From building an online following to increasing website traffic and boosting sales, social media marketing has played a huge role in the success of most businesses over the last decade. In fact, a staggering 92% of marketers have claimed that social media marketing can either make or break a business.
So, whether you’re planning on joining the industry, running your own business, or you just want to bolster your skillset, there has never been a better time to boost your social media marketing skills.
But how do you go about doing this and fitting it around your lifestyle? Well, thanks to the magic of the internet, you can now study completely online from the comfort of your home. There are lots of great e-learning platforms out there that make it possible to study a whole range of topics, but today, we’ll be focusing on those that offer social media marketing courses.
Read on to find out more.
1. Udemy: Social Media Marketing Mastery
First on our list is Udemy. Founded in 2010, Udemy is an open online course provider aimed at professional adults and students. This teaching marketplace boasts a staggering 155,000 courses and 40 million students, including a Social Media Marketing Mastery course.
This course is in-depth and covers everything you need, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced student. The course uses eight hours of video content, as well as 39 articles and 26 downloadable resources – pretty impressive for just £99! And you’ll come away with a certification from the company.
Some of the topics that are covered in this course include:
- What is social media marketing?
- What content should you be sharing?
- An in-depth look at the different platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and more
- Domain names and landing pages
- Search engine optimisation (SEO)
As you can see, it’s pretty comprehensive, but it doesn’t stop there. Udemy also offers a Social Media Marketing Masterclass course which goes into even more detail, offers more videos and has over 36 modules – yep, you read that right!
This course costs even less at just £59 and, as with the aforementioned Social Media Marketing Mastery course, comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
2. Hubspot Academy: Social Media Marketing Course
Hubspot is a full-service CRM platform that offers a wide variety of sales and marketing resources through its Hubspot Academy, including courses like its Social Media Marketing Course. One of the greatest things about this course is that it focuses on the purpose of social media marketing rather than just how to make the most of the different platforms.
What’s more, this is a beginner/intermediate level course and takes approximately four hours to complete. This means it can be done quickly at a time that suits you. Some of the key modules that you will cover include:
- How to develop a social media strategy
- Building a content strategy for your social media
- Extending your reach on social media
- How to build one-to-one relationships using social media
- Introduction to social media advertising
These are just a few of the topics that are covered, and this list is by no means exhaustive.
Another key selling point of this course is that it is free, so it’s perfect if you’re on a budget. And at the end, once you’ve covered all the modules, you’ll receive a social media certification.
3. Coursera: Social Media Marketing Specialization
Coursera is a global online learning platform offering online courses and degrees from world-class universities and providers. The company’s goal is to make education and learning accessible to everyone, and amongst their huge roster of courses is the Social Media Marketing Specialisation course.
One of the benefits of this course is that you have a 7-day free trial to see how you get on with the materials before paying. Not only this but each week’s work is set out to only take up a few hours of your time, which means you can easily fit this around a busy lifestyle.
What’s more, as part of the course you also get access to a variety of other specialisations with no risk, so it’s essentially several courses all in one package. In terms of the materials and topics covered, you’ll cover:
- What social media is
- The importance of listening to your audience
- Engagement and nurture social media marketing strategies
- The business of social media
- Content, advertising and more
Due to the slower pace and nature of the modules, this course is better suited to beginners but can be just as good if you’re an intermediate hoping to brush up on your social media marketing knowledge.
4. Digital Marketing Institute: Online Social Media Marketing
The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) was founded in 2009 and now boasts over 150,000 members. The platform’s mission is to support marketers and help them realise their full potential through online learning opportunities.
Because it is such an accredited platform, the cost of the Online Social Media Marketing course is a little higher than the others on our list at £984. However, at the end of the course, you will be a certified social media marketing specialist, and you’ll be awarded a globally recognised certification.
The Online Social Media Marketing course is made up of 10 modules and uses interactive content to teach students:
- Social media content
- In-depth knowledge of Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube and more
- Social media apps
- Social commerce and affiliate marketing
- Social media customer service
And these are just a few of the key topics that are covered. This comprehensive course covers it all.
5. Alison: The Complete Social Media Marketing Course
Last on the list; we have Alison, an Irish company founded in 2007. With more than 20 million learners in 195 countries, the platform has become a major force in free online education and skills training.
Amongst the platform’s vast range of courses is the Complete Social Media Marketing Course. The course will give you the key skills you need and a comprehensive overview of social media marketing. Best of all, the course is completely free to take!
Some of the key topics that this course covers include:
- Social media basics across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more
- Pinterest marketing
- Linkedin marketing
- Funnel building for sales
- A/B testing
Alison also offers a Marketing Through the Internet and Social Media course where you’ll learn how to use the internet and social media for efficient marketing. Again, this is free to take and will teach you all the fundamentals of social media marketing.