging conversions about your business, build awareness about your brand, and help you get in touch with new customers and business partners.
The main takeaway of the course is the knowledge of inbound marketing. This course by HubSpot Academy is suitable for social media marketers, marketing managers, and aspiring marketers. The course that spans 4:08 hours discusses eight lessons in 39 videos. It also includes 29 quizzes.
Course Curriculum:
- Developing a Social Media Strategy
- Social Media Listening and Monitoring
- Building a Content Strategy for Social Media
- Extending Your Reach on Social Media
- Using Social Media to Build One-to-One Relationships
- Introduction to Social Media Advertising
- Measuring Your Social Return on Investment
- Essentials for Continued Success with Social Media
In addition to this, at HubSpot Academy, you can also do courses on specific social media platforms. All these courses are flexible, and hence you can master these subjects at your own pace.
2. Social Ads 101
Social Ads 101 is a free online social media marketing course by WordStream. It discusses the advertisement on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Tik Tok.
The program gives clarity on the best practices to follow while advertising on social media. The information on metrics and social shopping helps you discover your target audience and to create ads that catch their attention at the right time.
The Following is the Topics Covered in this Course:
- Why Advertise on Social?
- Social Media Advertising Tips
- Facebook Advertising
- Instagram Advertising
- LinkedIn Advertising
- YouTube Advertising
- Snapchat Advertising
- Tik Tok Advertising
- Social Media Ad Metrics
- Social Shopping
Social Ads 101 by WordStream is one of the free online social media marketing courses which helps you strengthen your knowledge of social media advertisements.
3. Social Media Training for Beginners
The social media quickstarter by Constant Contact has the best social media marketing training courses suitable for beginners. One of the peculiarities of the program is the one step at a time approach to the subject. Under the Social Media Training for beginners program by Constant Contact, a learner can familiarise marketing through the various social media platforms such as:
- YouTube
- Google My Business and
- Snapchat
4. Online Social Media Marketing Classes by Skill Share
At SkillShare, you can choose from many social media marketing classes to suit your interest. The platform also provides you with the options to save a favorite course or be reminded of it later.
The filters based on the time, pricing, and popularity are another attraction of Skillshare classes on social media marketing. All the instruction programs are created and taught by experts.
One can cover the short lessons and sharpen their skills with the help of hands-on projects. The social media marketing training courses on SkillShare helps you to increase the number of your followers on Instagram, build a brand, and much more.
5. Social Media Marketing Course by Academium
Academium is a platform for mentorship and apprenticeship programs. The courses at Academium are not limited to social media marketing but cover a range of subjects under marketing.
These include digital marketing, paid advertising, email marketing, SEO, website design, content marketing, PR, marketing analytics, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, etc. These courses could be done before, during, or after the three-month apprenticeship.
The Social Media Marketing program by Academium discusses how to do marketing with the help of popular social media platforms. This beginner-friendly course has 35 lessons that deal with the following:
- Yelp and
This program is one of the free social media marketing training courses which helps you build an impressive portfolio while working for real clients and earning.
6. The Strategy of Content Marketing
The Strategy of Content Marketing is an online program by the University of California Davis for which you can enroll for free. The course delivered on Coursera is in partnership with Copyblogger, a top content marketing company.
The program discusses the benefits of content marketing and writing of gripping copy strategically while building your brand and authority through the process. This program has resettable deadlines, and on completion, you can earn a certificate that holds appreciation in the industry.
People from different parts of the world can do the course with the help of subtitles in nine languages other than English and can finish it at one’s own pace. The following is the syllabus for the Strategy of Content Marketing course on Coursera:
- The content marketing ecosystem
- The strategic context
- Crafting a content marketing strategy
- The strategic types of content
- Managing your content
Know more about Coursera Social Media Marketing Courses
Explore more courses at IIM SKILLS
7. Social Media Marketing Masterclass by Udemy
This Udemy course is perfect for learning the functioning of social media marketing. The masterclass teaches the steps to plan and schedule the marketing on social media. It discusses basic SEO and helps you write blog posts that get your audience to take action.
This course comes at affordable pricing with lifetime access. The course explores buyer psychology to boost sales in your business. You will learn how to find out the social media platform best suited for your brand building and how to create high-standard posts for them to get engagement.
As a part of the course, you will learn to create a marketing channel on YouTube and produce and edit videos. It also teaches you to take a professional social media profile image with only your smartphone. The other subjects covered in the course are email marketing, blogging, and Instagram photography. The syllabus of the Social Media Marketing Masterclass is as follows:
- Social media marketing
- Creating social media images
- Profile picture
- Blogging
- Email marketing
- Local SEO
- YouTube marketing
- Audio production
- Video production
- Introduction to vlogging
- Introduction to podcasting
This intermediate-level program is one of the online social media marketing training courses chosen by reputed organizations to train their employees.
8. Introduction to Social Media Strategy
Introduction to Social Media Strategy is a course created by Buffer and delivered through the platform of SkillShare. This program is one of the social media marketing training courses meant for beginners and intermediate-level learners.
This uncomplicated program spans 45 minutes and helps create a stronghold for your brand or business on social media. With a focus on Twitter and Facebook, the course teaches you to make a simple strategy for your marketing on social media.
The Syllabus Covers:
- Getting started with social media
- Finding your voice
- Creating content
- Curating content
- Using the right marketing tools
- Paid advertising strategy
9. Introduction to Social Media Advertising
Introduction to Social Media Advertising is a course created by Buffer and which Skillshare offers. It is a beginner to intermediate level course to help you succeed with your social media ads. The program suits many groups like small businesses, marketers, brands, freelancers, and more. It teaches you how you can make the most of paid social media advertisements.
The Syllabus:
- Demystifying key terms and vocabulary
- Setting campaign goals
- Targeting audience segments
- Developing compelling copy and visuals
- Iterating and optimizing campaigns for long-term success
10. Social Media Monitoring
The program, Social Media Monitoring by Udemy, is one of the social media marketing training courses which benefits learners of all levels of expertise. However, it is best suitable for marketers, sales professionals, customer service representatives, specialists in product development, PR professionals, researchers, HR professionals, and recruiters. This course has 46 lectures divided into four sections.
These Sections are:
- Intro
- Key concepts and techniques
- Hands-on training
- Supplemental resources
You can either enroll for free or go for the paid version to purchase a course completion certificate. This course helps you to get familiar with social media monitoring techniques and tools. You will also learn to curate content and engage with niche influencers. As a part of the program, you will learn social media monitoring for the following:
- YouTube
- Craiglists
- Blogs
- Forums
- News
11. Social media marketing courses by LinkedIn
LinkedIn learning provides many social media marketing training courses that enhance your skills in social media marketing exponentially. LinkedIn is a platform that facilitates a lot of B2B conversations. Hence by staying up to date with the trends on the social media platform, businesses make progress in brand building. The following are some of the courses worth mentioning:
1. A Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn: This is the course, to begin with on LinkedIn marketing. This course guides you to reach your target audience.
As a part of the course, you learn to use organic marketing tools, paid marketing tools, and brand awareness tools. You will also create an ad campaign and measure its effectiveness using Campaign Manager.
2. Social Media Marketing Foundations: This course discusses the importance of businesses investing in social media marketing. It helps you to define your audience with clarity and create an effective strategy for your marketing.
It also discusses the different social channels such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. This program can guide you in effectively using paid ads for driving traffic. It can also teach you to measure your success based on the metrics obtained.
3. Advertising on LinkedIn:
This program focuses on LinkedIn ads and teaches you the most effective practical approach to this platform. As a part of the course, you will learn to use Text Ads, Sponsored InMail, and sponsored content.
You will also learn the right approach to targeting an audience. You will also learn to organize LinkedIn ad campaigns by taking care of your marketing budget. You will also get guidance to track the progress of sales, retargeting strategy, and troubleshooting.
4. Marketing on LinkedIn:
Of the many social media marketing training courses on LinkedIn, this program focuses mainly on the marketing of small, medium, or solo businesses.
Through this course, you will learn to create an attractive personal profile on LinkedIn. It also helps you to create a company website that shows up in search. It also teaches you to create good quality and shareable content according to your content strategy.
5. Writing to be Heard on LinkedIn:
This is one of the social media marketing training courses on LinkedIn which focuses exclusively on creating great posts. This course teaches you the most effective practices to write good posts that would help you to enhance your reach.
Through this program, you will learn the requirements of a great LinkedIn post. These include a capturing headline and the ways to frame responses to comments.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How to start working as a social media marketer?
To begin with, you will have to hone some of your skills. These include your creativity, research skills, analyzing skills, etc. You should invest a lot of time in planning a good strategy for your social media ads. Learning these skills and requirements could be tiresome if you do it on your own.
It will benefit you a lot if you do a well-planned class on social media marketing and will save you a lot of time. Once you begin, you should focus on the progress of your brand building and keep yourself updated with the changing trends.
2. How much does a social media marketer earn in India?
On average, a beginner in an internship can earn from ₹5000/- per month to about ₹10,000/- per month. Other than this, the salary of a social media marketer varies based on a lot of factors like expertise, job profile, job location, etc.
3. What do you learn in a course on social media marketing?
Social media marketing training courses equip a learner with practical knowledge of social media marketing. Starting from strategy planning, you will gain a thorough understanding of all aspects related to marketing on social media through these courses.
These programs will also guide you to find out platforms that are best for the growth of your business and to create content targeting the audience of your niche. A social media marketing course will also familiarise you with analytics and social listening tools. On the whole, it will teach you to build your brand effectively.
4. How good is social media marketing as a job?
Almost all businesses and industries recognize the need to connect with their customers effectively. For this, there is no better place than social media. Hence, the skills of a social media expert are in demand and will remain so for a long time now.
As a job, social media marketing presents you with a lot of learning opportunities. It also encourages you to sharpen your creativity constantly. Social media marketing is a fine career for one interested in using social media to grow connections and engage the audience with fascinating content.
Conclusion
Social media marketing is growing in demand day by day. Hence you must update your knowledge on the skills to stand out from the crowd. Join one of the above-mentioned social media marketing training courses as per your requirements and get started with a great career.
