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Best Social Media Marketing Courses & Certifications Online

By Will Ellis
Last Updated on January 29, 2024
Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a type of digital strategy focused on growing businesses by increasing their visibility, reach, and followers on social media sites. 

As this landscape moves so fast, courses offer a way to absorb the latest and greatest, or to refresh your memory and further your knowledge into expertise. 

Let’s see a few top online SMM courses & certifications for that! 

Table of Contents:

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Top Social Media Marketing Courses & Certifications Online – Reviews 2024 📱


ProvidersCourses & Certifications
1. UdemyContent Marketing Masterclass
2. CourseraSocial Media Marketing Specialisation
3. MarketMotiveAdvanced Social Media Certification Training
4. HubSpotTop Social Media Marketing Online Course

1. Content Marketing Masterclass (Udemy) – Popular Online SMM Course


The Udemy Content Marketing Masterclass designed for those who want to learn the basics or scale up their social media.

It’s reported focus is on the buyer experience and journey – how this can be used to funnel more sales. 

As part of this, the Udemy course explores how to gain an instinctive understanding of what social platform is optimal for your business, rather than overly splitting your attention.

Your Course Experience 🌞

Other than getting a finger-feel for the buyer’s journey, the course also goes through email marketing, SEO, podcast making, and more:

  • Over 30 learning modules
  • More than 18 hours of downloadable video
  • Full access for lifetime, with updates
  • Shareable certificate of completion
  • 30-day refund guarantee

With this comes access to a private Facebook group made up of other students. This masterclass normally is reportedly priced around about $130, but there are often discounts, so look out.

Pros

  • Focus on the buyer’s journey
  • 36 hours of content
  • Business focus on amplifying sales

Cons

  • Somewhat pricey

2. Social Media Marketing Specialisation (Coursera)


This six-part course covers analytics, content creation, social media marketing, engagement methods, advertisement, and business planning.

The sixth and final part of the course is a capstone project, testing out all of the course materials you absorbed in the wider course and how effectively you can carry out a trending marketing project via social channels.

Your Course Experience 📚 

You can expect the full course to be accessible and computable online, which means you can begin straight away and work you are basing. Most students will complete the course in roughly the last year if they take between 2-4 hours weekly to go over the content.

And as for the actual course outline:

  • Instruction from Randy Hlavac
  • Video and audio media lectures
  • Practice exercises to consolidate learning
  • Practical projects
  • Official certificate of completion that can be shared

Relevance ☑️

One of the most attractive things about this course is that it is apparently updated every four months in order to keep pace with the constantly changing social media environment. Focuses on key social media marketing frameworks and specific tool-sets needed to carry them out.

In summation, students can reportedly expect to get a grounded understanding of the workings of social media marketing and confidently design and evaluate their personalised social media methodologies after completing projects.

Check out the course for free, but for $49 monthly you’ll get a shareable certificate of completion as well as a marketing strategies toolkit.

Pros

  • Shareable certificate of completion
  • Hands-on projects to bring lessons live
  • Lots of practical exercises
  • Free to take

Cons

  • While you get an extensive insight into SMM, takes around 4-6 months

3. Advanced Social Media Certification Training (MarketMotive)


As per the name, this digital marketing courses for people who already have experience in SMM.

MarketMotive’s advanced training takes things to the next level,  encouraging students to grow their expertise and dive into the deeper nuances of the landscape.

Course Experience 📖

MarketMotive’s Advanced Social Media Certification Training offers detailed lessons focused on the rationale required for effective social media marketing.

The course reportedly goes into depth about how to adjust your social media plan to meet your business objectives but this includes lessons on communication techniques and how to pinpoint your real business pain points impacted by social media.

One interesting component of this is studying the impact of emotions on your social media campaigning and how to integrate this. In terms of influencer marketing, course goals over developing networks with appropriate influences for your company.

The syllabus also includes the following:

  • A day’s worth of live instruction through online classes
  • Over 40 hours of online learning
  • Downloadable resources
  • Practice exercises to consolidate lessons

Relevance 🌐

One final notable point is that the course covers 25 real case studies – these projects are based on actual happenings in the industry, in order to help you gain a finger feel for the rural landscape and how this can be integrated into your business.

For all of this, the course is not the cheapest, however it is one of the most advanced available. It’s been used by major companies that include Microsoft, Salesforce, Marriott hotels, and Hewlett-Packard. Full course costs $600 you will base or $1000 for an online boot camp.

Pros

  • Most advanced social media marketing course in this guide
  • Trusted by major companies including Microsoft
  • Strong focus on live instruction

Cons

  • Most expensive social media marketing course in this guide

4. SMM Cert. (HubSpot)  – Top Social Media Marketing Online Course


HubSpot is actually a contact relationship management (CRM) platform, which is where they made a name for themselves in marketing.

It’s Social Media Marketing Certification importantly designed for anyone who is refocused on influencing conversations happening around your business.

Your Course Journey 🏝️

The goal of this conversational focus is to attract new customers while encouraging loyal pre-existing ones – which matches what you would expect of a contact relationship management service. 

HubSpot’s shareable certification delves into the fundamentals of social media marketing for driving business sales. This includes learning how to create from-scratch an optimal social media plan that lets you take advantage of inbound marketing systems.

Gain understanding of how to promulgate the proper social context and grow your spread across more of the social media nodes available for growing your company.

This even includes learning about advantages of social monitoring (listening) services and how these can be applied for enhancing the leverage you have over your rivals. Course materials include the following:

  • 8-part course on social media marketing fundamentals
  • Nearly 40 videos and more than 4 hours of content
  • 29 exercises to try out what you’ve learned
  • Downloadable and shareable certificate of completion

All of this is delivered by a software company that has specialised for 16 years in providing razor-sharp services for building customer relationships, carrying out social media marketing, doing content management, and more including search engine optimisation and lead generation.

Pros

  • Try for free
  • Strong focus on conversations
  • Delivered by a major marketing company

Cons

  • Overall short course

Best SMM Online Courses & Certs 🌞 – Buying Guide


With so many social media platforms and marketing strategies available, it can be tough for small business owners to know where to begin:

  • Which sites should you target first? 
  • Which strategy is the most effective for your company? 
  • How much time should you spend on social media marketing every day? 

Whether you’re just getting started or looking for a new way to promote your brand, this section will help you understand social media marketing as a beginner.

What is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?


Social Media

Social media marketing is the process of growing your brand’s online presence through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (despite the u-turning news), and more. 

It’s an effective way to connect with customers and build your reputation as an industry leader. And it can be done from anywhere, at any time — making it an appealing option for entrepreneurs and small businesses. 

There are many tactics you can use to promote your business on social media. You can host or participate in relevant discussions, create visual content, drive traffic to your website, and more. 

Social media marketing is a strategy that you can tailor to your specific goals and audience. Overall, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Why it’s useful for businesses… 

With more than 2 billion people actively using social media, there’s never been a better time to expand your brand’s online presence. 

By investing in social media marketing, you can reach new audiences, drive more traffic to your website, and generate leads by connecting with potential customers on their terms. 

What’s more, social media is cheap and easy to get started with. You don’t need to hire a marketing agency or spend a fortune on advertising to see a return on your investment. You can create engaging posts using tools like images, videos, and GIFs — and most platforms have free advertising options.

Which Platforms Should You Focus On?


Social Media Platforms

There are many social media networks out there, all with different audiences and advertising options. 

The best platforms for your business will depend on your specific goals and audience. However, there are a few that most small businesses should consider. 

Facebook 

With 2 billion users, this is one of the best platforms for reaching a wide audience. You can post updates, host live videos, and promote your content to reach a large number of people for little cost. 

Plus, you can target your audience based on interest, demographics, and more. Not quite the metaverse terror people were writing about in early 2022, but FB still remains relevant. 

Instagram 

With over 800 million users, Instagram is another popular platform for reaching a wide audience. It’s especially good for small businesses that sell products or services that are visual in nature. 

Visual content like images and videos perform better on Instagram than other platforms, which means you’re likely to see a greater return on your investment here. Plus, you can make your posts interactive with features like polls and live video. 

This platform is an interesting and rather powerful way to reach a younger, visual audience and drive brand awareness. You can post engaging photos, host regular photo challenges, and drive traffic to your website using links in your bio. 

Twitter 🐤

With 328 million monthly active users, Twitter is a solid social media platform for promoting your business. It’s also an easy way to connect with influencers in your industry. 

But if you’re not careful, it’s easy to get lost in the Twitterverse and you’ll only end up wondering whether Elon Musk will actually buy Twitter or not. 

This popular social platform is useful for driving instant brand awareness and reaching a more tech-savvy audience. You can post daily updates, host live chats, and drive website traffic using hashtags. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

With over 400 million users globally, LinkedIn is another popular social media platform that could help you reach new customers. 

The site is a powerful tool for professional networking and job hunting. But it can also be used as a way to connect with potential clients and promote your products or services. 

This platform is a very well-established path for B2B business owners, recruiters, and other professionals. You can post job listings, share your content, and drive website traffic using paid ads. 

Snapchat 

Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social media platforms with more than 186 million daily users. It’s also popular with younger audiences — which could be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on your business goals.

That said, it’s perhaps worth exploring because Snapchat has added new features like Snap Ads that let you reach potential customers in an engaging way.

Strategies to Grow Your Audience


Audience

The best way to grow your audience on social media is to stay true to your brand voice

You can do this by sharing engaging content that resonates with your customers and fits your company culture. 

You should also stay on top of your social media calendar to ensure you’re posting regularly and connecting with followers at the right times. 

Here are a few more ways to grow your following and boost engagement on social media: 

  • Create a compelling profile – The first place new followers will look is your profile, so it’s important to make a great first impression. Make your profile clear, current, and relevant to your brand, and include links to your website and other social media accounts. 
  • Host regular contests – Hosting regular contests or creating one-time contests can be a fun way to get customers involved and increase engagement. Make sure your contest is legal and meets all terms and conditions, and do your research to make sure it’s relevant to your brand. 
  • Create engaging visual content – The most popular social media channels are visual, so it’s important to create regular visual content. You can do this by sharing photos, hosting photo challenges, creating GIFs, or posting videos. Visual content is easy to digest and can attract new followers, while also increasing engagement. 
  • Share your content – One of the easiest ways to grow your audience is to share your existing content. You can do this by posting your content to multiple social media channels or repurposing it for visual content like images and GIFs. 
  • Join relevant groups – You can also join relevant online groups and discussions to make connections and reach new potential customers. Make sure you’re engaging in a positive way, and always respect other users.

FAQs


How to Measure Your Success? ☑️

One of the potential downsides of social media marketing is that there’s no (or a limited) way to track the return on investment (ROI). 

However, there are a few ways you can measure your success and gauge whether your campaign is working. If you’re hosting or participating in discussions, look at the number of comments. 

Also, if you’re creating visual content, look at the number of views and shares. If you’re driving traffic to your website, look at the number of visits. 

And finally, look at your website’s analytics to see if your social media campaign is driving more conversions. If it is, you can use social media as a leading indicator to forecast future revenue

How do I use data to make informed marketing decisions?

There are two main ways you can use data to make informed marketing decisions: 

Look at your analytics data 

The first way is by looking at your analytics data. As we discussed in earlier chapters, you can use this information from each social media channel, such as Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics, to see what content works best with your audience. 

For example, if you notice that your audience responds well to videos but not images, then you should focus on creating more video content for your campaigns. 

Analyse customer behaviour & feedback 

The second way is by analysing customer behaviour and feedback on social media channels. 

Once again, Facebook Insights is an excellent tool for this purpose because it allows you to see which posts are receiving the most engagement from customers and fans. 

You can then use this information when creating future posts and campaigns so that you match your audience’s preferences.

Conclusion 💡


Social media marketing is an integral part of modern marketing campaigns. 

It allows businesses to reach a wide audience at a low cost and can be used to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to a website, and generate leads. 

In order to be successful with social media marketing, businesses need to create compelling content that resonates with their audience and is appropriate for the platform they are using. 

To measure success, businesses can look at the number of comments, shares, and views their posts receive, as well as the number of visits their website receives as a result of social media marketing. Overall, social media is an affordable and easy way for businesses to grow their audience and maintain a consistent presence online.


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