How Long Does it Take to Learn Social Media Marketing?

How long it takes for you to learn the skills you will need to switch to a career in social media marketing depends upon several factors. How much time can you devote to studying? Many people find it easier to learn new material by taking classes. You can study full-time or part-time. If you are familiar with social media before you start studying it will shorten the time as well. While the amount of time will vary from person to person, you should be able to learn social media marketing within a year.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing uses platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok to connect with a target audience. According to Hootsuite’s Digital 2021 report, more than 4.48 billion people use these platforms daily, making social media marketing a smart choice to help drive website traffic, build a widely-known brand, and gain revenue.

There are two types of social media marketing: paid and unpaid. Paid marketing means buying ads on different social media sites, while unpaid marketing relies on high-quality content, clicks, likes, and shares. It’s also called “earned marketing.” While earned marketing is valuable because it doesn’t cost any money, it can take a long time to see results, so Social Media Marketers need to be patient and persistent.

A social media marketing campaign is based on these five essential activities:

• Strategy–setting goals, choosing the best channels, and deciding what type of content will attract your audience.
• Planning and publishing–understanding your audience, knowing what and when to publish, and maintaining consistency.
• Listening and engagement–interacting with your audience and tracking changes in the market.
• Analytics–collecting, tracking, and analyzing data on social media accounts so you can figure out what is working for you.
• Advertising–earned and paid advertising.

Read more about what social media marketing is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is a powerful way to get the word out about your product or message, and one of the best things is you can do it for free. It doesn’t cost anything to open accounts on the different social media platforms, and many of the digital marketing tools you need are free to use or have a free version.

Data analytics tools allow you to research the market, identify a target audience, and tailor your message directly to them. Engagement tools let you interact with potential customers, get important feedback, see what your competitors are doing, and change your campaign as you need to. Social media marketing creates and maintains a community through regularly posted, high-quality content.

It can take a bit of time to see organic results, but you can use paid advertising to speed things up. Advertising increases engagement and is a good investment. Social media marketing tools allow you to pinpoint your audience and advertise just to them.

Average Time it Takes to Learn Social Media Marketing

The time it takes to learn social media marketing depends upon how you choose to study. If you are already a social media user, you have a head start. Data analytics tools take the longest to learn. Most people who start a website and open some social media accounts can pick up social media marketing in three to six months. Classes are the most efficient and economical way to acquire the skills you need to switch to a career as a Social Media Marketer. You can complete a certificate course in two to four months.

Start with Prerequisites

One of the best ways to get started in social media marketing is to create a website and some social media accounts. You can learn a lot on your own and by following tutorials, reading blogs, and listening to podcasts. A great place to practice your social media marketing skills is to create a website for yourself (or help out a friend!) and use it to test out different techniques. Being able to implement various strategies and compare what works and what doesn’t will help you when you are applying for a job. A website of your own gives you a chance to work on content marketing skills, drill down on the ins and outs of video marketing, and figure out search engine optimization.

Create some social media accounts and learn how they work. Start an Instagram account and begin creating content. See what resonates, what people respond to, and what they don’t. Create a YouTube account and practice making videos. This might feel difficult at first, but as you learn the ropes, it will become easier, and you will enjoy it more.

Gaining some skills can make learning social media marketing quicker. There are some useful primary and secondary skills that will make the process go faster. If you enjoy using technology, are comfortable working with numbers, and like interacting with people online, you will master social media marketing more quickly than others.

Foundational Skills

The skills listed below are necessary for a successful social media marketing career. Necessary skills can be learned from classes and tutorials. If you have some knowledge of software tools, paid and unpaid ads, content marketing, data analytics, and the ins and outs of social media before you set out to learn social media marketing, you should pick the information up more quickly.

Tech Savvy

If the thought of digging in and learning a new software tool excites you, you are already on the road to becoming a Social Media Marketer. Whether it’s posting on social media, researching the competition, or collecting data on website visitors, Social Media Marketers spend most of their time online. Some of the most popular kinds of tools Social Marketers use are social listening and social media analytics. Tools help Social Media Marketers produce and schedule content and manage paid and unpaid advertising. Social Media Marketers also need to keep up with rapidly changing markets and new tools and platforms that come along.

Content Creation

Engagement is the backbone of social media marketing. The ability to create or choose quality content to engage with social media users is one of the most valuable skills for a Social Media Marketer. Content refers to any written, visual, or audio media that can be posted online, downloaded, or shared with others. Social Media Marketers use content marketing to share information, educate followers, and build relationships within an online community. It also helps with brand recognition and loyalty, can save costs, and lead to increased sales.

Social Media Analytics

Social media analytics involves collecting, tracking, and analyzing user data on social media accounts so you can figure out how your strategy is working. You’ll glean crucial information on engagement, such as your campaign’s reach, what kinds of positive (and negative) mentions you’re getting online, how many people are seeing your posts and if they’re being shared, if your brand’s hashtag is performing well, and other details to help improve or change your strategy. Having access to this data allows you to focus better on future marketing efforts, ultimately saving you time and money.

Psychology

Psychology is the study of how people think, behave, and learn, which is a useful perspective for a Social Media Marketer. People who have studied psychology possess skills in research and writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking, especially in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of data.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of how people behave within society. A sociological perspective is useful for Social Media Marketers to help understand how a target audience behaves on social media and how to influence that behavior.

People Skills

People skills are also important for social media marketing. Reading people accurately and presenting a brand successfully is fundamental to a social media marketing campaign.

Statistics

Any study of human behavior involves statistics, and social media marketing is no exception. An understanding of statistics underlies the data analytics that digital marketing is built on.

Marketing Principles

The four principles of marketing are product, price, place, and promotion. An understanding of how these principles are involved in social media marketing can help anyone who wants to start a career in the field.

Utilize Free Resources

Free courses can give you a brief introduction to some aspects of social media marketing. This can help you decide if you want to pursue the field further. If you are not ready to commit to the time and expense involved with a bootcamp or certificate course, you can find free introductory video courses and tutorials. Noble Desktop offers Intro to Social Media Marketing. This free seminar introduces students to social media marketing and how to successfully leverage it to increase the reach of their brand. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of choosing the right social media channels for the right message and cultivating an authentic brand voice. Students learn to research what works and what doesn't for their brand, then discover what makes for good storytelling in a social media context. By the end of the tutorial, students will have a firm understanding of social media marketing and how to create an action plan that will generate organic brand engagement.

Noble’s SEO & Digital Marketing YouTube playlist offers other free tutorials on social media marketing like Intro to Social Media Marketing with Videos, Intro to Facebook Marketing, and Intro to Google Analytics.

In-Person and Virtual Social Media Marketing Classes

Certificate programs are designed to give you the skill set you need to succeed as a Social Media Marketer. Many schools offer online courses in social media marketing, some of them as asynchronous classes that you can take in your spare time. Certificate programs are intensive courses focusing exclusively on social marketing subjects and take two to four months to complete.

Noble Desktop offers a Social Media Marketing Bootcamp covering the tools and techniques you need to succeed in social media marketing. This course covers the social media giants, including Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and introduces students to the optimal social media strategies for brand building to enhance a business. Topics include social media strategy development, content creation, brand building, analytics, and conversion optimization. This program also includes a free retake option so you can come back within a year to refresh the material.

You can also take a Social Media Marketing Certificate through Noble Desktop. The course curriculum includes a LinkedIn Marketing Bootcamp, YouTube Marketing, TikTok Marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs and Twitter, Instagram Marketing Bootcamp, Facebook Marketing Bootcamp, Streaming for Social Media, and Social Media Industry and Portfolio. This class will give you the tools and techniques you need to succeed in social media marketing. In addition to the interactive training, you get four 1-on-1 mentoring sessions that you can use for a portfolio review, review challenging concepts, polish your resume and LinkedIn profile, get advice from a marketing professional about applying for jobs, and ensure you are on track with your learning goals.

You can take live online classes from anywhere in the world with a set-up similar to in-person instruction. A real-time, remote instructor can answer questions and has the ability to share your screen to show you how to do things. You get the same level of attention as in in-person classes. When you complete the course, you will receive a verified digital certificate of completion licensed by the New York State Department of Education.

Other options for online social media marketing classes include Facebook Ads and Facebook Marketing from Coursenvy, Powerful Social Media Marketing for Beginners from Skillshare, and Social Media Marketing for Small Business from LinkedIn Learning. You can find other courses on Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool, including in-person classes.

Level of Difficulty, Prerequisites, & Cost

Whether or not social media marketing is difficult to learn depends upon your level of interest, the time you have to devote to study, and your motivation. Do you love having a passion project? Do you enjoy multitasking and keeping track of data? Is creating content for social media followers your idea of a good time? Then it probably wouldn’t be hard for you to learn social media marketing and change careers, especially if you sign up for a certificate course.

Enrolling in a class doesn’t necessarily need any prerequisites to learn social media marketing, but a few skills can make the experience easier. If you are comfortable with technology and like working with numbers, it will be easier for you to learn to use social media marketing tools. Some familiarity with social media and good communication skills are a plus, too. Beyond that, solid writing ability, creativity, persistence, and the ability to multitask will make learning social media smoother.

Beyond the cost of a class, it isn’t that expensive to learn social media marketing. Some of the most widely used tools like Google Analytics are free, and others like Moz have a free version to get you started. SEMRush is another useful digital marketing tool, and while it can be expensive, you get a seven-day free trial to try it out first.

Read about how difficult it is to learn social media marketing.

Watch a Free Social Media Marketing Online Course

Free courses can give you a brief introduction to some aspects of social media marketing. This can help you decide if you want to pursue the field further. If you are not ready to commit to the time and expense involved with a bootcamp or certificate course, you can find free introductory video courses and tutorials. Noble Desktop offers Intro to Social Media Marketing, a seminar that introduces students to social media marketing and how to successfully leverage it to increase the reach of their brand. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of choosing the right social media channels for the right message and cultivating an authentic brand voice. Students learn to research what works and what doesn't for their brand, then discover what makes for good storytelling in a social media context. By the end of the tutorial, students will have a firm understanding of social media marketing and how to create an action plan to generate organic brand engagement.

Some other free online introductory courses and tutorials include What is Social? from Coursera, WordStream Learn’s PPC University, Social Media Quickstarter from Constant Contact, and Google Analytics Academy, a series of free classes about Google’s measurement tools.

There are many options for free social media marketing tutorials on YouTube. Simplilearn offers a six-hour Social Media Marketing Full Course tutorial for beginners. Neil Patel has several free tutorials on learning social media marketing and other digital marketing topics. Other YouTubers offering free online tutorials include Maggie Stara, Jordan Platten, Dan Lok, and Santrel Media.

Learn Social Media Marketing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop’s social media marketing courses teach skills that can help you start a career in the industry. Classes are small, with expert instructors, and you can retake a course for free up to a year after you take it. Those ready to dive into the field can attend in-person classes at Noble Desktop’s New York City location or attend live online social media courses from anywhere in the world.

In Noble Desktop’s Social Media Marketing Certificate, you can master successful social media marketing tools and techniques. You will learn about strategy development, content creation, brand building, analytics, and conversion optimization.

Noble Desktop also offers more detailed courses for those looking to hone their skills on specific channels, such as Facebook Marketing, email marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube, or go for a Social Media Marketing Certificate. Other Noble Desktop resources that can help prepare for a career in digital marketing include its digital marketing blog, which has detailed articles about social media marketing, SEO, and other essential tools for digital marketers. Further resources include Noble’s seminar on YouTube entitled The Pillars of Digital Marketing Success.

Key Insights

• Learning social media marketing will take less time if you are familiar with some aspects of social media when you start.
• You can take classes to reduce the time it takes you to get started in social media marketing.
• Free resources
• In-person classes
• Virtual classes
• You can receive comprehensive Social Media Marketing training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.