Social Media Marketing Courses

July 12, 2017 5:34 PM

Even though I have a variety of social media accounts, I have only a basic understanding of How Things Work marketing wise. After some god-awful marketing disasters at work (see my previous question about how things went) I feel I should probably have a better grasp of what's involved. To that end, I'd like to learn more about Social Media Marketing. There's a lot of stuff out there. Too much. I have no idea where to start so hope the Hive Mind can point the way. More requirements are inside.

My must-have requirements are:

- must be online and accessible from Australia
- doesn't have to be free - I'm happy to spend some money on this
- has to start with the basics about How Things Work, but also..
- in-depth enough that I can learn real world skills - ie setting up and administering campaigns, analysing results etc

I notice, for example, that the BoingBoing store has numerous examples of online course bundles that might work for me, but how good are they?

Can anyone suggest a reputable company/course that might fit?

posted by ninazer0 to Education (6 answers total)

Best answer: Hootsuite Academy appears to offer something like the course you're looking for.
posted by lizifer at 8:16 PM on July 12, 2017

Best answer: Give Media Bistro a try. Read the Buffer Blog and listen to their Science of Social Media podcast.
posted by knile at 9:13 PM on July 12, 2017

Agree with Buffer blog and would also add the Hootsuite blog, Sprout Social blog, Moz blog, Hubspot blog, and even the Trello blog for some things. Also any podcasts associated with any of these as well.

Facebook Groups can also be a good way to info share with other social media marketers if you can find a likely group. I might also recommend looking for blogs, podcasts, groups, and other resources that are specific to your industry? I work in higher ed, so some of the general social media advice doesn't always directly translate to my content strategy. It can be helpful to see how people have adapted business strategies for use in non-profits.
posted by helloimjennsco at 7:26 AM on July 13, 2017

Best answer: You could see what Lynda has to offer. They have all kinds of digital training courses and it's a very popular site.

Google also has a phone app that is basically an online marketing course called Primer that is free to download. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect it is heavy on Google's own tools.
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:58 AM on July 13, 2017

Plus one on Lynda. Their offerings for both social media and marketing in general are robust and well worth your time.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:02 AM on July 14, 2017

I just wanted to chime in and stress that to succeed in social media, in addition to the courses, it really is important to follow a few blogs -- the parameters of social media change frequently and you'll need to stay up to date with these things.
posted by ananci at 10:46 AM on July 14, 2017