Can I Learn Social Media Marketing On My Own?

Everyone learns differently. You may consider yourself an auditory learner, while someone else may classify as a visual learner. Some people prefer a traditional class to learn a new skill, while others like to learn independently. Therefore, it may vary from person to person whether they can learn social media marketing without any outside help. In general, gaining some foundational social media marketing knowledge on your own is possible, but it may not be reasonable to expect to obtain expert-level skills. 

Social media marketing isn't an intricate subject to learn, but it can be. Understanding the different platforms is relatively easy. More advanced strategies, like optimizing campaigns for specific goals, require a deeper understanding of audience behavior and platform algorithms. While not impossible, learning on your own often takes much longer and is more challenging than learning from an expert in the field in a live setting. However, free resources and on-demand options exist for those interested in learning independently.

Advantages of Self-Teaching Social Media Marketing

In some situations, teaching yourself a new skill can be worthwhile and make the most sense. This depends on personal factors such as schedule, budget, current skills, and your purpose for learning. Although some may regard self-taught methods as challenging, others may be able to adapt to self-paced learning methods quickly. 

Flexible Schedule 

Depending on your professional and personal life, an on-demand or self-paced option may be the only way to learn social media marketing. Many find it challenging to find time to engage in their hobbies, nonetheless learning a new skill. This may feel relevant to you. You may have numerous obligations in your personal life that make fitting in a live training option virtually impossible. A self-teaching option can allow you to learn social media marketing if you have a fully packed work schedule and family life that doesn’t provide much flexibility to fit a live training course into your week.

Additionally, when you have time to enroll in a social media marketing course, you can use on-demand classes or self-teaching methods to prepare for the future. You can study whenever your schedule suits you because on-demand courses and free resources are readily available. It can be challenging to balance a work-life schedule, and an added educational endeavor, so self-taught options alleviate this concern. Self-paced classes or free resources can help you learn foundational social media marketing skills in a way that works for you.

Cost-Effective 

As you may know, some training courses are costly. They can range from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Depending on your reason for learning and your current budget, spending a lot of money on a class may not be reasonable. This is particularly true if you only need to learn a few foundational social media marketing skills instead of gaining a more in-depth understanding. On-demand and self-teaching options are typically free or low-cost, which can be preferential to those with tight budgets. Any time and money you put into learning a new skill is worthwhile and will usually pay off in the long run. However, this is a good starting point for someone wanting to learn more about social media marketing or expand their already well-developed understanding of the skill.

Quick Way to Diversify Current Skills 

Many in a self-paced course have had some experience in a related field, such as social media analytics, brand marketing, or email marketing. These subjects overlap, so many social media marketing professionals aim to have more than one skill set. Likewise, some social media marketing experts seek an on-demand option to improve their skills or update their knowledge of industry standards. If you already work in social media marketing or a similar profession, teaching yourself new social media marketing concepts may be done quickly independently since previous experience can mitigate some of the issues commonly associated with learning solo. These individuals could benefit greatly from a self-paced or self-taught option since they already have relevant experience. However, self-paced methods and free resources won’t provide enough clarification for a total beginner. This is particularly true if you are searching for a way to diversify your skillset and expand your professional capabilities.

Social Media Marketing Self-Teaching Tools

Because they provide an asynchronous, self-paced option, on-demand classes are a popular self-teaching tool. While this delivery method has advantages and disadvantages, it can be the ideal choice for someone depending on their previous experience, schedule, or reason for studying social media marketing. There are also free materials, such as accounts on video-based social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Many companies, education centers, and social media marketers will upload video collections on different tools, concepts, and practices relevant to marketing. They’ll often share troubleshooting techniques, offer advice, and provide insight into professional social media marketing. Similarly, Noble Desktop’s Free Seminar page has dozens and dozens of pre-recorded lectures to choose from, whether you want to learn social media marketing as a whole or focus on one particular platform, such as Instagram.

Drawbacks to Learning Social Media Marketing on Your Own

While self-teaching choices are helpful in some situations, it's essential to consider your selections carefully. Typically, it depends on your current skill level and how easily you can pick up on the material. Regardless, these drawbacks are worth considering as they can dramatically change the outcome of your learning experience.

Hands-Off Approach

There are disadvantages to learning social media marketing on your own. For example, on-demand classes are convenient but are entirely hands-off. This indicates that the essential interaction and personalization that accompany a live delivery approach are absent from on-demand programs. This could be a real issue for some who learn best through hands-on practice and discussion, but also for someone new to social media marketing and its concepts. Furthermore, not having an instructor might be a huge disadvantage, especially for beginners who will probably have a steeper learning curve than someone with prior experience in social media marketing. The projects completed in a self-paced or self-taught class are usually comparable to a live training course, but they are completed entirely on their own.

Potential Roadblocks 

Due to the hands-off option, students in an on-demand course or those who choose to learn independently are more likely to encounter confusing moments and roadblocks. Some common struggles include generating engaging content, needing help understanding the different platforms, understanding analytics, or demonstrating ROI. You may have to spend additional time outside the on-demand class answering your questions and figuring out how to fix errors, which wouldn’t be necessary for a live course. This could add much extra time to your learning process, which somewhat negates the point of a self-paced or self-taught learning option.

Unsuitable For Mastery

Free resources, self-paced classes, and self-teaching methods can also be insufficient to provide an expert-level understanding of social media marketing. Instead, they work more as supplemental material. To become specialists in their area and be considered for employment, most professional Social Media Marketers complete multiple courses or in-depth bootcamps. Traditional live classes allow students to build their portfolios, develop interview techniques, and gain more insight into the professional world. While it is possible to gain some social media marketing knowledge on your own, you must consider all the different training options available to become a social media marketing expert and working professional.

Alternatives to Learning Social Media Marketing on Your Own 

Aside from learning on your own or following along with an on-demand course option, you can find a broad range of live classes that make learning social media marketing much more accessible. Training centers, both US-based and international, offer in-person and live online courses at different levels, so there is a course that suits your current skills. A live class implies that students will have extended interaction with the material and the various technologies they will use in social media marketing, as well as with the instructor and fellow peers. Overall, these courses give students the most thorough learning experience.

Live training is typically considered the best option for learning a new skill, in-person or online. One of the key advantages of live classes over self-paced and on-demand choices is the interactive space they offer. In a live class, students can ask questions and receive feedback directly from the instructor, which is advantageous for beginner students, especially as they are more likely to encounter roadblocks and moments of confusion. Additionally, live courses are taught by an expert, so a real-world understanding of the social media marketing field influences the feedback each student receives. Additionally, many live programs come with extra features like setup help, portfolio development, career preparation, access to computer labs, limited licensing, and setup support that are not available with self-learning options. The alternatives to self-paced learning are worth considering if you want to become a social media marketing professional.

Live Training Options at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop is a training center based in New York City that offers courses in subjects related to design, coding, and technology. Their Instagram Marketing Bootcamp is a great option for learners hoping to learn Instagram marketing. This one-day workshop explores Instagram, one of the most widely used networks. The workshop looks at platform functioning and advertising in addition to the content. Students will learn how to develop a paid and organic marketing strategy for Instagram, including creating engaging content, mastering Stories, leveraging hashtags, capturing content, developing a community, and creating a post cadence and collaborations. They will also discover how to create a business page, use paid advertising, and integrate Shopify with Instagram.

If interest lies more in Facebook, Noble also offers a Facebook Marketing Bootcamp. In two days, learners will gain an understanding of one of the most popular platforms: Facebook. They will be introduced to current Facebook marketing trends and develop a marketing strategy that works for them. In this workshop, students will discover how to create and manage effective Facebook ad campaigns. They will learn about business pages, Facebook groups, targeted ads, conversion tracking, audience targeting, and the Facebook Pixel. More specifically, they will explore the Facebook algorithm, Meta Business Manager, content and interactions, Shopify integration, Meta Ads Manager, and more. 

In Noble’s LinkedIn Marketing Bootcamp, students will learn how to market their business on LinkedIn by optimizing their profile, using search features, and implementing paid advertising. This rapid workshop covers building a company page, using personal profiles, measuring marketing success, and the advantages of LinkedIn. Students will be introduced to current social media marketing trends and develop a marketing strategy that works for them. The curriculum includes LinkedIn trends and search features, as well as an understanding of how to advertise on LinkedIn and the platform's analytics tools.

Obtain your Social Media Marketing Certificate through Noble Desktop and learn to create effective strategies on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter to grow your online following and stand out in the marketplace. In this live, hands-on training, students will learn trends, marketing strategies, and how to use paid advertisements. As a result of this boot camp, students will be able to showcase their marketing ideas in a professional portfolio that they can share with employers and clients.