Top 7 Social Media Marketing Courses Online in 2023

Social media marketing courses online are something most people are looking for in 2023. Don’t believe me? Then think of your next appraisal or promotion! Or look up recruitment pages. If you are a retired person or a home-maker wanting to work a few hours a day from the comfort of your home, then surely you must know about digital marketing using social media.

If you are a business owner, it is better late than never, to use social media to promote your product and services or knowledge expertise.

Read about Top 7 Social Media Marketing courses online

Who hasn’t heard or hasn’t used social media? A rare case isn’t it? Yup going into 2023, it’s most likely we are actually addicted to social media. Especially so in the covid-19 lockdown, when out of boredom most of us might have unconsciously checked on social media to check updates of friends and the interest-based pages we follow.

Sometimes I have noticed sponsored pages and advertisements in my Facebook newsfeed, for example. I have found some of these sponsored posts and pages interesting and have clicked the “like” or follow button after reading and listening to the post.

I have seen posts of content writing workshops and weekend webinars advocating the freedom model, urging me to join their webinar and such others. Similarly, posts of clothing and fabric e-commerce websites and such others routinely appear in the news feed on their own. How or rather why do you think these sponsored posts come in the newsfeed?

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How does social media work for marketing strategy?

These are social media marketing techniques of businesses and individuals who run them. As more and more people are hooked on several social media platforms, businesses launch their presence on social media to increase visibility. They use Facebook’s algorithm and show your advertisement to the right audience. These social media posts are shown to interested viewers and could generate leads.

If your product is good and relevant to the user, there is every likelihood that the viewer will make use of your social media post by visiting your page, your website link and view your web page content to finally make a choice. Therefore, social media presence is highly relevant and widely used and predictably in the coming times too for generating leads and sales.

Small businesses and entrepreneurs benefit the most from social media marketing. Businesses are flourishing these days solely based on social media marketing and e-commerce websites.

Are there case studies you have come across but didn’t recognize?

Think of an Interior designer from Vadodara, she began with making DIY videos on YouTube, had an Instagram presence that helped her gather more followers. Gradually she started her website and she launched her own company by the same name. She does interior designing for home and office spaces.

She now owns a spacious office studio and a team of designers too who work alongside her. Who would have thought a couple of years ago that this would be possible?

Such is the power of social media that several businesses like ITokri, Amazon, several high-ranking YouTube channels, Fabriclore, product manufacturing companies like Dyson, etc. are present on social media. Businesses big and small, across niches, all benefit from their social media presence.

Predictably, there is going to be an even greater demand for social media marketing as more and more individuals and businesses get the whiff of social media benefits. Especially so in the backdrop of the pandemic, we are unable to go scouting for products of our choice in the local markets. Most have taken to online shopping like never before.

Do you need to get trained for social media marketing?

You could go the DIY way but it would take you a long time of trial and error and possibly some more money to figure out social media marketing on your own.

Though social media posts on Facebook or any other social media platform look easy to make, there is a method and thought that goes into making posts for business marketing. Facebook posts are given a boost. For example, a boost of Rs. 400 could make your post appear in 1000 user’s newsfeeds. Many such and other strategies help in creating brand awareness, leads, sales, and brand loyalty. Though it looks easy, one has to learn how to create a strategy based on user personas, analytics, and data.

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Offline or Online?

Social media marketing courses are available both online and offline. Online, there are paid courses and free courses too. The difference between free and paid social media marketing courses online is that in a paid course you get a reliable and knowledgeable mentor who guides you as you learn the techniques. They correct you if needed. They provide you with a social media marketing training certificate.

Social media marketing courses online help you learn new skills while you may be based anywhere. You could be in the comfort of your home, learning a social media marketing course online in time between your home chores or after office hours or weekends.

You can learn at your own pace and clear doubts too by communicating with them. Clearly, it is an advantage to learn social media marketing courses online. You can listen or read course material again and again until you understand and do not have to depend on one-time lectures. Each of the varied social media platforms has its own uniqueness and suits different social media marketing requirements.

Who’s watching Social Media?

More and more businesses are showing up on social media. It makes sense to give free value to your users or audience on social media so you build trust and brand awareness plus loyalty.

Considering the increasing demand for this specialized field, if you are intending to learn social media marketing, then you must read the following.

Here’s a list of 7 social media marketing courses online:

1) Social Media Marketing Mastery by Udemy

This course is created by Course Envy. It got 4.4 ratings from students. The cost is Rs. 420.

This course teaches you to master online marketing on 10 + platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, and more. You could listen to this course in English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

This course helps you understand everything about social media marketing. They teach you A to Z of Instagram and how to monetize the platform. The course has 8 hours of on-demand video and 39 articles. They have 26 downloadable resources and full lifetime access to the course. You could access the course on mobile and television. They provide a certificate of completion.

Course details:

The course includes resources and information on YouTube marketing, channel layout, content creation, and video ads. Facebook ads and Pinterest marketing strategies, LinkedIn, and Twitter marketing strategies all are covered in the course curriculum.

You can learn how to use Google Business to promote local business. In the discussion section, you can ask questions. In this course, you will learn the principles and strategies of social media marketing and advance from beginner level to advance. You will learn to optimize ads for upscaling conversions and engagements.

This course is for beginners, advanced marketers, influencers, bloggers, business owners, and social media marketing employees. There are great reviews of past students featured on their website.

2) Social Media Marketing Specialization by Coursera.

This course is for 67 dollars per month with a 7-day free trial. The course instructor is Randy Hlavac of Northwestern University and CEO of Marketing Synergy, Inc. The course has 4.7 ratings by students. You can enroll for a single course within the entire specialization course.

They provide a shareable certificate and have a flexible schedule throughout their course. No prior experience is required for this course. The entire specialization course takes approximately 7 months to complete if you devote 2 hours per week. The course is provided in English, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic languages.

There are five individual modules or courses in the complete course specialization.

• What is social?
• The importance of listening.
• Engagement and nurturing marketing strategies.
• Content, advertising, and social INC.
• The business of social.

More details on the course:

The course teaches you how to grow your professional personas using social media. It covers areas of how to profit in this digital world. This course gives you the tools, insights, knowledge, and skills. They teach analytics and information and insights gained from a single post, photo, or video. Knowledgeable guest lectures take you through a range of analytical tools and how to understand and use this data.

After you complete this entire specialization you will be able to use data to create content strategies to your advantage. You will study best practices like infographics, and well-designed landing pages among other social media marketing skills. This complete course on Social Media Marketing Specialization achieves two objectives, social analytics tools and trains you to become an influencer on social media.

The course details promise to give you complete social media marketing knowledge and strategies with resources for understanding consumer insights and final metrics. There are course videos, reading materials, practice quizzes, graded assignments with peer feedback.

3) Social Marketing Certification Course by Hootsuite Academy

This course cost is 199 dollars. The course length is 6 hours. Instructors are Hootsuite marketing experts. This online course on social media marketing makes you better in your marketing skills.

The course details include

• Introduction to social media marketing – Beginner level
• Optimizing your social media profiles – Beginner level
• Social Media Strategy from A to Z – Intermediate level
• Growing your advocate community – Intermediate
• Content marketing fundamentals – Intermediate level
• Social advertising fundamentals
• The social marketing certification exam

The online certification is sharable and industry-recognized. The exam for certification tests your core knowledge of social media marketing. There are 60 questions and passing is 80%.

This Social media marketing course online has streamlined chapters. Some quizzes test your knowledge from each unit of the course. The course has a variety of formats ranging from videos, quizzes, text, and PDF. Both beginners and intermediate learners can take this course. The course trainers are social media marketing strategists and practitioners from Hootsuite academy.

4) Digital Marketing Master Course at IIM Skills

This digital marketing master course has everything in digital and social media marketing covered in a three months program spanning 40 modules. The course costs Rs. 29000, and provides lifetime access to course recordings, training materials, and class presentations. The course has great reviews from its students.

The course is spread over 180 hours of comprehensive online digital marketing training with a live interactive classroom feel. All tools that will help you master digital marketing are provided. A certification on completion of the course is provided to the participants.

On completion of the course, you are prepared for thirteen other certifications like Google, HubSpot, and Facebook blueprint. The course provides 60+ hours of live online training, 120 hours of assignments, and industry case studies to give you complete knowledge and hands-on training.

Course details:

Under Social media marketing, they cover a variety of detailed topics for social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram Pinterest, WhatsApp, and more in six detailed modules.

The social media module covers the following and much more.

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• WhatsApp
• Twitter
• Setting up your business profiles
• Running your Ad campaign
• Budgeting
• Organic and paid reach
• Social Media automation
• Using tools like Tweet Deck, Hoot Suite, Buffer, Canva, and various other tools

The module on Integrating digital marketing and other modules cover topics useful for social media marketing as well. They also provide global placement support to their students through a dedicated placement cell.

In this course, along with Social Media Marketing (SMM), you also learn web development, SEO, and e-mail marketing because it gives you complete required knowledge for someone who deals with marketing online.

Therefore, apart from SMM, the course also includes:

• Inbound marketing,
• Integrating digital marketing strategy,
• Web analytics
• Online reputation management,
• Content writing and advanced blogging,
• Media buying and planning,
• Affiliate marketing,
• Video marketing with YouTube,
• Marketing automation model,
• Resume creation
• Creating digital infographics.

Each of these modules has several sub-topics. This course is detailed in Internet media marketing skills as it gives a holistic approach to complete your online marketing skills portfolio. Anyone from students, marketing professionals to small business owners, retired professionals, and home-makers, can enroll in this course.

If you are interested to re-start your career as a full-time digital marketing professional or work for a few hours from home as a freelancing digital marketer, then you could do this course.

The course is headed by Proprietor/chief trainer Vaibhav Kakkar and teams of instructors who work closely and mentor the participants in the programs. You get the flexibility to choose between weekdays or weekend batches.

5) Social media marketing course short-term by NIIT

This course is for 40 hours with weekend/weekday batches. The cost is Rs. 6700/-. The faculty is trained and classes are online. An app of NIIT supports the course and they provide a certificate on completion of the course. The eligibility is beginner level.

The classes are online and in-demand tools are covered.

The course covers the following topics:

• Fundamentals of digital marketing,
• Working with social media marketing
• Content planning and promotion

The batch timings are fixed and classes are conducted in real-time. Answers are queries that are provided by instructors during class. Resources like App guided practice, exercises are conducted. You can be connected to the instructor and nationwide peer group of classmates doing the same course at NIIT. The faculty belongs to the data analytics industry.

The course begins with getting conversant with digital marketing and graduates to social media marketing on each of the social media platforms.

Content planning and promotions include content marketing and resources, planning content, using content technology, editorial calendar, promotion strategy, website, and e-mails.

After the course, the students will be able to create a social media marketing strategy, run marketing campaigns, and create content for social media platforms.

6) Social Media certification course by Digital Vidya 

This social media marketing course online is for beginners as well as marketing professionals. The course is instructor-led and gives lifetime access to its content. They offer a research-based internship. Hands-on projects, assignments, and trainer support on the discussion forum are provided.

The course itself is a self-study model and instructor-led one-month training course. They promise 4 hands-on projects, SEO tools, 3 industry certifications, 12 + class hours, and industry expert guidance. The course has 3.4 stars on 4 given by their students.

The course provides an orientation to digital marketing and social media. The latest global and Indian trends and statistics about social media are shared with the course participants. Global and Indian relevant social media success stories are shared as a case study.

Some more details on the course contents:

They begin with an introduction to Facebook brand pages and algorithms. How to create a Facebook marketing strategy for fan growth and engagement, and gain insights from Facebook. The marketing strategy is based on the objective of returns on investments. Participants in the course are given assignments to prepare their own strategies for their organization.

Types of Facebook Ads and Google AdWords, Click Through Rate and optimizing ad copy, Twitter for brand building, and how to optimize LinkedIn profile page. Guidelines, measurements, and metrics to study ROI on social media are taught.

Ways to choose and distinguish which social media platform to choose and creating a multi-channel media strategy are all part of what you will learn in this course.

In this social media marketing course online, you will have a project of one month and assignments on social media marketing. The internship they provide is research based on one topic every week.

7) Social Media Marketing Master Certification by Boot Camp Digital

This social media marketing course online is industry accredited and is 42+ hours with over 300 videos. The course cost is 997 dollars.

You get access to these for 1 year with updates. They provide download PDFs of checklists, tip sheets, and templates. They assist during lectures with an instructor and office hours.

There are monthly Q & A calls and updates with instructors. You get access to a private special community group on Facebook. You have the flexibility to finish the program within 1 year. The course content is structured step by step from beginner to advanced level with live examples and case studies.

Their content includes marketing strategies, and tactics. The course content is organized into four levels for better understanding and assimilation.

The four levels of content in this course are

• Essentials
• Strategy
• Management
• Mastery

The videos are engaging and packed with real examples. Short video pieces of training of 3 to 5 minutes are self-explanatory. It is easy to navigate or skip to the most relevant content whenever you want. You get extensive over 40 hours of masterclasses with information that gives you an insight into how social media works. This can help you with your own social media strategy. Bonus content at an extra charge is available whenever it suits your needs.

The content can be accessed on mobiles, desktop/laptop, and tablets. You can download the reading course material. You get a weekly interactive session with an experienced and trained instructor almost as a personal coach or mentor. Apart from this, you get advanced weekly high-impact training, updates, and bonus material.

This course covers the following content:

• Social media strategy
• Facebook marketing
• Facebook advertising
• Instagram marketing
• Twitter marketing
• LinkedIn marketing
• Pinterest marketing
• Blogging
• Bonus course high-impact training in digital marketing, professional development, content marketing, and social media webinars.
• Bonus course digital tool reviews

The action planners include tips and tricks in SEO tools, a cheat sheet for digital Ad channel insights and understanding, a checklist for campaign analysis, a quick start guide to copywriting for search, and other valuable information guides.

To get the certification, you need to pass over 70 % of a 40-question test on social media marketing knowledge that you gain through this course. Apart from completing your course and passing the exam, you need to submit your action plan to implement the knowledge or apply it in real projects. Then you can share your certificate on your LinkedIn profile, resume, or website.

Conclusion:

Social media marketing can give your company, brand awareness, and engagement. People nowadays are hooked on social media during waiting for their daily transport, break times, boredom, and so on. So that makes a tremendous amount of people on social media.

Earlier businesses spent a great deal on advertising on hoardings, handbills, print, and television advertisements. Then business owners had to wait for these to have an impact on audiences. However, with social media marketing, you get analytics of your campaign and you can customize your campaign according to the gained insights and conversion rates.

You can not only create brand building and create awareness but constantly be tuned to your audience. This way you can build brand loyalty and provide free value to your consumers. Sooner or later this engagement could convert to sales. There are several examples of e-commerce websites that have social media presence and you regularly see their posts in your social media newsfeed.

So, whenever you see a good product that suits your requirement, interest, or occasion, you are likely to purchase it. Whether you are a marketing professional or HR and want to give a boost to your professional skills, you could join a social media marketing course online. The demand for social media marketing is predictably bound to grow in the coming years as people get used to shopping online and looking up online reviews.